Rephlex is currently re-issuing Tango N’ Vectif on CD, with tracks previously only available on the LP, and also includes the much sought after Phi*1700 [u/v] EP. How do you think the album has stood the test of time?
Still sounds OK to me, I don't think it has dated at all, which was one of my feelings about it when I  wrote it. Especially compared to all the junk that was coming out around that time (anyone remember the Naturists? Children Of The Bong?). I remember being tired of Tango right after I wrote it (several months before it's release) and I was (and still am) much more into Bluff Limbo which was my second album, I think it is significantly better, or maybe more to my tastes.

Who came up with the idea of the re-issue?
Grant and I had always meant to issue the vinyl only tracks on cd at some point - and some other tracks which Rephlex owned the rights to but never released - but it was picking the right time and context. Neither of us was happy just putting out a 5 or 6 track cd or 12" of leftover tracks. The catalyst was 2 things - the reverting back of rights of the R&S ep to Rephlex and Warp's re-issue of Surfing On Sine Waves which prompted Grant to ring me with the idea - to re-issue the album as a 2cd job with extra tracks. I think he first suggested that the 1st cd be the same as the original issue with all the extras on the second disc. I wasn't so happy with that as I preferred the original double vinyl's "flow" and wanted to duplicate that.  So I worked on a tracklisting while Grant did the artwork (I gave him the brief to be as faithful as possible to the original vinyl sleeve). 

How do you think electronic music has changed since then?
Now we've had jungle, gabber, 2-step, breakcore and fatboy slim, back then it was just detroit techno and the KLF. (I am referring to when I started making electronic dance tracks, in 1990 - not 93 by which time the uk scene had a head of steam with hardcore rave and the beginnings of gabber).

You played in a band called Blue Innocence for a good few years. What decided you to go solo and take the musical direction you have?
Well, I was just the keyboard player, you know - I was already doing these electronic tracks on my 4-track and had interest from labels (like Rising High etc) while I was still in the band. I was still doing gigs with them in 1994 and 1995, but I sacked it like in June 95 I think. The musical direction was just wrong for me by then. Think an Italo-House Jamiroquai vs The Charlatans.

A lot of young musicians seem to borrow a lot of influences from the early nineties UK electronic scene, to which you were an active part. How does it feel to be a source of inspiration?
I have noticed a bit of Artificial Intelligence era revival happening, with B12 and stuff like that being an influence, to be honest I never liked that clean detroit copyist style, 808 and pads, I was always into a dirtier sound like Meat Beat Manifesto and MBV who were more influential to me than the AI movement and labels like Eevolute. My other influence was original Detroit Techno - which is SO different to the early 90's copies - you can't copy soul. Derrick May is still one of the best producers of all time. New labels like Defocus and Neoouija though are much more in keeping with the original detroit feel though, but bringing in many new influences. Stuff like CiM and Norken are great. As for the youngsters rippin' my style - I'm all for it - send me a demo.
 

Did the fact of signing to Virgin after Bluff Limbo changed your perspective on music?
No. It probably changed others perception of me. I carried on much as before - making tracks. The only thing to have changed my perspective on making music was changing from Atari to Mac.

Planet-Mu is one of the most dynamic record labels of the moment, and has been growing a lot over the last couple of years. How do you explain its success?
The back catalogue's been growing, that's for sure. I don't know how you judge success - but I'm happy with everything we put out and I'm 100% behind it all - that's what counts. It takes a lot of hard work to put out 25 releases in a year (2001) and it presents a face to the public which says we are serious about the label - it's not just an artist's hobby label for putting out the odd 12" under an alias or something. I hope it does end up being successful (breaking-even-wise) because Attila and I have put a lot of work and time into it and there still seems to be such apathy. What pleases me is that the fans are hardcore into it and they realise that it's one of, if not the best label out there. But there's only so much we can do to promote the label to a wider public without loads of cash. The buying public still seems to think it begins and ends with Warp, no offence to them - they're putting out some pretty blinding stuff themselves this year (Brothomstates/Prefuse 73/Aphex).

What usually makes you decide to release the work of a new artist?
If I'm into it I usually release it. I just have to really like it, play it loads on the stereo - the stuff you find yourself coming back to, even when it was cheesy on first listen (Joseph Nothing was like that). Really it's pretty obvious on 1st listen whether something is good or not.

