I thought I would share my article on Planet Dog Records with you. It
will be in the next issue of Underground News ("The Electronic Dance
Music Issue"):
Planet Dog Records
by Tamara Palmer
"Superficial music has always really pissed me off," says
Michael Dog, head of London's Planet Dog Records. "A huge amount
of resources - money, time, and attention - is paid to music that is
very superficial and, to me, is geared around keeping people in their
place. You know, keep the kids happy by making them jump up and
down a lot and they won't think too hard."
With a motto that reads: "reaching the brain cells other labels
just can't reach," thought is clearly at the heart of Planet Dog Records.
"There is an attitude and an intention here which is meant to be
uplifting and inspiring rather than just entertaining," observes Toby
Marks. The man behind Banco de Gaia, Toby has been with Planet
Dog since the get-go and holds a pivotal role in exposing the public to
the Planet Dog philosophy of sound. Following the success of his first
single for Planet Dog, the renowned "Desert Wind", Banco de Gaia
returned last February with his debut album, Maya . Entering the
British album charts at Number 35, Maya is a cornucopia of worldly
sounds, traditional ethnic instruments from various lands infused
with Western electronic music. A remix EP for one of the standout
tracks, "Heliopolis", is on the way. A homegrown, caring attitude
towards music and life has proven to be a successful formula for
Banco de Gaia as well the handful of other releases that have
emerged from the Planet Dog roster, a list which includes the likes of
Eat Static, Timeshard, and Children of the Bong. Popular support and
critical acclaim in England, most resoundingly for their breakthrough
compilation, Feed Your Head , have been some of the rewards for
this hardworking label.
Planet Dog began in May of 1991 as a natural extension of
Michael and Bob Dog's Club Dog, a successful event that has run
regularly in North London and periodically in other British locales
since 1984. From its modest beginnings of close to 50 attendants,
Club Dog now regularly plays to 2000 people and draws twice that
number for special events. Both Eat Static and Banco de Gaia aligned
themselves with the experimentations of Club Dog early on, helping
create an atmosphere that has become legendary in England.
Dedicated to exploring many different genres of music
throughout the course of an evening, a typical night at Club Dog
features four bands and at least that many DJs, who spin in between
live sets. The music may range from the deepest of dub and pure
ambient straight on to upfront dancefloor electronica, with many
stops in between. Laborious attention is paid to the look and feel of
the club itself, with the use of elaborate hangings, lighting, and other
means of visual stimulation. "It's amazing," says Toby Marks. "They
always make a lot of effort to decorate and to create a really pleasant
environment, rather than just putting some lights in and having a
PA. They have hangings and projectors. At the bigger gigs they
hang cloth across the ceilings so that you've got a large area to
project onto. They create a much more cozy and comfortable
atmosphere [than the other clubs]."
This total package, many will tell you, makes for an eccentric
and crazy vibe. "Club Dog is...hmm...really mad," chuckles Merv
Pepler of Eat Static, whose debut album, Abduction , was Planet Dog's
first release. "There's always something unexpected happening,
you've got to expect the unexpected. I've seen people dressed up as
cardboard boxes just walking around. It's really obscure."
The year 1991 brought the beginning of Megadog, a larger-
scale touring show formed against a brilliant multimedia backdrop.
Last year, Megadog was instrumental in staging the MIDI Circus
Tour, the veritable Lollapalooza of the electronic music world that
featured The Drum Club, Orbital, Eat Static, Aphex Twin, and Psychic
Warriors ov Gaia. "Club Dog and Megadog are sort of distinct things
from one another," Michael Dog clarifies. "Club Dog is a smaller event
and has a very wide musical base to it, of what music we put on
both live and as DJs. Megadog has become a more specifically dance
and electronic event."
The excitement of live music that is nurtured through Club Dog
and Megadog is a primary concern that has carried over to the label.
The initial reason for starting up Planet Dog was to put out music
made by bands that perform at the club, to release material that
sparks the joyous feelings of watching a live show. The recorded
material serves as a reference point or reminder to a thoughtful
experience had at a gig, or as a preface to experiencing these bands
in the live realm. "Bands that are usually really good at projecting in
a live show are the type of bands that go on to record with Planet
Dog," Merv Pepler points out . "The live thing is as important, if not
more important, than what you put out on a record. A lot of dance
labels in England just sign DJs or production teams or stuff that
they've heard on tape and they don't necessarily care if the person
can play live or not. So you get a lot of these acts that never play
live."
Playing live is nothing new to Eat Static. As the drummer and
keyboardist for the British progressive rock band, Ozric Tentacles,
Merv Pepler and Joie Hinton spent a lot of time on the road, focusing
primarily on their live performances. Merv and Joie have recently
parted company with the Ozrics in order to concentrate on Eat Static
full-time. Their follow-up to their first album, Abduction , came in
the form of Implant , which was released in June of 1994. A new EP
is on the way, a remix for fellow English counterparts The Shamen is
in the works, and Implant has been significantly reworked for the
stage, a project that particularly delights Merv.
While Americans are just catching on to the sound of electronic
head music, it has been the status quo in England for the last few
years. Planet Dog is already primed to take things to the next level.
"With Megadog, we're trying to broaden out the brief here," says
Michael. "In this next year, we're looking at actually coming out of
electronic music a little bit and focusing in a bit more on other dance
music forms like reggae and the newer aspects of hip hop, what they
like to call 'trip hop'. [Music that's] more head-orientated but that
isn't necessarily dance music."
This direction is being paralleled within the label itself,
evidenced in part by their two newest artists, Timeshard and
Children of the Bong. "Timeshard and Children of the Bong have
their own angle on electronic music," says Michael. "Timeshard is
already working in live instruments with what they do. They have
live guitar and sitar as well as a lot of live analogue keyboards that
they're actually playing live rather than just relying on sequences.
They have been best described as the electronic Captain Beefheart,
with a lot of odd time signatures with their music. They are making
music that in the past would have been made in a conventional band
lineup but on electronic instruments. With Children of the Bong," he
continues, " they combine the best aspects of techno and dub and
fuse them together. They've grown up in the era of techno because
they're only 20. They haven't known much before techno and
electro so they're already bored by techno and want to push the
boundaries a bit more. What they've done is taken some of the more
psychedelic aspects of techno, the synth sounds, but fused it with hip
hop rhythms and basslines and experimenting all the time. They're
young and don't have preconceptions about how their tracks should
sound."
As Planet Dog continues to cross sonic boundaries, their original
thrust and intention is being increasingly understood. It's not just
about music, but about life. Michael Dog concludes, "The music that
I've always gone for and the music I feel that we put out is meant to
make people think. By people thinking, they can then eventually
affect change for all of us. I'm not saying that Planet Dog is going to
change the world or make the world a better place, but indirectly by
our music and the whole headspace that goes with it, if it gets people
thinking about life, the universe, and everything then some of them
might hone in on certain aspects of their lives and what they see
around them that they don't think is that good and maybe try and
bring about some change."
Hug Your Waistline to the Bassline............................................
Tamara Palmer * trance@netcom.com * izzyzi5@mvs.oac.ucla.edu *
.........................................................Women Respond to Bass