Silk Road Assassins // State of Ruin (Planet Mu)

#1

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Official press statement from Planet Mu:
“Silk Road Assassins, a trio consisting of Tom E Vercetti, Chemist and Lovedr0id, return to Planet Mu with their debut full-length ‘State Of Ruin’ two years after their first EP ‘Reflection Spaces’.
The trio recorded over two years, working together to start with, then across different studios and via the internet when their lives became more separated. They also finessed the album at Abbey Road studios, making use of some short time to add in extra layers.
The three producers day jobs are in production music, music designed and created specifically for film and games, and this album uses these skills to explore the musical forms that they love. The album explores how trap and grime’s minimalist form can be built and curved into musical architecture: elegant, opaque and layered, turning the sound into lush melodic world-building.
The album also features two Planet Mu alumini, Kuedo who features on ‘Split Matter’ brings some of his bitter-sweet shimmering melodies and on ‘Shadow Realm’ Russian producers WWWINGS give the music a violent metallic edge, providing the record with an epic and unexpected twist towards the end.”


Tracklist:

  1. ‘Overgrown’
  2. ‘Split Matter’ [Feat. Kuedo]
  3. ‘Armament’
  4. ‘Vessel’
  5. ‘Familiars’
  6. ‘Bloom’
  7. ‘Pulling The String’
  8. ‘Bowman’
  9. ‘Shadow Realm’ [Feat. WWWINGS]
  10. ‘Taste Of Metal (Instrumental)’
  11. ‘Saint’
  12. ‘Feeling Blu’
  13. ‘Thorns’
  14. ‘Blink’

Wow… I’ve been waiting for this album for 2+ years lol. Even around 2017 when they were quiet on releases they were still shelling down radio with mixes on Radar Radio (RIP) and NTS which were always on repeat for me during that year. They’ve always been slick sound designers with a knack for amazing melodies and rhythms but the album tracks (afaik) definitely shows how much they’ve refined their work over the years, really focusing on creating a unique aesthetic and sound palette for themselves. Obviously I’m super excited for this.

#2


first single for the album up as well

#3

my first take is that the melody is quite nice, if a little ordinary, maybe like EDM-lite or an, ahem, “chill” pop tune without vocals? would like to hear the rest of the tracks, Mu rarely mis-steps so i can’t imagine it being without some solid bangers.

artwork is ace.

#4

sounds like a Deadmau5 X Dinamarca hook up, especially right at the start - which I personally think is sick

#5

buying it is a pain in the arse though - planet mu site is looooong for man

#6

And Mu barely mis-steps. This track barely scratches the surface of their work imo and is more representative of their sound palette rather than music style / genre. Their work is more indebted towards American drill / hip hop sounds, more so with their earlier works when they popped up around 2014. They’re practically the reason I got into trap + modern hip hop lol :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: Even tho they were primarily producing sci-fi inspired trap instrumentals they were really repped by a lot of grime people (Chemist was the most prevalent producer when the trio started, having a 12" on Coyote Records by then) which was how I got word of their music.

Essential listening imo:

^^^^ changed my life around 2015.


this one too. However the LP definitely shows progression and development from these sounds.

@coldsholda and yeah the planet mu site doesn’t work on desktop for whatever reason :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

#7

Didn’t immediately remind me of their previous work tbh - more of a zeitgeist ride with the pitched down dembow, just like Amnesia Scanner with AS Another Life.

Deadcell still sounds epic after a few years - revisiting some stuff from back then and realising it hasn’t aged well is always a bit depressing

My personal favourite was Vectors - but all their tunes are infused with existential dread and transcendental cosmic energy

think a strong contender for the T (Peace Edit) is this:

#8

personal fav from their debut EP from me was this one - it combined basically all of what made them special to me. Pretty sure I rinsed this like, almost 300 times alone in 2016 according to my phone. It’s a very moody banger and it really nails that feeling you mention. This track reminded me of dubstep at a slower tempo with its atmosphere of rolling dreadfulness with a sci-fi tinged twist, topped off with an extended beatless, starlit outro.

And it’s understandable how some of their stuff didn’t exactly age well - imo some of their 2014/2015 beats were heavily indebted to trap, so much that they were pigeonholed into a lot of scenes they didn’t really fit in with :thinking: but that’s a long story. The LP will definitely be a more formative release for them I hope.

#9

can hear a track from the EP with K9 there

#10


^^^ sick mix from them about a week ago

can’t wait for the album :grin:

#11

just listened to snippets of the album and wow, it’s super beautiful.

#12

Always down for a Kuedo collab!

#13

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I have no idea what they were thinking when making the design for the back cover. Fabian Harb and Joe Shakespeare have been pretty spot on with design for the past Mu releases but this one is just :face_with_raised_eyebrow:
I guess you can say that the text is in… a state of ruin.