Mike Paradinas, best known as µ-Ziq, owns my heart and soul. From his humble new wave keyboardist roots in the ‘80s, to the Francis Naughton/Paradinas incarnation of µ-Ziq (featured on the double-album, minimal techno debut Tango N’ Vectif released on Richard D. James’ Rephlex label), to his now famous and supremely legendary Planet Mu label, Paradinas has proven to be quite the visionary. And he’s savvy, too. He haggled with Virgin Records to allow unlimited recordings under ...more

Mike Paradinas' Planet Mu imprint has brought us some of the most sublime and vicious electronica of recent years. From the scatter incursions of Los Angeles glitch hop producer edIT to the epileptic breakcore of Venetian Snares and the dubstep nuke of Milanese, to his own productions as µ-ZIQ which sit somewhere in between. It's been four years since the whirlwind of his last album 'Bilious Paths' and with the headscratchingly entitled 'Duntisbourne Abbots Soulmate Devastation ...more

Mike Paradinas's latest release as Mu-Ziq was 2003's Bilious Paths, a coruscatingly inventive collection of music. That album not only confirmed that Paradinas was closely monitoring developments in two-step Garage and Grime; it also demonstrated that he was as capable as ever of bending new genres to his will. The thrilling hybrids that animated Bilious Paths influenced a new genration of producers, and helped to establish Planet Mu as a haven for dubstep auteurs like Distance, Mark ...more

Score: 7.5/10

When μ-Ziq's new album leaked on the internet, it spread like a forest fire among the IDM crowd. Many of them seemed a bit peeved at the drill n' bass pioneer. "What the fuck is this shit?!" Amongst the dismayed crowd rang out the chants of "this is so disappointing,” the classic "I was expecting something good,” and the “Hey, it's free LEGALLY PURCHASED at least... right?” And then it appeared: accusations that maybe this album is a fake. These comments ...more