Grush

Mike Paradinas reissued his drillnbass masterwork Lunatic Harness for its 25th anniversary in 2022, and surrounded the re-release with several new recordings that channeled that albums mixture of frantic breakbeat manipulation and wistful melodies. After drifting to ambient techno with 1977, a rare instance of a 21st century Micro-Ziq album released by a label other than his own Planet Mu, 2024s Grush mines the same territory as his 2022 work. While drawing on 90s jungle and IDM for inspiration, the tracks are also filtered through more modern influences like footwork and trap, and theyre often more club-friendly than earlier Micro-Ziq efforts, having been developed on tour and road-tested at live gigs. Keeping in continuity with the producers 2022 output, "Hyper Daddy" feels like a more sparkling, less rowdy relative of Magic Pony Rides "Uncle Daddy," while "Magic Pony Ride, Pt. 4" features scattered drums and bulbous basslines, like its predecessors. The same sort of fragmented vocal textures of the 2022 releases are sprinkled throughout Grush as well. Additionally, the album establishes its own thematic framework with a trio of "Reticulum" pieces. "Fogou" recalls the erratic, stop-start drum programming of Lunatic Harness, but with more straightforward synth sequences. "Imperial Crescent" is a refreshing blend of flowing synths and tunneling breaks, along with a well-timed trap breakdown. "Grush" is a playful mixture of acid squiggles and booming footwork beats. Tracks like "Belvedere" and "Raver" blend skittering, polyrhythmic breaks with synth textures that are a bit smoothed out, but not mellow or glossy enough to resemble atmospheric jungle. The slower "Hastings" has easygoing but heavy drum loops over a background loop of a kid screaming, presumably while playing outdoors. "Manscape" has operatic vocals reminiscent of Orbitals "Belfast," along with some of the albums most smashed-up breaks. "Metaphonk" intriguingly adopts a skipping, dembow-like rhythm and reggae-style percussion, resulting in one of the sunniest tracks Paradinas has recorded in recent memory. Grush clearly finds Micro-Ziq in comfortable territory, but hes still trying new things, and his work is still highly enjoyable. ~ Paul Simpson

新興レーベルからリリースしたアンビエント作品も好評だったマイク・パラディナス。その反動からか、本拠のプラネット・ミューから放つ2年ぶりの新作はビートが前面に出たダンス・アルバムとなった。煌びやかなIDM曲"Hyper Daddy"、疾走系ハードコア"Windsor Safari Park"、珍しくストレートなテクノ"Reticulum B"など、強力なサウンドが目白押し。
bounce (C)野村有正