Planet Mu Vinyl & CDs

Review: XTEP marks the first u-Ziq material from Mike Paradinas in some six years and precedes the release of a full album later from the Planet Mu boss due out this year. Having been coaxed away from his fine curation of Planet Mu over recent years with the Heterotic project done in cahoots with wife Lara Rix-Martin, Paradinas returns to his universally recognised u-Ziq project with this five track EP which 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".

Review: Chewed Corners represents the first u-Ziq album from Mike Paradinas in six long years, a period where the electronic music landscape has shifted considerably. A shift thanks in no small part to his own role at the head of Planet Mu that has established itself as one of the most formidable names in electronic music, documenting the ever fracturing dubstep genre as well as steadfastly championing the Chicago footwork scene. This new album sees Paradinas embrace the dual influences of 80s synth pop and Chicago footwork across a suite of 14 tracks filled with luscious analogue sounds that feel like the logical extension of the sound explored on the recent u-Ziq EP XTEP.