One of BlackPlastic's favourite little gems from last year was Passion Pit's totally infectious Manners album. By throwing everything AND the kitchen sink into their material they manage to cram as many joyful ideas into one song as many bands struggle to deliver in an album... And do so in a way that feels like Christmas and your birthday all at once.

Passion Pit are on tour in the UK next month and to celebrate we have a pair of tickets for the Nottingham gig to give away.  To be in with a chance of winning you need to be able to get to and from the venue on the night of the concert and answer this question:

What, accordingly to BlackPlastic's review of Manners, do Passion Pit smell like?

To enter drop us a note through the BlackPlastic.co.uk Contact Form or drop us a note at competitions@blackplastic.co.uk using the subject 'Passion Pit Competition'. The closing date is 4 March 2010 [competition now closed].

Most of the dates are sold out but Bristol, Norwich and Nottingham still have tickets available.

Tour details, taken from the Passion Pit site:

BP x

BlackPlastic has slept on this one a little - there has been a lot to cover but you generally know when we come back to something that has been out a while it is usually because it is worth it.

Manners is so up our street that if it was any more to our tastes it would be less living in our house, more peeking round the bedroom door trying to tempt us into a bit of nooky. An insatiably perky band, Passion Pit sound like Lo Fi Fnk force fed Coca-Cola with an added teaspoon of sugar once per minute until they could write a whole album. Much like Iceland's FM Belfast this is a band that mash together the sweetest elements of a few different bands - BlackPlastic is thinking the Spinto Band, Shout Out Louds and the Go! Team - and come out smelling of cotton candy.

Take 'Little Secrets' - with it's chorus of children singing it should by all rights be a disaster. Instead it is a glorious, awesome motivational cheer-leading anthem. 'The Reeling' is equaly glorious - like a first kiss, a holiday and a rollercoaster all in one - whilst 'Sleepyhead' sounds like the Avalanches trapped in a tropical snow globe.  That's a good thing.

And every single track here is like a beautiful day that sticks in your belly like a thorn because you know that you can't keep it up. Passion Pit may struggle to continue making music as joyful as that on Manners but BlackPlastic is sure looking forward to hearing them try.

It's simple really. Joyous electronic pop: In the words of Vin Diesel in xXx we live for this shit.

Available on Amazon.co.uk on CD, LP and MP3 [affiliate links].

BP x