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ZIQ012_Jega_Geometry
16-10-2000
Jega
Geometry
ZIQ012
  • Buy at the Planet Mu store

There’s an old quip that writing about art is like dancing about architecture. (Yes, that old thing.) Well, Jega went to architecture school with µ-ziq and Aphex Twin, so he’d know more about that than most. Unsurprisingly, Jega sounds not unlike his better-known classmates. Falling squarely into the this-is-techno-but-don’t-dance-to-it camp, Dylan Nathan tics and quirks like any addled British gent with too much time, an ugly beard (I presume) and an 808 should. But, distinguishing him from the rest of the “Look, ma! I’m a genius” dance music crowd, Nathan clearly took better notes in architecture than the rest of the IDM crowd ever bothered to.

Far more than his stateside debut, Spectrum, Jega’s Geometry is preoccupied with questions of space. The record opens with a vast humming sound, as if Nathan were demonstrating how big a space he’s working in by recording a huge wind rushing through it. Though the first appearance of actual music diminishes that scale down to the humble bleeps and clicks of “Alternating Bit,” a caustic little digibyte of electro-inspired troublemaking, every piece here is as carefully thought out as a building might be.

Principally, Geometry supplants the fury and blistering speed of the first few Jega offerings with a glassy, almost pretty surface. Where the last record took a page from Squarepusher’s relentless, haywire jitteriness, many pieces here sound like Philip Glass with a shorter attention span and no interest in opera. Keyboards slither between, over and under beats; songs move with almost mathematic precision (Geometry, get it?). If the last Jega album, as some pundits remarked, invented drill-n-bass, this is “chill-n-bass.” This isn’t the chamber-music transcendence of Aphex Twin’s slower moments; it’s a gorgeous absense of feeling. The tracks work like clockwork and with approximately as much emotional commitment. And just because it won’t make you cry doesn’t mean you won’t nod your head.

Still, anyone who’s looking to techno like this stuff for matters of the heart is missing the point. The stuttering beats and languid melodies at once conceal and describe the undergirdings beneath them, making Geometry a fascinating, if not moving, musical experience. This is music about the experience of listening to music. It’s like singing about dancing about architecture.

1. Alternating Bit
2. Syntax Tree
3. Recursion
4. Geometry
5. Rigid Body Dynamics
6. Doric
7. Breakpoint Envelope
8. Inertia
9. Binary Space
10. Static
11. Post Mid Arc
12. Motion Math
13. Subdivision Surfaces

Releases
ZIQ370_MUTWENTY
04-09-2015
Various Artists
µ20 (20 Years Of Planet Mu)
ZIQ370
  • Buy at the Planet Mu store
  • Buy the 3LP at The Vinyl Factory
ZIQ024_Jega_Variance
20-07-2009
Jega
Variance (Volumes 1 & 2)
ZIQ024
  • Buy at the Planet Mu store
ZIQ100_Various_SacredSymbolsOfMu
26-06-2006
Various Artists
The Sacred Symbols Of Mu
ZIQ100
  • Buy at the Planet Mu store
ZIQ060_Various_ChildrenOfMu
24-05-2004
Various Artists
Children Of Mu
ZIQ060
  • Buy at the Planet Mu store
ZIQ030_Various_CosmicForcesOfMu
29-10-2001
Various Artists
The Cosmic Forces Of Mu
ZIQ030
  • Buy at the Planet Mu store
ZIQ009_Jega_KidSpatula
26-07-1999
Jega / Kid Spatula
Unity Gain / Hard Love
ZIQ009
  • Buy at the Planet Mu store
ZIQ015_CapitolK:Jega1
16-07-1999
Capitol K / Jega
Postcard/Untitled
ZIQ015
  • Buy at the Planet Mu store
ZIQ002_Jega_Spectrum
06-07-1998
Jega
Spectrum
ZIQ002
  • Buy at the Planet Mu store
ZIQ001_Jega_TypeXero
01-06-1998
Jega
Type Xer0
ZIQ001
  • Buy at the Planet Mu store
ZIQ000_Various_Mealtime
10-11-1997
Various Artists
Mealtime
ZIQ000