MUUI has become a real creative force in the past two years, with much of his best work appearing on Crossfrontier Audio. โCrossfrontier Audio presents MUUI Liveโ hovers somewhere between an artist album, a DJ-mix, and a live performance, with each of the track written and produced by MUUI, stitched into one 80-minute long continuous musical piece, and with the arrangements being crafted on the fly throughout.
Musically, itโs largely of a piece with MUUIโs last release on the label, the excellent โAnother Day EPโ, with urgent melodies combining with meticulously arranged low-slung basslines and intricate percussion. Indeed, both tracks from the EP make an appearance here, offering some welcome familiar moments in amongst the twelve new tracks, though โPast is Practiceโ sounds even trippier than before, andย โAnother Dayโ has been more extensively reworked.
Itโs not hard to find other highlights. โSuggestionsโ sits in between the two tracks already mentioned, and floats ghostly atmospherics and melodies over two fantastic bass parts, delivering a moment of immeasurable beauty. โColder Sinceโ starts life as a spacied-out, warped, and somewhat discordant slice of techno, of the sort weโve been hearing from MUUI on his ownย Paranoid Dancer label recently, but by the time MUUI has let simple drifting melodies creep in, itโs become something truly special.
โConfettiโ offers a dubby, stripped-back nod to MUUIโs โConfetti In Her Hairโ on Lowbit last year, still one of the highlights of his career so far, while โOne Zeroโ lets spectacular melodies duke it out over a pumping bassline, offering the emotional climax of the album, before โThree Tenโ cranks up the paranoia levels, and โAlwaysโ ends proceedings on a beatless but upbeat note.
But the individual tracks need to be heard in their proper place, as part of the ebb and flow of MUUIโs live mix, which moves between gentle electronica, MUUIโs distinctive deep- and tech-house sound, and pulsing techno without a ripple. The partnership between MUUI and Crossfrontier Audio has been an extremely fruitful one, but this showcase of MUUI at the height of his creative powers is the best output so far. 9/10
Crossfrontier Audio presents MUUI Live is released 4/8/2014
