Big heap reviews today. Hope I can get through 'em all..
µ-Ziq: Royal Astronomy
Astralwerks ASW 6275-2
Where's the drill n' bass freakouts? Where's the insistent
distorto-beats? What? Half these tracks are beatless and the other half
are two-step workouts the likes of which we last witnessed circa Urmur
Bile days. Paradinas proves once again that his musicality prevails
regardless of format. A lot of this realtes back to my favorites from
Lunatic Harness- the tracks towards the end that got all gothic and
pop-stringy, you know what I'm talking about, yeah, well, he refined the
production process and here we have the logical extrapolation of the
same ideas. The single, "Fear", is pretty damn good, even with the
wishy-washy female vocals, and the two-steppers all kick as well. I do
however wish there was some mo' nasty bass on this record, or at least
some trashed-out drum machine beats from µ-ziq's days of yore. A good
record, fits right in with the latest Plaid for sitting around having
bizarre mood swings and occasionally getting up to wriggle rhythmically
in the latest geek-dance fashion. Yippee. THIS RELEASE IS
DSP-PLUGIN-ABUSE FREE.
Squarepusher: Maximum Priest EP
Nothing INTD 90997
The best out of the recent triad (shin triad?) of SQP releases. The
fuckup fusion spooze sound has been refined, not to mention remixed,
into a dramatically effective soundtrack vibe. This sounds like it would
make a great alternative score for, well, about a million different
thriller movies. Scary yet upbeat. Tense while evoking a pro-active
stance in the direst of situations, this EP was made for high-tech
criminals and the women who love them. Snap along to the Vibert remix-
it's the solid gold SHZA-NIT. THIS RELEASE CONTAINS DSP-PLUGIN-ABUSE.
DJ Craze: Crazee Musick
Bomb Hip-Hop BOMB #2031 PROMO
Like DJ Spooky, when DJ Spooky was good. Scratch chop delay/ sample
sample scratch Chop/delay/repeat.
Groovy hip-hop without lame guest MCs or too much reliance on purist
turntablism, less plunderous than DJ Shadow, better grooves than about a
million other wannabes. My kind of needle abuse. Definitely a
checker-outter for those who check out this sort of thing, and even
those like myself who normally don't. You don't even need to get smoked
out to like this one (definite plus for the THC-allergic). THIS RELEASE
IS DSP-PLUGIN-ABUSE FREE.
Haujobb: ninetynine
Metropolis met 113
My rivet-headed industrial pal handed me this the other day. He
explained in no uncertain terms that it was my style and not his. Gets
pretty dark here and there but no more than, say, FSOL, which is what
this reminds me the most of. Short on the vox which normally make me shy
away from "industrial" releases, and entirely lacking in cheesed-out
distorted acid sounds so characteristic of the genre. All in all a
pretty fine release- even the beats are decent. I listened to it
straight through twice, for what it's worth. Lush, cosmic, and nothing
to do with trance whatsoever. Like I said- the closest thing I can think
of is FSOL, sonics-wise. Not as much sampler memory used on this
release, but more smoothly put together than anything FSOL did. THIS
RELEASE CONTAINS BARELY TRACEABLE AMOUNTS OF DSP-PLUGIN-ABUSE.
The Remote Viewer: s/t
555 Recordings of Leeds 555CD8
Chunn-kee. Plodding beats to beat the best of the plodders, solemn chord
buildups to match Autechre- basically Ae for dummies. That's pretty much
it. If you've ever gotten too drunk to enjoy your favorite Ae records
(Argh! Too much shit going on! Must.. stop!) then you might want to try
this out. I can't really get any more descriptive than that- this is
just like a remedial Ae record. Not to say it doesn't have its own good
qualities, but it's just a slower thumpier Autechre sound. Maybe a
little bit of David Kristian SFX in there as well, actually. Try before
you buy. THIS RELEASE CONTAINS DSP-PLUGIN-ABUSE.
V/A: Unknownwerks
Astralwerks ASW 6257
Hey Everybody! West Coast Breaks and Orlando Breaks and NYC Breaks and
Midwest Breaks and Mile High Breaks and .............
Who gives a shit. I'm glad I got this for free. just sit back, put on
the biggest floppiest pants you own, stretch into your Liquid Sky top
and act dumb for 74 minutes. Idiot beats from the latest in undiscovered
idiots across the country with SP808 phrase samplers and all that other
Roland Groove Approved SH-IT. My nuts.
THIS RELEASE CONTAINS COPROPHAGY.