News / / 10.05.13

HETEROTIC

Domestic bliss with Planet Mu’s newest collaboration.

It’s rare to achieve the level of insight into the dynamics of a music project – or, in fact, a relationship – that we reach as we chat to two-thirds of Heterotic via Skype while they lay in their marital bed.

Yep, very rare indeed. It’s almost surreal, you might say, to chat with a truly pivotal figure of the UK’s electronic music scene in such an intimate context. Through his work as μ-Ziq, and his ownership of the Planet Mu label, Mike Paradinas has inarguably helped forge the blueprint for much of the most daring work to emerge from these isles in recent memory. The label sits comfortably alongside the likes of Rephlex and Warp as beacons for fearless experimentation, a patronage of a generation of ravers who grew up and wanted something more cerebral and concrete to emerge from those never ending nights. Over nearly 20 years of pushing extremities, from IDM to drum and bass, breakcore, acid and dubstep, releases from the likes of Venetian Snares, Luke Vibert, Machinedrum, Vex’d (and subsequently Kuedo), Boxcutter and Ital proved pinpoints for their respective sounds. In recent years, Planet Mu has been pivotal in the explosion of the Chicago footwork sound in the UK, with the Bangs & Works compilations reverberating across the UK bass music scene.

But due to the nature of this project, meeting Paradinas in such cosy surroundings makes a whole load of sense. Because the warm and glossy, retro-futuristic tracks that Heterotic create are born of a creative relationship between Paradinas, his wife Lara Rix-Paradinas (née Martin) and the immensely talented Warp signee Gravenhurst. It’s also particularly appropriate as a fair amount of their debut Love and Devotion was penned right here. “It’s really boring, being in bed with Mike all day,” smiles Lara. “But it was too cold outside,” chimes in Mike. “About two years ago, Lara asked me to teach her Logic, and we started writing tracks together. And they were good, I decreed.” We quiz them further about how much of this music was made between the sheets. “It’s where we make our best music”, says Mike, with a hint of Carry On. “Bliss was done in bed, Devotion was done in bed, Slumber …” “About 87%” is Lara’s specific assertion, “most was made naked”. “I wore socks”, Mike is quick to correct.

Despite the project’s conjugal nature, the ‘erotic’ of its moniker does not actually relate to marital activity. “We just wanted a pretentious, scientific word” insists Lara, “it relates to string theory, it means when two things come together. People think it’s sexual, but it’s just cold.” Mike doesn’t seem so sure. “When I Googled it, I thought “hurr hurr, it’s got erotic in it, we’ll use that.” So there are certain sensual overtones? “Well,” says Lara, “I thought Slumber was sexual but then Gravenhurst sung on it …” “Well it’s not just about sex, is it?” come Mike’s final words on the matter, in almost a certain attempt to earn Brownie points, “it’s about other aspects, like love and romanticism.” It immediately reaps rewards, with Lara emitting a doting “awww”.

Gravenhurst, known to his Mum as Nick Talbot, has beguiled us over the years with his peculiarly addictive strand of alternative folk. His addition to the group added an intriguing outside element to this freaky ménage- à-trois. Lara reflects on his introduction. “I think Mike wanted to get a bit poppier with the tracks.” At this point, Mike inexplicably bombards the conversation with beverage-related adjectives. “I thought the stuff we were writing together was a lot poppier than stuff I do on my own, which is a bit more … juicy.” “Juicy?” enquires Lara. “Yeah, I think the stuff we do is a bit … fizzier.” And ‘pop’ is far from a dirty word in this household. “It’s all pop, isn’t it”, says Mike. “Something like Pete Swanson’s new E.P is pop. DJ Rashad, DJ Traxman … they’re all catchy tunes to make you dance. We’ve got vocals, criticise us as pop. If it’s not pop-ular, then that’s fair criticism.” “Unpopular pop” weighs in Lara. And both settle on “unpop”. The only other vocalist considered to complete the trio was perhaps an even more unconventional choice. Lara refers to him as “the soul man”. “Yeah, we asked Jamie Woon, but he was too busy”, says Mike. And what was the mentality behind inviting Woon? “I had his e-mail address” comes his deadpan reply. Of the two, it was clear Gravenhurst was the man for the job. “I e-mailed both, Jamie said ‘yeah, I’ll be interested’ but I sent him tracks and he didn’t reply. Gravenhurst said ‘yeah, let’s do this mother.’”

The pop sentiment seems to have been the one slightly divisive point in this seemingly flawlessly harmonious working/living relationship. As the duo move onto discussions about their (already in process) second effort, Lara appears keen to keep it largely instrumental. “Because Mike has got to that point in his career where he’s already been experimental and crazier, he’s free to just enjoy music”, she says. “For me, because I’m younger and it’s the first real thing I’ve put my name to that’s actually artistic, I feel like I want something that’s a bit more crazy, or abstract maybe.” The recording of this debated follow-up has, however, been halted by more personal events. “Well we’ve got a few tracks together”, says Mike, “but we haven’t done much more to it since she got up the duff.”

It’s another element to add to the Heterotic equation. One very seldom has to schedule live dates around the potential for one member of the group getting the other pregnant, with Lara reporting that “I’ve started getting annoyed very easily.” “We’re doing a Mu night in May” says Mike, before stumbling into a comment on gigs (“watching young people dance to music just pisses me off ” he says with a mischievous grin). A bit of mental arithmetic leads us to enquire how Lara will deal with a live show so far down the gestation line. “I’ll probably just grab a Kaoss pad and fuck about with all that shit” is her impeccably thought-out plan.

That’s the image we’re left with. The heavily-pregnant wife with sampler in hand, the pissed-off husband, and the rather confused Gravenhurst stood between. It’s probably safe to say that by that point, the Heterotic honeymoon might be over.

 

– – – – – – – – –

Love and Devotion is out now via Planet Mu.

Listen to our exclusive Planet Mu mix here

Words: Scott James

CONNECT TO CRACK