μ-Ziq – Chewed Corners

Planet Mu founder and UK electronic music veteran Mike Paradinas returns with a new album under his revered μ-Ziq guise, his first under that moniker since 2007. The album, written and recorded in parallel with his excellent album with wife Laura Rix-Martin and Gravenhurst as Heterotic, bears traces of the artists he has championed as a label boss – the skittering beats and lusicous synths of opener Taikon evoke the stately electronics of Kuedo's Severant.

Dubstep, footwork and juke all creep into the mix, as do Aphex-like moments of ambient contemplation and glitchy chaos. But the synth patterns and melodic arrangements most strongly evoke retro-futurist synth music, occupying similar sonic territory to Ghostly's Com Truise and Italians Do It Better mastermind Johnny Jewel. The sheer eclecticism of the rhythms, concepts and genre-spanning ambition are classic Paradinas, however – and Chewed Corners sits admirably well next to his justly-admired back catalogue. [Bram E. Gieben]