Four years after his official debut, electronic producer
Baauer
returned in 2020 with his sophomore effort,
Planet's Mad
. An aggressive bomb of an album, the LP packs a dozen powerful tracks into less than 40 minutes, making for a physically demanding experience ideal for a packed club or a sweaty gym. Each pummeling song inspires body heaving and hypnotic gyrations, working listeners into a trance with "Pizzawala" and swirling out of control with the drum'n'bass pop of "Aether." The title track buzzes to life with metal guitar riffs before plunging into tribal percussion, a
Prodigy
-esque electro-rock romp that sets the tone for the rest of this set. Meanwhile, the muscular "Reachupdontstop" is a whorling storm that sounds like
Chemical Brothers
or
Basement Jaxx
injected into trap EDM. Despite the sheer physicality of
, the atmospherics remain heady and hypnotic, offering a strangely insular vibe that veers between panic attack and drug-fueled spirit journey ("Hot 44" is a pulsing example). As body and mind struggle to make sense of the stimulus overload,
allows for a breather on interlude "Remina" and the comforting
Bipolar Sunshine
collaboration "Home." It's a welcome comedown after the onslaught, one the carries the album toward the horizon with the equally relaxed "Group." With
,
charts a journey that elicits emotion through physical response, channeling rage and frustration through his songs in a cathartic release that plays like musical therapy for a galaxy's worth of ills. ~ Neil Z. Yeung