Record scratches. Jazz horns layered over the jitters and crashes of a drum machine. Deconstructed electro-pop that sounds as though it’s been beamed down from outer space.
What the fuck, right? When I think of electronic dance music, I usually think of video game beeps popping in between drum beats, not meticulously constructed clashes of style and history that occur at speeds I can hardly fathom. Planet Mu has shattered my assumptions to smithereens.
The electronic label will be further showcasing the wild variety of Chicago’s footwork producers (following the outstanding Flight Music by DJ Diamond and The Crack Capone by DJ Roc) with two upcoming releases: Bangs & Works Vol. 2 and the Ghettoteknitianz EP. The former, a follow-up to last year’s Bangs & Works Vol. 1, offers a glimpse of the myriad styles pulsing through the Chicago scene, cramming an entire galaxy of soul, hip-hop, pop, and jazz elements, and featuring not only the work of established producers such as DJ Rashad, DJ Spinn, Traxman, DJ Roc, and DJ Clent, but also that of younger artists such as Jlin, Young Smoke, DJ MC, and DJ Rome. The latter focuses on a smaller group of producers but still shows the way such short tracks can somehow stretch back through music history and jump forward into a strange future at the same time. (There’s some insane dancing that goes along with all of this too.)
Bangs & Works Vol. 2 will see a November 7 release and Ghettoteknitianz October 10, but both are currently available for preorder on the Planet Mu website.
• Planet Mu: http://www.planet.mu