The British imprint Planet Mu has had a number of notable hits in recent times from the likes of Hrvatski, 000, dDamage, Leafcutter John and label head Mike Paradinas, among others, and their distinct ear for some of the catchiest, most enjoyable electronic based music in the current scene is once again well-represented by the debut from Ed Ma’s edIT project. Crying Over Pros for No Reason features a lot of the cut-and-paste trickery exhibited by Prefuse 73, Machine ...more

The Planet Mu label enlarges its roster with a record that will make many realize electronic music has a hot, beating heart. It is not only the acoustic guitar seductively basting the instrumental hip hop sequences (reinvented not long ago by Scott Herren), it’s calming them down, reading them slower, interpreting them better. An insect in slow-mo deconstruction moving its legs on a parched speaker freezes in time. The melody emerges clearer than Herren’s, but the ...more

Do you remember DJ Shadow telling us Why Hip-Hop Sucks in '96? Well, edIT tells us why it sucks in 2004, and its because there isn't enough of it that sounds like this (Prefuse 73 being the obvious exception).
The laid back melancholy of crying over pros... is at the same time brooding and almost oppressive. The heavy use of guitars - similar sounding to Weaver001 - the lead line worth of µ-ziq on Ltlp, the pulsating phased synth pads, all create an atmosphere that ...more

Los Angeles’ Edward Ma has been tagged as an experimental hip hopper, and that’s true, though the essence of the form has been distilled to such an extent that it’s barely recognisable, formed instead into languorous electronic glitch-hop. Here are ten tracks boasting around ten ideas apiece, a marvellous selection of micro-miniature overtures guided by a mercurial touch and ever-expanding consciousness. Startling.