Interview Concepto MIX #100 µ-Ziq

[cear]

Having a look to the whole Planet Mu evolution during all these years, what would you change or would you do differently?

 

I don’t think I would change anything, I’d like to accept the change and growth in the label naturally, as it has happened. I’m not the sort of person that mulls over the past with bitterness or anything. I just make decisions at the time and then accept the consequences. However, there are a few artists which I really wanted to sign but lost out to other labels, and that still happens. But it’s business at the end of the day, I try to see everything from the point of view of the artist as well, what’s best for them in the long run.

 

Have you ever regretted to edit any release or material?

 

Sometimes, for example there could have been less tracks on Starkey’s second album, maybe it was a bit too long, things like that. I try not to edit individual tracks, though, as it’s the artists vision, however sometimes it’s inevitable or obvious and you draw the artist’s attention to it and they realise something is twice as long as it needs to be or whatever, it’s just about sustaining atmosphere, flow and keeping the listener’s interest, that sort of thing…

 

Planet Mu has the power to change and surprise every season, but always keeps a very strong quality line, and additionally an excellent view of the actually sound…

 

Thank you.

 

How is the day by day in the management of the label?

 

It is very well. I spend most of the time listening to all the tracks I’m sent, compiling the albums, making decisions about artwork, videos, release strategy, that sort of thing. Then doing a bit of housework or cooking (we all work at home and communicate via internet). Thomas Quaye runs most of the day to day business side of it now, dealing with artist accounts, VAT, distributors, etc. which leaves me enough time to think mainly about music. We also have Marcus who does the UK promotion and helps me with A&R and thought, Gavin who runs the publishing/sync and Gamall who does PR in US/Canada.

 

In 2010, Planet Mu was the platform who introduced and spread throughout Europe the Juke/Footwork language. Did you imagine that it would become one of the key focus points in the avant-garde electronic scene?

 

Yes. It was pretty obvious that here was a sound who’s time had come. The UK scene was at a low point in some ways, dubstep had run out of steam a couple of years before and it’s excitement had diminished for me (we discovered footwork about the same time Joker/Gemmy and colourful synth dubstep sound was popular) and we wanted to look back and release some grime which was the pre-cursor to that ‘purple’ sound but wasn’t getting much attention at the time (we were about to release the Terror Danjah “Gremlinz” compilation and wanted to release a Wiley instrumentals album – the idea which eventually became the Avalanche cd on his own label) and when the Wiley idea fell through, we had a gap in the release schedule.

 

I’d been listening to DJ Nate’s youtube uploads for a month or so and was talking to Marcus about him. Marcus had tried to sign DJ Nate about a year or so before (while he was working at Warp Records) but Nate had never replied. Eventually we got hold of him (thanks to Thomas sending emails to every DJ Nate myspace and website) and we got in contact with some of the other DJs like DJ Roc and Traxman who we were fans of (all from listening via youtube/Walacam etc.) with the intention of releasing a compilation. As you can imagine the compilation took a lot longer to prepare than individual artist releases, but I felt it was important to get this music on vinyl as soon as possible, ideally Bangs & Works would have been the first release. But I think it worked out just fine with DJ Nate’s album which has a hell of a lot of energy and ideas.

 

Gradually, other Planet Mu artists like Kuedo, Ital Tek or The Host have been incorporating the organic and rhythmic Footwork component to their sound… Is that a Planet Mu aim or a decision of own artists to incorporate these new elements?

 

Ha, in some ways I wish they wouldn’t have done that because it does look suspicious, but it’s all their own musical trajectory. I don’t have much influence over what anyone does! Both Jamie and Barry had been influenced very early on by Footwork’s rhythms (when I was compiling Bangs & Works I was regularly sending them all [and Mark Pritchard] Youtube links) and I had to keep off a few tracks from The Dissolve which eventually appeared on The Host album. Of course Kuedo’s album had more influences than simply footwork, trap etc., With Boxcutter, I think he wanted to combine the whole LA tape scene sound with the rhythms made by analogue drum machines, recorded onto cassette, re-sampled, approaching it from a lo-fi perspective, with a bit more of a hippyish sound. But I do think the footwork beats introduced a new paradigm which was very infectious, as the 140 thing had become a bit stale and played out by that time.

