The music of Mike Paradinas, one of the leading musicians in the field of electronics, retains that amazing flavor of techno pioneers.
Even at home listening, you can see how Mike Paradinas (better known as u-Ziq) explores the genre of experimental techno and creates unusual tunes.
Basically they sound like vintage synth tunes with a distorted beat rhythm.
The musician's side projects such as Diesel M, Jake Slazenger, Gary Moscheles, Kid Spatula, Tusken Raiders have often highlighted and even ridiculed u-Ziq for his jazz, funk and electro inspirations.
At the same time, Paradinas himself continues to create music in his usual way, having his own style in his arsenal.
Early u-Ziq records were based on loud percussion. Only Paradinas used this technique.
In addition to percussion, a synthesizer was also used with fast melodies that gradually become higher.
As Paradinas began to weave different genres into a coherent whole, his work became a fuller and smoother blend of hip hop and drum and bass with industrial effects and the same light melodies of his early work.
The musician's later work reflected his interest in other genres and styles such as Chicago's juke/footwork scene, British rave and Detroit techno.
First recordings
Born in Wimbledon (although he grew up in London moving from place to place), Paradinas started playing keyboards in the early 80s and listened to new popular bands such as the Human League and New Order.
He joined several bands in the mid-80s, then spent eight years playing keyboards in the band Blue Innocence. However, at that time Paradinas recorded himself. On the synthesizer, he recorded four tracks.
When Blue Innocence disbanded in 1992, he and bassist Francis Naughton bought special software and re-recorded some of Paradinas' old material.
After the material was played for Mark Pritchard and Tom Middleton - Global Communication and Reload duo and head of Evolution Records - they wanted to release it as their debut work.
Recording commitments later forced Pritchard and Middleton to withdraw their agreement, although by then Richard D. James (a.k.a. Aphex Twin) had also heard the tracks and agreed to release a double album for his Rephlex Records label.
Debut album - "Tango n 'Vectif"
u-Ziq's debut album was 1993's Tango n' Vectif. The LP set the template for much of Paradinas' subsequent work, with sometimes crushing percussion sounding underpinning a track list of some pretty good tunes.
The Rephlex label was just starting to thrive and getting more media attention. In particular, the popularity was provoked by the release of the Aphex Twin album "Selected Ambient Works 85-92".
Although James has become much less focused on his label than Grant co-founder Wilson Claridge, Luke Wiebert's (aka Wagon Christ's) "Rephlex Cylob" work has made the record company one of the most popular in electronic music.
Noton's departure
When Naughton began to take college more seriously, he officially left u-Ziq. It is worth noting that Paradinas himself did not study for long: from 1990 to 1992.
The second album was planned to be released in mid-1994, but only 1000 copies of the work were released. The album was officially released on Rephlex only in 1996, after Paradinas sorted out all the paperwork on the label.
The first release on the label came out in 1994, after the musician agreed to participate in a project to create remixes for Virgin Records.
EP “u-Ziq vs. Auteurs” was one of the most high-profile and successful examples of the “remix after obliteration” movement (obliteration in English means smoothing, covering up cracks).
This movement consisted mainly of electronics manufacturers and was just a hobby for them.
The essence of the movement was that the reworking of a pop song should not bear any resemblance to the original.
Working with the nu-skool Clear label
Although EPs were hardly a major sales force, the Virgin label signed Paradinas to a contract and gave the go-ahead to release his own work, as well as the opportunity to develop like-minded artists.
Moreover, the musician received a small part of the label for independent work.
There was a clause in his contract about unlimited recording under different names. Apparently Paradinas was immensely happy about this, and already in 1995 he introduced his three pseudonyms and released the same number of albums in less than a year.
Electronic label nu-skool Clear released the musician's debut single "Tusken Raiders" at the beginning of the year.
This minimized the public's attention to electronic music from producers such as Aphex Twin, Global Communication and James Lavelle (head of Mo' Wax Records).
Clear also released the musician's first full length album, "Jake Slazenger MakesARacket" in 1995.
Despite being faithful to his style, the musician's choice in favor of funk jazz, which had not previously been used by Paradinas, is noticeable in this work.
Gary Moscheles and Jake Slazenger
The change in style reappeared on another album featuring Paradinas: "Spatula Freak" by Kid Spatula. Its sound was similar to the musician's first two works, but with a less harsh sound.
Just one month after the release of Spatula Freak, the Paradias released their first full length LP under the name u-Ziq for the major label In Pine Effect.
The album includes tracks recorded from 1993 to 1995. And although it was quite a diverse album in terms of sound, it still seemed awkward and disjointed to listeners.
In 1996, Paradinas released his second album under the pseudonym Jake Slazenger, Das Ist Groovy Beat Ja? For Warp" and his first work under the name Gary Moscheles - "Shaped to Make Your Life Easier".
Experiment with style
Paradinas entered in 1997, ready to carry out the most ambitious plans and use one of the most unusual styles of his career: the fusion of his techno with street-level drum and bass rhythms.
A year earlier, Aphex Twin had released a single titled "Hangable Auto Bulb", and Tom Jenkinson's Squarepusher project provided drum and bass's first convincing take on the mainstream.
Paradinas broke into the techno realm with Urmur Bile Trax, Vols. 1-22". This is a double EP but released as a single CD.
Continuing a successful career
Paradinas, and in particular his pseudonym u-Ziq, was introduced to many rock fans after he toured America as support for singer Björk.
This tour influenced a 1999 work called "Royal Astronomy". The album combines such genres as acid techno and hip-hop.
Released in 2003, Bilious Paths was the first u-Ziq release to appear on his own Paradinas Planet Mu label.
The rupture of relations inspired the musician to create a rather dark and gloomy 2007 album Duntisbourne Abbots Soulmate Devastation Technique.
Working for Planet Mu and his project with wife Lara Ricks-Martin (whose debut album Love & Devotion came out in early 2013) were some of the reasons u-Ziq took a break from acting.
In the same year, the compilation Somerset Avenue Tracks (1992-1995) marked the 20th anniversary of the professional life of the musician u-Ziq and collected unreleased tracks from the very beginning of his career.
The album "Rediffusion" appeared in 2014, and "XTLP" in 2015.
