Royal Astronomy

Spin (9/99, p.199) - 7 out of 10 - "...is his most ambitious work to date....[takes] pomo weirdness back to the old-world parlors from which it once ran shreiking..." Entertainment Weekly (7/30/99, p.75) - "...[Mu-Ziq] crafts knotty compositions out of everything in reach....[pitting] slapstick against pathos, pastoralism against urban paranoia....the thrill is always fun." - Rating: B+ Q (9/99, p.110) - 4 stars (out of 5) - "...there's a not unpleasant sense of the beats disappearing into a syncopated lattice of melody and counter-melody - as if this really were the next step in dance music's evolution." Alternative Press (9/99, p.108) - 4 out of 5 - "...one of the finest electronica releases you'll probably never hear a peep about....ROYAL ASTRONOMY is the most cuddly and accessible work of [Paradinas'] career..." The Wire (9/99, p.53) - "...a bold work, scattered with exotic surprises....he slings mud at sickly schmaltz melodies, spraying them with beats forced throuigh a tarpit of effects." Muzik (9/99, p.76) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...weirdo sonic avant gardism...he comes up with some of his most immediate work yet by turning to classical orchestration for inspiration..." CMJ (7/26/99, p.3) - "...[Michael Paradinas'] most accessible release to date...an extraterrestrial touch that allows its creator to reside in a galaxy far, far away from his contemporaries." Mojo (Publisher) (1/00, p.30) - Ranked #31 in Mojo Magazine's "Best of 1999" Mojo (Publisher) (9/99, p.112) - "Mike Paradinas graduated from the Aphex Twin school of techno weirdry...[shifting] at random, between hazy beauty and ear-serrating noise....everything falls neatly into place..."