Plutonic Lab

Plutonic Lab
Birth name	Leigh Ryan
Also known as	Plutonic Lab
Origin	Melbourne, Australia
Genres	Hip hop, soul, electronic
Occupation(s)	Producer
Years active	1995 –present
Labels	Obese
Associated acts	Muph & Plutonic, Pegz, Dialectrix, Milk Bar Stars, Macronauts, Madlock, Hilltop Hoods
Website	www.plutoniclab.com

Leigh Ryan, better known by the stage name Plutonic Lab or sometimes as Pluto, is an Australian music producer, drummer and DJ. He is best known for being part of the hip hop group and 2008 ARIA Nominee Muph & Plutonic, as well as his production work on albums and EPs for Australian and international artists.

He produced two singles on Speech Debelle's album Speech Therapy, which won a 2009 Mercury Prize, and is a solo artist and tour drummer for Australian hip hop group Hilltop Hoods.

Early life and career

Plutonic Lab began drumming at the age of 10 and performing shows at 14. He obtained an honours degree in Sound Design/Media Arts from RMIT University, studying under Australian film composer/artist Philip Brophy and sound artist Phillip Samartzis.

In 1995 he produced the album "Mystery Shkool" for his group 'Macronauts" on CD and Cassette & two beat tapes, Tri Chromes and M.O.S., in 1998 under his own label, Plutonic Lovely. In 2001, he released his first solo album, Give Me Sabotage Shell, followed by Collision of Days in 2004, both released on Nuff Said Records. His third solo album, Codes Over Colours, was released in 2005 on Obese Records.

His most recent solo release, a remix EP titled Midnight on Pluto, was released in 2006.

Muph & Plutonic and Milk Bar Stars

Main article: Muph & Plutonic

Plutonic Lab provided production on More Than Music, the second album by Dan Young (better known by the stage name Muphin) released in 2003. As a result of their collaboration on the album, the duo formed the partnership Muph & Plutonic in 2004. Muph & Plutonic have released three albums to date: Hunger Pains (2004), Silence the Sirens (2006) and And Then Tomorrow Came (2008).

Plutonic Lab and Muph also toured nationally in 2005, together with DJ Bonez and Obese Records boss Pegz, under the collective name Milk Bar Stars.

Plutonic and G-Love

Plutonic Lab collaborated with G-Love to produce the album Moonshine Lemonade, released in February 2011, under the name Plutonic and G-Love.

G-Love said, of the collaboration:

"I've been making and mashing hip hop and blues for the last 20 years. With Moonshine Lemonade, I finally feel like I got it right. Pluto bought it out of me and that's that. I know people are gonna dig this cause I've been rocking it non-stop on my tour bus every freakin' night."

Plutonic Lab said:

""I enjoyed all these recording methods, but what was most interesting though would be how an idea would be transformed by building each layer step by step and in a sense became a truly collaborative effort. We didn’t need to be in the same room. We were playing email ping pong, but In a way it’s like knowing how the movie is gonna end."

Production

Plutonic Lab has produced albums and EPs for many Australian hip hop artists on labels including Nuffsaid Records (collaborating over a number of years with Australian MC/producer Prowla) and Obese Records (including the label CEO Pegz).

He has also produced beats on releases from Shawn Lov (USA), MC Tumi (South Africa), Karma and Esoteric (USA), Eternia (Canada) and Taskforce (UK).

He has performed shows in Australia, North America, Europe and Asia. Opening for The Pharcyde, People Under The Stairs, Ozomatli, Mad Professor, Lee Scratch Perry, MC Supernatural, DJ Shadow, Money Mark, Hilltop Hoods, The Next Men, Mr Lif, Cage, Swollen Members, Braintax & Mystro, Lupe Fiasco, El-P, Tricky, The Streets and events including Cockatoo Island Festival, Obese Block Party, Pyramid Rock Festival, Falls Festival, Big Day Out, Groovin' the Moo, Golden Plains Festival, Splendour in the Grass and Good Vibrations Festival.

Plutonic Lab was voted 'Best Producer' three years running (2004, 2005, 2006) on Australian Hip- Hop community site ozhiphop.com.

All three Muph & Plutonic Albums & Pegz "Axis" LP obtained 'Feature Album' status on Australian national broadcaster Triple J.

