Mike Paradinas plots µ-Ziq return

Next month sees the release of the first µ-Ziq material from Planet Mu boss Mike Paradinas in some six years.

Paradinas has not released any original music under the universally recognisable µ-Ziq banner since the 2007 album Duntisbourne Abbots Soulmate Devastation Technique, though there have been several µ-Ziq remix commisions in this period. Instead, Paradinas has focused on establishing an international framework of artists that maintains Planet Mu’s reputation for championing esoteric electronic music, with albums from Ital, Polysick, Kuedo, Ital Tek and Konx-om-Pax complemented by the label’s steadfast championing of the Chicago footwork scene.

Ths year has signalled a gradual increase in production involvement for Paradinas; Planet Mu recently released an album from Heterotic, the project the producer shares with his wife Lara Rix-Martin (pictured above) and the pair also compiled a collection of early unreleased Paradinas tracks on the limited Somerset Avenue Tracks (1992-1995). Planet Mu fans will be enraptured at the news of new µ-Ziq material however, which manifests itself in XTEP, a five track 12″ that precedes a scheduled new album later this summer.

Going by the soundclips at the Planet Mu site, the five tracks seem to present a diverse and accessible snapshot of Paradinas’ production palette, veering through smudged out analogue funk, gauzy piano house, pulsing electronic disco and more rhythmically diverse material. This would seem to justify Planet Mu’s claim that Paradinas has abandoned “the furrow-browed quest for cutting-edge exploration, exchanging it for an altogether more carefree fun approach”.

Planet Mu will release XTEP by µ-Ziq on May 20.

Tracklisting:

A1. XT
A2. Ritm
B1. Pulsar
B2. Monj2
B3. New Bimple