Planet Mu Records
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Visit product page →At a party in the late 80s in The Hague, a local DJ by the name of DJ Moortje accidentally dropped a dancehall twelve-inch at 45RPMs, causing chaos in the audience. Not the kind of negative heckling you get when a record is skipped, but the kind of excitement that happens when a movement has been started. This beautiful mistake resulted in Bubbling, a cultural expression of immigrants from The Dutch Antilles and Suriname, a genre that would take these communities by storm in Holland in the 1990s. Jamaican exports such as the Fever Pitch and Bam Bam riddims were double and half-timed, with Cutty Ranks on one hand sounding like a prepubescent chipmunk, the other hand sounding like an evil duppy. Its sound borrowed slave rhythms from Curacao (DJ Moortje's origin), creating a new Caribbean style of music in Europe that ran parallel to London's Jungle scene.
This excitement eventually died down in The Netherlands, and Dutch House became the dominant genre in the late 2000s. There was more money to be made, and bigger parties to be played when your music didn't consist of pitched up dancehall, and bubbling became reserved exclusively for the black and Latin crowds, especially teenagers. However, House in Holland was littered with Caribbean influence, and eventually a new generation of DJs would pioneer a new sound, known as Bubbling House. A group of cousins, DJ's Shaun-D, Master-D, Daycard, and Deschuurman who loved Dutch House but couldn't shake their traditions created a new sound, with hyper Fruity Loop synths over pitched up Dem Bow drums. The sound could be found all over Youtube and regional social media sites, the same way the rest of the global youth were distributing their music from Chicago to Luanda.
Anti-G a.k.a. Kentje'sz Beatsz, an 18-year-old producer from the South Holland city of Delft is of the current Bubbling House generation, but his music often stabs at other realms. Like many of his peers, he takes in the popular styles of the black and Latin communities of Holland: Bubbling, Reggaeton, Dutch and American Hip-Hop, and House, and loads those influence into Fruity Loops on his PC. This often results in all of those genres crammed into 3 minutes of audio, though occasionally he singles one out. The atmosphere is cold and industrial, not-unlike the sound created by UK Grime producers, but with polyrhythms that swing like Funky House. His tracks often can't decide if they're for a rave or a rap show, but in the end sound like the soundtrack for someone getting stabbed in space.
Anti-G Presents 'Kentje'sz Beatsz' is a collection of material made between 2009 and 2010, showing all of the faces of his work. Bubbling Cause Trouble and Crack The Glass! tap into the current club scene of Holland, while tracks such as Reggaeton Man! are his own mutant Dem Bow riddims. It's a trip through Dutch social networking sites such as Hyves, and an example of the experimentation brewing with the current digital youth of the Surinamese and Antillean communities of The Netherlands. These drums may come from the Caribbean, but the synths belong on a space station.
Tracklisting:
Side A:1. OepSs Te Hard!2. Freak it out3. CrazyShit4. Bubbling Cause TroubleSide B:1. Inspiration Meets Bubbling2. King Off Speakers3. Its Just Fresh Hiphop4. Crack The Glass!Side C:1. THE FUCKING ERROR!!!!!!!2. Full Up3. Trille Tot Je doodvall!4. Turn the hiphop onSide D:1. A Hype up System2. Pump Up!3. Reggeaton Man!4. Instrumentals Reggeaton -
Visit product page →Barry Lynn has already dropped a couple of albums that looked at dubstep from fresh angles before everyone else started to do the same. This time around, on "The Dissolve", things are different, and he's taken off in a direction that leaves dubstep behind entirely.
The title is a reference to a common video art effect, where one image gradually transitions to another. The album has an unpolished hue to it, created with keyboards, drum machine, echo and tape and sometimes even electric guitar. It sits in a world of its own, but with a stronger affinity to things like Theo Parrish's productions or hypnagogic pop than the latest fashionable electronics created on the newest software - the devil is in the details with this album, it's rich in twists and turns.
"The Dissolve" opens with the spacey funk and marimba of 'Panama', into the floaty synth and bass of 'Zabriskie Disco'. Things start to take on more gravity with 'All Too Heavy', one of three tracks featuring singer Brian Greene, that mixes a hazy, dubbed out funk abstraction with Greene's effect laden vocals. 'Cold War' featuring Ken and Ryu gets heavier still, with a slow dancehall kick drum and grimy metallic claps, over which mourns a sad 8-bit melody and slip-slide strings.
'Passerby' uses an echoed 808 and a guitar melody to make something that sits at the border between Eighties funk and Steve Hillage hippy grooves, while the next track, 'TV Troubles' takes that idea even further, wrapping echoey riffs into a lo-fi funk vamp which rewinds, slows down and distorts on a tape reel, it's incredible.