His third LP "Codes Over Colours" was a featured album on Melbourne's 3RRR radio, and on other independent radio programs nationally.

In 2008 The Album "And Then Tomorrow Came" was nominated for an ARIA. The album also landed two songs in Triple J Hottest 100, 2009.

Speech Debelle's "Speech Therapy" LP won UK's Mercury Prize in 2009, for which Plutonic Lab produced two singles.

His music has also been featured in film and television including HBO's series Girls, TNT's series Franklin & Bash, and the feature films "X”, Noel Clarke's 4.3.2.1 and Chronicle.

He also produced Neon Heartache, the debut album of Jess Harlen, who was named best female artist in The Age's EG Awards in 2010.

Discography

Solo albums

Album title	Release date	Label	Format
Tri Chromes (beat tape)	1998	Plutonic Lovely	Cassette
M.O.S. (beat tape)	1998	Plutonic Lovely	Cassette
Give Me Sabotage Shell	2001	Nuffsaid	CD/vinyl
Collision of Days	2004	Nuffsaid	CD/vinyl
Codes Over Colours	2005	Obese	CD/vinyl
Midnight on Pluto (remix EP)	2006	Obese	Vinyl
Give Me Sabotage Shell (Extended/Remastered)	2007	Shark Repellent	CD
Collision of Days (Extended/Remastered)	2007	Shark Repellent	CD
Submariner (7" EP)	2013	LWP	Vinyl

Production

Albums

Artist	Album title	Release date	Label
Macronauts	Mystery Shkool	1995	Plutonic Lovely
Prowla	Lonewolf	2001	Nuffsaid
Plutonic Lab	Give Me Sabotage Shell	2001	Nuffsaid
Muphin	More Than Music	2003	Obese
Pegz	Capricorn Cat	2003	Obese
Shawn Lov	The Blackout of 1977	2004	Nuffsaid
Plutonic Lab	Collision of Days	2004	Nuffsaid
Muph & Plutonic	Hunger Pains	2004	Obese
Pegz	Axis	2005	Obese
Plutonic Lab	Codes Over Colours	2005	Obese
Omni	Batterie	2006	BLX
Muph & Plutonic	Silence the Sirens	2006	Obese
Ivens	Sounds to Expire to	2007	EcoTone
Lotek	Go	2007	2–99 Records
Pegz	Burn City	2007	Obese
Bias B	Beestrumentals	2007	Obese
Muph & Plutonic	...And Then Tomorrow Came	2008	Obese
Speech Debelle	Speech Therapy	2009	Big Dada
Gully Platoon	The Great Divide	2009	Obese
Jess Harlen	Neon Heartache	2010	Plethora
Dialectrix	Audio Projectile	2010	Obese
Plutonic & G Love	Moonshine Lemonade	2011	Inertia
Jess Harlen	Park Yard Slang	2012	Plethora
Dialectrix	The Cold Light of Day	2013	Obese
Plutonic Lab	Submariner	2013	LWP

Singles and EPs

Artist	Title	Release date	Label
Pegz (as Pegasus)	Pegasus (12")	2001	Obese
Prowla	The Great Rescue (EP)	2002	Nuffsaid
Tumi	A Dream Led To This (EP)	2002	Nuffsaid
Taskforce & Pegz	12 Apostles (12")	2002	Obese
Karma	Top Shelf (12")	2002	Nuffsaid
Eternia & A-Love	Movin (12")	2003	Warner
Shawn Lov	Dewitt (12")	2004	Nuffsaid
Black Samurai	Kill Em All (EP)	2004	C Side (UK)
Muph & Plutonic	Heaps Good (12")	2004	Obese
Pegz	Chechen Gorilla (12")	2005	Obese
Pegz	Back Then (12")	2005	Obese
Plutonic Lab	The Waiting (12")	2005	Obese
Hilltop Hoods	The Hard Road (12")	2006	Obese
Ivens	The 9th Letter (12")	2007	EcoTone
Muph & Plutonic	The Day Off (7")	2007	Obese
Muph & Plutonic	Size of the Soul (Promo CD single)	2008	Obese
Muph & Plutonic	Beautiful/Ugly" (Promo CD single)	2008	Obese
Speech Debelle	The Key (CD single)	2009	Big Dada
Speech Debelle	Better Days (CD single)	2009	Big Dada
Jess Harlen	Watch the Water (CD single)	2010	Plethora
Jess Harlen	I Go (CD single)	2010	Plethora
Dialectrix	New Generation (CD single)	2012	Obese
Dialectrix	Go (Digital single)	2013	Obese
Plutonic Lab	Look Alive (7")	2013	Shark Repellent
Plutonic Lab	The Crib (7")	2016	Wax Museum Records

