Hi all,
Eye Magazine is one of 2 major free entertainment weeklies here in
Toronto.
I listened to U.B.T. in the shop and was not impressed enough to
buy it, but I am impressed with this review. It studiously avoids
hyping Paradinas as an overnight success and offers an opinion
based on some research. Cool.
I won't type out the whole thing. It is available on-line at Eye's
web site, www.eye.net.
The article was written by Erin Hawkins.
"Mike Paradinas is yet another bright young UK knob-twiddler who
can make an album in the time it would take most of us to fill out
a tax form. With more pseudonyms than one can keep track of, it is
fair to say u-ziq (pronounced 'museek' or 'music' depending on who
you ask) is Paradinas' flagship project. (One need only loook to
the name of the label he launched in 1995, Planet u, for proof.)
Forget the blissed-out heady goodness of Kid Spatula or Jake
Slazenger or, really, anything else he's done. Urmur Bile Trax
Volume I/Volume II is rhythmic, epic and far too intricate to be
merely writtne off as u-ziq's jungle album. Paradinas has forsaken
the lusher melodic swirls of 1995's swellegant In Pine Effect for
more of the harsher beats found on Salsa with Mesquite, cartoon
violence and all.
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.
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These eight new pieces refused to reveal anything more than a nasty
machine-like grind at first, but now I'm struck by both his square-
jawed rhythmic embossments and the more subtle sonic details. It's
also worth noting that Paradinas hasn't given up his trademrk fuzzy
synth sounds. It's true that u-ziq now isn't waht I thought it
might be, but it's also as good as I had hoped. I guess sometimes
your banana split turns out to be a Nutty Buddy."
Makes me want to give it another listen.
Matt