µ-Ziq is a production alias of British Electronic Dance Music producer Michael Paradinas.  µ-Ziq productions are IDM that combine edgy Breakbeats with Ambient soundscapes.  Paradinas also runs the record label Planet Mu.

Early Years: 1993 to 2007

During the 1980’s Michael Paradinas was in a number of New Wave influenced bands, including eight years as the keyboard player for Blue Innocence.
After Blue Innocence broke up Paradinas started producing electronic music with Francis Noughton, the bass player from the band.

The duo nearly signed to Tom Middleton’s Evolution Records but eventually ended up signing for Aphex Twin’s Richard James’ Rephlex label.  The first album released was ‘Tango N' Vectif’ (Rephlex 1993).  Noughton eventually left, leaving µ-Ziq as Paradinas’ solo project.

µ-Ziq released another album on Rheplex and then released a collaboration with Alternative Rock band the Auteurs ‘The Auteurs Vs µ-Ziq’ (Hut Recordings 1994).
In 1997 Paradinas set up his own record label Planet Mu which went onto feature artists such as Venetian Snnares, Luke Vilbert and of course his own µ-Ziq releases.

In 1997 µ-Ziq released his most successful album to date – ‘Lunatic Harness’ (Astralwerks 1997) – on the influential Astralwerks label.  ‘Lunatic Harness’ included the track ‘Hasty Boom Alert’ (Astralwerks 1997), an edgy mix of Ambient soundscapes and fierce Jungle breakbeats.

The last µ-Ziq album was ‘Duntisbourne Abbots Soulmate Devastation Technique’ (Planet Mu 2007) since which time the µ-Ziq project has been in a hiatus.

Michael Paradinas has had most influence on the IDM scene as his role as head of Planet Mu records.   As an artist his work, though innovative, has never reached the same reach as some of his peers such as Squarepusher.