Once upon a time in ye old 1995, I read some blow-by-blow IDM reviews of In
Pine Effect, Salsa With Mesquite, and of course Tango'n'Vectif. I proceeded
to my store and made my purchase. I was surprised that the music was as
good as the reviewer said.
Having thoroughly enjoyed these earlier released, I snatched up Jake
Slazenger 'Das Ist Ein Groovybeat, Ja' and was let down. If I dropped the
needle on it anywhere I would think "this is funky" but the fact was I
would hear each funky phrase basically repeated for about 7 minutes each,
which made the whole thing boring. I figured Mikey just didn't put out his
best music under the Jake name, and didn't lose too much hope.
So the next thing I picked up from him was Urmur Bile Trax (Or Urmer Bile
Trax as it says on my CD). It was interesting but the drum'n'bass beats
didn't flow in a groove like a good pusher track.
Therefore, I was really hesitant when I saw that shiny new copy of Lunatic
Harness sitting on the shelf. "Maybe I shouldn't buy it" I thought in fear
of wasting more money on Mikey P. However, I couldn't resist the myserious
allure of that Akai reel-to-reel on the cover.
And when I came home and dropped this slab onto my Bang & Olufsen
turntable, I was unable to move away from the speakers.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the genius has returned to form!
Starts out with some housey stuff, and before this absolutely wonderful
release is over you are treated to hip-hop, beat-boxing (using the mouth as
an instrument), and drum'n'bass grooves that actually flow smoothly unlike
the Urmur Bile Trax. All of it is laden with those beautiful µ-ziq
soundscapes which you have grown to love. A step away from the funqy jake
cheese.
I dont want to ruin any surprises for you here, so if you like early u-ziq
and you like mad breaks that sound good, go buy it. I got my copy at
Etherea in the East Village of NYC (one of the biggest rephlex selections
around), and saw it in many stores despite some chat on here about an
embargo (how anyone would want to blow this from people's ears is beyond me
though.)
While music shopping I also picked up Boymerang "Balance of the Force",
Amon Tobin's Bricolage (a few months after I planned to buy it), and
Skampler. I haven't had a chance to hear everything yet, but Boymering is
great techstep jungle with kicking beats (although not as experimental as
the tomJ or the new mu-ziq), and Skampler is good if you like Gescom and
the other Skam stuff. I'm guessing Bricolage will be good since I love
Cujo's Adventures in Foam.
Oh, I also picked up Immerse 002. Great design and reviews and interesting
interviews (the guy who makes ambient music with abandoned telegraph wires
was particularly cool). I'll have to read some of the stuff from the first
issue on the web, and I am looking forward to more of this.
Have fun and dont argue too much in here
Peace...
inphlux | prephix7