Log #79 - Up, Bustle and U-Ziq

What a treat I have for you this week! Two amazing artists who you've probably never heard of. One goes under the name μ-Ziq which is Greek for Mu-sic (Ed. You sure about that? No) and the other are known collectively as Up, Bustle and Out! Read on to discover more...

It's Something Called IDM

I think it must be both cool and risky to have a name that not many can spell, or remember, or pronounce. Where would your records be filed in the store and how would you search online? Anyway μ-Ziq's will turn up if you search on u-ziq or mu-ziq and you will discover his real name is Mike Paradinas and he is a DJ and electronic music pioneer from London. His sound has been described as "drill 'n' bass" and is closest to Aphex Twin, Squarepusher or Autechre. However like the best of these types of artists he is actually unique and he has a sound all of his own which I would describe as melodic and even classical in a way (with heavy beats).

Intelligent dance music (IDM) is a form of electronic music that emerged in the early 1990s, characterized by an abstract or "cerebral" sound better suited for home listening than dancing.

I have noted that the first of his two offerings here, Lunatic Harness from 1997, has been granted the honour of 27th best IDM album of all time. What is IDM? Google knows... it stands for Intelligent Dance Music which come to think of it is actually quite a good description for this sort of music. Is it dance music and is it intelligent? I think yes on both counts although I would tend to agree with the definition above that if pushed I would opt for a home listening appraisal with plenty of foot tapping and head nodding if not full on dancey jigging. It does sound fantastic loud though!

The ranking, courtesy of Pitchfork, actually contains a pretty good review of the album:

With Lunatic Harness (his fourth album in five years), μ-Ziq struck the perfect balance between manic drum programming and gorgeous songs. Lunatic Harness gobbles up the beats of the day—jungle’s chaotic drums, hip-hop’s beatboxing brio, the cerebral spasms of “braindance”—and weds it to lullaby-like melodicism. 

Royal Astronomy came two years later and like Lunatic there's a helluva lot to take in across a range of different styles that nevertheless retain the Paradinas character.

Mike Paradinas - you wouldn't recognise him in the street

It's not easy to pick up his albums so maybe worth waiting on ebay for one to come up although it seems you can currently get Royal Astronomy on amazon for a reasonable fee >>

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1. Up, Bustle and Out - Urban Evacuation

2. Up, Bustle and Out - Rebel Radio Master Sessions Vol.1

3. Up, Bustle and Out - Rebel Radio Master Sessions Vol.2

4. Up, Bustle and Out - Light 'Em Up, Blow 'Em Out

5. μ-Ziq - Royal Astronomy

6. μ-Ziq - Lunatic Harness

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It's All About The Collective (and the Drummer)

The first thing that strikes you about Up, Bustle and Out, is the incredible drumming. This runs like a thread through whatever type of music they are producing. Here we have reggae dub with Urban Evacuation, Cuban music with the Rebel Radio sessions, and world dance rhythms with Indian and Spanish flavours in Light Em Up...

The drumming is funky, sharp and very live. It sounds like the kit is right there in your front room.

A drum kit in your front room

The group also manage, despite the emphasis on rhythm and beats, to sound very authentic in whatever they are trying to do. So the Cuban albums for example sound both very modern and yet traditional too. This is far more than just world music with heavy drum and bass overdubs.

l to r, Up, Bustle and Out

Actually I'd say the Cuban sessions are the best albums out of the ones I've heard. Just occasionally some of the other albums, particularly the extensive 16 track Light Em Up straddle too many styles to be truly cohesive - jazz, trip hop, break beat, flamenco and Indian!

It's pretty hard to find out anything about the group - barely a photo exists on google and the musicians go under names like Senors Roody and Cuffy. It seems they are based in Bristol and are a loose collective of musicians, producers, and DJs, signed to the excellent Ninja Tune label. I expect they all have day jobs too, probably primary school teachers or something by day, and DJs by night.

Start with this one >>

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Log #15 - Enofield - The Differing Paths of Two Iconic Soloists from the 1970s

Hey And Away We Go
Through The Grass Cross The Snow
Big Brown Beastie
Big Brown Face
I'd Rather Be With You
Than Flying Through Space

Some groove and beats this week with three compilations (two from the excellent Ninja Tunes label), world beats from the brilliantly named Up Bustle and Out (also from the Ninja label), and a DJ set of funk groove from Nightmares on Wax.

But the no. 1 album this week is Mike Oldfield's Ommadawn and it's cover showing Oldfield as a rather Christ like figure graces the head of this blog post. Of course it is mostly instrumental with Oldfield playing nearly all instruments himself, as he famously did on his breakthrough album Tubular Bells - an album that apparently launched the Virgin company (and one of those classics present in every household, although strangely not mine).

