Planet Mu Records

Misty Conditions is a project that started off when Henry Collins and Richard Wilson met up in Henry's studio a couple of years ago and jammed for a few days non-stop, enjoying the process thoroughly.

The connection became so good in this period that the duo developed a fluent understanding of how each other worked, ending up as a project made across the internet, while Henry was living in France and Richard in LA. They cross pollinated by developing what each did best, Henry making and creating banks of samples and Richard creating software and effects to cut up and re-sample, passing the tracks back and forth, essentially until they felt finished.

The music here is quite different from what either of the artists are previously known for. Henry used to record as 'Shitmat' making fidgety jungle and Richard has recorded as 'Burnkane'. The music here initially sounds more simplistic, it's tempo pulled down to a head nod speed.

At times the album gives the impression of a kind of future-primitive take on Trap; rusted and distorted 808 claps and bass drums collide with exotic percussion and mangled industrial clangs, reminiscent of more recent industrial takes on techno such as Pete Swanson's music.  It's a thoroughly unique soundworld that stretches from the 4/4 kick of 'Dusco' to the Brazillian percussion meets trap triplets of 'Drizzle'. 'Dank' is made of exhausted and aggressively distorted hip hop, while 'Drowning' has an ambient feeling to it, leading into 'Dilute''s pockmarked abstraction.

'Death' is mercilessly overloaded and fever-sick, while 'D'Mmmm' works with just a looped sample and plodding processed 808s. following on are 'Demonoid' which stretches cymbals and drums into strange shimmering shapes and the brainwipe of 'Damiana's fierce oppressive squelch.

After last year's very popular and widely acclaimed album 'Severant', Kuedo returns with this emotionally epic, dancefloor detonator of a track from the same sessions. 

'Work, Live & Sleep In Collapsing Space' starts with huge symphonic synths, half-speed kicks, trap style hi-hats rushes and flammed 808 snares, slowly building up with giant whooshes of gaseous noise before breaking out into an intense trancey moroderesque synth that totally fills the track, making it sound absolutely vast and a little bit frightening, running it through effects to give it an aggressive, spacey rush that takes your breath away. 

It's the sort of track that connects his past to the newer music he made on 'Severant' with a fierce emotive grace and intense power. This will absolutely destroy dancefloors and headphones alike.

US artist Laurel Halo takes the track apart, adding sutured strings and bubbling sounds inside a pressurised dub space, before dropping a gorgeous, bittersweet melody into the space that's left. It's an appropriate reimagining of the title, almost aching and groaning under its own pressure.

Claude Speeed re-imagines the track as a beatless evocation of space, building graceful warm strings into a vision of symphonic beauty before the whole track coalesces into building trancey bass synths over racing live drums, mirroring the original track but taking it in a totally different but equally breathtaking direction.

The 'Videowave EP' is an 'end of phase one' sign-off for Kuedo, a.k.a. Jamie Teasdale.

After two well received and brilliant EPs, this is almost an addendum before a change in style with his forthcoming album.

Here, we collect together the best of his remaining original tracks from the first phase together with remixes by friends of three tracks from his last EP 'Dream Sequence'.

'Take Off Remix' was originally conceived in 2009 as a remix of Slugabed, but it doesn't have much of the original left in it, so Slugabed has kindly let him use it for his own track. It's a cosmic attack of spiralling, flickering arpeggios and aerial synth lines over crashing half-step drums.

Illum Sphere remakes 'Starfox' by laying it out with warm orchestral strings and soft bleeps, making an incredibly inviting and gentle version.

Chris Clark from Warp takes 'Glow' and turns it into a weightless symphony with long spaces, held together with gas-like drones in complex arrangements.

'Shutter Light Girl' is remixed by Heterotic and bathed in the washed out, gently pulsing and bending synths of the kind you might find accompanying the suggestive cut-aways of an 80s soft porn VHS.

Lastly 'Oh' is a mini anthem that mixes boom bap drums and claps with a lush upbeat synth melody that walks the fine line between melodic and abstract, previewing the forthcoming material, but also signing-off on his original hip hop sound and finishing the EP in triumphant form.

