British musician
Mike Paradinas
|
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|
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Birth name
| Michael Robert Paradinas
[1]
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Also known as
| μ-Ziq, Tusken Raiders, Kid Spatula, Rude Ass Tinker, Jake Slazenger, Gary Moscheles, Frost Jockey
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Born
| (
1971-09-26
)
26 September 1971
(age 52)
Wimbledon
,
London
, England
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Genres
| |
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Occupation(s)
| Label owner, musician
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Years active
| Late 1980s?present
|
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Labels
| Rephlex
,
Astralwerks
,
Planet Mu
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|
Website
| www.planet.mu
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Musical artist
Michael Robert Paradinas
(born 26 September 1971), better known by his stage name
μ-Ziq
(pronounced "music" or mu-zik),
[2]
[3]
is an English
electronic musician
from
Wimbledon
,
London
. He was associated with the electronic style
intelligent dance music
(IDM) during the 1990s, and recorded on
Rephlex Records
and Reflective Records. His critically acclaimed 1997 album,
Lunatic Harness
, helped define the
drill 'n' bass
subgenre and was also his most successful release, selling over 100,000 copies. Paradinas founded the record label
Planet Mu
, begun in 1995, where he has championed genres such as
juke
,
IDM
and
footwork
.
History
[
edit
]
Paradinas was born in
Charing Cross
and began playing
keyboards
during the early 1980s, and listened to
new wave music
such as
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
(OMD),
Heaven 17
and early
Human League
.
[4]
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 1992, 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 (a.k.a.
Aphex Twin
) had also heard the tracks and agreed to release their music on
Rephlex Records
under the alias
μ-Ziq
.
[5]
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 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
Bjork
. Bjork 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 US on the more mainstream label,
Astralwerks
.
Personal life
[
edit
]
Paradinas is married to fellow musician Lara Rix-Martin, with whom he has produced music under the alias Heterotic.
[6]
Discography
[
edit
]
As μ-Ziq
[
edit
]
Studio albums
[
edit
]
Singles
[
edit
]
- Phi*1700 (U/V)
(1994)
- My Little Beautiful
(1997)
- The Fear
(1999)
- Ease Up
(2005)
- Goodbye
/
Goodbye Remixes
(2022)
Compilations
[
edit
]
- XTLP
(2015)
- Furthur Electronix Trax
(2022)
Promotional releases
[
edit
]
- "The Raft" EP (1999)
- Rediffusion Mixtape
(2013)
- Mix for Bleep
(2023)
As Tusken Raiders / Rude Ass Tinker
[
edit
]
- Bantha Trax
(1995)
- Bantha Trax, Vol. 2
(1999)
- The Motorbike Track
(1999)
- Imperial Break
(2001)
- Inchstar Static EP
(2018)
- Bantha Trax, Vol. 3
(2020)
- Housewerk
EP Series, Vols. 1?6 (2021)
- Boundary Road
(2021)
- Piano Track
(2022)
- Bantha Trax, Vol. 4
(2022)
- Housewerk, Vol. 7
(2022)
- Bantha Trax, Vol. 5
(2023)
As Jake Slazenger
[
edit
]
- Makesaracket
(1995)
- Megaphonk
(1995)
- Nautilus
(1996)
- Das ist ein Groovybeat, ja
(1996)
- Pewter Dragon
(2006)
- Drops a Deuce
(2020)
- Ace in the Hole
(2020)
As Kid Spatula
[
edit
]
As Gary Moscheles
[
edit
]
- Shaped to Make Your Life Easier
(1996)
As Frost Jockey
[
edit
]
- Burgundy Trax, Vol. 1
(2000)
- Burgundy Trax, Vol. 2
(2000)
Collaborations
[
edit
]
Diesel M (with Marco Jerrentrup)
[
edit
]
Mike & Rich (with Richard D. James a.k.a. Aphex Twin)
[
edit
]
Slag Boom Van Loon (with Jochem Paap a.k.a. Speedy J)
[
edit
]
- Slag Boom Van Loon
(1998)
- So Soon
(2001)
Heterotic (with Lara Rix-Martin)
[
edit
]
- Love & Devotion
(2013)
- Rain
(2014)
- Weird Drift
(2014)
(with Mrs Jynx)
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
|
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As μ-Ziq
| Studio albums
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Extended plays
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Singles
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As Jake Slazenger
| |
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As Kid Spatula
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Collaborations
| |
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International
| |
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National
| |
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Artists
| |
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