Title: Mu-Ziq: Bluff Limbo
Tracks: 16 Tracks
Label: Rephlex Cat 018i
Format: 2x12" vinyl promo (1000 pressed)
Release: September '94
Another hard review. Its really hard to know what to say when what
you're hearing defies everything you've heard before. If any one word
came close to describing Mu-Ziq, it would be MAD. Though not complete
madness, as this madness has a certain logic behind it - making it a sort
of organised chaos. I think this excerpt from Tango N' Vectif fits nicely,
part of the Mu-Ziq manifesto:
"The cheerful melodies they have composed are served up with an
accompaniment that is a fascinating stream of tapping sounds, hisses,
bubbles, bumps, rattles, squeaks, whistles, moans, sighs, twitters,
clanks, muffled explosions and unmuffled explosions. This may appear to
be a cosy littlee chaos, but these works are in fact as highly organised
as anything conceived by Schonberg"
The best I can do, is to tell you what I can hear. I think the main
appeal of his releases so far is that they span such a huge bag of
influences - from jazz, to funk, to ambient, to breaks, to raw noise.
In other words, this is *not* your standard 303/909 workout. Mu-Ziq uses
the sounds of trombones, guitars, and basic percussion within his
compositions and somehow makes it all fit together so beautifully.
However, the feeling throughout is still electric - some of it incredibly
raw. It is, therefore, the perfect sequel to Tango N' Vectif - taking off
immediately where we departed last time. A few tracks that particularly
stand out are the first one on A1 which utilises huge amounts of attack
and distortion, similar to that used to Auqeam on the previous release.
Another track begins with what sounds like my 15 year-old brother
attempting to play the bass guitar - only to be surrounded by cosmic
noises and bubbles forming a surreal ambient sound.
Trust me - you haven't heard anything quite like this before. If you
liked Tango, then you'll like this. If you weren't so sure, then it may
be just a little to weird. We'll end with another excerpt from the Mu-Ziq
manifesto:
"On this occasion, the capable pushers of switches are Mu-Ziq, an
imaginative young duo, one of whom plays the Double Bass. The other is a
noted arranger and conductor, although in this project he prefers to
direct an ensemble composed of a sine-wave generator, square wave
generator, saw-tooth generator, pulse generator, noise generator,
multi-vibrator, band-pass filter, and a ring modulator, with the
occasional percussive obligato produced with the aid of some small metal
bars and a piano"
If anything exemplifies Rephlex's mission of breaking the monotony and
putting out music you won't hear anywhere else, its this. Mu-Ziq makes
Richard James seem almost sane.
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