Clubs PROFILE
PLANETARY ASSAULT SYSTEMS Real name: Luke Slater Occupation: DJ and producer Luke Slater has been part of the electronic music scene since the late 80s, releasing records on labels including Peacefrog and Novamute.
Cheers for that. What’s he done since then? He’s kept himself pretty busy. He’s prolific, having released dozens of his own productions and countless remixes of other people’s over the best part of 20 years (including Slam, Joey Beltram, Madonna, Alter Ego and Ken Ishii). He’s also maintained a busy tour schedule, performing at many of the most prestigious clubs in the world, and was invited to curate the 32nd Fabric compilation in 2007.
Didn’t he release some really toe-curling stuff a few years back? A little harsh, but probably fair. ‘Stars and Heroes’ and ‘Nothing at All’, weren’t everybody’s cup of tea. They were released in 2002 at electro-clash’s pinnacle. Or at its nadir, depending on your perspective. So where does Planetary Assault Systems come in? Planetary Assault Systems is the alias under which Slater has released much of his toughest techno material.
Toughest techno? Is it any good? Some of it is pretty fierce, but yes, it’s very good. Last year the album Temporary Suspension came out on Berlin’s Ostgut Ton, home to producers such as Marcel Dettmann and Ben Klock. Ostgut Ton is closely related to the Berghain club, a genuine techno institution, and both have been pretty reliable indicators of where the genre has been at for some time now. So all is forgiven then? Pretty much. Temporary Suspension’s industrial take on the swing beats that have entered the post- dubstep techno vocabulary were very well received. Slater’s Planetary Assault Systems live performances are relatively few and far between, and the Edinburgh show presents a chance to see him at his best. (Colin McKean) ■ Planetary Assault Systems guest at Substance, The GRV, Edinburgh, Sat 19 Jun.
44 THE LIST 10-24 Jun 2010
END OF TERM PARTY THE REVEL Wee Red Bar / Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh, Fri 11 Jun
If ever there was a party in Edinburgh’s calendar that deserves the term legendary, the Revel is it. Everyone knows about Hogmanay, the Festival and even Beltane, but Edinburgh College of Art’s traditional end of term blowout tends to be both truly definitive of Edinburgh’s alternative scene in the preceding 12 months, and a mystery to those who’ve never experienced it. Although the entry policy isn’t exacting, the presale-only tickets are intended for ‘students, members and guests’. Held in its current format – across the Wee Red Bar and other student union spaces, and in a marquee on the lawn – for around 25 years, the Revel was in the building’s indoor sculpture court before that. As usual, this year’s party will feature bands (among them The
Yes Men, The Pineapple Chunks, Thank You So Nice and Earl Grey & The Loose Leaves), DJs, karaoke from the late Snatch Club’s Harry Ainsworth and a fancy dress theme: Roald Dahl, so expect to see, says the Wee Red’s manager Colvin Cruikshank, ‘a load of twits, monkeys up trees and a few tales of the unexpected the next day.’ Yet Cruikshank is also worried by the city’s fastidious
licensing laws, and by the ever-increasing amount of hoops which have to be jumped through in staging an event like this. ‘I hate to say that it could be the last one,’ he says. ‘It’s not just a fun party, it’s about showcasing the talent and the potential at the Art College.’ And if those who don’t like the idea of fun were to succeed in killing the Revel off, they’d be killing part of the creative heritage of one of Edinburgh’s most venerable establishments. (David Pollock)
BASSLINE & DUBSTEP BRUCE STALLION Mount Heart Attack at La Cheetah, Glasgow, Sat 12 Jun
‘I always wanted to make music,’ says Guy Appleton, ‘but I didn’t have any talent or skill. So I used to play about with the Atari ST that the orchestra at my school used instead, the sort that had a really old sampler program with a terrible midi gunshot sound on it. That was it, really. I started off messing around and that’s what I’m still doing.’
It’s worked so far. Leicester-raised and Brighton-based, Appleton has
managed to carve not one but two careers as a DJ, under different aliases and in suitably different styles. ‘DJ Floorclearer was my old breakcore project,’ he says. ‘I started it in about 2003, and it was aggressively loud and metal-orientated, kind of like Bong-Ra, Venetian Snares, that sort of thing. Whereas Bruce Stallion reflects what I’m into these days, a mixture of bassline and wonky dubstep.’ So from breakcore to bassline, the last seven years of Appleton’s career have followed the same curve as NYC’s Drop the Lime, and he readily admits the head of the Trouble & Bass label is a huge inspiration. Although Floorclearer isn’t gone, with future releases planned, Bruce Stallion (named after the star of 80s Z-movies like Ninja Terminator) is Appleton’s main thing now, ever since sending a few speculative tracks off to Tigerbass led to a complimentary email from and a subsequent signing by Kid 606, and further releases on Coin-Op. ‘This will be the first set I’ve played entirely my own material,’ he says, ‘because I wasn’t so confident before, but I’m gaining that now. So expect hip hop, dubstep, funky and some really stupid four to the floor basslines.’ (David Pollock)