[Planet Mu]

On paper, Interplanetary Prophets — a new collaboration between Ital and Jamal Moss — does not necessarily look like the most obvious union. Ital is best known for concocting angular and conceptual sample collages of a brittle, punk-y bent, while Jamal Moss does loose analog, Afro-futurist jams that resemble little else. In literary terms, we’re talking Brett Easton Ellis writing with Philip K. Dick. However, this Planet Mu 12″ presents a cohesive and often bombastic journey into the astral plane. “Burning Chrome” is a shuffling, 13-minute epic that hinges on submerged kicks and quirky stabs that come from nowhere, cutting into the mix before being hidden beneath layer on layer of weird beeps and cosmic noise. The effect is pleasing because it works on different levels; even with the weirdness, this is a high-class DJ tool. Given the length, you can get seriously creative in the mix while the individual elements are not overly abrasive, making this perfect for layering ad infinitum.

“Zero Hour” is odder still, playing like the black box of some lost intergalactic space disco. A muffled voice rhythmically intones something about “rotation in the zero hour, circles” or some such, while the bleep factor is upped considerably. It sounds rather like Daphne Oram and Gene Hunt jamming together on a rusting South Pacific ghost ship. Perhaps most affecting, however, is the beat-less “Running Out Of Time,” a boding piece that somehow sits between singing bowls in an austere zen garden and the soundtrack to an 80s Betamax low-budget video — weird, off-kilter stabs in combination with naturalistic sound design. It all works; more than that, it all inspires. This is odd music, but it is also functional, tough and urbane. Now, how about an LP?