Dave Matthews once mused, “It’s crazy, I’m thinking, just knowing that the world is round / And here I’m dancing on the ground / Am I right side up, or upside down?” And to this, I say: we are neither, Dave. There is no up; there is no down. Already as we look skyward toward the stars, yearning to be high above floating in space, we forget that we’re already in orbit, that Earth is already in space. The galactic spirit is here; it’s all around us.
For the record, I’m a big fan of outer space or whatever. But I’m ALSO a big fan of stuff that supposedly sounds like outer space. Funny how space is a vacuum and therefore is mostly quiet, but we humans still insist on associating certain sounds with it. Bleeps and bloops, acid-y bass lines, ambiance, all that good synthy stuff. But wait: Earth is in outer space, floating around, orbiting the sun and shit. And so if we make sounds here…on Earth… isn’t that…what outer space sounds like?
Enter Chicago-based electronic extraordinaire Mukqs’s upcoming album on Doom Trip Records: it’s titled Any%, and I’m telling you, it packs a cosmic punch. And you can hear a track off of it right here, right now. It’s galactic; it’s out-of-this-world; but it’s in-this-world, too. You see, that’s what I’m trying to get at — we want to imagine outer space so badly that we forget it’s US HUMANS making these sounds, it’s US providing the soundtrack. We’re in space ALREADY, for crying out loud!!!
Like, why even bother with rocket ships and all that? With Mukqs at the helm we can go anywhere. Any% is synth-tastic, it’s ethereal, it’s eclectic, it’s all you want and more. It’s here; it’s everywhere. It’s out on cassette and digital September 13. And it’s yours by clicking here if you so desire. All you need is your headphones and a celestial disposition. Sample the magic below via the track “Gaia Saver.”
Any% captain’s log:
01. Debug Dip Setting 08:18
02. Love Machine
03. Opposition to Questioning
04. A5 Demoloin (For Carl Stone)
05. Tentafable
06. Gaia Saver
07. Weathertenko
08. Stolas
09. Cut or Crush Ceremony