µ-Ziq – Challenge Me Foolish - 2018 Electronic Brks New Wave Synth IDM 2LP
µ-Ziq – Challenge Me Foolish
Label:
Planet Mu – ZIQ400, Planet Mu – ZIQ 400
Format:
2 × Vinyl, LP, Album
Country:
Europe
Released:
13 Apr 2018
Genre:
Electronic, Pop
Style:
New Wave, Synth-pop, IDM
Tracklist
A1 Inclement
A2 Undone
A3 Challenge Me Foolish
Featuring – Kazumi
B1 Bassbins
B2 Robin Hood Gate
B3 Perhaps
B4 Durian
Featuring – Kazumi
C1 Ceiling
C2 Lexicon
Featuring – Kazumi
C3 Perfame
C4 Playbox
D1 Sad Inlay
Featuring – Kazumi
D2 Peek Freans
D3- DoDaDu
Featuring – Kazumi
Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Planet Mu Records Ltd.
Copyright (c) – Planet Mu Records Ltd.
Published By – Planet Mu
Mastered At – Ten Eight Seven Mastering
Lacquer Cut At – Ten Eight Seven Mastering
Credits
Artwork – Tyrone Williams (9)
Design – Fabian Harb, Joseph Shakespeare
Lacquer Cut By – Beau*
Mastered By – Beau Thomas
Notes
Printed inner sleeves.
( pitchfork) ' Challenge Me Foolish could be considered the third entry in this unofficial trilogy. Where RY30 Trax dates back to 1995 and Aberystwyth Marine covers the two years between Lunatic Harness and Royal Astronomy, Foolish culls tracks from 1998 and 1999, right as he was finishing Astronomy and Planet Mu was taking form. It was a heady time for Paradinas, who was drawing on rapid-fire IDM, breakbeats, and even English folk music. Unlike James, Paradinas also mixed in a hefty dose of American hip-hop, weaving all of it together at a furious pace. He recently said that he recorded as much as he could in those days, often a track or two a day, and a sense of redundancy shows. The wincing Ren Faire melodies from Astronomy (like “Gruber’s Mandolin”) return as Paradinas pulls the green tights on again for tracks like “Robin Hood Gate” and “Perfame,” and 20 years in mothballs hasn’t made them any less annoying.
But in the intervening years, breakbeats have become fashionable again, so a dusted-off track like “Undone” doesn’t sound quite as dated, with Paradinas playfully bouncing between tympani boom, percolator bip, and dramatic background strings. The snare drum swagger of “Playbox” reminds us that he always had a knack for balancing between IDM and hip-hop breaks. But “Bassbins” also shows that the more aggro and cartoonish take on it (which anticipated the rise of breakcore) remains out of fashion for good reason.
The Japanese vocalist Kazumi, who featured on the Royal Astronomy highlights “The Fear” and “Goodbye, Goodbye,” reappears on five of the album’s 14 tracks. Paradinas stretches and warps her voice into an array of shapes—though as is his wont, even that becomes overkill. For the drill ‘n’ bass dizziness of “Lexicon,” Kazumi’s coos get buried under a rockslide of goofball drums and chipmunk-fast vocal chirps. Same when he speeds up the “Amen” break, only to dump it atop her dulcet vocals on “Sad Inlay.” But Paradinas is more playful in chopping up her doo-dahs on “DoDaDu,” and the loungey “Durian” imagines what a µ-Ziq remix of Stereolab or Pizzicato Five might have sounded like back in the late ’90s. On the title track, Kazumi’s voice echoes against a spare, queasy backdrop, for once not overcrowding the song’s space. It’s a rare instance of Paradinas exercising restraint—and all the more effective for it."
| Condition | New |
|---|---|
| Format | 2LP |
| Label | Planet Mu |
| Color | Black |