Title track 'The Dissolve' is even more lo-fi; jump cut edits and a sound that's frayed around the edges, everything bathed in tape wobble and hiss which finally slows down to a stop.
'Moon Pupils' restarts the album again from an airy 2-step perspective with melodic, hollow bass sounds, echoes and reverse edits, whilst 'Factory Setting' mixes off-key metallic synths with a bassline and funky galloping drums, which gives the album a rare moment of darkness.
'Allele' brings things into the open again, building from echoey drums into a tight Juke influenced drum pattern, before adding a vocal that hints at old school hardcore, all wavering chords and drops, before the whole thing finally resolves into a restrained but ravey breakbeat. 'Topsoil' mixes a gliding synth melody with hazy synth stabs and dusty drums, before 'Little Smoke Remix', collaboration with Kab Driver, wraps hard offbeat drums in cascading synth arpeggios.
The album ends in the broken funk of 'Ufonik', and by then you definitely get the feeling, as an album, you've been transported and dropped off somewhere else entirely.
Tracklisting:
1. Panama2. Zabriskie Disco3. All Too Heavy4. Boxcutter Vs. Ken & Ryu - Cold War5. Passerby6. TV Troubles7. The Dissolve8. Moon Pupils9. Factory Setting10. Allele11. Topsoil12. Little Smoke Remix13. Ufonik -
Visit product page →The last few years have seen Chrissy working hard on the optimum formula for getting down and having non-stop fun. 'Women's Studies' is an album of party starting, populist mutations with vocal contributions from the Dancehall mcees MC ZULU, Rubi Dan and Warrior Queen, plus rappers Popeye, Coool Dundee and Johnny Moog. It's made with a brazen and unashamed love for dance music, mixing energetic tropes into a sticky tropical punch.
The influence of Ghetto House and Juke from his chosen home of Chicago hangs over the album. From the off, things get fleet-footed on 'Break You Off' with it's night-time atmosphere built from Rhodes chord progressions and sexy vocals over tight, subtle rolling footwork drums and bass; it's like a 160bpm musical massage. Later on 'Bussin Down' continues the footwork influence with a sped-up grooving funk sample, over which DJ Spinn gives the orders. Elsewhere 'Heavy Butt's' seesawing bassline and 8-bit melody gets the message across loud and clear, while the impressionist footwork of 'Jiggle' is probably the most jiggling piece of music ever recorded.
Other tracks such as 'New Juke Swing' mix crunchy drums of the kind you might find on a Teddy Riley production with a bassline of an early grime record while Rubi Dan acts as master of ceremonies¦ 'The Vibe Is So Right', featuring MC ZULU, pits chopped breakbeats against big basslines at funky house speed, which quickly intensify into sharp junglist patterns. On 'Bump Uglies' Chrissy mixes cute girl vocals chopped up over a flat dancehall beat while MC Popeye rides the rhythm making his intentions clear, while the album's poppiest moment 'Sweet Thang' features Coool Dundee and Johnny Moog in an inspired high speed mix of jungle and electro with soul vocals and mcing.
Things get decidedly early 90's with Warrior Queen on 'Under Dress' a strange amalgam of acid and (more) New Jack Swing, with Warrior Queen dropping some filthy lyrics. The 90's revival continues with the 'U Got Me Burnin Up (Club Cirque)' which mixes high speed ravey piano and diva samples with crackin 160bpm juke and hip house vocals from Coool Dundee.
On 'Women's Studies' Murderbot manages to twist underground music forms into a new kind of high quality pop music that's a joy to listen to.
Side A:1. Break U Off2. New Juke Swing3. Bussin DownSide B:1. The Vibe Is So Right2. Bump Uglies3. Pelvic FloorSide C:1. Heavy Butt2. Nice Lookin Bwoy3. Sweet ThangSide D:1. Jiggle2. Under Dress3. U Got Me Burnin Up (Club Cirque) -
Claude Speeed returns to Planet Mu, two years after the 'Sun Czar Temple' EP, with his second album 'Infinity Ultra'. He describes the record he's been creating since he started making computer music as one "conceiving an interior territory: an abstract space to process the oppression, confusion and insanity of the contemporary age; and to formulate an honest emotional and artistic response - a psychic jumping off point into an uncertain future."Visit product page →
'Infinity Ultra' takes inspiration from sleep paralysis, monumental artworks, children's anime, abandoned places, ghostly rave pasts and terrifying silicon valley futures, and the limitless anger of the digital present.
These influences have been channelled into an impressionistic burst of varied creativity: Shimmering VSTs; monolithic noise; euphoric blocks of colourful sound; trance stabs and the citrus rush of hardcore; towering drones, and skynet math rock - all rendered against cold, sinister space and nostalgic synth melodies.
