µ-Ziq aka Mike Paradinas has been in the game long enough to see styles and fashions come and go. Hell, in his career spent carving out glitchy, emotive electronics with crackling beats, the Planet Mu man has even invented the odd genre along the way. For his new record, Grush, however, he’s opted to take a trip down memory lane.
‘Metaphonk’, the penultimate cut on the record, is a case in point with its big trance chords revelling in yesteryear’s euphoria. The creeping 80s synth throb of ‘Fogou’ pushes the drums into half speed Squarepusher territory but never quite dares to go the whole distance and cast its shackles off. And that’s a theme in and of itself: there’s always an element of restraint. Of not wanting to lose control.
So, whether it’s the layered hand percussion of ‘Belvedere’ breaking out into measured explosions, or the brunch hedonism of ‘Raver’ as it tracks a dirty synth into calypso-leaning house keys before finishing with a jazzy untwist, Grush skates dangerously close to the type of chilled muzak you might find on a virtual extreme sports video game. You can almost picture the replay of your snowboard run as the fourth instalment of the ‘Magic Pony Ride’ saga neatly ambles along.
And all of that might sound like I’m being down on Grush. That I don’t think it’s that serious of an album. But the truth is it’s so bloody infectiously JOYOUS that I can’t help but get swept along by the dazzling melodic hooks, rampaging beats, thirty-year throwbacks, and glitched out breathy vox.
Track titles such as ‘Windsor Safari Park’ give a little clue as to the family-focused outlook of Paradinas. It’s no bad thing. But it is safe, uplifting, genteel. Adam F’s Colours crossed with Selected Ambient Works springs to mind. Or the cascading electronics of fellow Planet Mu-er, Kuedo.
Edge has rarely been a concern for Paradinas. His most renowned work, 1995’s Lunatic Harness, is a pleasurable tumble of Boards of Canada synth lines and mangled rhythms whilst the Richard D. James collaboration Expert Knob Twiddlers, back in ’96, was a fun-poking response to a po-faced techno scene.
And fun is meshed into each of Grush’s tracks. Be it ‘Hyper Daddy’s glassy and erratic synth keys building into the sort of storming breaks that accompany arcade racing games, the pop and burst of hip-hop beats on ‘Hastings’, or gremlins swiping and grumbling beneath the title track’s heavenly vocal nymphs, there is enough to spread a smile across even the most miserable mug. And, trust me, getting a grin out of this gloom guzzler is no easy feat.
