Murk Time Cruiser
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Murk Time Cruiser
| type = studio
| artist = aMiniature
| cover = Murk Time Cruiser.jpg|border=yes
| alt =
| released = 1995
| recorded =
| venue =
| studio =
| genre = Indie punk
| length =
| label = Restless{{cite magazine |title=NAIRD's '95 Indie Award nominees |magazine=Billboard |date=May 11, 1996 |volume=108 |issue=19 |page=50}}
| producer = John Lee, Mark Trombino
| prev_title = Depth 5 Rate 6
| prev_year = 1994
| next_title =
| next_year =
}}
Murk Time Cruiser is the second album by the American band aMiniature.{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/aminiature-mn0000919725|title=Aminiature Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More|website=AllMusic|access-date=2021-09-17|archive-date=2021-09-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917123019/https://www.allmusic.com/artist/aminiature-mn0000919725|url-status=live}} It was released in 1995.{{cite news |last1=DeLuca |first1=Dean |title=Many Fine Records That Deserved a Wider Audience |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=24 Dec 1995 |page=M8}}{{cite news |last1=Masterson |first1=Andrew |title=Short Cuts |work=The Age |date=August 4, 1995 |department=Entertainment Guide |page=8}} The band promoted the album by touring with Seam, Versus, and Venus Cures All, bands, like aMiniature, that included Asian-American members.{{cite news |last1=DeLuca |first1=Dean |title=Asian American Rock Is on a Roll, He Says |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=4 May 1995 |page=E1}}
Production
The band's equipment was stolen prior to the recording sessions; a sheriff in El Cajon, California, was able to help aMiniature recover some of it.{{cite news |last1=Doherty |first1=Brendan |title=Don't Do the Crime If You Can't Do the Time |work=The Albuquerque Tribune |date=20 Apr 1995 |page=D18}} Mark Monteith joined on second guitar.{{cite magazine |last1=Allen |first1=Robert |title=aMiniature Murk Time Cruiser |magazine=The Rocket |date=28 Jun 1995 |page=22}} Drive Like Jehu's Mark Trombino played drums on the album.{{cite news |last1=Jenkins |first1=Mark |title=Wistful Versus; Jumpy aMiniature |work=The Washington Post |date=5 May 1995 |page=N19}} Murk Time Cruiser was produced by John Lee and Trombino.
Critical reception
{{music ratings
|rev2 = MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide
|rev2score = {{rating|5|5}}{{cite book |title=MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide |date=1999 |publisher=Visible Ink Press |page=26}}
|rev3 = The San Diego Union-Tribune
|rev3score = {{rating|3|4}}{{cite news |last1=Hantman |first1=C. G. |title=Murk Time Cruiser aMiniature Restless |work=The San Diego Union-Tribune |date=April 20, 1995 |department=Entertainment |page=14}}
}}
Trouser Press noted that frontman John Lee "continues to explore unusual guitar textures that eschew simple effects like feedback and distortion pedals for unusual fingerings and unexpected chord changes ... But no matter how ambitious the music, aMiniature remains a punk-rock band at heart."{{cite web |title=aMiniature |url=https://trouserpress.com/reviews/aminiature/ |website=Trouser Press |access-date=17 September 2021 |archive-date=17 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917123022/https://trouserpress.com/reviews/aminiature/ |url-status=live }} The Chicago Reader thought that "Lee frantically spits out words, presenting the band’s inherent tunefulness in choppy, tension-creating fragments."{{Cite news|url=http://chicagoreader.com/arts-culture/seam-aminiature/|title=Seam/Aminiature|first=Peter|last=Margasak|date=May 25, 1995|work=Chicago Reader|access-date=September 17, 2021|archive-date=September 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917123021/https://chicagoreader.com/arts-culture/seam-aminiature/|url-status=live}} The Arizona Daily Star called the songs a melding of "avant-garde, punk and pop music," writing that the album is marked by "crashing passion and high velocity."{{cite news |title=Starlight |work=Arizona Daily Star |date=21 Apr 1995 |page=23E}}
The Washington Post wrote: "Prickly and jumpy, aMiniature's Murk Time Cruiser reinvigorates the strategies of early '80s punk-funk." The Orange County Register called the songs "brilliant music," writing that "what makes aMiniature ... so special is the way the group layers various guitar riffs and melodies atop a usually fast and driving rhythm."{{cite news |last1=Kinsler |first1=Robert |title=Album Reviews |work=Orange County Register |date=July 16, 1995 |page=F30}} The San Diego Union-Tribune deemed it "ultimately a bastardized blend of the hyperkinetic soundtracks of sci-fi video games and the (relatively) happy, boppin' punk rock of the '80s."
Track listing
{{Track listing
| all_writing =
| title1 = He, the Bad Feeler
| length1 =
| title2 = Peddler's Talk
| length2 =
| title3 = Bored Spy
| length3 =
| title4 = Maximum Accident
| length4 =
| title5 = Secret Enemy
| length5 =
| title6 = The Prizefighters
| length6 =
| title7 = Signer's Strut
| length7 =
| title8 = Murk Time Cruiser
| length8 =
| title9 = Flux is Flux
| length9 =
| title10 = Long Live Soul Miner
| length10 =
| total_length =
}}
References
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