Customer Reviews

Urmur Bile Trax

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I don't know why, but of the five or so reviews i have seen for this album on Amazon, none of them mention the fact that this CD is really well produced! Even if you don't like the tracks, which are excellent, just check out the mix!! Go on, turn it up, its okay! This CD was made for listening at a higher volume as the mix for the most part is very subtle and deserves closer attention. I find this CD to be just as interesting and absorbing as any other u-ziq CD out there. Bravo to Mike P. for launching into yet another new musical genre and blasting it into the next level!
As far as the music itself goes - well, it's 2002, and I still haven't heard anything quite like it, which means that this CD is still innovative, fresh, dancable, funky, and just plain WICKED!!!

Well, I'll admit I have only given this album about 5 GOOD listens. But I find that this album is nowhere near the interesting, evolving melodic soundscapes that I have come to expect from U-Ziq. I can't imagine why Amazon customers have rated this CD as U-Ziq's best. It is good, but FAR from his best. It is essentially two EPs worth of extra, leftover music from Mike Paradinas crammed together to make 1 'album'.

These songs strike me as too abrassive, and are less complex and melodic than U-Ziq's other releases. If you are looking for intelligent beats, interesting sounds and great melodies, check out Lunatic Harness or In Pine Effect first.

While I'm at it, I will also suggest Aphex Twin's releases I Care Because You do, the Richard D. James Album, and Selected Ambient Works 89-92. These are all worth 5 stars, as is U-Ziq's Lunatic Harness and In Pine Effect.

Originally this was released as two EPs, and for good reason. As an LP, this can be a pretty intense listening experience, at times overwhelming even. Mike Paradinas takes his drum n' bass influences and creates his own wonderfully twisted aural tribute here. Some tracks on here could use some editing and some room to breathe, however there are a few that are some real standouts. M5 Saabtone is perhaps the most sublime and "laid back" track on this release, with a classic-era IDM meets D & B bass build throughout. The Hydrozone is one of my favorites from Mike P. - a spazzy, dubby breakbeat workout, with some gorgeous atmospherics and brilliant breakdowns and builds. Another all time favorite, "1 Hip 007" is a jaw-dropping thirteen-minute composition with some of the sweetest rhythmic transitions around - it's a real audio adventure, this one, with speed freak adrenaline-fueled industrial beats, clever, playful polyrhythms, rich, color-saturated melodies and plenty of peaks and valleys - a true feast for the ears and some serious fun. So, all in all, there are some somewhat decent, if not forgettable tracks mixed in there with some alarmingly good material, which makes this double EP worth having in your collection.

I had actually recieved "Urmur Bile" by mistake (there was a mix-up and i was meant to get Lunatic Harness...oh well), and read the reviews before giving it a listen for some reason. The reviews rated this pretty low, so i expected it to be boring, slow and repeatative.

Through a first quick listen, i didn't like it much...i skipped through tracks, being impatient with the lengths of the songs. BUT, i gave it a second (and proper) try, ignoring my previous expectations, and got into it straight away! Some tracks are very long and a couple of them i don't like as much, BUT songs like "Let Let" and "Hornet" are great material, and the length of songs work. The experimentation he's done and the beats he's put together work great. This is the first i've heard from u-Ziq, but i'm treating this album just like any album out there that i just pick up and listen...it has FANTASTIC sound experimentations. I highly recommend it to people who are open minded and love a wild mix of upbeat experimental sounds.

There are a lot of things in life that people either love or hate. This album is one of them. I happen to love it. It contains hints of Mu-Ziq's signature style, but is different enough to be intriguing. It is more drill'n'bass than drum'n'bass by all accounts, but not so much that you can't listen to the whole album in one sitting. Like most of Mike Paradinas' work, hauting melodies can be found buried in every song. Mike also makes good use of his broad palette of sounds (ranging from electronic, futuristic bleeps to warm, analog jazz samples) to give each track great texture.

Urmur Bile is an experimental album, and is different from Mu-Ziq's other works. That said, I think Mike should be praised for not limiting his stylistic boundaries, and for jumping into a whole new music form with so much style and confidence.

Well done!

Perfect experimental drum and bass or free electronic jazz with psychedelic breakbeats!

-very different -worth getting -drill and bass much like RDJ album but with Mu-ziq style. -#2,#6,#8 all unbelievable tracks.

this cd is not inventive or creative; the tracks sound like paradinas' efforts at making straight-ahead club tracks that didn't work because he was not inspired. i'm sure he made these tracks in about two hours at the most, and without the aid of a computer which would at least have produced some interesting sounds. many of the repetitive sounds are not only boring but quite annoying. this guy's other material is far better, yes; but so is the material of better artists working within the same general area (as all his stuff, not just this cd of course); such as aphex twin, squarepusher, speedy j, autechre, datach'i...i picked up this cd for $4 in a discount bin, and sold it a couple weeks later. (the obligatory annoying personal story that's in too many of these 'reviews'. true, though).

this cd is not inventive or creative; the tracks sound like paradinas' efforts at making straight-ahead club tracks that didn't work because he was not inspired. i'm sure he made these tracks in about two hours at the most, and without the aid of a computer which would at least have produced some interesting sounds. many of the repetitive sounds are not only boring but quite annoying. this guy's other material is far better, yes; but so is the material of better artists working within the same general area (as all his stuff, not just this cd of course); such as aphex twin, squarepusher, speedy j, autechre, datach'i...i picked up this cd for $4 in a discount bin, and sold it a couple weeks later. (the obligatory annoying personal story that's in too many of these 'reviews'. true, though).

this cd is not inventive or creative; the tracks sound like paradinas' efforts at making straight-ahead club tracks that didn't work because he was not inspired. i'm sure he made these tracks in about two hours at the most, and without the aid of a computer which would at least have produced some interesting sounds. many of the repetitive sounds are not only boring but quite annoying. this guy's other material is far better, yes; but so is the material of better artists working within the same general area (as all his stuff, not just this cd of course); such as aphex twin, squarepusher, speedy j, autechre, datach'i...i picked up this cd for $4 in a discount bin, and sold it a couple weeks later. (the obligatory annoying personal story that's in too many of these 'reviews'. true, though).