Heterotopia Remixes Vol. 1 Is Out Now!

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February 3, 2015
Heterotopia, New Music, Remixes
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After teasing out remixes for the past two weeks, it’s our pleasure to announce that Heterotopia Remixes Vol. 1 is now available for free download (or pay what you want) at The Astral Plane Bandcamp. Remixes from Druid Cloak, Iglooghost, Sharp Veins, Patrick Brian, Fraxinus, She’s Drunk and Chants feature and we couldn’t be happier with the imaginative way each respective artist flipped a track from the original Heterotopia. Check out Druid Cloak and Patrick Brian’s reworks, the only two that have not been revealed to date, after the jump.

Luckily, this is only the first volume of remixes we have for you and Vol. 2, slated for an early March release, will feature a tantalizing array of our favorite producers! A lot of words have been spilt by us on these remixes so far and now that release date has come we can’t wait to let the sounds percolate through to all of you.

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Tiny Mix Tapes Premieres Iglooghost’s Remix Of Air Max ’97’s “Chasm”

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February 2, 2015
Heterotopia, New Music, Remixes
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Tomorrow, Heterotopia Remixes Vol. 1 will be available via our Bandcamp page, but we’ve allowed another sneak peak of the tape through the folks at Tiny Mix Tapes. Debuted in TMT’s Chocolate Grinder section, the “lesser heard and lesser known”, section of the magazine, Iglooghost’s remix of Air Max ’97’s “Chasm” reconstitutes the original into a short burst of wonky hip hop, the Irish producer lacing a thread of dazzling energy into AM97’s rolling production. Check out Fraxinus, Sharp Veins and Chants’ contribution to the tapes at Mixmag, FACT and our own humble abode.

Premiere: Mike G – Limestone (Chants Remix)

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January 30, 2015
Heterotopia, New Music, Remixes
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Chants_300dpi_b_wOriginally slated as an addendum to the original release of Heterotopia, Chants‘ “U Had Rhythm” grew into one of our favorite tracks from the release, transcending its placement in the bonus tracks. The Wisconsin-based producer has largely garnered a following via his warm instrumental hip hop productions, but his forceful drum tracks are what originally piqued our interest and all signs point to the two distinct styles eventually joining in blissful confluence. And after our infatuation with “U Had Rhythm”, bringing on Chants for the Heterotopia Remixes was one of the easiest decisions during the planning stage. His rework of Mike G‘s “Limestone”, the rushing 140 heat rock from original compilation, is another brilliant step forward, reaffixing the original’s shuttering crashes and vaulted square waves onto a syncopated club kick pattern. It’s harmonically forward thinking and subtly transfixing, a workout subducted under a heap of beatific chords. Chants not have made a name for himself in the world of club trax quite yet, but every brilliant addition to his record takes him a step closer. Fraxinus’ remix of Kid Antoine’s Nightvsion was premiered on Mixmag last week and FACT Mag got the jump on Sharp Veins’ Iglooghost remix on Wednesday. Heterotopia Remixes Vol. 1 is out February 3.

 

Journey in Satchidananda: The Caribou 1000

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January 30, 2015
Mixes, Uncategorizable
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caribou

As we’ve narrowed our purview considerably over the past year or two, our writing/creative staff has also shrunk. The Astral Plane signifies a very specific sort of club music at this point, but that wasn’t always the case and it won’t always be the case. Moving forward, we’ll be enlisting new writers to champions different sectors of the contemporary and classical sonic landscape. Today, we’ve got our friend from Miami, Jurassic, to take on Caribou’s much ballyhooed 1000 song playlist. Our man has dragged and dropped the 1000 songs into an easily digestible Spotify playlist of his own and has even gone through the trouble of segmenting it into some intriguing categories. Jurassic will emerge from his corporate dungeon every few weeks with a regular column on oddities and rarities from the world of jazz, afropop, Indian acid and beyond. Enjoy. – Gabe

To say the least, 2015 has been off to a rumbling start. At 1pm January 4th, I was notified that project I had been working on for the last year was slashed due to corporate grumblings. Nearly 30 people I worked with were laid off. I still have my job off of a corporate loophole. Now, and for the last three weeks, I have had Nothing to do. Nothing.  Now what would a regular person do in this situation. Panic? Find a new job? Find a new role? Probably. And what do I do? Keep my mouth shut. Act like I am doing something important and scour the depths of the internet for music.

