In Pine Effect - µ-Ziq (1995)
Vacation time: I’m on a family road trip, so I’m leveraging my large backlog of un-Substacked blog posts. This one was originally posted Apr 22, 2022. It’s been edited for clarity, spelling, and whether I still feel that way. Go to the original to find lots more music posts and better linking between them.
This was from a section I did of things I found in the old CMJ New Music Monthly magazine and accompanying CD. Before you could just go listen to music on the Internet, it was hard to discover new things. For several years CMJ New Music Monthly had my back. It was full of reviews. The main thing that stuck with me about those reviews was a style of criticism that still influences me heavily: one of assuming there’s something worthwhile in everything. They would use the phrase “recommended if you like” as a way to place a record in a context other than just the reviewer’s tastes. The magazine came poly-bagged with a CD that had 20 or so tracks from new albums on it. Between the reviews and the CDs, I found so much music I loved from that era thanks to CMJ.
That’s the Greek letter µ (mu). Get it?! Mu-Ziq?! HUH?! OK, just didn’t want you left out…
This was one of the first IDM (or at least all-electronic) records I really grooved on. I love the contrasts between the smooth synth sounds and samples and the scuzzy distortion on the drums. I love the whiplash beats, and the melodic synth parts that rein it in and keep it from running off the rails. I love the weird grooves he finds and rides in places, that don’t seem like they should be so inviting but they just suck you in. I love basically everything about it, if I’m being honest.
Tracks I Liked
Roy Castle - Not subtle, but goes hard. The dragged beat on the ride cymbal when the drums are first getting established is wild until it starts to fit in with everything else.
Phiesope - Another album that will appear here someday is Kristin Hersh’s Hips and Makers. (edit: I was right) This track is built on a sample from that album’s Your Ghost, which is what made me notice it on the CMJ comp. It’s also a fantastic 90s IDM song, one of my very favorites.
Problematic - almost poppy in its enthusiasm
