Search - U-Ziq :: Lunatic Harness

Starts brilliant, ends weak

William Whyte | Somerville, MA | 05/22/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The first four or so tracks on this album are absolutely essential -- the spazzy xylophone and "ha!"-ing kung-fu girl on "Brace Yourself Jason", the churchy organ and demented drums of "Hasty Boom Alert", the off-kilter swagger of "Mushroom Compost", the almost-dancefloor-anthem of the title track. The first two tracks in particular are strongly reminiscent of an insanely breakbeaty take on In Sides-era Orbital, and that's high praise. Unfortunately, the inventiveness is too much to keep up for an entire album and the last few tracks are frankly dull. Still worth four stars for the quality of the start. Mind-expanding, infectious, enjoyable, and full of things to come back to."

One of the best albums of all time!!!!

JLS | USA | 07/22/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I know many people like to compare Mike Paradinas to Richard D. James (Aphex Twin) and Tom Jenkinson (Squarepusher), but Paradinas has far surpassed both of his contemporaries with this album. Whereas James like to put emphasis on the melody while backing them with complicated rythms and Jenkinson puts the emphasis on rythm with the melodies backing everything else up (usually), Paradinas takes the best from both worlds to create a unique, highly diverse, intricate, and emotional album. There has never been an album of this quality before Lunatic Harness and there will probably never be another one for a very long time.Every single track on Lunatic Harness embraces some emotion or memory or dream and pushes it past its extremes. In each song there are several different melodies running together, overlapping, and complementing each other, and there, at the base of it all, are highly complex drum patterns, running at high speeds that whisk you through your fantasies as if on a tour of a magical kingdom as seen from the window of a speeding freight train made entirely of glass. The compositional structure and style of each song is very hard to pinpoint. It is as if the musical genres of classical, jazz, rock, and the blues all decided to have a roman orgy and have a single love child. Paradinas also has a natural talent when it comes to dynamics. At times the music whispers its secrets into your ears, telling of love and sorrow and loss. At other times, the music swells to a thundering frenzy where one can learn of agony, fear, and despair. I am sure that there are many people that will disagree with me. I am sure that many people will say that this is nothing more than Nintendo music on crack (a term which has been used before in reviews on Mu-ziq). I am not disagreeing with that statement. I am just saying that this Nintendo music on crack has quite a bit of meaning, emotion, and complexity behind it that people should observe. In my opinion, this is the Paradinas' aural Citizen Kane."

ONE OF THE BEST

Handel | Hanover | 06/17/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"


Really is one of the best electronic albums of the 1990's.



You can listen to this from start to finish as many times as you like and never tire of it



As the years go by "Brace Yourself Jason" becomes funkier, "Midwinter Log" more melodic, "Catkin And Teasel" more demented and the title track "Lunatic Harness" even funnier.



A rare, warm, wickedly funny and FRIENDLY drill n bass album.



Makes a perfect pair with Aphex Twin's "Richard D James" cd.



There's also a collection of "offcuts" called "Brace Yourself" which is interesting but nowhere near as good as "Lunatic Harness"



If you're new to u-ziq start with this album.







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