Flash forward

January 14th @ 10 am est: Caribou tweets something. My search becomes much easier.

Screen Shot 2015-01-30 at 8.38.43 AM

January 20th @ 4pm est: I get a personal retweet from Caribou on my own personal twitter account.

What happened in those 6 days and 6 hours? Next time, on Serial.

Well, actually what happened was in my Nothing to do phase, I got super obsessive, compulsive and eager and searched and listened to (clips at least) each 1000 of those songs.

You can find the playlist here: The Longest Mixtape – 1000 (649) Songs from Caribou

UPDATE: Caribou has since created a playlist from his account, copying this list, robbing me of all potential followers 😦  Heres that one : The Longest Mixtape: Songs For You But if you want the OG, you know where to find it.

Now at this point you can click a link, subscribe, shuffle, and listen away. But if you wanna stay, you can hear some thoughts…

As you would expect (and hope) across 1000 songs, the variety of music is vast. Many selections are as you’d expect (Zepp, Stones, Sly, Curtis, Radiohead)  but there are a few niche more unexpected groups that I think are indicative of the entire list. Each is a distinct yet interrelated pole that seemingly centralize Snaith as an artist.

Check out the full Spotify playlists linked in the headers and individual tracks in the body after the jump…

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Astral Plane Radio 009

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January 30, 2015
Mixes
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Marshawn Lynch Portrait Shoot

It has been a minute since we’ve returned to the rap music world, both in our writing and in our mix work, partially because our focus has narrowed considerably over the past year and partially we’re far more comfortable working within the structures of vocal-less musics. Astral Plane Radio 009 is far from a rap mix, but it was certainly time to get back into some contemporary works from Lil Silk, Bridge and Rae Sremmurd. And in all honesty, when contrasted with a good heap of club trax, ghetto house and uproarious grime, a party-oriented rap track can do more for a dance than any instrumental joint. Anyways, this Astral Plane Radio goes out to Marshawn Lynch and our Seattle brethren. IDoneTalked.

Iglew Mix For The Astral Plane

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January 29, 2015
Mixes
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Iglew

Without an official release, guest mix, or even online interview to his name, it’s not an easy task to gauge the output of British producer Iglew. There’s the “Iglew 01” mix uploaded last year featuring a combination of unreleased tracks and oddities from Mr. Mitch, Jam City, E+E and more. There’s a rip of one of his originals from one of Murlo’s Rinse FM appearances, a thrilling, albeit brief, two minutes of bright square wave fuzz and extravagant melodies that bring to mind Loom and Mssingno. And those two producers are probably the best place to start when considering Iglew, not just due to sonic crossover, but due to the fact that they are two acts who virtually sprung out of nowhere and are now lauded as some of the most creative producers in the UK.

What Iglew lacks in a track record, he makes up in demos and support; support from the likes of Mr. Mitch and Last Japan and a collection of wildly inventive demos that will hopefully reach the light of day soon in a release on the former’s Gobstopper Records. “Cascade”, the Murlo rip, is only recorded and clipped taste, but there are Iglew joints circulating in nearly every Boxed mix and his time-warped take on the devil mix palette has begun to garner support in ever-larger circles. For now, we’re happy to feature Iglew in our Astral Plane mix series and the 43 minutes of exclusives, rarities and general heat he turned in consistently flips the grime mold on its head. Filled with exclusives from himself and a host of talented young producers, the mix attains an aesthetic coherence even as it runs through 24 tracks in under forty five minutes. Iglew is clearly a melody technician in his own right and prides the work of likeminded producers, resulting in a head twisting effect as square waves and complicated chord patterns seem to constantly melt into harmonic bliss. You’ll also find a bit from Iglew himself that will appear on a forthcoming Astral Plane release!

