A few weeks have passed since the release of our debut compilation Heterotopia and the response has been overwhelming. From each and every listener who has gone out of their to contribute to our slush fund via Bandcamp to the thousand-plus who have streamed, downloaded and shared the tape in full. Part of our mission here at The Astral Plane is to provide a consistent stream of original content and while our low budget, low staff approach doesn’t always allow us to keep the blog updated, we hope that our weekly mix series has filled the gap. On the compilation front, we were lucky to receive to late contributions, which, keep in mind, are from end of process tack-ons. Piri Piri and Chants, two artists we’ve engaged with numerous times in the past, came with the strong on “Low Earth Orbit” and “U Had Rhythm” respectively, two distinct club trax that fit snuggly into the framework established by the first 12 songs. The two songs have already appeared in physical form on the Heterotopia cassette tape, which you can still order (only a few more copies left!) via the Apothecary Compositions web store, but we figured it would be beneficial to give it up to the streaming masses. “Low Earth Orbit” is Gqom/Durban-inspired, drawing on South Africa’s rich, polyrhythmic house music history and adding their distinct, South London bent to the affair. February’s Patterns EP (out now on Silverback Recordings) is one of the year’s best efforts, but the future is much brighter for this ready-to-dig duo.

And remember, this will be our only production of the Heterotopia cassettes, so grab yours before it’s too late.

Ever-prolific Seattle imprint Hush Hush Records has built quite a stable of Pacific Northwest artists, ranging from the moody garage-inspired work of label star Kid Smpl to the cold brewed theatrics of Cock & Swan and its lead singer Ola. Hanssen, Slow Year, Korma and DJAO, who have all released on Hush Hush in some form, are also Seattle residents, feeding their respective takes on beat music, grime and Houston screw tunes with mixed results and affects. Outside of the friendly confines of the Northwest though, the Hush Hush family has expanded, from Wisconsite Chants (whose tune on our very own Heterotopia compilation will be revealed soon) to the imprint’s latest and most far flung signee, Polish producer Lowhitey.

It’s clear that Hush Hush has touched on a particular moment and sentiment in Seattle, building a brigade of deft producers to carry out a sound that both mirrors the drudge of the city and a greater human affliction. Now it’s time to see if the label can mirror and expand upon that sense of hopeful paranoia, warmth and desire in its future ventures, starting with Lowhitey’s stunning Alone With My Thoughts EP. The EP will be released this upcoming Monday (November 17), but the good folk at Hush Hush have gifted us a premiere of the aforementioned Chants remix contribution to the tape. Taking on the brilliant slow burn of “Studnia”, Chants flips the swishing water field recording into a foundation block for cracking boom bap percussion and unguarded meat grinder synth work. Chants’ take will also appear alongside remixes from VVV and The Phantom. Pre-order Alone With My Thoughts here and stream Chants’ rendition below.