** U-ziq/Bluff Limbo (Rephlex cat 018 CD) *************************************
** Double CD mu-ziq masterwork!
First Disc Second Disc
Hector's house Riostand
Commemorative pasta Organic tomato yoghurt
Gob bots Sick porter
The wheel Sick Porter
27 Dance 2
Metal thing #3 Nettle + pralines
Twangle frent Ethereal murmurings
Make it funky
Zombies
With the first disc coming in at just under 45 mins & the second being
slightly over 45, this could well be one of those C90s that I remember hearing
Mike P first approached Aphex with. In any case it will make one helluva tape
for my walkman!
First track, mellow strings & flute then (sorry I'll spoil the surprise for
you) WHAM! pummelling slow mashed breakbeats, with a rather regal synth
arrangement to follow; sod the monarchy, when I hear this I imagine hoards
of tourists watching on as the RePhLeX posse are in procession with this track
blaring out, Mike & Rich doing the Queen's royal wave thing...
ahem, enough of that daydream I think...
Next track, nothing too marvellous- I prefer Mu-ziqs more worked up numbers,
which brings us to... Gob bots. This could well be one of the most marvellous
tracks Mu-ziq has done for the following reason: it has the catchy mellody
trademark we all know & love plus some abrasive percussive sounds, but also
quite a housey feel. I can quite imagine this going down well with your average
chart-house listener at the student's union.
The wheel is quite a dreamy introspective type piece, followed by 27 which
reminds me of 'I' from Aphex's SAW 85-92.
Metal thing #3, as the name suggests, is similar to Metal think #1 off
Kid Spatula/Spatula Freak (Reflective) as well as Mr Angry from In Pine Effect,
same samples, different arrangement. On the whole, the vibe of this album is
somewhere between Tango n'Vectif & Spatula.
Then we are in for a treat! Warm strings, friendly soft xylophone type sounds,
bleepy percussional effects, funky brass bits, Twangle frent is an end-of-the-
day type song, like 3/4 heart by Black Dog (one of my all-time top tunes) but
more upbeat & a bit warmer.
Make it funky reminds me of the type of music played in Buck Rodgers/
Star Wars/Battle Star Galactica for alien bar music; keyboard meandering all
over the place, definitely a Jake Slazenger stylee (along with Zombies, given
its trumpety bits)
The highlights of the second disc for me are Dance 2 which is a super-
charged breakbeat grinmungous hands in the air affair, like Dance 3 from
Spatula Freak, only more so.
By far the most unexpected track is Sick porter (note the spelling). First
we hear a solitary bass twang & then... murmured vocals! Intrumentally this is
very different to everything I have heard of Mu-ziq, bass guitar like on the
title track of Pine Effect initially, then lots of flanged guitar, bleeps &
bloops and vocals (words I cant make out)- the guitar is being played for the
song rather than a sample of a guitar being used in the song like the Auteurs
remix CD. The capital P version is essentially a more keyboarded arrangement of
the lower case track. Both are very mellow & beautiful, perhaps a little
mournful. One of the highlights of the album.
Ethereal murmerings brings the album to a gentle, warm-glow end (all ready
for firing up again when the autoreverse on my walkman starts the album over).
I got this from Sister Ray last Monday, best 12 quid I ever spent.
** Its all becoming clear (Clear CLR400CD) ************************************
** 14 Tracks by the likes of Plaid, Clatterbox, gfq, Dr Rockit & others.
Everything on here is fun & funky, and just the kind of think to be listened
to on a lazy summers day (cue some nice weather... oh well, worth a try).
Someone commented that they skipped the Clatterbox tracks on here. Of the
artists that appear on this compilation I had only come across plaid before
(& Acen, sorry spacepimp- tho this new stuff is not a patch on his old
'life & crimes of a ruffneck' hardcore bizness- this is very drawn out),
and I was most impressed with Clatterbox tracks. I can well see how this may
not be to everyone's taste (like the lead synth bits on
Lisa Carbon Trio/Polyester) but I quite liked the analogue burblings here-
especially the use of orchestra stabs on 'tiz' without sound overtly 'eighties'
I loved the Plaid ep on Clear, from which the track angry dolphin has been
included here. According to the attractive cardboard wraparound sleeve the
other track by plaid on here is an unreleased mix of the same track, but I
reckon this is a mistake & the plaid tracks are the 1st & last tracks off the
ep. Anyway, both superb.
Overall, well worth checking out- a good taster of a lot of the 12"s Clear
have put out all on one disc (well thats why I bought it!)
** Orbital/In Sides (Internal TRUCD10) ****************************************
** Six sound scenarios, apparently
Like the continuosly mixed section on their Brown Album, the six sections of
this album flow really well as individual tracks and fit well together to make
up the album. Lack of flow (Forever & Are We Here? excepted) was largely why
I liked Snivilization so little and why I was so pleased with this album.
The drumming is credited to someone other than the brothers Hartnoll & they
should be proud of their work, the level of percussional attention here is much
greater than on previous releases and enhances the whole thing.
Keyboard solo sections bold & bright, the one on The Girl With The Sun In Her
Head (recorded using only electricity generated by solar energy) reminding me
of those on Lisa Carbon Trio/Polyester. Gosh!
A return to form with a vengance.
(BTW having bought this, should I bother with getting the single of The Box-
are the other mixes worth it?)
--
Jameel Syed : uxpilnftwyzv :
http://www-students.doc.ic.ac.uk:80/~jas5/