From Andrew Smith Sent Fri, Jul 30th 1999, 17:35
Inspired by my recent purchase of "Royal Astronomy" my dreams last night were particularly strange... <DREAM> I was walking down some street in chicago, when I encountered a record store I'd never been in before. It looked like a converted BaskinRobbins but i went in anyway. Boy was this place stocked. So I make my way to the "mu" section (yes, there was one) and to my suprise I found "Mike Paradinas presents: Karl Orff's 'Carmina Burana'"! The cover featured a picture of mike painted silver with funnels over his ears and a silver bucket on his head, giving the "thumbs up" sign. There was also a picture of R2D2 in the background. The fine print said "Original Production by Karl Orff. Beats and Additional Production by Mike Paradinas. R2D2 noises courtesy of the man inside the can. 1999 RePHLeX records." But, like all dreams, I failed to realize how cool this was and didn't buy it so no one ask me what it sounded like. And then it turns out that mike was doing a little tour to promote his new album, and would be playing an in-store show, but I missed that too. doh. </DREAM> Pretty odd dream. As far as "Royal Astronomy" is concerned; it is by far the most comercially appealing release mike has put out to date, complete with vocals. However, that really hasn't kept me from getting into it. This album is one of the few IDM release of late that has been predominantly melody, rather than beat, based. Something that is rather refreshing. I also like the fact that most of this album is slightly tongue in cheek. People have been complaining about the 2step and amen breaks, but mike uses them well and manages to poke fun at d'n'b culture (i.e. "keep on fakin' the funk"). No DSP FX? C'mon, this isn't a schematic release, just mike, his DX, and his sampler makin' some damn good tunes. My favorite cut: 'slice' (no pun intended). -andrew $buy it$