quoted 4 lines I checked out the Mu-Ziq web pages today and was surprised to find out>I checked out the Mu-Ziq web pages today and was surprised to find out
>that he is also Kid Spatula and Jake Slazenger. I started thinking and I
>wondered what you people think about artists using multiple pseudonyms --
>why do they do it? Boredom? Fright? I was just curious...
Based upon what I have heard Mike and other pseudonym-prone artists like
L.Vibert speak about in interviews when queried on the issue, as well as
evidence from my own ears, artists seem to use different names than usual
when bringing out works that exhibit significantly different styles.
Slazenger differs significantly in compositional technique, degree of
levity, timbral variety, et cetera from Mu-ziq (esp. the earlier stuff like
Tango, which is very "dark" in some places), and Spatula, despite the fact
that several songs on "Spatula Freak" had similar titles to things already
released as both Mu-ziq and Slazenger, is different in the sense that
minimalist technique is used more extensively (otherwise, it sounds a bit
like a cross between Slazenger and later Mu-ziq material).
Aphex Twin is similar, with respect to differences between Aphex and
Polygon Window; Polygon tended to sound softer, like Ambient Works 85-92,
but more dance oriented. AFX stuff sounds basically the same as Twin,
though, so I don't see the need for distinction there (AFX could be
pronounced "aphex" anyway).
Then there is Luke Vibert, whose Plug stuff differs from Wagon Christ in
the fact that one is jungle, the other is not. The other project, Vibert
and Simmons, sounds more electro, and radically different from WC or Plug.
So there are three (related) examples of how multiple pseudonyms might
prove useful to artists who like to make a very eclectic range of tunes. In
this light, I think Subtropic should be something else (the Throb ep sounds
WAY different from Homebrew... hmm).
Now I'll leave it to others to discuss how people like Pete Namlook fit
into this...