u-ziq – Lunatic Harness – Review

u-ziq

Lunatic Harness (Astralwerks/Caroline)
by Bob Ham

Ah, the electronica scourge continues…. With the big happenings surrounding the scene (big high-profile spots on Lollapalooza and an actual #1 album in the bag), one gets left with a feeling of “What now?” Who will be the next young buck to step up to the plate for the Synthesized All-Stars and swing for the fences? Allow me to introduce a quiet mainstay at the electronica farm club, µ-Ziq (that’s pronounced mew-zik or Mike Paradinas).

After releasing a slew of albums and EPs over the last four years (the last two relatively highly-noticed works being his 1995 album of remixed versions of Auteurs tunes and a collaboration with Mr. Aphex Twin released in 1996), the µ-ster has finally put out Lunatic Harness, a full-length disc in the midst of the craze of hipster cred revolving around his musical bag of choice. And what a fine disc it surely is. Mr. Paradinas again mounts the skittering horse of drum ‘n’ bass and handles that steed for a beautiful 70 minutes.

Now, any good or halfway-decent electronica record is purely just danceable (which is not a bad thing and is not to say that this one is just a droner), but what makes this a great record is that it’s a good challenging listen.

To keep with the aforementioned baseball metaphor, the leader of µ-school doesn’t just hit you with any four-to-the-floor breakbeat fastballs, rather he keeps going for the outside with some great curveballs, but always managing to hit the strike zone. For example, listen to the great track “Catkin and Teasel.” It starts off with a nice simple 4/4 drumbeat which is promptly thrown into the blender and frappéd until it is a basic mess of scratchy rhythms as the main-µ works his magic with the synths and samplers. Or you can take in the radical reconstructing of a great human beatbox sample on the title track which would probably make Doug E. Fresh’s head spin. Those aren’t the only highlights of this massive piece of work that looks to keep the kids shakin’ their groove thangs and workin’ their synapses as well.

So, whether the µ-meister will get the big fat spleef of popular culture recognition passed his way so he can take a nice long drag, will have to be determined later. But that’s really all up to you, the consumer, now, isn’t it?
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