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FACT MAG Premieres Sharp Veins’ Remix Of Iglooghost “Wood Farm”

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January 28, 2015
Heterotopia, New Music, Remixes
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sharp-veins

After some time spent in London towards the end of 2014, American producer Sharp Veins has quickly ingratiated himself into a thriving international community of experimental producers and is set to debut on Glacial Sound in the near future. With a strong base in noise, ambient and computerized sound, he has found himself compared with the likes of the Janus folks out of Berlin, Total Freedom and his compatriots in Los Angeles and Virignia’s E+E. It was an obvious decision for us to reach out to Sharp Veins for our second release, Heterotopia Remixes Vol. 1, and his remix of Iglooghost’s “Wood Farm” has had us jumping out of seats for weeks. Ratcheting down the tempo for the remix (as he’s wont to do), SV’s take on “Wood Farm” begins as a lo-fi techno stomper, enveloped in rings of feedback and ambient noise that would make William Basinski proud. Halfway through, the remix disintegrates into almost nothingness before emerging into a neck snapping half-step composition, the cacophonous noise falling away to reveal a Clams Casino-esque crescendo. At over seven minutes, the remix might come across as presumptuous at first, but it’s strength comes in its ability to confound, surprise and engage. Sharp Veins’ remix of “Wood Farm” will be out next Tuesday (February 3) on Heterotopia Remixes Vol. 1. Watch this space for more information on the release and be sure to grab Fraxinus’ remix of Kid Antoine’s “Nightvsion” over at Mixmag.

Premiere: Kid Smpl – “Loss Parameter”

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January 28, 2015
New Music
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With several EPs and a must listen debut LP out on Seattle’s Hush Hush Recordings imprint, Kid Smpl has established a singular sound based on snippets of garage,dubstep and jungle. Over time, the Seattle-based producer’s sound has grown from a whisper (Collapse) to a roar (Silo Tear), gaining confidence and a definitive spirit along the way. The next step for Kid Smpl is an EP on Los Angeles imprint Symbols, a label that has largely peddled releases from the post-dubstep swamp, but appears to be stepping out into more adventurous territories. “Loss Parameter” will appear on the Precinct EP, a torrid run through the aforementioned genres that seems to draw lines between the beatific R&B meanderings of Holy Other and the horror-inducing sounds of Demdike Stare. Precinct will be released through Symbols on February 10 and can be previewed here.

Mixmag Premieres Fraxinus’ Remix Of Kid Antoine’s “Nightvision”, out February 3 On Astral Plane Recordings

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January 23, 2015
Heterotopia
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kidantoineprem

Since the release of Heterotopia in October of last year, we’ve been working on a fitting follow up and today, we’re proud to announce a three volume series of Heterotopia Remixes, featuring reworks of songs from the original compilation. Our friends at Mixmag were kind enough to host Fraxinus‘ tumbling remix of Kid Antoine‘s “Nightvision” this morning and we’re excited to release Vol. 1 in a little over two weeks. We’ve worked to bring the original contributors, as well as a number of artists we admire, into the fold and couldn’t be happier with the final result. Head to Mixmag for some more words on the tape and check the full track list for Heterotopia Remixes Vol. 1 below.

  1. Celestial Trax – Illuminate (Druid Cloak Remix)
  2. Air Max ’97 – Chasm (iglooghost Remix)
  3. Iglooghost – Wood Farm (Sharp Veins Remix)
  4. Arkitect – Foucault’s Dream (Patrick Brian Remix)
  5. Kid Antoine – Nightvision (Fraxinus Remix)
  6. Imaabs – Cautiverio (She’s Drunk Remix)
  7. Mike G – Limestone (Chants Remix)

Premiere: The Phantom – “Earth Beat”

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January 23, 2015
New Music
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An adaptable character to say the least, Polish producer The Phantom has donned a number of hats over the past several years, traversing widescreen disco as Ptaki, fairly straightforward, but deeply affecting throwback house on LP1 (out now on Silverback Recordings) and, most recently, a predilection for grime and new age. LP2, out Monday on Silverback, couldn’t be different from his first Phantom album, both in terms genre of choice and general mood. LP2 is dense and searing beautiful, the sort of tempo-shifting tape that has really only come into existence in the past year or so and can only sort of be considered grime (or whatever). “Earth Beat” is the most outward-thinking track on the effort, a wobbling burner that periodically explodes with energy. Considered “proto-grime” by the producer himself, LP2 represents an exciting turn for a chameleonic producer and we can only hope he decides to stay in this lane.