All µ-ziq

1977

Belt & Carpet

Asda

Marmite

When we established Balmat in 2021, neither of us could have imagined that within two years, we’d be putting out an album by one of our musical heroes: Mike Paradinas (@mikep), aka µ-Ziq. The British producer has been an inspiration to label co-founders Albert Salinas and Philip Sherburne since the 1990s. In fact, his album-length remix project The Auteurs Vs µ-Ziq was one of the very first pieces of electronic music that Philip bought, way back in 1994. To have the opportunity to release his music now feels like a real full-circle moment. 

Paradinas, of course, needs no introduction. Under a slew of aliases, chief among them µ-Ziq, the British artist revolutionized leftfield electronic music in the 1990s—coincidentally, this year marks the 30th anniversary of his debut album, Tango N’ Vectif, for his friend and sometime collaborator Aphex Twin’s Rephlex label—and his label Planet Mu (@planetmurecords) has built up a formidable catalog of visionary, forward-looking records, mapping virtually every corner of the electronic spectrum. With 1977, he turns the clock backward in a sense, and not just with the album’s title: Rooted in classic ambient and electronic sounds, these 15 tracks evoke the anything-goes spirit of the early ’90s, before the tools and tropes had calcified into cut-and-dried styles.

There’s no shortage of familiar sounds on 1977. There are echoes of raves and chillout rooms and transmissions from the fringes of techno; there are detuned synths and glistening reverb tails and, above all, gauzy vox pads, the eerie glue that holds it all together. The title, he says, is meant to invoke a general sense of nostalgia, bookmarking a year in his boyhood when he became more self-aware. More than anything, 1977 sounds like µ-Ziq distilled: Stripped of his signature breakbeats and customary chaos, Paradinas’ first-ever strictly (well, mostly) ambient album presents the essence of his music in a whole new light.

Along the way Paradinas touches on dark-ambient drones (“Marmite”), horror-film themes (“Belt & Carpet”), jungle breaks (“Mesolithic Jungle”), and even house music (“Houzz 13”), which marks the first bona fide dance-floor moment on Balmat to date). Yet the album never—to our ears, anyway—feels expressly retro. Rather, Paradinas plucks timeless sounds out of the ether and gives them a gentle tap, spinning them into unexpected new orbits. At times, 1977 feels like an experience of extended déjà vu: When we first listened to it, we had the sense that we already knew this music. It was as though we had heard it years ago, perhaps on a battered cassette tape lent to us by a friend, and been searching for it ever since. We hope you feel the same.

µ-Ziq - 1977 [BALMAT05]

Ben Cardew interviewed Chicago's finest, Jana Rush, at Primavera Sound 2023 to talk footwork, depression, jazz and so much more.

Line Noise Episode 132 (Jana Rush at Primavera Sound 2023)

Ready To Go.

Tune into Ghost Notes Worldwide for that post-twilight sound. Night time music of all strains, with blunted R&B and hip hop instrumentals, neo-downtempo productions, slow jams, and hazy dancefloor sounds. 
https://www.nts.live/shows/impey/episodes/impey-24th-august-2023

Ghost Notes Worldwide w/ billdifferen: Funk Special 240823

For the past few years, RA cover star Jlin has been churning out complex percussion compositions that sit at the intersection of IDM, trap, mutant techno and sound art. Her tracks are tactile and structurally complex, stacked drums interlocking with glistening melodies and heaving basslines on groundbreaking albums like Dark Origami. Her rhythms gracefully crosscut over one another like towering blocks in an architecture sketch for a truly cerebral experience.

Growing up in Gary, Indiana, the former steel factory worker wears many hats. She produces mind-bending club music—usually for Mike Paradinas's label Planet Mu—scores modern dance performances and arranges for instrumental ensembles. Her process of collaboration is deeply symbiotic, as shown on her new EP, Perspective The acoustic version of the record, written for and performed with Chicago's Third Coast Percussion, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize this year, an unprecedented honour for a dance music artist.

Jlin's style is sometimes described as avant-garde, but modernist is a better word. She originally started out making footwork and despite moving away from the genre in recent years, footwork's jittery energy still flows through her productions, a testament to her ability to experiment across styles. Being a math whiz only adds to the angular, carefully calculated feel of her production.
 
In celebration of Jlin's career, Mike Paradinas serves up a 40 minute mix that shows off her range and most importantly, her passion for this music.

@mikep @jlinnarlei

Read more at https://ra.co/podcast/903

RA podcast

RA.903 Mike Paradinas (ft. Jlin)

The Precision Of Infinity (ft. Philip Glass)

µ-Ziq - HYPER DADDY (SLIKBACK REMIX)

Gastro

Remix of Goodbye, Goodbye by µ-Ziq. As endorsed by the man himself: https://youtu.be/qlaQpymmVu8?t=5102

μ-Ziq - Goodbye, Goodbye (New City 16 remix)

Welcome to Line Noise. My guest this week is Catherine Backhouse aka DJ Bunnyhausen aka Xylitol, aka the winner of the first ever Line Noise album of the year for her absolutely divine Anemones, released by Planet Mu. And a very worthy winner she is too. We talk about “Gutter Kosmische”, prog jungle, Gesamtkunstwerk, Yugoslav pop culture, the Belgrade Bananarama and everything in between. I hope you enjoy the interview. And do give Anemones a spin. Line Noise is with the support of Cupra.

Siege Of Antioch

Planet Mu Records

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