Virgin

Making his name in the 1990s as a melodic avant-garde electronic producer using pseudonyms such as u-Ziq, Jake Slazenger and Tusken Raiders, Mike Paradinas was a peer of experimental artists such as Luke Vibert, Squarepusher and Aphex Twin. In fact, he did an album with Richard D. James (Aphex), 'Expert Knob Twiddlers' as Mike & Rich, in the mid-'90s — the two producers were pictured on the cover playing Connect 4 — before launching his acclaimed Planet Mu label.


The first time I got asked to play, I just felt so sick with nerves. Andy Morris was playing there too, and he came to pick me up from home. I took my records down, got to the car, was sick, and took my records back up again. I couldn’t face it. When I did turn up a month or two later when they booked me again, they booked me to play in the chill-out room with Paul Thomas from Kiss.

My first gig was at the age of 17 in a club called Vibration [in Karlsruhe, Germany], where I eventually became a resident after this first gig.

Daft Punk have called end-of-days with their former record label Virgin EMI after a 16 year stint with the label from signing in 1996.

Three...