Inspired by my recent purchase of "Royal Astronomy" my dreams last
night were particularly strange...
<DREAM>
I was walking down some street in chicago, when I encountered a
record store I'd never been in before. It looked like a converted
BaskinRobbins but i went in anyway. Boy was this place stocked. So I make
my way to the "mu" section (yes, there was one) and to my suprise I
found "Mike Paradinas presents: Karl Orff's 'Carmina Burana'"! The cover
featured a picture of mike painted silver with funnels over his ears and a
silver bucket on his head, giving the "thumbs up" sign. There was also a
picture of R2D2 in the background. The fine print said "Original
Production by Karl Orff. Beats and Additional Production by Mike
Paradinas. R2D2 noises courtesy of the man inside the can. 1999 RePHLeX
records." But, like all dreams, I failed to realize how cool this was and
didn't buy it so no one ask me what it sounded like. And then it turns out
that mike was doing a little tour to promote his new album, and would be
playing an in-store show, but I missed that too. doh.
</DREAM>
Pretty odd dream. As far as "Royal Astronomy" is concerned; it is
by far the most comercially appealing release mike has put out to date,
complete with vocals. However, that really hasn't kept me from getting
into it. This album is one of the few IDM release of late that has been
predominantly melody, rather than beat, based. Something that is rather
refreshing. I also like the fact that most of this album is slightly
tongue in cheek. People have been complaining about the 2step and amen
breaks, but mike uses them well and manages to poke fun at d'n'b culture
(i.e. "keep on fakin' the funk"). No DSP FX? C'mon, this
isn't a schematic release, just mike, his DX, and his sampler makin' some
damn good tunes. My favorite cut: 'slice' (no pun intended).
-andrew
$buy it$