Bleep

Fresh from a rapid clip of albums ushering in the 2020s and reigniting the µ-Ziq sound, the Planet Mu label boss has returned for his newest adventure. Where Magic Pony Ride and 1977 explored the bubblegum synth textures and melodic ambience that have become staples in Mike Paradinas’s varied output, his latest µ-Ziq album Grush fits all of the puzzle pieces together by returning to his signature coursing breaks and drums. Tested on the road and in his 2023 EOY Mix For Bleep, the tracks on Grush contain all the exhilarating qualities of a µ-Ziq live set, and crush all of his musical eras into one white hot joyride of a record.

Paradinas is constructing a real rhythmic feast here. Like the rainbow oil spill artwork and accompanying music videos with zany digital collages, the music of Grush features an intense variety of sounds and styles, drawing contrasts between bubbly sci-fi chirps and an array of hardcore beats. The characteristics of more brooding, underground dance styles (a dark, throbbing bassline, vigorous four to the floor rhythms) are rendered here in bubbly and free hues, forgoing the imposing mystique for an outgoing club sound.

‘Reticulum A’ sets the scene for this electrifying setlist, hyping up the artist’s centre stage appearance with smoke machines, gliding notes, and slow pulsing lasers. After that cinematic opener, ‘Hyper Daddy’ gets right into it: drums ricochet with resonating, booming lows while breaks slosh under icy, crystalline keys and alien right-angled synths. These are tough rhythms injected with bright melody as Paradinas does best. His familiar vocal synths colour these percussive workouts, like on the staggered sequences of techno drum machine cowbells and claps in ‘Fogou’, or the steely footwork-adjacent beats and distended voices melting into the bassline of the title track while angelic vocals and whizzing synth arpeggios rise to the top.

‘Magic Pony Ride, Pt. 4’ continues where its previous instalment on Hello left off as pitch bent twinkling harps and acid synths taking turns to stab over the bursting breakbeat flow, meanwhile the effervescent ‘Imperial Crescent’ is an inferno ablaze with zipping synthwave arpeggios and the splattered ticks and trills of Kuedo-esque trap beats. ‘Belvedere’ simmers heavy bubbles of tangible percussive synths cut with shards of drums, before turning up the heat with the wildly searing synths of ‘Raver’ paired with marimba-like keys.

Perhaps the most drum-heavy tracks fire off in the final leg of the album, starting with the chunky boom bap-reminiscent ‘Hastings’, displaying a showcase of percussive breaks and fills amid gauzy, detuned ambience. Window shattering stomps build up to the frothing, elasticated drum and bass of ‘Manscape’, chopped up, sliced and diced in classic fashion, while sharp, tactile metallic plucks and an awe inspiring vocal sample hit a sweet spot between reverence and rave chaos. The penultimate ‘Metaphonk’ shuffles reggaeton rhythms with huge trance synths, a playful, anthemic combination to lead out on this high energy sugar-fuelled rave.

Since stepping back into new µ-Ziq in 2021, Mike Paradinas has been providing refreshingly modern updates to his sound, and Grush is his most exciting one yet.