Fresh from supporting Jagwar Ma on a UK and European tour, the Cape Town band John Wizards drop the lush 'Muizenberg' as a single. Taken from their critically acclaimed and eponymous debut, the track exudes southern hemisphere sunshine with a warm guitar figure sending a gentle bounce through the track. Lead singer John delivers a gentle falsetto before the track drops into a scuffy bass coda.

Beatmaker extraordinaire Seiji turns a gentle piano line that you barely notice in the original into the centrepiece of his mix, running rhythmic, crunchy kicks and snares alongside bubbling filtered effects.

On the flip The 2 Bears create a thing of beauty. A slow, rippling mix that's absorbed all the sunshine of the original, turning it inside-out and building the track up gently over a slow house beat, before dropping in gentle repeated vocals over the epic nine minute timespan.

After their collaboration at last year's Unsound festival, there were rumours about a recorded EP from Interplanetary Prophets a.k.a. Jamal Moss (Hieroglyphic Being) and Daniel Martin Mccormick (Ital). The good news is they were true.

These tracks are the fruits of studio jams earlier this year, edited down into three long, dense pieces. And the coupling really works; Interplanetary Prophets feels and sounds like a brand new entity.

Burning Chrome opens, stretching effects and warm, filtered chords over popping drums, designed for deep space voyaging. Zero Hour manages to mirror the intention and seriousness of post-punk electronic bands such as Ike Yard or Monoton, Jamal's deadpan voice dropping incantions over a stark, hypnotising beat, and whooshing atmosphere. The closer, Running out of Time is beatless, and cosmic. Held together with pulsing bass and quiet breathing, notes flicker like burning embers, occasionally shaped by slabs of synth.

These are tracks that mirror their creators, carving techno into new shapes with a nod to the past and a foot in the future.

Bar the occasional remix, and of course the formation of Heterotic with his wife Lara Rix-Martin, who recently released their debut LP 'Love and Devotion', Mike Paradinas' µ-Ziq solo project has been quiet for a while. However, with XTEP, he makes a welcome return from hiatus and gives us a gentle taster for a forthcoming brand new µ-Ziq album due this summer.

In stark contrast to a large percentage of his previous work, XTEP is joyous all the way through. The five compositions abandon the furrow-browed quest for cutting-edge exploration exchanging it for an altogether more carefree fun approach, with only the footwork-influenced 'Monj2' directly referencing any current electronic influences, however even on Monj2, the vintage sound palette dominates.

Opening with the gorgeous 'XT'; a smudged piano/moog melody recalls the abandon of 70s pop melodies before the composition falls out into airy arpeggiated funk with splashy drums. 'Ritm' debuts with ravey piano and whistling synths, condensing early dance music tropes into a gauzy bitter-sweet haze. 'Pulsar' is a perfect interpretation / tribute to late 70s electronic cosmic space-disco, gently nudged towards more modern dancefloors with pulsing electronics racing above robust kicks / claps. After the aforementioned Monj2, comes 'New Bimple' which succinctly uses a short space of time, woody, swinging 2-step drums and downcast piano melody, to bring the EP to a conclusion on a sadder, unresolved note. 

If one thing unites the approaches here it's a new-found sense of emotion transformed into sound with the skill of a truly seasoned innovator and soldier. Welcome back µ-Ziq!

With 'My Love Is A Bulldozer', Venetian Snares first new album since 2010's 'My So-Called Life', Aaron Funk surprises yet again, drawing on new ideas and on moods that have only been touched upon in his previous work.

The album seems to have a flowing sense of narrative, something akin to an opera, and unusually Aaron sings songs on it, which reinforces the sense of an emotional journey. Sonically he meshes together sometimes thunderous yet complex drum programming with delicate musical structures, creating, in places, a sense of haunted, atmospheric Jazziness, as well as spiky autumnal strings recalling the gothic orchestral beauty of his previous work.