Tracks on other albums

Album title	Artist	Track	Release date	Label
Evolutionary Vibes 2	Macronauts	"Atstrue" (remix)	1997	Creative Vibes
4 Element Effect	Plutonic Lab	"Evidence"	1998	183
Rock Da City	Plutonic Lab	"Slipping into Darkness"	1999	Nuffsaid
	Madlock	"Madlock"
Sounds Like Left	Plutonic Lab	"Mental Big Gun" (remix)	2001	Sony (Asia)
		"Sunshine"
12 Apostles	Pegz & Task Force	"True to tha Art" (vocal) "True to tha Art" (instrumental)	2001	Obese
Stealth Issue 2 Vol 3	Plutonic Lab	"Glory Days"	2001	Stealth
Top Fashion Dolphin (EP)	Plutonic Lab	"Mental Big Gun"	2002	C Side (UK)
	Tumi	"The Inner View"
Culture of Kings Vol 2	A-Love	"Petty"	2002	Obese
Obese City	Plutonic Lab	"Knowing Disintegration "	2002	Obese
	Muphin	"Tape in a Green Case"
Other Worldly Fusions	Plutonic Lab & RuCL	"Runnin Hot"	2002	Hardware
Top Shelf	Karma featuring Esoteric	"Top Shelf" (vocal) "Top Shelf" (instrumental)	2002	Nuffsaid
	Karma	"Art of War" (vocal) "Art of War" (instrumental)
Strait From The Art Vol 1	Eternia & A-Love	"Movin"	2003	Warner
Diggin Deep	Muphin	"Smart Risk, Big Benefit"	2003
Culture of Kings Vol 3	Pegz	"Tins of Beans"	2004	Obese
Building With Bricks Volume 2	Karma	"Art of War"	2004	Brick
Descore	Breakfast News (Main Title) 100 Forms of Happiness		2004	Sound Punch
15.OZ Vinyl	Muphin	"Smoke Stained"	2004	Crookneck
JJJ Hip Hop Show	Muph & Plutonic	"Heaps Good"	2005
	MC Que	"Waters Breakin"
Home And Hosed – Ripe and Ready	Muph & Plutonic	"Heaps Good"	2005
Trampled: Remix (EP) (Elefant Traks)	Hermitude	"Nightfalls Messenger" (remix)	2006	Obese
Been There Done That	Bias B featuring Billy Bunks	"Bundle of Bees"	2007	Obese
The Signal	Urthboy	"We Get Around" (Plutonic remix)	2007	Elefant Tracks
More or Less	Resin Dogs featuring Mika 9, Aceyalone and Abstract Rude	"Coming With the Sound" (Plutonic Lab mix)	2009	Hydrofunk Records/MGM
Cover Up Motel	TZU	"Get Up" (Plutonic Lab remix)	2009	Liberation
Beatz International	Tor	"Pushin It"	2009	File Records (Japan)/UK Streetsounds (UK)

Battle vinyl

Artist	Title	Date	Details
DJ Perplex	DMC Battle Wax	2008	Various production beats and elements
DJ Perplex	DMC Battle Wax	2009	Various production beats and elements

Soundtracks

Title	Director	Notes
Hot Wet Dot: 16mm Skate Film	Jo Harrison	www.joskefilms.com
Molotow Masters: Graffiti Series	Jo Harrison	www.molotow.com
Words in My Mouth Voices in My Head, No 1 Anna	Phillip Brophy	Screened at ACMI Melbourne, 2004 www.philipbrophy.com
Burn	David Selvarajah Vadiveloo	Nominated for AFI Best Short Fiction Film award, 2009 www.burn-movie.com.au

External links

• Plutonic Lab official website
• Plutonic Lab artist profile at Obese Records