{"id":27723,"date":"2025-12-23T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=27723"},"modified":"2025-12-22T23:27:57","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T23:27:57","slug":"uzu-ichi-ni-self-released","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=27723","title":{"rendered":"UZU \u2013 \u2018Ichi\u2019 & \u2018Ni\u2019 (Self Released)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Just when you think 2025 can\u2019t throw you any more curveballs, up pops UZU with not one, but two EPs of gothic-tinged electronica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The curveball here is not so much the music contained within the EPs but more the fact that UZU hail from Newport (just down the road from me), and I\u2019ve never heard of them until now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brainchild of David Lloyd Chapman, frontman of alt-metal trio Crisis Talks (who I have heard of, but never seen live), UZU specialise in dark, atmospheric, grunge-tinged (largely due to Chapman\u2019s Layne Staley-tinged vocals on tracks like \u2018Choke\u2019 and \u2018Under A Blackened Sun\u2019) electronic rock music. There are also touches of \u2018Host\u2019-era Paradise Lost and the more introspective side of Marilyn Manson throughout \u2018Ichi\u2019s\u2019 7 tracks, and these factors all make for a very interesting listen indeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The production on both EPs is top drawer, creating a claustrophobic intensity that at times has me drifting off into the soundscapes Chapman has conjured up, especially during the short, almost ambient interludes that pop up throughout both EPs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By contrast to \u2018Ichi\u2019 its sibling release \u2018Ni\u2019 is the one that has really drawn me in, largely because this one comes with hints of Trent Reznor\u2019s soundtrack work along with a Shawn Smith like vocal influence interspersed throughout its 9 tracks, and whilst these tracks seldom break out of a slow throbbing rhythmic pace (\u2018Magazine\u2019 being the obvious exception with its AIC riffage) it\u2019s music that fans of the likes of Gazelle Twin and Ben Frost should instantly fall in love with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love receiving releases like this, simply because David Lloyd Chapman is doing something different with UZU. He\u2019s cremating the rock \u2018n roll envelope by not only including electronic elements but also making them become the main driving force of his creations, and if Soulwax can do this and sell out Academy-sized venues, then why not UZU?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Ichi\u2019 & \u2018Ni\u2019 are available on all digital streaming platforms right now, check them out, you might be surprised too that this is music produced in South Wales and not some bleak Nordic ambient black metal import LP that will cost you the best part of \u00a340.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author: Johnny Hayward<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just when you think 2025 can\u2019t throw you any more curveballs, up pops UZU with not one, but two EPs of gothic-tinged electronica. The curveball here is not so much the music contained within the EPs but more the fact that UZU hail from Newport (just down the road from me), and I\u2019ve never heard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27726,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[8979],"class_list":["post-27723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-uzu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27723"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27728,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27723\/revisions\/27728"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}