Mike Paradinas
| Mike Paradinas | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Also known as | μ-Ziq, Tusken Raiders, Kid Spatula, Rude Ass Tinker, Jake Slazenger, Gary Moscheles, Frost Jockey |
| Born |
26 September 1971 Wimbledon, London, England |
| Genres | Electronic, IDM, ambient techno, drum and bass, electro, jazz-funk, breakbeat |
| Occupation(s) | Label owner, musician |
| Years active | Late 1980s to present |
| Labels | Rephlex, Astralwerks, Planet Mu |
| Associated acts | Diesel M, Mike & Rich, Slag Boom Van Loon, Smooth Helmet, Heterotic |
| Website | www.planet-mu.com |
| Notable instruments | |
| DX11, D-50, Nord Lead | |
Michael Paradinas (born 26 September 1971), better known by his stage name μ-Ziq (pronounced 'music'), is an English electronic musician from Wimbledon, London. He is one of the pioneering IDM electronic music acts during the 90's, alongside Aphex Twin, Autechre, and The Orb. He is also the founder of the record label Planet Mu.
His critically acclaimed 1997 album, Lunatic Harness, helped defined the drill 'n' bass subgenre and was also his most successful release, selling over 100,000 copies.
Paradinas was born in Charing Cross and began playing keyboards during the early 1980s, and listened to new wave music such as Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Heaven 17 and early Human League. He joined a few bands in the mid-1980s, then spent eight years on keyboards for the group Blue Innocence.
During this period, Paradinas had been recording on his own as well with synthesizers and a four-track recorder. In 1995, following a performance at "The Orange" in London, Blue Innocence broke up. Paradinas and the bass player, Francis Naughton, bought sequencing software and re-recorded some of Paradinas's older tracks. After the material was played for Mark Pritchard and Tom Middleton — the duo behind Global Communication and the heads of Evolution Records — it was to be released; however, recording commitments later forced Pritchard and Middleton to withdraw their agreement. Fortunately for Paradinas, Richard D. James (a.k.a. Aphex Twin) had also heard the tracks and agreed to release their music on Rephlex Records under the alias μ-Ziq.
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