The album reveals the artist's Scottish roots, viewed at a hazy distance from his Berlin home - a series of memories of Glasgow's experimental psychedelic underground, its DIY rock scene and defiant club hedonism.
These genre relationships are blurred and at times they contrast with audible brutality; the result is a hybrid, sculptured way of rendering music - minimal specifics, maximum emotions.
Tracklisting:
2LP:
Side A:
1. BCCCC
2. Serra
3. Windows 95
4. Ambien Rave
Side B:
1. Alternate Histories (ft. Kuedo)
2. Moonchord Supermagic
3. 800 Super NYC
4. XY Autostream
Side C:
1. Fifth Fortress
2. VZJD
3. Entering The Zone
4. Center Tech
Side D:
1. Spirits
2. Contact
3. Dreamdream
CD:
01. BCCCC
02. Serra
03. Windows 95
04. Ambien Rave
05. Alternate Histories (ft. Kuedo)
06. Moonchord Supermagic
07. 800 Super NYC
08. XY Autostream
09. Fifth Fortress
10. VZJD
11. Entering The Zone
12. Center Tech
13. Spirits
14. Contact
15. Dreamdream -
Visit product page →This is the Japanese CD version of ZIQ302 Flight Muzik. It includes 5 extra tracks, the 2 tracks from Bangs & Works and 3 bonus exclusive bangers.
DJ Diamond is 24 year old Karlis Griffin from the West Side of Chicago. He has been producing music since the age of 13 and DJing since 20, heading the 'Flight Muzik' clique of footwork producers.
You might recall his two tracks from our 'Bangs & Works Vol.1' footwork compilation of last year. In addition he's also released several mix cds in Chicago, but this, his first international album showcases his unique style of footwork music.
DJ Diamond is a unique producer with his own distinct style and an unusual ear for unexpected sonic and rhythmic combinations within the footwork template. Often he thoroughly edits samples into tiny trance-inducing, techno-like stabs. Combining this with a penchant for neon synths and loose, broken drums (that are often more effect-laden and freeform than those of of his peers) and you have a sound which has an intriguing, deeper, dreamlike feel.
The breadth and quality of his production is clear when you listen to this album. Take opener 'Rep Yo Clique's woozy drawling synths and tribal tom patterns next to 'Speakerz n Tonguez' with it's snapping snares, minimal, repetitive voice samples and martial, detailed drum work. Then a track like 'Torture Rack' which is like grime in outer space: a minimal bassline and some samples from a computer game, while a bass kick stumbles at half time, swarms of percussive detail giving it drama. It's a brilliant exercise in wonky tension. The extraordinary 'Decoded' comes across like a kind of amalgam of trance and prog rock bombast at 160bpm while 'Wreckage's' high pitch saw noise is like a strange metallic bird-call, over light cymbals, gabba-like kicks and metallic claps. 'Digimon's' harmonic microedits could even be an SND track transported to Chicago. Finally the album's closer 'I Choose You' rolls out over a heavily edited and processed soul sample, it's drums rolling off at odd angles to almost seasick effect.
Tracklisting:
1. Rep Yo Clique (Remix)2. Speakerz 'n' Tonguez3. Uh4. Pop The Trunk5. Horns6. Vibe7. Torture Rack8. Decoded9. Down Bitch10. Wreckage11. Digimon12. Rep Yo Clique13. Burn Dat Boy14. Snare Fanfare15. Go Hard16. I Choose You17. Ready Mother Fucka (Bonus Track)18. Freakazoid (Bonus Track)19. Crazy Sh!t (Unreleased)20. Randomness (Unreleased)21. Purple Muzik (Unreleased) -
DJ Manny's 'Hypnotized' is full of fresh ideas which push the footwork format of 160bpm hyper-rhythmic music in really enjoyable new directions. He builds on the romantic themes of his last album 'Signals In My Head' and evolves them with shades of blue, taking very natural sounding experimentation into new moods and musical colour while never making the album inaccessible.Visit product page →
Arguably this is a fine successor to the ground broken by DJ Rashad's 'Double Cup' album, which of course Manny also worked on. 'Hypnotized' solidifies Manny's style, from relaxed r'n'b rollers to moments of romantic distress - like 'WTF Goin On' and the reflective 'You N You (ft. DJ Phil)', to more intense moments like the dubstep inflected 'Ooh Baby' from the vaults, co-produced by DJ Rashad himself.
Other tracks like 'Want U Bad' retool Robert Hood style minimal techno whereas dark, nervous belters like 'Turn Me Up' sound like Paul Johnson at his most wild but welded to footwork rhythms and a pumping jump up drum & bass-line.
There are also moments of enjoyably hype daftness like the acid and diva head-fuck of 'Opera' or the old school Bukem style jungle homage 'Lost In Da Jungle'. 'Hypnotized' is an album that expands footwork's template with natural ease and outstanding skill.
