Planet Mu レコード& CD

Review: Planet Mu, despite its advancing years, remains right at the cutting edge of electronic music. Its releases are never less that boundary nudging and constantly moving with the times. Back with a new album after Hyper Flux in 2017 did so well, Herva experiments with homemade hardware on this record. For it, he managed to build a "point-to-point mixer from scratch" and as such moves away from sample based music here. It is a thrilling conception that draws form IDM, electronics and its very own rule book when it comes to rhythms, timbre and texture. Mind being stuff for sure.

Review: Alan Myson's latest album as Ital Tek - his eighth for Planet Mu since debuting in 2008 - is an album of contrasts, offering aural darkness and light, intensity and becalmed beauty - and sometimes within the same track. It's rooted in ambient, experimental electronica and what would once be called IDM, but Myson has gone to great efforts to avoid stylistic cliches and well-worn tropes. As a result, it's unpredictable but addictive, with distorted creep-outs ('Heart String') and unsettling soundscapes ('Darking') sitting side by side with cuts smothered in glacial beauty ('The Next Time You Day') and melancholic, slowly unfurling sonic bliss ('Shattered').

Review: After the massive impact of Vex'd in the breakthrough years of dubstep, it was big news when Jamie Teasdale chose to swerve in his own direction and emerge as Kuedo. Released in 2011, Severant was a bold statement of intent which didn't wholly shirk what had come before, but placed emphasis on the kind of romantic synthesis you'd readily associate with Vangelis and saw trap and other influences sneaking into the mix. In hindsight, Severant is typical of the times we live in, drawing on a glut of influences and presenting its own idiosyncratic vision, but above all that the emotion and intent of Teasdale's ideas make it an enduring, captivating listen.

Review: Mike Paradinas amassed a fine body of work under the stage name u-Ziq through the 1990s. The Planet Mu label head is currently reissuing some of it with Lunatic Harness, his fourth album form 1997, the latest to get the treatment. It came out of the so-called drill&bass movement but was more pretty than most from that niche sub-genre. While Aphex Twin and Squarepusher always went for abrasive textures, he delves into more celestial and suspensory sounds rich in shimmering melody. It remains one of the best IDM albums of any era.

Review: Planet Mu main man Mike Paradinas has been busy throughout 2022, with this expanded edition of new album 'Hello' also including the entirety of the recently released (and sonically similar) 'Goodbye EP'. As Mu Ziq, Paradinas has always been good at inspirational, boundary blurring brilliance, with his tracks routinely adding gorgeously tuneful lead lines, ear-pleasing chords and jumpy IDM basslines to beats variously inspired by breakbeat hardcore, jungle and darkcore. While the collection is undoubtedly balanced and includes some less manic material geared towards home listening, it's the club-baiting tracks that often hit home hardest. Amongst the many highlights are the disco-sampling 'Green Chaos', the fiendishly sub-heavy 'Modulated Angel', the loved-up and subtly dubbed-out future anthem 'Goodbye VIP' and the three different takes on 'Rave Whistle'.

Review: Johnstown, Pennsylvania isn't the first town on everyone's lips when it comes to deep dive electronics. But then, sadly, most people still don't seem to have encountered Nondi. Better known to some of those who have as Tatiana Triplin, the US producer and head of the 'net label HRR has developed a cult following for her experimental takes on some already quite leftfield electronic genres: breakcore and footwork, alongside Detroit-hued techno. What's remarkable about all this is the fact she confesses to only really having direct experiences of these genres online, as oppose to amid the sweat and frenzy of the situations they were first intended for. While this might lead some to assuming her work lacks authenticity, nothing could be further from the truth - it's all so authentic because the interpretations are entirely hers.

Review: Given it's a reunification of latter-day UK electronic visionary Rian Treanor and decade-spanning next level imprint Planet Mu, many ears will already know what to expect from this one - a collection of tracks that are jarring, alien and wildly unorthodox, while still somehow immediately engaging rhythmically. Suffice to say, your presumptions are correct in this case.

In many ways the four tracks here are among Treanor's most accessible, although that's perhaps not saying too much. The broken, dub-techno-on-speed opener, 'Obstacle 2', manages to be frantic and deep at the same time. The glittering synth lines of 'Obstacle 3' help create a sense of rave-y invitation, despite the track itself being a staccato curveball. While the remaining two efforts are equally impressive examples of how to push sonic limits without asking too much in terms of audience endurance.

Review: Finnish producer Vladislav Delay is releasing their sophomore album as an industrial drone narration of the juxtaposition of returning to urban life after exploring the northern arctic (an idea explored in his previous works). After a long walk or meditative experience of peace, the moment when we thrust ourselves out the front door onto the main road - that is Isoviha. No track better encapsulates the synthetic incessant noise of city life than 'Isonuha' with it's synthetic incessant noise. Industrial crushing and experimental cymbal crashes fight each other in this bloodsport of a track. 'Isoviha' is intense and heavy on the soul, a reflection of it's anti-synthetic narrative.