Right from the start it's clear we're in new territory, with the distressed and violent '10th Circle Of Winnipeg', featuring a world weary jazz singer intoning deep emotional loss between crashing breaks and a corkscrewing bassline, giving us a sense of bewilderment and hurt, whereas 'Deleted Poems', all mournful strings and flamenco guitar, evokes empty desolation. '1000 Years' is the first time we hear Aaron's romantic singing with its orchestral accompaniment, coming across with a slightly medieval quality, cut up dramatically with angry fitful drum programming. On 'Your Smiling Face' Aaron's voice is both lamenting and slightly manic over an empty downbeat drums and piano, switching quickly in mood to the cartoony rush of 'Amazon'.

Title track 'My Love Is A Bulldozer' is as close as Snares gets to a pop song, with its gothic, self-deprecating vocals and dark synth melodies, but this is quickly splintered apart by rushing drumwork and metal stabs leaving you breathless. 'She Runs' sees things get warmer and more romantic, with epic chords and building, fidgety drums, rushing closer and closer in anticipation towards the end as if they're speeding towards a destination. 'Too Far Across', drops back to sparse, lonely lyrics, the vocals yearning to see a distant lover, over sad plucked guitar.

'Dear Poet' is an epic track that starts by working up strings and brass into shivering shapes cut with violent stabs, before amens drop in and the orchestral work becomes a dramatic accompaniment, the melodies darting across the deftly programmed drums. 'Your Blanket' finishes off the album, cold, beatless and balletic, gently building some light into the string arrangements, before the track finally forms together with bombastic brass, suggesting a potentially positive end.

BBC Radio1's firebrand Mary Anne Hobbs compiles her third selection of favourite new artists with the Planet Mu label.

The title 'Wild Angels' was an expression that Mary Anne Hobbs used on her BBC Radio1 'West Coast Rocks' special to describe the influential playing of the late Alice Coltrane. The description could equally be used for the music on this album. Mike Paradinas at Planet Mu loved the expression and suggested it as a title for this transatlantic showcase.

'Wild Angels' is a great showcase for emerging new artists that hybridise existing genres like hip hop, dubstep, grime and soul into exotic exciting new forms. Coming from transatlantic locales such as L.A., Glasgow, Bristol & Philadelphia, they represent a growing global new electronic music scene. The mixture of underground classics and exclusive new tracks makes it an essential purchase for the curious and the converted.

Wild Angels features pioneering tracks from Glasgow's Hudson Mohawke and Rustie with 'Spotted' and 'Zig-Zag' which have been highly influential on a host of new artists. You'll also find underground dancefloor anthems such as Philadelphian Starkey's 'Gutter Music VIP', devastating cerebral pieces such as Mark Pritchard's '?' next to exclusive tracks from very young next generation artists such as Teebs and Gemmy with ''WLTA' and 'Rainbow Rd' respectively.

On his debut album The Host works in a spacey interzone, using vintage gear to create dramatic panoramas for the headphoned mind. He creates a unique suite of modern impressionistic sonics that tumble and waft in and out of the mix, earthed with strong melodies that take inspiration from net-age genres while never recalling them directly.

Throughout, he masters all the potentials of vintage synths, drum machines and reverbs, along with guitar and bass to explore a sound that sets him apart from producers working on computers, creating something much more band-like but rich with lively micro-detail.

Opening track 'Neo-Geocities' is full of drifting synths and distorted drum machine toms reminicent of a jerry-rigged footwork style, 'Angel Fire' melts muted guitar and gentle keys into haywire 808 rhythms, while 'Internet Archaelogy' dubs hazy melodies, tape edits and bass guitar into murky but upliftingly melodic shapes. 'Hidden Ontology' riffs majestically over arpeggiated synths, while '3am Surfing' and 'Summer Solstice at Cape Canaveral' sound like savoured quiet moments after a good night out. 'Rainy Sequences/Phosphene Patterns' is a dense and ecstatic blur of sound, coalescing into a pretty guitar melody weaving through the lush noise while 'Aeontology's pastoral drift is probably best appreciated horizontal, and the delicate and exquisitely detailed spring mood of 'Birthday Bluebells' is a gentle closer. A focused and unique artist with a strong debut.