Mike Paradinas has never reached the dizzying heights of acclaim afforded to IDM contemporaries like Aphex Twin. But, listening to his early Rephlex-released LPs under the µ-Ziq alias, his importance in shaping the style is indisputable. From there his career path has been far from straightforward: by the late 90s he'd made a lateral move, setting up his own label and arguably proving himself a better A&R than he was a producer. Planet Mu presided over several major developments in global electronic music, from millennial breakcore to mid-noughties dubstep and, more recently, footwork.
Paradinas’ own production, meanwhile, seemed to falter during the 2000s. 2003’s Bilious Paths was an enjoyable exploration of the sound-and-fury of drill and bass and breakcore, if a little beholden to label successes like Venetian Snares. 2007’s Duntisbourne Abbots Soulmate Devastation Technique, meanwhile, followed the break-up of a long-term relationship, and its suffocatingly maudlin spin on Paradinas’ usual melodic style proved rather difficult to love. Since then we’ve heard little from Paradinas the producer, but 2013 has marked a surprising return to form. First there was Heterotic’s Love & Devotion, an album of euphoric, romantic synth-pop produced in collaboration with Paradinas’ new wife, Lara Rix-Martin. Following that was a µ-Ziq EP, XTEP, which showcased a newly airy sound, contiguous with his past work but also displaying the influence of chillwave, italo disco, piano house, and plenty else besides.
As with both of these records, Chewed Corners, the first µ-Ziq LP in six years, has a certain giddiness to it-- a giddiness, it’s tempting to conclude, born of new love and fresh optimism. Of course, that optimism could be less to do with Paradinas’ personal life than with the state of music: much of this record displays the influence of recent Planet Mu signings, or of broader trends in contemporary electronic music. "Taikon" and "Twangle Melkas" draw on Kuedo’s Vangelis-via-Southern-hip-hop schtick; "Tickly Flanks" owes a debt to the sugar-rush hardcore-footwork hybrids of Machinedrum, though it’s a little torpid in comparison to its forebear. "Wipe"'s syncopated rhythms nod to UK funky, while "Houzz 10" could be a symptom of the recent house revival-- except Paradinas’ take on the form is particularly dreamy, rolling along on a single blissy break-of-dawn plateau for its duration.
Fortunately, Paradinas just as often succeeds in massaging his inspirations into an idiom entirely his own. There are plenty of highlights here-- heat-warped synth interlude "Monyth", the heavy-lidded "Hug", "Mountain Island Boner", whose portentous piano chords would almost be laughable were they not rather affecting. All of them sound fresh, but are also recognisably µ-Ziq-- unlike the occasional borderline-pastiche footwork remix Paradinas has turned out in recent years. Granted, the weaknesses of past µ-Ziq work live on along with its strengths, and Paradinas’ penchant for overwhelmingly dense arrangements occasionally gets the better of him-- particularly in closer "Weakling Paradinas", which aims for euphoric texture-overload but overshoots, resulting in a fatiguing mess. But in Chewed Corners Paradinas has put together an LP brimming with fresh ideas-- which, for an artist entering the third decade of his career, is no mean feat.