Tracklisting:
Side A
1. Hard Drive
2. WTF Goin On
3. Hypnotized
4. Ooh Baby (ft. DJ Rashad)
5. I Can Luv U
6. You N You (ft. DJ Phil)
Side B:
7. Overnight Flight
8. Want U Bad
9. Turn Me Up
10. Opera
11. Lost In Da Jungle
12. Deep In My Mind -
East Man is a new project from Anthoney Hart and its material predates his previous work as Basic Rhythm.Visit product page →
His unique take on grime reduces the sound to its steely fundamentals, bringing in influences from dancehall, drum and bass and techno to gird the voices of the MCs he works with.
His own name for this hardcore continuum mongrel is 'Hi Tek'.Anthoney struck a friendship with the academic and theorist Paul Gilroy, who wrote the album introduction.
Vinyl LP:
Side A:
1. East Man - East Man Theme
2. East Man & Saint P - Can't Tell Me Bout Nothing
3. East Man & Darkos Strife - Cruisin'
4. East Man & Killa P - Mission
5. East Man - Stratford
6. East Man & Irah - War
Side B:
7. East Man - Drapesing
8. East Man & Eklipse - Safe
9. East Man & Lyrical Strally - Mmm
10. East Man & Kwam - Tear Down
11. East Man & Darkos Strife - Look & Listen
12. East Man - And What? (Blood Klaat Version) -
Visit product page →Ekoplekz returns with his fourth album for Planet Mu, in the shape of 10-tracker "Bioprodukt". The unique lo-fi, woozy sound of Bristol's Nick Edwards stays intact while he veers towards the nineties for inspiration: the bleep and bass sound of the north of England is one touchpoint and the acid gurgles of the 303 are another.
While the murky lo-fi production levels and evocative melodies remain, they are now bolstered by a more muscular rhythmic chassis. Snappier kicks and snares mingle with dense layers of percussion and deep undulating sub-basslines adding a funkier edge, as typified by opening track "Elevation" where playful beats interlock with breezy keyboard flourishes to create something uncharacteristically upbeat. Similarly, the gentle, fluid motion of "Slipstream" and "Calypzoid" represent some of the most appealingly chilled grooves in the Ekoplekz canon to date.
But the darker-edged material remains. "Expedition" has a pensive, percussion-heavy feel whilst "Acrid Acid" is a dirt-encrusted slow-mo techno meltdown. "Transcience" displays the Ekoplekz trademark dub-fx in full flight over a driving lo-end, before "Descent" leads down to the final section, where the beats fade out, replaced by rippling layers of spectral ferric ambience on the epic "Low-X Over", before finishing with the radiant looped stasis of "Denier Daze".
The albums shifting, imperfect patterns and muted colours are visually mirrored in the beautifully realised sleeve by the Print Project.
Tracklisting:
1. Elevation
2. Consequences
3. Expedition
4. Acrid Acid
5. Slipstream
6. Calypzoid
7. Transience
8. Descent
9. Low X-Over
10. Denier Daze -
Visit product page →With Unfidelity the music aligns itself with Mu's melodic sensibilities and lets the early 90's electronica influences bleed in, although the album still has the intensely transporting feel that all his work possesses.
Tracklisting:
1. Trace Elements
2. Nerva Beacon
3. Robert Rental
4. Severn Beach
5. Sea 90
6. Unfidelity
7. Coalpit Heath
8. Pressure Level
9. Analogue Twitch
10. Tuning Out
11. Sleng Zen -
Few artists have the ability to totally seduce over a few spins like Italy's Herva.Visit product page →
What may seem messy at first listen starts to fall into sharper definition and Hyper Flux'makes a very strong case for being his most seductive and mature record yet. The album has dismantled the broken beats of his early records and drifts, dives and shivers, its beats blended into the haze, everything approached from unusual angles with none of the music sounding entirely digital as it smudges between manipulated live instrumentation and field recordings coupled with synthesis and space - there's a warm heart at the centre of this music. Of making the album he says 'I challenged myself to play real instruments. I have a lot of guitars and weird acoustic instruments at my home and also my Dad's.
He's primarily a guitarist and an inventor of instruments, so I have lots of those. Anyway I'm not a pro but I'm able to play drums quite well and I'm not that bad on guitars and bass too, but the weirdo instruments are the best, you are even more free to reinvent how to play them since no one else knows how to.'
The deep ambience of the albums opener Esotic Energy'melts into the shivering 4/4 pulses of Jitter'. Nasty MF'pits a sludgy house beat against rough vocal samples whose aggression is disarmed by bell-like melodies, matching one earthiness for another.
Rule The Sun'melts pattering drums and distorted chords with distant piano, while 'Multicone'takes things down with relaxing undulating chords and clicks and cuts.
