Spanning the underground electronic music spectrum from glitch to ambient, Children of Mu rounds up tracks -- mostly unreleased -- by the best the Planet Mu label has to offer, minus anything by label head
Mike Paradinas. The transition from Jospeh Nothing's serene "Piazza of Tomorrow" to
Shitmat's
Ramones-sampling drill n' bass workout, "Shopliftin' Gabba," illustrates what's great about the collection. There's something for every electronic music head and the style jumping brings reminders of when collections didn't always come with concepts. A quarter of the artists are pedal to the metal pranksters, but almost everyone here is playing their keyboard with a smirk or smile and a maverick's attitude. Highlights are evenly split between the stars (Hrvåtski,
Venetian Snares) and the never-heard-of-'ems (
Gasman,
Julian Fane) and
Steve Beresford's appearance goes to show that the folks at Planet Mu aren't without history. You could point to collections that hang together better but finding one that's more exciting is going to be tough. Twist and turns are the thing on Children of Mu, a refreshingly scatter-shot collection that's just dying to thrill you. ~ David Jeffries