Search - Gilbert, Lewis, Mills :: Mzui

Gilbert, Lewis, Mills
Mzui
Genres: Alternative Rock, Pop, Rock

CD Details

All Artists: Gilbert, Lewis, Mills
Title: Mzui
Members Wishing: 2
Total Copies: 0
Label: Boutique / LTM
Original Release Date: 5/6/2003
Release Date: 5/6/2003
Album Type: Import, Original recording remastered
Genres: Alternative Rock, Pop, Rock
Styles: Progressive, Progressive Rock
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 708527660225

Synopsis

Album Description

The second release on sub-label Boutique is Mzui, the aural record of an audio-visual installation staged in August 1981 by ex-Wire members Graham Lewis and Bruce Gilbert together with designer and Eno collaborator Russell Mills. It follows in the tradition of the experimental work recorded by the Wire men under their guises of Dome, Cupol, Duet Emmo and P'o. Mzui was staged in August 1981 at the Waterloo Gallery in London, a former meat-packing warehouse. Many of the visual elements were fashioned from what was found in and around the gallery, and visitors were encouraged to participate by adapting or 'playing' the objects as they saw fit. A 'meadow' of broken glass was condemned as unsafe by Health and Safety inspectors. In addition, recording equipment was installed so that public interaction with the objects on display could be recorded, and played back through a PA system. The Mzui album (released in 1982) made no attempt to capture the original atmosphere of the installation, and instead addressed the notion of sound as landscape, as articulating a sense of place. There are parallels with Brian Eno's On Land album, released the same year, in which he explored the concept of using recording technology to create imaginary landscapes. Mzui runs for 40 minutes and has been digitally remastered. It features the original album artwork as well as many extra images from the show, and sleevenotes by Wire biographer Kevin Eden.

CD Reviews

Not what I expected from the Dome duo

Said Head | MN, USA | 10/14/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I'm a huge Wire fan, and with that, a fan of just about all side/solo/experimental projects created by the three creative powerhouses behind the band, Lewis, Gilbert, and Newman. With that said, I figured this piece would be much in the line of Dome material bred with Wire's lengthy live pieces, seeing that this was a performance at a gallery showing back in 1980(?).

Unfortunately, what I thought would be largely an electronic-tinged experiment, I ended up hearing 42 minutes of noise; not noise the like of which you would hear on, say, Gilbert's solo projects, like AB Ovo, or for that fact much you face on Dome, but rather it's the recording (via several microphones placed in different areas) of a group of people talking, banging on things, and doing whatever else they can to fill up this space. But really the majority of this album/EP (does experimental music necessarily have to follow these guidelines?) is very little of anything. It is pretty neat on occasion, however, to hear the different things that they did with random things they found in the gallery to make music.

This performance is broken into two parts, each 21 minutes in length. The performance varies often, and really does not rely on any structure or repetition, making every listen both forgettable and impressive.

Overall, this piece isn't really progressive in the likes of experimental music or Gilber and Lewis's careers as musicians/artists, but I am still glad that this little, mostly forgotten piece of history managed to find its claim on CD."