µ-Ziq Royal Astronomy Astralwerks / Outside

20th Century Ambient Electronic / Experimental / Industrial Industrial Rhythm Techno Trip Hop, Breaks, Dub, World-Fusion (Very) Alternative Contact

If you like Mike Paradinas' previous output as µ-Ziq then you'll enjoy his latest full length release. He continues to add layers of orchestral sounds (strings, bells, timpani, woodwinds) to his looping process, and perhaps has more melodic content than beats on some of this type of piece than previous. To my ears, tracks like the opening "Scaling," "Slice" and his epic "pop" single "The Fear" add a sense of fun to the going-for-Baroque-isms of early Michael Nyman (although Paradinas' confesses his sequencing keyboard is more of a minimalist than he is - so there is no influence there). Imagine a Greenaway period film interrupted by scratches and rap bytes and you've got the funny/grand juxtapositions of "The Hwicci Song." Still Paradinas uses enough gnarly techno sounds ("Autumn Acid") and classic jungle breaks ("Carpet Muncher" and "The Motorbike Track" previewed recently on a Planet µ label single) to keep him out of the classical section just yet.