planets is(?) a math rock/brutal prog band from Napa,
California, not too far from the
Sacramento of
labelmatesO! The Joy. Similar to much of the
work of Sacramentobrutal proggers Hella, planets operate as a
two-piece, getting by with just drums and bass guitar (rather than guitar). planets
formed after the dissolution of
Swims, a similar band also
with Paul Slack on bass guitar, but with Mark
Rocha on drums. Compared to Swims, planets
are noisier, more brutal, and even
more savagely technical and dissonant. Slack’s treatment of the bass guitar is ferocious, making use of every string and every
fret, and Crawford’s drumming is a fearsome match,
making the two collectively sound like a band of four. While relatively unknown
even to this day, the music of planets is excellently inventive; all
planets records are staples of the math rock and brutal prog genres.
planets were signed to the relatively short-lived
Frenchmath rock-oriented record label
Distile Records (not to be confused with the newer,
electronic-focused [French](/countries/france) label by the
math rockers O! The Joy, [French](/countries/france)
fellow 2-piece math rock/brutal proggers 37500 Yens, and Paul Slack’s previous band
Swims, among others.
notes on the distributions
Rate Your Music lists a
release, but this
release is not represented anywhere else, so it may just be spurious (hence its
absence in this listing). Note that Swims’s first and last record
(their self-titled EP) was
released in , which makes
the authenticity of this entry unlikely. planets is confused by Rate
Your Music (among other sources) with another, distinct,
Californian band by the name of
P L a N E T S.
Most sources list the release year of “Planets” as , but this was the year that Distile
Records released it. The “original”
release was handmade by the band themselves some time in .
“TURBO JAMZ” is also known as “TURBO JAMZ!”. There is
only one track listed, but it consists of four tunes, in the following order:
DON’T SET YOURSELF UP
MODERN LOVE
HUSTLE
RED OUT!
“JIVE FROM JETHRO” was released in , but was recorded live between and .
![cover art for “[V/A] Distile 06>10”](06-10.jpg)
