Planet High School

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Planet High School album cover
Album Information

Total Tracks: 10   Total Length: 42:30

eMusic Review 0

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Michelangelo Matos

eMusic Contributor

02.03.12
Tightening the reins
Label: Ghostly International / IODA

On 2010′s Skulltaste, his first album for Ghostly International as Mux Mool, Minneapolis-gone-to-Brooklyn downtempo producer Brian Lindgren created IDM-tinged, electro-flecked tracks that roamed around the sound-field. You could hear everything from Planet Mu (the swampy bass and tinny breaks of “Breakfast Enthusiast”) to Mo’ Wax (“Morning Strut”) in its DNA, but on Planet High School, Lindgren’s tightened the reins – his tempos are generally meditative and his compositions are less meandering. Yet the music traverses lines as easily as ever: “Palace Chalice” is the kind of track you might have ripped from that pile of mostly-useless trip-hop comps back when you got your first CD burner, but the cooled-down Jan Hammer synths also let you get away with calling it “Balearic.” Those synths are key here: Lindgren makes them sing, be they running in soft-focus on “Ruin Everything” (think Black Moth Super Rainbow at their cloudiest) or attacking like funk guitars on “Hand on the Scantron.”

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Quality control

llihc

The Skulltaste album was great! With over 12 distinctive tracks I could listen to the whole thing without boring myself with one sound/vibe. That said, I had some clear favorites that I would randomly get an urge to play again and a few that I didn't replay often. Planet High School has significantly less tracks, but so far all of them are a favorite for me right now. It makes me wonder if Mux Mool cut out any so so track and just left greatest hits on this. I don't know, but the album feels short in a good way...I don't want it to end. When's the next one coming out...Scratch that. When you hitting BK for another concert? :-D

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Planet High School

EMUSIC-029FB4ED

In its entirety, Planet High School is like sooo chill. Its hard not fall into its melodically tight groove (I kid you not, I played it in room full of buddies with extremely different musical preferences and everyone started moving to it). When compared to Mux Mool's previous stuff, it's more focused and has an even more dynamic, varied approach to melodic structure. That being said, although there's significant depth on each track, they're all mellow and soothing to listen to. All in all, I really can't properly express in words why Planet HIgh School does it for me... it just does. Check it out and see for yourself.

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eMusic Features

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Who Is…Mux Mool

By Michelangelo Matos, eMusic Contributor

At New York's Cake Shop during the 2011 edition of the CMJ Music Marathon, Brian Lindgren - the Minneapolis-bred, Brooklyn-dwelling electronic musician Mux Mool - was bent low over a table with his sequencer, sampler and MacBook, explaining, "I don't usually look this awkward, I swear." But he didn't sound awkward in the least, because his set largely consisted of material from his then-forthcoming second album for Ghostly International, Planet High School. It's a big… more »

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