The centrepiece of the album is the space cruise of Lly Spirals'which sounds like early 80s boogie blasted into the stratosphere. Things start to get weird with Solar Xub's drifting jazz, punctuated with scratchy beats and noise.
Cops Twerk'is a rattling piece of uptempo techno with flickering rave chords and a vocal that sounds like police radio whereas Peach'is a bristling piece of ambient house, all reverbed hits and reversed stabs over a scuttling broken drum kit.
Dedicated'featuring the vocals of Mar G. balances loose chords and a reversed break against her plaintive, striking vocal.
Hyper Flux finishes the way it started, with the distorted chords of Zykmed', echoing dust and hiss played out over a gentle nostalgic melody.
2LP
Side A:
1. Esotic Energy
2. Jitter
3. Nasty MF
Side B:
1. Rule The Sun
2. Multicone
3. Lly Spirals
Side C:
1. Solar Xub
2. Meta Wave
3. Cops Twerk
Side D:
1. Peach
2. Dedicated (ft. Mar G)
3. Zykmed
CD:
1. Esotic Energy
2. Jitter
3. Nasty MF
4. Rule The Sun
5. Multicone
6. Lly Spirals
7. Solar Xub
8. Meta Wave
9. Cops Twerk
10. Peach
11. Dedicated (ft. Mar G)
12. Zykmed -
Herva is the artist name of Hervè Atsè Corti. He lives in relative seclusion from the dance music world in the Italian countryside around Florence and is one of the most intriguing producers to work in house and techno for a while. His early musical life as a drummer, plus his extra-musical interests in engineering and electronics has informed a unique, freeform, and very tactile approach to dance music. It's house and techno that doesn't adhere to the usual influences of Detroit, Chicago or Berlin.Visit product page →
The album he's made called Kila'(the Swahili word for 'everything') was put together using software and hardware that he often modifies, with a mixture of beats and samples punched in like old-school hip hop and synths and effects that give his tracks the feeling of dance music that's been teased apart, smudged and smeared.
The music is relaxed and warm but simultaneously abstract and punctuated with ragged detail and gritty disruption. He's been in demand as a producer for a while now and has recently remixed Berghain resident Nick Höppner's latest release. "You hear my music, you get to see how my brain works" he says.
The album moves across tempos, from the floaty upbeat disco of All Good On Your Side'to the full throttle electro of 'Seat Behind Mirrors'which gently gives away to a looping Burundi vocal. Then down to the old-school hip hop and wonky ooze of Mistakes Dealer'. The track Fading Above Smoke', is held in place by a repeating drum pattern while synths and samples scrape and wrap themselves around the rhythm. Dust Cover'approaches the sound of early Pole, as if it had been described to him but never heard, sending digital grit and glitches across a low-slung bassline and opaque dubbed-out chords. The album finishes on the overloaded climax of Fog', which runs awkwardly edited samples over a loose drum tattoo, with enough restraint to keep the track flowing.
Vinyl 2xLP:
Side A
1. All Good On Your Side
2. Trying To Fix Invisible Textures
3. Seat Behind Mirrors
Side B
1. Kila
2. Video Volume
Side C
1. Mistakes Dealer (Solid State)
2. Disk Atk
3. Fading Above Smoke
Side D
1. Dust Cover
2. Fog
CD:
1. All Good On Your Side
2. Trying To Fix Invisible Textures
3. Seat Behind Mirrors
4. Kila
5. Video Volume
6. Mistakes Dealer (Solid State)
7. Disk Atk
8. Fading Above Smoke
9. Dust Cover
10. Fog -
Planet Mu Records
Hieroglyphic Being And The Configurative Or Modular Me Trio 'The Seer Of Cosmic Visions' CD
£7.99
vPlanet Mu Records
Hieroglyphic Being And The Configurative Or Modular Me Trio 'The Seer Of Cosmic Visions' CD
£7.99
Visit product page →Producer and boss of Mathematics records, Jamal Moss a.k.a Hieroglyphic Being is a one-off musical explorer. Jamal's music takes cues from the EBM and House that played a huge part in the city's musical underground in the late eighties and early nineties, notably Ron Hardy and Adonis, but also Industrial, Avant-Jazz and Noise.
His tireless schedule of rough low-key releases over the last 12 years and his intense, very physical, psychedelic music, have made him a key exponent or maybe even a pioneer of what's recently come to be named 'Outsider House', although he prefers the more Sun-Ra like descriptors of 'Rhythmic Cubism' and 'Cosmic Be-Bop'.
His releases, much like his music, have straddled House labels and the more leftfield avant garde electronic imprints with ease. However his deeply held Afrofuturist intent and the discipline of his radical designs set him apart from the pack.
