VARIOUS ARTISTS
Children Of Mu
ZIQ060
Planet Mu 2004
26 Tracks. 117mins48secs

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Founded by Mike Paradinas some years ago, Planet Mu has slowly become one of the labels to rely on for quality electronic music. With a roster counting the likes of Venetian Snares, Leafcutter John, Hellfish, Hrvatski, Nautilis and many more, Paradinas has provided a constant flow of new artists, giving them a platform to express their musical talent. From dense post-modern electronica to hardcore techno, Planet Mu constantly surprises. This new collection, follow up to the 2001 compilation The Cosmic Forces Of Mu, brings the label’s audience up to date on the latest developments, with tracks taken from recent releases by The Gasman, OOO, Urban Myth & Steve Beresford, Venetian Snares and many others, and also features previously unreleased material from Datach’i, Leafcutter John, Joseph Nothing, Dykehouse, and the first track from Jega in four years. Only Paradinas himself is not featured here.
Saying that The Children Of Mu is diverse is a slight understatement. Showcasing the work of the label’s artists over the last couple of years and paving the way for the future, this compilation constantly jumps from one genre to another, yet retaining some essential Mu elements all the way through, from the pastoral display of The Gasman’s Imodium, which opens the album, to the dense techno constructions of Datach’i’s Kahknkunt and the Kraftwerk-esque classic electronica of Luke Vibert’s Homewerk. Sometimes taking the listener by surprise with completely unexpected incursions into offbeat terrains, as with Patrick Wolf’s eighties-flavoured input in the shape of the desperately catchy pop A Boy Like Me, or the stunning alt. country version of Leafcutter John’s In A House Of A Soul, already impressive in its original form, as featured on last year’s The Housebound Spirit.
Despite a gentle start with Joseph Nothing’s Piazza Of Tomorrow, the second CD appears more upfront and experimental, with contributions from Brighton-based Shitmat, who, on Shopliftin’ Gabba, combines nonsensical hardcore and bagpipes, Electronic Music Composers, Ambulance or Guilty Connector, with the noise pollution of Cosmic Conspiracy, shards in Paradinas’ hand, thankfully spread around more subtle contributions from Nautilis, Urban Myth or Dykehouse & The Frost Jockey.
A perfect introduction to the label, The Children Of Mu is also a reminder that Mike Paradinas himself has, in time, explored a variety of sonic landscapes with his solo work. The constant shift in the label’s focus has guaranteed its position on an ever changing scene, and this compilation only sum up its ethic with class.

4.2/5

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Split Series 9-16
FATCD31
Fat-Cat Records 2004
17 Tracks. 64mins07secs

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Having risen from the ashes of the legendary Covent Garden store of the same name, which could boast of counting the likes of Aphex Twin or Björk amongst its most faithful customers, Fat-Cat Records, established in the second half of the nineties in Brighton, has constantly pushed boundaries of contemporary music, getting on board people as diverse as Mice Parade, David Grubbs, Set Fire To Flame, Sigur Rós, Múm, Dorine_Muraille or Max Richter.
Dating as far back as 1988, the first in the label’s seminal Split Series featured Third Eye Foundation on one side and V/Vm on the other. The Series is based on a simple idea: bringing two artists, as diverse as possible, on a same record, with work commissioned especially for the series. With no particular musical line in mind, Fat-Cat are set to eventually release twenty four 12”, collected on three CDs. Following the recent release of volume sixteen in the series, featuring work from David Grubbs and Animal Collective member Avey Tare, this album collects all seventeen tracks released from volume nine to sixteen, with some of the label’s roster (Ultra-Red, Avey Tare, David Grubbs) confronting artists from other horizons (Fennesz, Kid 606, DAT Politics, Matmos) to present an extremely diverse, yet consistently excellent series of complex post-rock, beautiful electronica and about everything in between. From the short first track (Duplo_Remote’s deliciously perverse electro Furry Bicycle) or the soft and progressive Popbeat (Process) to the pop abstraction of Arvey Tare’s Crumbling Land or the noise terrorism of QT?, Split Series 9-16 is likely to satisfy the most demanding of audiences.

4.7/5

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Orange Zero Six
S6.25CD-S6.31CD
Struktur Records 2003
07 Tracks. 30mins24secs 

