Sacred Symbols of Mu

Planet Mu digs into its catalog with this comp and underscores some stunning moments from its past. Opening with the grooved-out soul-hop-house track "The Unbearable Phatness of Being," by Dykehouse is certainly auspicious. But moving along into the sweeping drum'n'bass meets dancehall-dub of Soundmurderer and SK-1's "Toronto V.I.P." and the tense atmospherics of Boxcutter's "Chiral," and Luke Vibert's loopy paranoia in "Clikilik," makes for a wonderful reason to pick up a single disc. But Sacred Symbols of Mu is a double and just packed with some of Planet Mu's finest moments. Check the '80s electro of "Lives with Angel" by Last Step, and the completely glitched-up drum'n'bass of "Chinaski R.I.P." by Venetian Snares (an elegy for the late writer Charles Bukowski). It's a sweet collection of tracks that was designed for listening, not necessarily dancing. ~ Thom Jurek