The album, his third, was another attempt to follow the template and success of Tubular Bells, after the previous Hergest Ridge. Each side long piece contains folk themes and Irish reel flavours. The lyrics above are from a short chant like folk song at the end of side two, also known as On Horseback. At a point during the second track comes some lovely bubbling keyboard sounding just like contemporary Genesis. Like Tubular Bells which was the subject of two sequels I have learnt that Oldfield's latest album is a sequel to Ommadawn and will be released this month with the title Return to Ommadawn. Like classic films it's rarely a good plan to revisit but who knows.  Apart from a hit in the early 80s with Moonlight Shadow and an appearance at the monumental 2012 Olympics opening ceremony Mike Oldfield seems to be one of those artists forever associated with the early 70s and specifically a debut album he recorded in 1973 when he was only 20. I often think how strange it must feel for an artist with a 40 year career to have achieved his peak with only his first or second album (a fate common to many).

1. Mike Oldfield - Ommadawn
2. Brian Eno - Apollo
3. Xen Ninja Cuts Compilation - CD. 1
4. Up Bustle and Out - Light 'em Up Blow 'em Out
5. Nightmares on Wax - Late Night Tales
6. Sounds of the New West Compilation

On the other hand Brian Eno seems to have maintained ample contemporary relevance and street cred throughout his career which also began in the early 70s, with Roxy Music. He quickly tired of his role as a glam rock icon relaunching himself as a solo writer (he never refers to himself as a musician), ambient music pioneer, music producer and digital artist (like many pop stars of the time including Roxy bandmate Bryan Ferry he did go to Art School).

Brian Eno's beautiful 77 Million Paintings

Here in Brighton we were treated to a Brian Eno residency during the 2010 Brighton Festival and were able to sample his artwork, installations, music promotions, talks, and a rare live performance of his Apollo album.

Every astronaut was allowed to take one cassette of their favourite music. All but one took country and western. They were cowboys exploring a new frontier, this one just happened to be in space. We worked the piece around the idea of zero-gravity country music.

Apollo is a beautiful album of stillness and relaxation, and includes the gorgeous Ascent theme. Accompanied by footage of the Apollo missions the live experience was transcendental.  The original recording featured Daniel Lanois on pedal steel guitar (BJ Cole in the live performance) giving some of the tracks a country twinge. It sounds a bit of an unusual marriage but the guitar blends magnificently with the otherworldly synthesizers.

The Earthrise shot from Apollo 11

For a "non-musician" Eno certainly has an amazing ear for melody. Did you know he is also responsible for the original Windows start up jingle? Imagine the commission rights on that!:

The thing from the agency said, "We want a piece of music that is inspiring, universal, blah-blah, da-da-da, optimistic, futuristic, sentimental, emotional," this whole list of adjectives, and then at the bottom it said "and it must be 3.25 seconds long."

Up Bustle and Out are a "collective" from Bristol. I think a collective in this context means a bunch of session musicians who come together in various formats around a central core of regulars (rather like my social cricket team that has a mailing list near a hundred but only requires eleven at a time). Their remit is definitely world music with an infectious dance beat edge demonstrated through forays into flamenco, cuban (get their magnificent Master Sessions volumes), and reggae music, with heavy doses of hip hop (or trip hop, not sure of the difference). Certainly the energetic drummer(s) earn their keep. They are pretty underground - the blurry photo below being the only one I could find of the wider group!

Some of the Up Bustle and Out crowd

The Nightmares on Wax compilation is from the Late Night Tales series. The songs including some well known classics from Dusty Springfield, Tony Allen and Quincy Jones, are down tempo and blended nicely.

The Ninja CDs (x3) showcases the best of the label with tracks from the aforementioned Up Bustle and Out, Mr Scruff, Coldcut, Luke Vibert, Kid Koala, DJ Vadim, The Herbaliser, Funki Porcini, DJ Food, The Cinematic Orchestra and Hexstatic.  I used to live with a DJ - practically his whole collection was Ninja label so I had a comprehensive introduction to these sounds.

I find these sorts of compilations strangely double equally well as party music or dinner party music. Maybe its to do with their carefully sequenced balance of tempo, dynamics and mood.

Lastly a revisit to an excellent free CD I received on the cover of Uncut magazine which I've mentioned before. The original compilation appeared in 1998 and was obviously a success as subsequent volumes have followed. This CD introduced me to many excellent Americana bands such as The Handsome Family, Lambchop, Calexico and Willard Grant Conspiracy.

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