Planetary Assault Systems/Rødhad/B.Klock/S.Paganini/Surgeon & Token records...&more)

MOTE046 ::  Planetary Assault Systems - Planetary Funk 22 Light Years - Part I

A-TON is a new edition and platform of Berghain's in-house imprint Ostgut Ton, focussing on ambient, archive and alternative music, differing from the club-focussed records on the main label. Furthermore the first A-TON offering – Chronicles I – marks the start of a series from Luke Slater's The 7th Plain moniker, with remastered, previously released and unheard archive material.

First published on General Production Recordings between 1993 and 1996, Slater's The 7th Plain pushed the further burgeoning genre of ambient music towards its boundaries by not limiting itself to mostly beatless synth pads, but by including propulsive beat progressions, nuanced rhythms and subtle melodies. The 7th Plain's extramundane music dodged classification, as heard on the albums The 4 Cornered Room and My Yellow Wise Rug (both on GPR, 1994) – emotional, eerie and escapist music, at the time of release forward thinking records that in retrospect managed to overcome time.

Originally recorded at Slater's Spacestation Ø, now all newly mastered for A-TON, Chronicles I depicts the futurist aesthetic and musical agenda of the 90s in a contemporary context, without nostalgia but confidence of its timelessness. With seven original musical pieces and a previously unreleased Ken Ishii remix, The 7th Plain sounds as spirited and relevant as ever.

While “Boundaries” (taken from My Yellow Wise Rug), “Grace” and “Surface Bound” (from The 4 Cornered Room) should be familiar to Slater aficionados, “The Super 8”, “T Funk States”, “Slip 7 Sideways” and “Chords Are Dirty” are previously unheard like the aforementioned remix of Ishii's “Extra”.

The 7th Plain - Slip 7 Sideways

The 7th Plain - T Funk States

The 7th Plain - Grace

The 7th Plain - Boundaries

Fresh off of his re-activation of the seminal “Planetary Funk” series, Luke Slater delivers another new 12” with all of the purposeful intensity and sonic clarity to be expected from his celebrated Planetary Assault Systems alias. Pairing both an original mix and a spirited re-working by Josh Wink, “Kat” is a winning synthesis of all the elements that make P.A.S. such a continually relevant player in the game of moving bodies and opening minds: it once again pushes beat-driven sound to disciplined extremes, but not without clearly detectable traces of humor and playfulness.

As vocal repetition of the track’s simplistic and suggestive title is run through a maze of filters, pitch-shifts and delays, an equally busy set of tubular bass figures mirrors this approach and meshes with the insistent rhythm. Carefully inserted hard stops, crafty fading of sound from background to foreground, and unexpected breakdowns give the track a kind of restless feel that ensures its success as a peak hour selection, or as a reliable companion on inner-city underground transit journeys.

While the original mix on the b-side begins in a more subdued fashion, it isn’t lacking at all in concentrated energy. As is the case with so many other P.A.S. classics, this mix relies on geometrical sound sequences that slowly approach from a distance before they completely overtake the listener. Elements like static crackling are wielded here like active parts of the conversation rather than as atmospheric wallpaper, and the beat itself hits with a mixture of force and subtlety, with anxious drum hits doubling up on one another and regularly giving rise to new patterns.

“Kat” is the kind of record that gives Planetary Assault Systems fans both what they want, and what they didn’t expect: it steers away from easy techno conventions but never abandons that genre’s physicality and infectiousness.

Words by Thomas Bey William Bailey

MOTE047 ::  Planetary Assault Systems - Planetary Funk 22 Light Years - Part II

When it was announced that Luke Slater was going to release his latest Planetary Assault Systems album on Ostgut Ton, it hardly came as a surprise. After all, he'd already given them an epic ambient cut for their Shut Up and Dance! Updated ballet soundtrack, and he's been a semi-regular fixture behind the decks at Berghain since late 2006. But even given his previous record for raw techno and acid as Planetary Assault Systems, it does seem as if Temporary Suspension is Luke Slater's "Berghain album"—a distillation of his adventures at the club, both in the DJ booth and whilst getting sweaty amongst the muscle marys and party animals. Even the introduction of the record draws direct comparisons to the Berghain experience, with the slow fade in to an already driving beat mirroring the walk up the first set of stairs to an already bulging dance floor.

Planetary Assault Systems - Temporary Suspension (Ostgut CD09/LP04)

Ben Klock | Goodly Sin (feat. Elif Biçer) (Robert Hood Remix)

Planetary Assault Systems | Open Up

Planetary Assault Systems | Whoodoo

Planetary Assault Systems | Om The Def

Planetary Assault Systems | X Speaks To X

Planetary Assault Systems | Attack Of The Mutant Camels

Planetary Assault Systems | Beauty In The Fear

Planetary Assault Systems | Wriss

Planetary Assault Systems | Kray Squid

Planetary Assault Systems | Rip The Cut

Planetary Assault Systems | Motif

Planetary Assault Systems | Cold Bolster

Planetary Assault Systems | Black Tea

-R-ebellion -U-nited -[N]-º -[ª]-rea

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Planetary Assault Systems/Rødhad/B.Klock/S.Paganini/Surgeon & Token records...&more)

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