Bilious Paths

1. Johnny Mastricht

2. Meinheld

3. Siege of Antioch

4. Octelcogopod

5. On/Off

6. Silk Ties

7. Aec Merlin

8. Grape Nut Beats, Pt. 1

9. Grape Nut Beats, Pt. 2

10. Mouse Bums

11. Fall of Antioch

12. My Mengegus

Editorial Reviews

From URB Magazine
Trying to describe the ebb and flow of a Mike Paradinas album (and most things on his consistently inventive Planet Mu label) can be an exhausting task, such is the frenetic mish-mash of styles and tempos barrelling past. Bilious Paths kicks off with mutant 2-step ("Johnny Mastricht"). It progresses onto "Meinheld’s" warped quasi-jungle and by the third tune you’ve completely lost track. No matter — µ-Ziq music isn’t designed to be an easy listen. Stick with Bilious Paths and an inner beauty gradually makes itself apparent, seeping surreptitiously through the sturm und drang. Whisper it softly, but there are some lovely tunes on here. Meanwhile, there’s also the epileptic son of b-boy hip-hop ("Silk Ties"), scary-assed gabba-techno ("Grape Nut Beats") and, on "Fall of Antioch," the sound of a tramp falling over into some dustbins.

Simon Hawkins

Tracks:

Johnny Mastricht
Meinheld
Siege of Antioch
Octelcogopod
On/Off
Silk Ties
Aec Merlin
Grape Nut Beats, Pt. 1
Grape Nut Beats, Pt. 2
Mouse Bums
Fall of Antioch
My Mengegus

Customer Reviews:

Cervical Subluxation.......2007-05-18

The INFORMEL art movement (1948-1962) was based upon violent gestures (slashed, torn, burned canvases) to break away from conventional abstract art. Thus from its cover art to the music we find "Bilious Paths" has evolved into a new expression for Muziq. An abrasive angrier more urban CD it holds a powerful irrational expression. Wanting to move onto new grooves yet afraid to let go of that signature Muziq sound. No pretty melodies to guide you here. Instead electronic mayhem: shouts, scrapings and dense music shocks arranged to a charged geometric disorder. A commendable ambition on Paradinas' part. But indeed difficult for the listener to hold onto. It makes one wonder what fantastic music is in order if he were to just let go and dive into improvised expressionism.

Kinda boring........2007-05-10

I heard some clips from this CD, and thought "Sweet, Drukqs with some drum n' bass influences. That's awesome!" Actually, that's not the case at all.

Occasionally, you do hear what COULD have been with this album, but it ends up being...kind of minimalistic. One or two tracks are catchy, but there's really no point in buying the whole album.

Earsplitting music from one of IDM's innovators.......2006-08-10

One of the great things about an artist that can rise above the glut of one-hit-wonders is that they have enough time to really explore their sound; their musical style can evolve over time and the listeners get to go along for the ride. Since Tango N' Vectif showed up in 1993, u-ziq has been creating some innovative and frequently great music over the course of seven CDs. Now we arrive at Bilious Paths (2003), his first release on his own Planet u label.

This CD is surely different, but it's by no means out of nowhere. Each track is clearly u-ziq through and through. Perhaps due to his release of Bilious Paths on his own independent label, a sense of artistic freedom is exercised. This could possibly explain other reviewers who felt the release was uneven. Many styles are visited with some track featuring near Autechre-level complexity and others showing a clear influence from Venetian Snares.

Bilious Paths isn't easy listening. The little melodies that used to be the focus of u-ziq tracks are, if present at all, buried deep beneath layers of abrasive beats and noise. There is far more dissonance on this release than any of the previous albums, but that's in no way a criticism. I don't think u-ziq ever produced anything that could really be considered "catchy" in the sense of an immediate pop hook. Philosophically, this album follows his tradition perfectly. These songs don't work like that. One listen isn't sufficient enough to discover all of the song's treasures. If u-ziq released material that was so simple that it could be easily understood with only a casual listen, he wouldn't be where he is today.

Bilious Paths is an album that rewards multiple listens. It won't get old fast, as there are always new sounds that weren't heard the previous time. It may not suit your personal taste, but it can't be seen as objectively "bad". The album is full of new and exciting ideas. I would definitely place it in the top ten albums of 2003. Enjoy the cacophony and groove to the jagged beats. This is a guttural album of amazing electronic music.

A predictable letdown from a once-great musician.......2005-02-15

Let me cut to the chase. This album is torturous. µ-ziq's days of distinct, upbeat melodies and creative, head-moving rhythms are gone. Unfortunately, I could see this one coming. For some crazy reason, I went ahead and bought it.

First off, let me just say that µ-ziq was my favorite artist for a while. I ran the main µ-ziq website on the Internet and I had almost every release of his. Tango n Vectif, Bluff Limbo, In Pine Effect, Brace Yourself, Lunatic Harness, and even Urmur Bile Trax all had their moments of beauty and intensity and seemed to coincide with various moments of enlightenment or emotion in my life.

Then came Royal Astronomy. Not a horrible album by any means, but not the same Mike Paradinas. At this point, he'd started his venture in his own record company, Planet Mu, and it seemed to distract him. The album sounds thrown together and unabashedly sells itself out with ridiculous gimmicks, namely the sampled vocals. Kazumi's vocals are okay (although she once got pissed off at the µ-ziq club because someone wanted to know what she was actually saying), but the sample on "The Motorbike Track" is inexplicable. What is it? Is that supposed to be an expression of Mike Paradinas or a sincere attempt at crafting a good tune? Neither makes sense, but I would have to guess that the first is more accurate. Mike himself admitted that the intro to "The Hwicci Song" is a rip-off of Bjork's "Hunter". And µ-ziq's humor seems to far from the days of subtle and twisted slams on the The Spice Girls; now, he reverts to childish track names like "Carpet Muncher".

Then came Bilious Paths. I really have very little to say about this one. I literally don't enjoy one single track. Mike seemed to get caught up in electronic music for electronic music's sake (i.e., trying to come up with the latest, craziest sounds and beats, regardless of how song-like they end up once the editing's done).

I think this is one of the worst electronic albums I've ever heard. Of course, that's just my opinion. Listen to the clips and see what you think...

This is the disc Mouse on Mars wants to make . . ........2003-12-12

unfortunately µ-ziq beat them to it! 'grape nut beats part 2' sounds like a remix of MoM's 'actionist respoke' and is 'mouse bums' a slight dig at them? After all it has been two years since their last release of new material. Like MoM's 'idiology', 'bilious paths' is a chock full of static filled drill'n'bass, chopped up vocals and calming melodies. Thankfully, 'bilious paths' is a far cry from the classical string orchestrations of 'royal astronomy'. That's a very good thing because this is absolutely brilliant!!

'on/off' is like a messed up take on Prince from its funky drill'n'bass beats to its chopped up r&b vocals with their naughty refrain of 'Take them panties off.' I like the counter parts of 'siege of antioch' and 'fall of antioch'. The former is an exuberant assault of drill'n'bass, the latter a dirge of distortion. 'aec merlin' is a soothing moment to the disc, about as soothing as downtempo drill'n'bass can get and 'meinheld' is an awesome drum'n'bass workout.