Unlikely as it may seem today, there was a time during IDM’s heyday when Mike Paradinas’ copious output as µ-Ziq was on par with that of his good mate and one-off collaborator Richard D. James. Through the mid 1990s, the two kept pace with annual album releases and heaps of singles, all shot through with an off-kilter sense of humor. Perhaps if Virgin had properly marketed µ-Ziq’s 1997 album Lunatic Harness, Paradinas wouldn’t have had to take matters into his own hands with his independent imprint Planet Mu. In the 21st century, focusing more on A&R than his own productions, Paradinas had a hand in spreading breakcore, dubstep, and footwork globally, helping to establish the careers of RP Boo, Traxman, Pinch, Venetian Snares, and others. Since the release of his 2013 comeback Chewed Corners, Paradinas has also dug deep into his old hard drives for archival forays like RY30 Trax and Aberystwyth Marine.
Challenge Me Foolish could be considered the third entry in this unofficial trilogy. Where RY30 Trax dates back to 1995 and Aberystwyth Marine covers the two years between Lunatic Harness and Royal Astronomy, Foolish culls tracks from 1998 and 1999, right as he was finishing Astronomy and Planet Mu was taking form. It was a heady time for Paradinas, who was drawing on rapid-fire IDM, breakbeats, and even English folk music. Unlike James, Paradinas also mixed in a hefty dose of American hip-hop, weaving all of it together at a furious pace. He recently said that he recorded as much as he could in those days, often a track or two a day, and a sense of redundancy shows. The wincing Ren Faire melodies from Astronomy (like “Gruber’s Mandolin”) return as Paradinas pulls the green tights on again for tracks like “Robin Hood Gate” and “Perfame,” and 20 years in mothballs hasn’t made them any less annoying.
But in the intervening years, breakbeats have become fashionable again, so a dusted-off track like “Undone” doesn’t sound quite as dated, with Paradinas playfully bouncing between tympani boom, percolator bip, and dramatic background strings. The snare drum swagger of “Playbox” reminds us that he always had a knack for balancing between IDM and hip-hop breaks. But “Bassbins” also shows that the more aggro and cartoonish take on it (which anticipated the rise of breakcore) remains out of fashion for good reason.
The Japanese vocalist Kazumi, who featured on the Royal Astronomy highlights “The Fear” and “Goodbye, Goodbye,” reappears on five of the album’s 14 tracks. Paradinas stretches and warps her voice into an array of shapes—though as is his wont, even that becomes overkill. For the drill ‘n’ bass dizziness of “Lexicon,” Kazumi’s coos get buried under a rockslide of goofball drums and chipmunk-fast vocal chirps. Same when he speeds up the “Amen” break, only to dump it atop her dulcet vocals on “Sad Inlay.” But Paradinas is more playful in chopping up her doo-dahs on “DoDaDu,” and the loungey “Durian” imagines what a µ-Ziq remix of Stereolab or Pizzicato Five might have sounded like back in the late ’90s. On the title track, Kazumi’s voice echoes against a spare, queasy backdrop, for once not overcrowding the song’s space. It’s a rare instance of Paradinas exercising restraint—and all the more effective for it.
