Ras G

For his first release on Brainfeeder in over four years, Ras G charges into battle on a saddle-less horse, sporting a multi-function laser canon. Paradoxically fusing ancient, grinding rhythms and ultra-modern, plush beats, Back on the Planet skips between two distant eras while actively laughing at everything in the middle. At times, the blend is less than palatable and, frankly, too busy, as on the title track. However, this franticness is occasionally contrasted by a song that manages to draw you in. A shining example is "One 4 Kutmah," a queasy beast of a track that relentlessly spurts colourful loops and subsonic onslaughts. It also sets a precedent, with its traits spilling over onto the next several tracks, all of which contain enough bass to peel the skin off a tangerine. As a body of work, Back on the Planet is nothing short of ethereal madness; it's otherworldly and disjointed. You get the impression that the late Sun Ra is looking down through cosmic specs, stroking his chin and thinking, "So, that's what it would sound like if I'd been given free rein on an SP-303."