 

This “healthy pollution” that Footwork elements have resulted in other genres, styles and artists, will that disperse over time? Or the infection will stay present? What’s the Mike Paradinas’ theory about this?

 

No idea, however, I do think we will end up with both good and bad mutations, lol.

 

Do you think there’s a mutual inspiration? Can we say that is growing a feedback? Are Chicago producers also incorporating new elements to their productions?

 

There is an influence from UK music, but I think it has come from incorporating UK house and grime sounds, rather than any of the footwork mutations, although DJ Rashad was a fan of Ital Tek’s “Gonga”, and some Chicago producers are influenced by chainsaw dubstep wobble (Young Smoke)… but I still think the Chicago House lineage and contemporary US Hip Hop are the major factors.

 

Young Smoke’s album represent the most experimental and distinctive approach into the genre. Do you believe it’s the first release that sets the line between classical and modern Footwork?

 

No, I think he’s just a unique producer doing his own thing. If you listen to the other Flight Muzik producers they have a very different vision, but all are equally influenced by the “gutta” footwork sound of the 2006/7 era. We made a conscious decision to only release 2 footwork albums in 2012 (after having flooded the market in the previous years) which is why we chose wisely I think, one producer who showed the past/future and the other the future/past.

 

Recently, Planet Mu is also betting on projects with accentuated sci-fi flavour, retro-futuristic albums that also have a strong visual content, such as those signed by Konx-om-pax or Polysick… And also looking to the Washington DC’s House scene with big analogic power (Protect U, Ital…) Is there any more stuff like this coming soon?

 

Yeah, it all happens organically. We had been talking with Polysick and Protect-U for quite a while (since 2009 or 2010 I think) and were also very interested in the way the American scene had been appropriating dance music and reconstructing it in a new light. I think the Kuedo album bridged the gap between these ideas and the trap & footwork ‘rhythmic excitement’ very well. With Ital it all happened very quickly, he just emailed over some tracks and the album was done very quickly. Daniel has a new album “Dream On” out before the end of this year.

 

We’ve seen recent creative moves regarding your μ-Ziq project, and also heard news about Heterotic… How will sound this new stage?

 

Here is a link to some of the new µ-Ziq tracks: http://soundcloud.com/mikep/new-u-ziq-clips

 

We have 2 Heterotic (collaboration between me and my wife Lara) albums in the works, one with Gravenhurst on vocals which is due for release in February 2013. The other is with Vezelay and we hope to release it next year too (who knows).

 

Which advice would you give to a young label, born in that digital euphoria? Which are the keys to run well a label nowadays?

 

Enthusiasm & passion. Everything else usually flows from those 2.

 

Which is the material that has impressed you most this year? What do Planet Mu take notice for next year?

 

Recently i’ve been really impressed with the eMMplekz album, John Wizards mixtape, and a lot of other unreleased stuff which I probably can’t mention yet, but some of which I hope to sign (lol)

 

Which are your plans for a nearly future? Any tour? Album?

 

Yeah, as I’ve said there will be a µ-ziq album which is tentatively pencilled in for June 2013. A Heterotic mini-album in Feb 2013 and then a full Heterotic single/album by the end of 2013… so a potentially busy year for my own productions! We do hope to tour but nothing is planned yet.

 

Frankie Pizá / David Torres

 

http://www.conceptoradio.net/2012/10/18/concepto-mix-100-%C2%B5-ziq/

[Hugh Mughnus]

argh JUNE 2013?!

 

too far!

 

Very happy and grateful he is putting out some new work though.

[qnio]

01 Human League - The Dignity Of Labour Pt.1 (Virgin)

02 OMD - The Misunderstanding (Virgin)

03 Heaven 17 - Decline Of The West (Virgin)

04 Tom Dissevelt & KId Baltan - Vibration (Philips)

05 Human League - Dancevision (Virgin)

05 R-Tyme - R-Theme (Transmat)

06 Ragga Twins - Spliffhead (SUAD)

07 69 - Ladies & Gentlemen (Planet E)

08 Aphex Twin - Dodeccaheedron (R&S)

09 µ-Ziq - Nimble (Unreleased)

10 Model 500 & Martin Bonds - Vessel In Distress (Apollo)

11 Acen - Trip II The Moon Pt.1 (Production House)

12 Link - Amenity (Evolution)

 

i thought this was an aphex track