Experimentalist

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.

1977

µ-Ziq - 1977 [BALMAT05]

Love him x Hero of my story, just a fun mix I stumbled across when i was fucking with the hot cue pads

HERO OF MY STORY x LOVE HIM | Bladee x Twoshell

👾👾👾
I’m a ‘polite rudboi’
2nd single from my upcoming album out Today !

The quest begins in just some weeeeeks. Get reaaady for ‘Cuspide Des Sirènes’.

More info and pre order at bandcamp : https://simocell.bandcamp.com/album/cuspide-des-sir-nes-album?label=1739385335&tab=music

polite rudboi (2nd single from my upcoming album)

Lizzy McAlpine - Ceilings (Will Atkinson Remix) (Evian’s 22:22 Mix)
from Evian Christ's BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix

https://soundcloud.com/evianchrist/evian-christ-bbc-radio-1-essential-mix

Lizzy McAlpine - Ceilings (Will Atkinson Remix) (Evian’s 22:22 Mix)

free download: https://hypeddit.com/joyorbison/flightfmklaxxedit

Free Download

Joy Orbison - flight fm (KLAXX Edit)

Motion blurry, memory fading,
Sitting still and patient,
Perfect timing, revving engine,
Million miles per second.

Dizzy landscape passing fiercely,
Leave no time for stalling,
Moving forward, pacing faster
Faster, faster, FASTER!

I can't find it, I'll keep looking,
Driving, flying, swimming,
Floating, walking, sleeping, dreaming
Crashing, crashing, CRASHING!

@djhimera - ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 ... .ᐟ .ᐟ: Snap Out Of It!

(UNSLMX014)

Grisbi - Seven Days A Week
Steve Reich - Electric Counterpoint I (Fast)
Porter Robinson - Hollowheart (ft. Amy Milan)
Passion Pit - Sleepyhead
Toxe - Water Bear
Aria Veil - moonbeams
Björk - Amphibian
Nala Sinephro - Continuum 5
Secede - Foliage Pathway
Sigur Rós - Glóð
２８１４ - 恢复
Frederik Valentin & Loke Rahbek - Home (ft. Soho Rezanejad)
Andy Stott - Faith In Strangers
Deru - Three Cheers For Existence
Spiderbait - Glockenpop
Flume - When Everything Was New
Yume 2kki - The Ceiling (Reversed)
OSAMU SATO - Aural Love
Guy Sigsworth - Sing (ft. Imogen Heap)
Lullatone - Listening to Raindrops Knocking on a Window
Himera - Our Garden (edit)
Himera - And The Wind Will Carry Us to Sleep
Asa-Chang & Junray - Nigatsu
Merely - The Killing Sun
serpentwithfeet - blisters
Bruised Skies - Guide Me 2
K. Nystedt - Immortal Bach (The Norwegian Soloists Choir)
Oneohtrix Point Never - Ubiquity Road
Steve Reich - Drumming Part III
Max Richter - Spring 1
Evian Christ - Silence

Artwork by Himera

Free download, donate to the PCRF here: pcrf1.app.neoncrm.com/forms/general

ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 ... .ᐟ .ᐟ: Snap Out Of It! (UNSLMX014)

Eye2Eye

Original vocals from ''All Around You'' by Cosmic Gate, Aruna, Myon and Shane 54

Buy/Download: https://helenadlx.bandcamp.com/track/ibiza-is-the-answer

Ibiza Is The Answer

floating[c]

Download

socool[c]

Evian Christ feat. Bladee - Yxguden (qqaame remix)

imogen heap- headlock (benjithemachine & rebbuu edit)

Vocals from ''Waterfall'' by ROY KNOX ft. Ellen Louise

Buy/Download: https://helenadlx.bandcamp.com/track/madrisky-waterfalloftearsmix

Madrisky (WaterfallOfTearsMix)

@jjuunn0710

Tracklist:

amorreclub - strobe
Himera - Keep This Between Us
Charity Ssb & Swimful - Plastic Organ
ruby - when you touch a man's heart he'll remember it forever
TWO HEAVENS/Niko Demus - N3ptune (Sunrise)
Yoyou - Void Hug
beachie  - clear blue water (montagem beachie)
Kingdom - GASOLINA CHANT
amorreclub - パウンドケーキ
Luna Lalich  - Fauna, Army, Evening Child EDIT 2022
177th - eenie meenie without me
unkown - Justin Bieber talks about Selena Gomez (First Real Love)
Flagalova - First Scented Peony
bdstf - White Paparazzi Fence (Lady Gaga x Koreless bdstf Blend)
Ballad - dupri
bdstf - A cruel angel's thesis to remember (Himera x Evangelion bdstf Blend)
clope dj - Laputa

Evian Christ feat. Bladee - Yxguden (qqaame remix)

qqaame

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