At the other end of the scope, small UK-based label Struktur has already set people talking with their first release, Red Zero Seven, a short (just over 30 minutes) compilation featuring the work of Bovalux, Kutchi, The Marcia Blaine School For Girls, Thought Universe and Buoy. Second in the series (the label vows to only ever release seven CDs and then dissolve itself), Orange Zero Six continues its journey through the rainbow with another half-hour long collection of pertinent electronica. Once again featuring work from Bovalux, who happens to be Struktur label boss Eddie Symons, and Kutchi, with additional input from Eakui, Peachfish, Production Unit, Chris De Giere and Comission For A New Town, this record is truly interesting. The album opens with the laidback Latin Apex from Production Unit. There is no Latin vibe running through the hesitant beats and gentle melody of this composition, but it is nevertheless a stunning piece of work that is at once evocative and creative. Moody and dark, this hypnotic composition appears to revolve around two interlaced musical themes, creating beautiful patterns and somehow, setting the tone for this release. Kutchi’s Anchorage and Eakui’s Colliculus evolve on similar territories, yet the mood appears lighter as both compositions progress. Of the two, Colliculus is the more intricate, which flavour of Autechre and Boards Of Canada colliding all the way through. Things become slightly more introspective with Bovalux’s concise Cybium. Of the last remaining tracks, Comission For A New Town’s Ardwick Shaft is the most complex, yet, the constant running through these seven track is simplicity. The focus here is on melodies and subtle arrangements rather than on ‘in you face’ constructions. The aesthetic is more important than artifice, yet this doesn’t mean than there is no substance to be found here. Quite the opposite in fact. All seven tracks are superbly produced and appear to relate to each other in some ways. The concept behind this label might be ultimate auto-destruction, but with releases like this, it Stuktur could well leave an interesting legacy once it has gone.

4.3/5

VARIOUS ARTISTS
One Point One: A Rednetic Recordings Compilation
Rednetic Recordings 2004
12 Tracks. 68mins57secs

Rednetic Recordings appeared last year with its label boss’s first release, Zainetica’s superb Escaping Dust. In a musical climate that often suffers of being too widespread and volatile, Zainetica’s album was a reassuring sign that there is still a place for classic electronica with soul and vibe. It is therefore not a surprise to see the label’s second release reinforcing this ethos. One Point One is filled with beautiful sounds, fascinating melodies and laidback atmospheres, and if there are some hints at hasher soundscapes with the comatose hip hop beats and heavy ambiences of Tommi Bass V Neytoda’s Fraktured or the abstract noise/beats of F.E.A.R.’s Vacume or Convurazio’s Lunar Piece, nothing here is experimental for the sake of it. The album opens with Valley Gorge, one of two contributions from Ochre. Found somewhere in the proximity of Boards Of Canada, yet extremely personal and unique, this track is one hell of an emotional journey through warm sounds and melodies, and is a vast improvement on the man’s promising first self-released album, AudioMicroDevice. His second input on here is to be found near the end of the album in the shape of Reverse Engineering. Equally as melodic and rich in superb sonorities, the mood here is darker, more threatening. If these two tracks are anything to go by, Ochre is likely to become a household name soon, and with his A Midsummer Nice Dream album due out on the constantly excellent Toytronic before the summer, it seems Ochre’s time is nye.
Zainetica, aka Mark Streatfield, also offers two magnificent compositions here, with Clear Blue Sky and See All. Once again, melodies and warm analogue sounds form the backbone of these tracks.
Reminiscent of Black Dog circa-Bytes, J-Auer’s impressive Across The Horizon and Cheju’s Glow Worm are equally as interesting and excellent. Across The Horizon appears to cleverly amalgamate hip-hop-infused beats and experimentation, without losing track of the essence of its melodic theme, and with more warm soundscapes and moody beats on Utility Player’s Empathogen, One Point One is a flawless collection of stunning electronica which is likely to appeal to all fans of the genre.

4.7/5

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Seriously Underground Shit Found In The Trunk Of A Mini Parked Underneath The Eiffel Tower
ME002CD
Musikexperience 2003
16 Tracks. 64mins50secs 

In just over an hour, this first compilation from Parisian label Musikexperience scans a vast array of soundscapes, experimentations and genres, from heavy trip-hop to sumptuous electronica, fucked up beats and offbeat hip-hop. The sonic environment couldn’t be further apart from Rednetic’s One Point One, yet there’s an interesting musical ethic running through this record. If at times a tad disparate, Serious Underground Shit… offers nevertheless some stunning moments with Dorine_Muraille’s luscious Escarre Libérateur, which will please anyone who enjoyed his released on Fat-Cat’s Splinter Series sub label last year or Coleen’s Everyone Alive Wants Answers, or the progressive and tongue-in-cheek hip-hop of The Killaz’s Slaves. Other highlights include Spasm two contributions, Eva Poets and Jet Set Sperm, which evolve in slightly more hospitable electronic terrain, the experimental Spasmofilie-Tris from Tlone or the melodica experiment of King Q4’s Morrico.
The general mood of this album is somehow quite threatening and dark, with tumultuous beats, intriguing samples and shards of atmospheric soundscapes contributing to the overall density found here. It is difficult to pinpoint the label’s direction with this release, yet, through sometimes avant-guardist tracks, it is clear that Musikexperiment contributes, alongside fellow Parisian label Active Suspension to pushing boundaries of musical territories ever further into sonic experimentation.

3.7/5