this album has fallen through my letterbox today and as u-ziq has been mentioned in various other places i though i'd write my first impressions... u-ziq is in a similar vein to aphex twin in that he seems to respect no genre boundaries. royal astronomy borrows elements from classical / orchestral music, smaller scale string quartet style classical music, a large lump of drum and bass, samples, sequencers vocals and the bbc radiophonic workshop. he then mixes them all up and builds up layer upon layer of beautiful, musical sound. there is heavy use of varius effects and distortion in there too just to keep things interesting. if you are at all intrigued by aphex twin then i would say this is a no brainer after getting AT's ambient works vol 1. it';s not quite as accessible as this but is a lot easier on the ear than drukqs although perhaps not quite as satisfying once you 'get it'. cheers julian