Always moving forward, his music is an ever-evolving transmission from his mind to our bodies, or as he sees it, a form of meditation that the supple, tuned listener will enjoy immensely. 'The Seer Of Cosmic Visions' is a collection of tracks from his back catalogue that have been selected to make this album.
Remastered by Michael Kuhn at Berlin's Dubplates and Mastering. The album is hugely varied within it's basic drum machine and synths template; from the psychedelic blowout 'The Seer Of Cosmic Visions' and the distorted, ruptured crunch of 'How Wet Is Ur Box', to more delicate meditations like 'Space Is The Place' or 'Letters From The Edge'.
From the the shimmering rhythmic noise of 'A Genre Sonique' to the the woozy tribal funk of '134340 Pluto' or the rough darting strings of the off-kilter 'Calling Planet Earth' and finishing on the relaxing gaseous drones of 'Strange Signs In The Sky', the album never fails to transport the listener to another state of mind.
Tracklisting:
1. The Seer Of Cosmic Visions
2. How Wet Is Ur Box
3. Space Is The Place
4. Letters From The Edge
5. A Genre Sonique
6. The Human Experience
7. 134340 Pluto
8. Calling Planet Earth
9. Strange Signs In The Sky -
Visit product page →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.
Tracklisting:
Side A:1. Burning ChromeSide B:1. Zero Hour2. Running Out Of Time -
Visit product page →With his second release for Planet Mu this year, 'Dream On' is more of a full-length outing for Ital aka Daniel Martin-McCormick and a much more substantial record than the popular and critically acclaimed 'Hive Mind'.
On 'Dream On' Ital takes his experimentation with house and techno forms even further, creating impressionistic deconstructions from the tropes of early house and techno. Sunny chords, laid back drum shuffle and rhythmic vocal loops are picked apart and threaded with a rich psychodrama of delirious textures, tidal chords and uneasy roughness and dissonance.
Having spent over 20 weeks on the road since the completion of 'Hive Mind', 'Dream On' reflects the raw energy of the live show and the touring mindset: the heady, dream-feel of house, cut with both dub's fracturing smear and an understanding of the power of distortion, honed from years working in DIY and noise.
'Despot' starts the album with a trancey bassline punctuated with off-key vocal stabs, the form of the track brutally prized apart with pitch-shifting seasick chords. It's the longest track and and a powerful opener. 'Boi's' mix of stuttering vocal loops, aqueous chords and frantic drums is tainted with sorrow and loss. It's got a nervous energy, always feeling like it's going to topple in on itself, lapsing from ravey propulsion into nauseated hiss and back again.
'Eat Shit (Waterfalls Mix)' is broken and distressed techno in miniature, making the most of distortion and echo to create shimmer and splinters of noise over rough, murky percussion.
The dark center of the album, 'Enrique', strips things back to a cavernous ambience with molasses-slow vocals and a heartbeat drum, building into pulsing tones and scratching noise pulled across the spectrum. Another miniature, 'Housecapella', is deep house smudged and deconstructed into weightlessness; it's over before it begins to drag you in.
'What a Mess' sounds like music rotting; running epic, wilting chords, soaring melodies and hysterical vocals through curdling effects. 'Deep Cut' finishes by rubbing warm, emotional deep house tones, shuffling drums and claps against harsh electric guitar-like drones. 'Dream On' takes you out of the ordinary and drops you into Ital's dislocated dance.
Tracklisting:
1. Despot2. Boi3. Eat Shit (Waterfalls Mix)4. Enrique5. Housecapella6. What A Mess7. Deep Cut (Live Edit) -
Follow up to his acclaimed 2016 album 'Hollowed'. Stepping in a different direction from that album, It's as if Hollowed's detailed world has been fleshed out and filled with the spectre of human voices.Visit product page →
As on his last album, the sounds on 'Bodied' are highly designed, but this time barely a whisper of dance music remains. Instead it's built around acoustic elements and ghostly choral arrangements, refracted and transformed into atmospheric, alien forms which are given the time to settle and transform. Rhythm is used only as a tool to give his world a sense of dark, mechanical momentum.
Alan explains:
"After completing 'Hollowed' I had over a year away from writing any of my own material. I was working, composing music for a video game and a number of different projects. I needed to find a way back in and I rediscovered the joy of music being a release as opposed to a job. I was getting up really early and sketching out lots of ideas very fast, squeezing in quick bursts of writing at the beginning or end of long studio day spent working on other musical projects."
"It was important for me to define the world that the album was going to inhabit before taking it any further, so I put a much greater focus into the sound design and palette than I had before. I wanted to make the music sound very physical, geometric, and monolithic, as if it inhabited a physical space."
