- Space and science fiction are referenced frequently in experimental electronic music, and have been integral to genres like electro and techno. These allusions are usually fairly straightforward, repeating similar sonic and conceptual themes, but Planet Bangs gestures towards the extraterrestrial without cliché. Dave Henson has been making music since the late '90s—post-rock as a member of Gwei-Lo, glitch and IDM as Ascoltare, and most recently as NOCHEXXX, where he expands on these sounds with strokes of electro, acid, techno, dub and grime. Planet Bangs manages to distills these disparate styles into six tracks.
The album's atmosphere is reflected in its cover art. Strange creatures and objects are infinitely intertwined, generating strange energy in loops and waves. The tracks are, for the most part, downtempo. "Lewisham" sets the tone with a spacious collage of high-pitched noises, rapid-fire kick drum echoes, warped strings and tape hiss. The track takes its name from a borough in South East London, home to Europe's largest police station, which could have inspired these sinister sounds.
The percussion on "Vision Feet" and "Metawitch" booms and shuffles. The former never quite settles on a single rhythm, while the latter launches almost immediately into rambunctious acid, noise and shrieks, with hi-hats that seem to dissolve. In a single orbit around Planet Bangs, melodies are trapped under blown-out drums, spaceships take off in the distance, drums and synths are weaponised. It's not necessarily the noises themselves that conjure outer space, but the way Henson lets them reverberate in the surrounding silence, transporting the listener further away from earth.
Tracklist01. Lewisham
02. Vision Feet
03. Metawitch
04. Stick Shift
05. Lewisham Pt. 2
06. Overhound