Planet B

Dropped down amongst the knobs and dials of Penguin Studio in San Diego, rogue avatars Justin Pearson (Dead Cross, Retox, The Locust) and Luke Henshaw (Sonido de la Frontera) have created Planet B with the shared purpose of creating music both mischievous in sound and sobering in message. The two had worked together in varying capacities prior to Planet B’s formation, including Luke’s remix of Justin’s “A Pig’s Orphan”, contributions to the soundtrack of Asia Argento’s film Incompresa, as well as “Variations in the Key of Afterlife”, an otherworldly opus featuring Gabe Serbian and Luke. Planet B, however, marked the beginning of a full-on melding of these preternatural minds, successfully integrating key aspects of these musicians’ stylistic strengths and playing off of one another with purpose.

The duo’s music lays somewhere just out of reach of genre, with aesthetics rooted in hip hop, hardcore punk, turntablism, and 70s-80s horror movie soundtracks. It is catchy, heavily percussive, and eerie all at once. Henshaw’s fantastical sci-fi accompaniments utilize Justin’s whistling UFO vibrato, for example, and apply it to dark and distorted electrical hums, claps, and marching band drum beats. Here, no sound is beyond their experimental scope.

After releasing a solo 7” as well as a split 7” collaboration with legendary turntablists Invisible Skratch Piklz, Planet B’s latest album is the impressively imaginative outcome of all their interdimensional efforts and collaborations. Here, they have created their first full-length LP, with no shortage of assistance from a slew of incredibly influential and unique musicians including Kool Keith (Dr. Octagon), Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Head Wound City), Gabe Serbian (The Locust, Head Wound City), Sonny Kay (Year Future, creator of GSL Records), Martin Atkins (PIL, Killing Joke), and Joseph Karam (The Locust).