"On 'Bodied' the music focuses on the interplay between the minuscule and the vast, beauty and brutalism. With this album I was much more concerned with dynamics and the discipline of holding tension; the use of space and silence to provide a counterpoint to the intensity."
"Most importantly, I was keen for there to be a human acoustic foundation, so I did a lot of live recording of cello, violin, harp and guitar - anything I could get my hands on. I was certain that I wanted there to be a greater vocal presence - nothing lyrical or at the forefront but to give it an underlying organic quality - to impart some humanity into the music.
"As Ital Tek moves further from his roots, he's creating new sounds and spaces in which his music can exist. It's up to the listener to decide what kind of world 'Bodied' evokes, but it's certainly one that's beautiful and rewarding to spend time in.
Tracklisting:
2xLP
Side A:
1. Adrift
2. Become Real
3. Cipher
Side B:
4. Lithic
5. Isolation Waves
6. Vanta
7. Across Time
Side C:
8. Hymnal
9. Blood Rain
10. Prima
Side D:
11. Fragility
12. Bodied
13. The Circle Is Complete
CD:
1. Adrift
2. Become Real
3. Cipher
4. Lithic
5. Isolation Waves
6. Vanta
7. Across Time
8. Hymnal
9. Blood Rain
10. Prima
11. Fragility
12. Bodied
13. The Circle Is Complete
Release Date: 07/09/2018 -
Visit product page →Brighton based producer Alan Myson's Ital Tek project returns to Planet Mu for a second long player.
Meeting dubstep and garage's matrix of sub bass and lurching 2-step rhythms half-way with electronica at its most melodic, 'Midnight Colour' is its name and it's epic. The mood has lightened since his debut 'Cyclical' plus the tempo has dropped to a more languorous 130 bpm creating more space to enfold the melody and texture.
Songs like 'Moonbow' or 'Subgiant' embody an optimistic nocturnal reverie that could count the Black Dog's 'Bytes' album as it's ancestor. In contrast, 'Satellite' has a darker feel with it's New Romantic style synth melodies set to a skeletal rhythm, and 'Black and White's surging, wordless vocals are carried by gentle synths and bass arrangements. 'Strangelove' has a more stepping feel, set to a tough 4/4 beat and 'Infinite' marries throbbing bass with marimba and echoing Timpani crashes. The album fittingly culminates with 'Restless Tundra', a song that features the vocals of Anneka, which feature in sampled slithers throughout many of the tracks, the piece summing up the reflective mood of the album.
Side A:1. Neon Arc2. Talis3. MoonbowSide B:1. Babel2. Subgiant3. Black And WhiteSide C:1. Strangelove V.I.P.2. Moment In Blue3. HeliopauseSide D:1. Midnight Colour2. Infinite3. Restless Tundra -
Jlin’s detailed and meticulous exploration of rhythm’s inner and outer reaches has made her one of the most distinctive and recognisable voices within both the electronic and classical music worlds. Her compositions are consistently appealing and have an accessibility to them, yet often defy expectations. She exists within her own locus solus - no matter the collaborator, no matter where sounds ultimately lead her.Visit product page →
Whatever the situation – from composing the Pulitzer Prize shortlisted ‘Perspective’ for Third Coast Percussion, to ‘Godmother’ her AI-powered collaboration with Holly Herndon, Jlin always expresses her outlook to the fullest.
Her new album ‘Akoma’ sets a new benchmark in her personal road map, not only since the album features guest appearances from Björk, Philip Glass and Kronos Quartet but for her continued sonic persistence and resistance.
Jlin does what Jlin does and it’s beloved across genres, across scenes and across generations. ‘Akoma’ is a new entry point into her sound and a new approach for both those who have been following diligently and those who are just now entering her world.
So how did she get here? Here’s a rundown for those looking for the facts.
She was both a math nerd and a steel factory worker. She got inspired by Footwork and started making tracks with mentorship assistance from RP Boo and DJ Rashad, but her music was far from typical for footwork from the get-go. In 2011, she released her first track ‘Erotic Heat’ on the Planet Mu anthology ‘Bangs & Works Vol.2.’
Fashion designer Rick Owens heard it and invited her to soundtrack his Paris Fashion Week show. Already before an EP or an album Jlin was in new cutting-edge territory. And it hasn’t stopped since. Everyday Jlin wakes up early and clocks into her home studio working hard on new music. Her discipline and craft-like approach means that those who would try to copy her sound simply can’t get to the level she is at.
Since ‘Erotic Heat’ she has released two bold albums, 2015’s ‘Dark Energy’ and 2017’s ‘Black Origami.’ She has also released her soundtrack to Company Wayne McGregor’s dance piece ‘Autobiography’ (2018) and most recently (2023) the mini-album ‘Perspective.’
