Mike Paradinas
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Mike Paradinas | |
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File:Mike Paradinas.jpg | |
Background information | |
Also known as | μ-Ziq, Tusken Raiders, Kid Spatula, Rude Ass Tinker, Jake Slazenger, Gary Moscheles, Frost Jockey |
Born | 26 September 1971 |
Origin | Wimbledon, London, England |
Genres | Electronic, IDM, ambient techno, drum and bass, electro, jazz-funk, breakbeat |
Occupation(s) | Label owner, musician |
Years active | Late 1980s to present |
Labels | Rephlex, Astralwerks, Planet Mu |
Associated acts | Diesel M, Mike & Rich, Slag Boom Van Loon, Smooth Helmet, Heterotic |
Website | www.planet-mu.com |
Notable instruments | |
DX11, D-50, Nord Lead |
Michael Robert Paradinas (born 26 September 1971), who works primarily under the name μ-Ziq (pronounced like the word "music")[1][2] in addition to a large number of aliases, is an English musician in the field of electronic music.
History
Paradinas was born in Charing Cross and began playing keyboards during the early 1980s and listened to new wave bands like The Human League and Heaven 17. He joined a few bands in the mid-1980s, then spent eight years on keyboards for the group Blue Innocence.
During this period, Paradinas had been recording on his own as well with synthesizers and a four-track recorder. In 1995, following a performance at "The Orange" in London, Blue Innocence broke up. Paradinas and the bass player, Francis Naughton, bought sequencing software and re-recorded some of Paradinas's older tracks. After the material was played for Mark Pritchard and Tom Middleton — the duo behind Global Communication and the heads of Evolution Records — it was to be released; however, recording commitments later forced Pritchard and Middleton to withdraw their agreement. Fortunately for Paradinas, Richard D. James (aka Aphex Twin) had also heard the tracks and agreed to release their music on Rephlex Records under the alias μ-Ziq.
Naughton then left μ-Ziq to start Rocket Goldstar. A second album Bluff Limbo was scheduled to be released in mid-1994, though only 1000 copies were published. It was re-issued by Rephlex in 1996 after Paradinas served papers on the label.[citation needed] Paradinas's first major-label release came later in 1994, after he undertook a remix project for Virgin Records: the remix EP The Auteurs Vs μ-Ziq for the britpop band the Auteurs. The remixes Paradinas offered sounded nothing like the original song, a familiar practice for many experimental electronic musicians in those times.
Even though the EP was hardly a high sales success, Virgin signed up Paradinas and gave him his own sublabel, Planet Mu, to release his own work and to develop similar-minded artists. (Paradinas later broke with Virgin and in 1998 established Planet Mu as his own independent label.) Written into his own contract was a provision for unlimited recording under different names, and during 1995 Paradinas unveiled three aliases and released many albums within less than a year. The neo-electro music label Clear released his debut single under the alias Tusken Raiders (named after the Star Wars species) early in the year. Clear Records also released the first Paradinas alias full-length album, Jake Slazenger MakesARacket, later in 1995. Although they were still audible, the LP ignored the electro influences in favour of some synthesizer figures and the previously unheard influence of jazz-funk. Paradinas continued to release solo albums under the above-mentioned names as well as Gary Moscheles, and a one-time collaboration with Aphex Twin under the Mike & Rich moniker.
In 1997 Paradinas made a style change again, mixing experimental electronic music with drum'n'bass, a similar aesthetic path taken by Squarepusher and Aphex Twin. During this year he was also touring with popular musician Björk. Björk inspired the 1999 album Royal Astronomy, with its mixture of unusual vocals, strings and breakbeat. All of his albums until 2003 were released in the USA on the more mainstream label, Astralwerks.
Paradinas is the owner of the Planet Mu label, which hosts cult favourite electronic musicians such as Venetian Snares, Capitol K, Datach'i and Luke Vibert.
Discography
Solo projects
As μ-Ziq
Albums
- Tango n' Vectif (1993)
- Bluff Limbo (1994)
- In Pine Effect (1995)
- Lunatic Harness (1997)
- Royal Astronomy (1999)
- Bilious Paths (2003)
- Duntisbourne Abbots Soulmate Devastation Technique (2007)
- Somerset Avenue Tracks (1992–1995) (2013)
- Chewed Corners (2013)[3]
- XTLP (2015)
EPs
- Phi*1700 (U/V) (1994)
- The Auteurs vs µ-ziq (1994)
- Salsa with Mesquite (1995)
- Urmur Bile Trax Volume 1 & 2 (1997)
- My Little Beautiful (1997)
- Brace Yourself (1998)
- The Fear (1999)
- Ease Up (2005)
- XTEP (2013)
- Rediffusion (2014)
As Tusken Raiders / Rude Ass Tinker
- Bantha Trax (1995)
- Bantha Trax Vol. 2 (1999)
- The Motorbike Track (1999)
- Imperial Break (2001)
As Jake Slazenger
- Makesaracket (1995)
- Megaphonk (1995)
- Nautilus (1996)
- Das Ist Ein Groovy Beat, Ja (1996)
- Pewter Dragon (2006)
As Kid Spatula
- Spatula Freak (1995)
- Full Sunken Breaks (2000)
- Meast (2004)
As Frost Jockey
- Burgundy Trax Vol 1 (2000)
- Burgundy Trax Vol 2 (2000)
As Gary Moscheles
- Shaped to Make Your Life Easier (1996)
Collaborations
Diesel M (with Marco Jerrentrup)
- M for Multiple (1993)
- M for Mangoes (1995)
Mike & Rich (with Richard D. James aka Aphex Twin)
- Expert Knob Twiddlers (1996)
Slag Boom Van Loon (with Jochem Paap aka Speedy J)
- Slag Boom Van Loon (1998)
- So Soon (2001)
Heterotic (with Lara Rix-Martin)
- Love & Devotion (2013)
- Weird Drift (2014)
References
- ↑ [1] Archived 9 April 2004 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ [2][dead link]
- ↑ Chewed Corners - µ-Ziq : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards. AllMusic. Retrieved on 2013-07-10.
External links
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- μ-Ziq interview- Perfect Sound Forever
- Mike Paradinas Interview at BarcodeZine
- Michael Paradinas Interview at ElectronicMusic.com
- Junkmedia: μ-Ziq | An interview with μ-Ziq
- Mike Paradinas RBMA video lecture session
- Complete Mike Paradinas discography
- WATMM fan site free downloads of live Mike Paradinas performances, interviews, and radio appearances
- Discogs: Mike Paradinas
- The Milk Factory: Paradinas Album Reviews
- Planet Mu record label
- Articles with dead external links from July 2013
- Use dmy dates from June 2013
- Use British English from June 2013
- Pages with broken file links
- Articles with hCards
- Articles with unsourced statements from April 2010
- 1971 births
- Living people
- Astralwerks artists
- English electronic musicians
- English people of Spanish descent
- Intelligent dance musicians
- People from Wimbledon, London
- Braindance musicians