Planet Mu have been releasing a lot of albums over the last year. A testament to Planet Mu’s massive artist roster, coupled with the increasing usability and availability of music production software. Shitmat's (otherwise known as Henry Collins) new album "One Foot in the Rave", is the Brighton Boy’s fourth Planet Mu album, and is a throwback to early rave and jungle.

Shitmat has decided to release an album that is full to the brim with early rave samples that are re-digitised, manipulated, filtered and then combined with new-skool electronic drum programming. The overall effect is an album that has enough old-skool rave and jungle beats for anyone. If that type of sound is not what you want, then I would advise you to stay well away.

Having recently witnessed an Altenate8 live set, I saw first hand the effect that old skool rave stabs, synths and big busty jungle beats can have on an audience, and this leaves me thinking that "One Foot in The Rave", coupled with the DJ tour around Europe and the UK will be an undoubted success.
"One Foot in the Rave" is a well produced album that has an absolute wealth of samples embedded in it. Sometimes it is a pity as we can hear that these samples are sampled from old “rave tapes” and digitized using a sampler. To the un-trained ear though, this album is a non stop whirlwind of old skool.

The first stand out song comes at Track Four – Nasty Rubbish – which is a rave song that remains understated. There are no big rave riffs to assault the listener and it is left to the jungle beats and the rave bass to give one the impression that they are in pre-95 acid rave heaven. Track Five – Illegal Sounds Of The Vibe - harks back to early Prodigy, and really does “rave the rave”.

There are so many samples throughout the album that the listener is left knowing that they have heard them before. They are also so hard to pin where or when exactly. In fairness by Track 7 – Clash and Carry (Old Socks Remix) - I was left thinking that much of the album sounds the same, even if this song does attempt to embrace the slightly different “Acid Rave” sound.


There is a succinct lack of depth to this album, and it is hard to be taken seriously, given the extravagant amounts of “hands in the air” moments. Yet, I think that Shitmat never intended for "One Foot in the Rave" to be taken too seriously. "One Foot in The Rave" is a throwback to times since pased, and does not attempt to embrace the future. Supposedly, this is Henry Collins last album under the Shitmat moniker, so perhaps he is attempting to embrace wholeheartedly, the past, before reinventing himself as a devout futurist. Only time will tell.

Track 8 – Best Before 10-11-1992- is another stand out production and appears inspired by very early Detroit and Chicago dance music. Track Nine delves even deeper into the Acid Rave/Trance genre. "One Foot in The Rave" also has some nice Dub Rave moments where Shitmat has fused elements of Reggae and Dancehall to elements of unadulterated Rave music.

All in all there is some astounding sample manipulation on this album, and credit goes to Henry Collins for both the idea, and the implementation. The drum programming is highly skilled, each and every song has its merits, and the album has been well produced and is done in a refreshing humour.

This is a very good album, but in reality I prefer music that looks forward rather than looking backwards, and so with that bombshell I look forward to hearing the next Henry Collins’ release, whilst at the same time not forgetting “long live the rave”.

ONE FOOT IN THE RAVE TOURDATES:
SATURDAY FEB 28TH - BRISTOL, UK @ MOTION
SUNDAY MARCH 1ST - BRISTOL, UK @ DMT RECORDS
TUESDAY MARCH 3RD - BRIGHTON, UK @ THE SIDEWINDER
WEDNESDAY MARCH 4TH - EASTBOURNE,UK @ RISKYS STRIPCLUB
THURSDAY MARCH 5TH - COLCHESTER, UK @ BLISS BAR
FRIDAY MARCH 6TH - PRESTON,UK @ CODA
SATURDAY MARCH 7TH - ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA @ ZOCCOLO
WEDNESDAY MARCH 11TH - BERLIN, GERMANY @ O' TANNENBAUM
FRIDAY MARCH 13TH - TILBERG, NL @ HALL OF FAME
SATURDAY MARCH 14TH - AMSTERDAM, NL @ OCCII
WEDNESDAY MARCH 18TH - CARDIFF,UK @ 10 FEET TALL UK
THURSDAY MARCH 19TH - CHELTENHAM, UK @ SLAK
FRIDAY MARCH 20TH - NOTTINGHAM, UK @ IGLOO
SATURDAY MARCH 21ST - LONDON, UK @ THE RHYTHM FACTORY
MONDAY MARCH 23RD - RAMSGATE, UK @ CABBAGE CASTLE
WEDNESDAY MARCH 25TH - LONDON, UK @ THE L&B SQUAT PUB
THURSDAY MARCH 26TH - EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND @ WEE RED BAR
FRIDAY MARCH 27TH - GLASGOW, SCOTLAND @ SOUNDHAUS
MONDAY MARCH 30TH - NORWICH, UK @ QUEEN CHARLOTTE
FRIDAY APRIL 3RD - LONDON, UK @ CORSICA STUDIOS
SATURDAY APRIL 4TH - BOLOGNA, ITALY @ KINDERGARTEN
WEDNESDAY APRIL 8TH - CORK, IRELAND @ THE PAVILION
THURSDAY APRIL 9TH - DUBLIN, IRELAND @ THE LOWER DECK
FRIDAY APRIL 10TH - LEEDS, UK @ BEAVERWORKS
SATURDAY APRIL 11TH - GALWAY @ ROISIN DUBH
SUNDAY APRIL 12TH - PORTSMOUTH @ HAVANA BAR
MONDAY APRIL 13TH - BRIGHTON @ HECTOR'S HOUSE
WEDNESDAY APRIL 15TH - MILTON KEYNES, UK @ THE BEACON
THURSDAY APRIL 16TH - HIGH WYCOMBE, UK @ THE ROUNDABOUT
FRIDAY APRIL 17TH - BIALYSTOK, POLAND @ METRO
FRIDAY APRIL 24TH - CAMBER SANDS, UK @ BANGFACE WEEKENDER