Is there a record you released on Planet Mu that makes you really proud?
Yeah, all of them. There are loads of really fantastic albums that are my all time favourites regardless of label, like, off the top of my head: 

Jega - Geometry
Leafcutter John - Microcontact
Slag Boom Van Loon
Hellfish - Meat Machine Broadcast System
Capitol K - Sounds Of The Empire
Kid Spatula - Full Sunken Breaks
Phthalocyanine - 25 tracks fer 1 track
Criminal ep
Vsnares+Speedranch - Making Orange Things
Hellfish and Producer - Constant Mutation
Joseph Nothing - Dummy Variations
Venetian Snares - Songs About My Cats
Dykehouse - Dynamic Obsolescence

Is there any artist currently signed to another label that you would like to release?
Aphex/Boards/Atomsmasher/DJ Scud/Derrick May/LFO...probably loads. I could go on.

You’ve collaborated with Luke Vibert, Richard D. James and Speedy J on various projects. What did it bring to your music?
The process of collaboration is not simple addition of styles or techniques. You have to find a place - somewhere different, where you can both work happily on the same level. With Jochem (Speedy J) and myself we found we worked together best in a more freeform linear improvisational manner than either of us worked alone. With Rich it was probably more fooling around pissed and on acid.

Expert Knob Twiddlers is one of the most playful electronic records of all time. How did the project get started, and what was it like to work with Richard?
Right, well I've partially answered this one above. It started round his place and we just did this track. I think we both enjoyed working together, it was quite a laugh, so we carried it on. We were serious about the music though - it's not a pisstake, just elements of joy.

How did the Slag Boom Van Loon remix project started, and what did you think of the end result?
I had known Jochem for a number of years when he suggested we collaborate. I think during our friendship I had been part of the force that brought him from the more techno trancey waters of his Warp stuff to the Public Energy album which was.. industrial? So I was well on for a bit of collab. It was a shock to me what we ended up with (the more ambient sound) but we knew we were on to something when we finished "Light Of India". 

Are there anymore of these collaborations to come?
Maybe.

With Urmur Bile Trax and Lunatic Harness, you explored the realms of drum’n’bass, but your music retained a more obvious melodic structure than the experimentations of Tom Jenkinson or Richard D. James in the same field. Was it deliberate?
I don't think it was deliberate - my style is more melodic, usually has been. I was saving all the melodic stuff for Lunatic Harness - although most of the tracks pre-date Urmur Bile Trax. 
 

Can we expect any more releases from Jake Slazenger, Gary Moscheles, Kid Spatula or Tusken Raiders, or are these projects well and truly in the past?
I think we have seen the last of Gary Moscheles...
 

You are currently working on the follow up to Royal Astronomy. When is it likely to be released, and can you tell us about it?
It will probably be out next year and I can't tell you anything.
 

You said once that you only release new stuff to finance Planet Mu. Is it really your only motivation these days?
The Kid Spatula album (Full Sunken Breaks) funded Planet Mu for a while which was useful, but that wasn't the reason to release it. My motivation to create is not the same as the desire to publicly release something either. Dunno. Next.

What’s in the pipeline for Planet Mu?
On 3rd September we have the new Hellfish album Meat Machine Broadcast System which is a fucking blistering follow up to Constant Mutation and has already received the thumbs up from Aphex Twin, Grantphlex , DMX Krew, Vsnares & Simon Reynolds among others. That's followed on the 24th by The Cosmic Forces Of Mu, a 26 track 2cd compilation of exclusives from all the Planet Mu artists (details on the site). We are also doing a vinyl edition of Songs About My Cats by Mr Snares which will be out soonish.  There are also releases planned from Kettel, Doormouse, Nautilis, Decal and Hrvatski and many more...
 

What are you listening to at the moment? What is the latest album you bought?
I'm listening to lots of demos, and artists new tracks - there's a few new vsnares tracks floating around. Last album bought? I think it was the new Fennesz and Oval albums - both good.

How do you see your music evolve in the next few years? Is it something you think about?
No - that's your job. I would go mad if I thought about that.
 

For more information on Mike Paradinas and his different projects, visit the µ-Ziq & Planet Music web sites.
Thank you to Mike.

© themilkfactory.co.uk 2001