Bleep

Mike Paradinas is in a joyous mood: He’s celebrating the 25th anniversary of his legendary record Lunatic Harness, his first full-length album under the µ-Ziq name in 9 years with 2021’s Scurlage we selected as one of our top 10 albums of the year and now the return to his very own Planet Mu for the first time in 8 years with Magic Pony Ride.

Born from “a weekend getaway of riding Icelandic horses”, Magic Pony Ride is really just as its title describes: a gallop through the jungle rhythms he has mastered, bathed in an uplifting atmosphere. Though there are instances where intricately sliced breakbeats fill the foreground, µ-Ziq focusses on coaxing out their lighter and poppier sides, rather than twisting them into contorted and tormented forms. This is helped by the album’s myriad of melodies, the fantastical, pastel-coloured harps that elevate the breaks from their underground, murky concrete chambers and let them roam free in lush and grassy plains.

The pair of ‘Magic Pony Ride, Pt. 1’ and ‘Uncle Daddy’ open with a steady gait that continues through to the pensive bass pulsations on ‘Unless’, before evolving into a scrambling canter of breaks gnashing like teeth on corrugated iron fences. Hooves stomp with full force as thunderous drum rolls and the scrapyard beats of ‘Goodbye’ forge onwards alongside crystalline piano chords. ‘Elka’s Song’ is dedicated to Paradinas’s daughter, whose vocals are weaved into a sweet jungle lullaby.

As Magic Pony Ride was created through a period of digging deep into the past for archival releases, it is awash in memories of past work and family. 25 years on from its spiritual predecessor Lunatic Harness, Magic Pony Ride is proof of µ-Ziq's importance in contemporary electronic music.