Features
The Top 20 Record Labels Of 2016
These imprints have driven dance music forward this year
9 The Astral Plane
This year, club music and experimental blog The Astral Plane turned into a fully-fledged record label. Building on its reputation as a source for editorial on niche artists, a formidable mix series and some expertly curated compilations, founder Gabe Meier stepped up and put out an impressive seven releases, which all orbited the explosive music that The Astral Plane engages with.
Based in California, the label has tapped into the worldwide club (not club) community, delivering a well planned set of contributions from artists based in the US and Europe. It bookended the year with EPs by SHALT, ‘Inertia’ and ‘Acheron’ both screaming and volatile and white hot to the ear, let alone any feet trying to navigate the tracks on a dancefloor. The equally visceral Nunu took a pneumatic drill to thick slabs of concrete on the ‘Mind Body Dialogue’ EP and Exit Sense made abstract work of pop gods during ‘Amor 107.5’. Some respite could be found on the Aphex-like moments of ambient on Chants’ ‘The Zookeeper’, but on that record it was never long before triumphant post-grime noise came clattering down. An ‘Acheron’ remix EP reached out to scene-defining producers M.E.S.H. and Ziur while an EP from a hitherto under-the-radar artist called LOFT explored the highs and lows of rhythmic rollercoaster techno.
Meier obviously came at 2016 with a plan of attack and has executed it fantastically. With the aforementioned releases, The Astral Plane has given a platform to exciting new artists and created a solid foundation from which to further push the boundaries of club, and by extension, electronic music. S Wheeler
