About

Dour, muggy and sometimes fucked up, DJ Spider tracks are an acquired taste. It's rare to get a straight banger out of him, and his more abstract tracks are usually the best. Spider has collaborated a lot over the years, and F Planet is his second release with the Berlin-based Franklin De Costa, after the Genetically Modified Tracks series for Killekill. They've taken a more panoramic approach on their Berceuse Heroique debut.

"Astral Pilot" snakes and rattles through an otherworldly tundra of mysterious pan notes, crunchy sounds and mingling chords. The bassline chugs independently of the swirling dream mass above it. "F Planet" is more tuned for dance floors, but after two minutes this heady trip succumbs to noisy self-sabotage, turning squeaky and squidgy before shifting into a final downtempo phase. It's a fussy, polarising track. Shifted streamlines things with his version, which is easier to digest but less charismatic than the shapeshifting original.