She’s remixed µ-Ziq, Factory Floor, Ben Frost, Max Richter, Björk, Martin Gore and others. She’s collaborated with Holly Herndon and the late SOPHIE. She’s worked with visual artists Kevin Beasley and Nick Cave. She composed a string quartet for Kronos Quartet and performed with them live in a tribute to Philip Glass. She also recently completed a tribute to Sun Ra with Kronos. ‘Perspective’, her very well received percussion work for Third Coast Percussion has further opened doors for her in classical music. She’s even thinking of one day writing an opera. She had a residency at MassMoca Museum earlier this year (2023).
She’s performed live at Pitchfork Festival, Unsound Festival and too many others to mention. She’s also worked with Indian dancers, Company Wayne McGregor and renowned choreographer/MacArthur Fellow Kyle Abraham. There’s more but you get the picture - she’s working in contexts and in ways that few of her peers are able to. ‘Akoma’ is the next step - all these paths have led to this. We encourage you to tune in.
Tracklisting:
Side A
1. Borealis (ft. Björk)
2. Speed Of Darkness
Side B
4. Summon
5. Iris
6. Open Canvas
Side C
7. Challenge (To Be Continued II)
8. Eye Am
9. Auset
Side D
10. Sodalite (ft. Kronos Quartet)
11. Grannie's Cherry Pie
12. The Precision Of Infinity (ft. Philip Glass) -
On saleVisit product page →
Few copies in stock with minor wear on sleeves, pictures can be sent upon request.
Jlin’s detailed and meticulous exploration of rhythm’s inner and outer reaches has made her one of the most distinctive and recognisable voices within both the electronic and classical music worlds. Her compositions are consistently appealing and have an accessibility to them, yet often defy expectations. She exists within her own locus solus - no matter the collaborator, no matter where sounds ultimately lead her.
Whatever the situation – from composing the Pulitzer Prize shortlisted ‘Perspective’ for Third Coast Percussion, to ‘Godmother’ her AI-powered collaboration with Holly Herndon, Jlin always expresses her outlook to the fullest.
Her new album ‘Akoma’ sets a new benchmark in her personal road map, not only since the album features guest appearances from Björk, Philip Glass and Kronos Quartet but for her continued sonic persistence and resistance.
Jlin does what Jlin does and it’s beloved across genres, across scenes and across generations. ‘Akoma’ is a new entry point into her sound and a new approach for both those who have been following diligently and those who are just now entering her world.
So how did she get here? Here’s a rundown for those looking for the facts.
She was both a math nerd and a steel factory worker. She got inspired by Footwork and started making tracks with mentorship assistance from RP Boo and DJ Rashad, but her music was far from typical for footwork from the get-go. In 2011, she released her first track ‘Erotic Heat’ on the Planet Mu anthology ‘Bangs & Works Vol.2.’
Fashion designer Rick Owens heard it and invited her to soundtrack his Paris Fashion Week show. Already before an EP or an album Jlin was in new cutting-edge territory. And it hasn’t stopped since. Everyday Jlin wakes up early and clocks into her home studio working hard on new music. Her discipline and craft-like approach means that those who would try to copy her sound simply can’t get to the level she is at.
Since ‘Erotic Heat’ she has released two bold albums, 2015’s ‘Dark Energy’ and 2017’s ‘Black Origami.’ She has also released her soundtrack to Company Wayne McGregor’s dance piece ‘Autobiography’ (2018) and most recently (2023) the mini-album ‘Perspective.’
She’s remixed µ-Ziq, Factory Floor, Ben Frost, Max Richter, Björk, Martin Gore and others. She’s collaborated with Holly Herndon and the late SOPHIE. She’s worked with visual artists Kevin Beasley and Nick Cave. She composed a string quartet for Kronos Quartet and performed with them live in a tribute to Philip Glass. She also recently completed a tribute to Sun Ra with Kronos. ‘Perspective’, her very well received percussion work for Third Coast Percussion has further opened doors for her in classical music. She’s even thinking of one day writing an opera. She had a residency at MassMoca Museum earlier this year (2023).
She’s performed live at Pitchfork Festival, Unsound Festival and too many others to mention.
She’s also worked with Indian dancers, Company Wayne McGregor and renowned choreographer/MacArthur Fellow Kyle Abraham.
There’s more but you get the picture - she’s working in contexts and in ways that few of her peers are able to. ‘Akoma’ is the next step - all these paths have led to this.
We encourage you to tune in.
Tracklisting:
Side A
1. Borealis (ft. Björk)
2. Speed Of Darkness
Side B
4. Summon
5. Iris
6. Open Canvas
Side C
7. Challenge (To Be Continued II)
8. Eye Am
9. Auset
Side D
10. Sodalite (ft. Kronos Quartet)
11. Grannie's Cherry Pie
12. The Precision Of Infinity (ft. Philip Glass)
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