Album Review: Fantasies - Metric

BlackPlastic had something else chalked in for a review today but this suited the current mood better.

And that's because Metric's latest proves that they still create the perfect soundtrack to a grey day. Fantasies is moody and aggravated and still hasn't quite forgiven you yet. Fantasies is rainy days and skivey days spent in strange places. Fantasies is not knowing the answers, not knowing the solutions. Fantasies may be the solution or may just be another part of the problem.

As an album it might be Metric's most sophisticated yet. It is certainly more measured and consistent, but it also has some of their biggest single songs. 'Help I'm Alive', with its insistent beat and soaring chorus is fantastically conflicted and the break, where it drops to just the bass and vocal, is glorious. Other highlights come in the ugly truth of 'Gold Guns Girls' and closing track 'Stadium Rock', with the former sounding like a friend telling you the ugly truth from which you have long hidden whilst the latter calls Yeah Yeah Yeahs to mind with its squawks and Nick Zinner-esque guitar work.

If BlackPlastic is going to spend an afternoon battered and bruised it can't think of a better album to soundtrack it. Fantasies sounds like the brutal honesty of someone who can do nothing but tell the truth, and sometimes we all need a bit of humble pie.

BP x

Released on 27 April 2009, available from Amazon.co.uk on CD and MP3

Album Review: Kitsuné Tabloid - Various selected by Phoenix

In a departure for Kitsuné this is neither remotely dance related nor mixed. It is a compilation in the classic sense, as Phoenix select a range of songs - almost all of which are at least ten years old (usually more) - that they love and that inspire them.

Being the well mannered possessors of catholic taste that they are, Phoenix's first compilation is a considered, methodical and, most of all, utterly beautiful affair. From the opening strains of Kiss' 'Love Theme From Kiss' the latest Kitsuné Tabloid (Digitalism provided the first) is like losing yourself in a good book. It's a journey full of texture and detail and feeling beyond that which should be provided by a mere Tabloid.

As you might expect from Phoenix the overall sound oozes intelligent sensuality. The sublime 'Rise Above' from The Dirty Projectors is a case in point - unbelievably for an artist that specializes in covering Black Flag records they have never heard it is a gorgeous piece of folk music with the kind of falsetto vocals that will soon have you making a fool of yourself when no-one is watching.

Pretty much every track is a highlight - whilst Elvis Costello & The Attractions' morose 'Shipbuilding', Urge Overkill's 'Stull (Part One)', Irma Thomas' 'It's Raining' and Lou Reed's stunning 'Street Hassle' stick in BlackPlastic's head but there are plenty more gems here. Oh, and of course Tangerine Dream's 'Love On A Real Train' is always gorgeous as well.

Phoenix have described this album as selfish - it's just what they would make for themselves. What's great is that in the hands of the right person, the selfish album they make for themslves is the most interesting. It's autobiographical and it's genuine.

BP x

Available on Amazon.co.uk on CD (not available on MP3 yet as far as BlackPlastic knows, plus the artwork is lovely).

Album Review: Fist of God - MSTRKRFT

The new MSTRKRFT album is a bit of an odd one and it isn't particularly easy to explain why.

Around the time that Justice unleashed their début album Cross MSTRKRFT were also releasing their début The Looks. One artist went on to becoming a bit of a cross-over phenomenon whilst the other played it much cooler. At the end of the day however The Looks still got plenty of attention from the bloggers and, now that the Justice backlash has officially begun (check Krissi Murison's review of Peter, Bjorn & John over at the Guardian), MSTRKRFT's first album still gets praise heaped on it.

Fist of God is another crack at mainstream success and MSTRKRFT are going all out - check the guest spots from rappers N.O.R.E. and Ghostface Killah - and, seemingly as a result many have been turned off, giving this album a hard time.

It's understandable insofar as Fist of God is very different - it's a much louder album, drawing on the rock band leanings of Justice and Jesse F Keeler's former heavy metal project Death From Above 1979. The use of vocals is also a departure - the first album may have had a few vocal snippets but it was far from lead by them, Fist of God on the other hand has more vocal tracks than instrumentals and they are very hip-hop and R'n'B influenced.

The result does admittedly have a pop music feel but there are still some nice moments - the old skool rave transition into 'Breakaway' from 'Word Up' and the rough intro of opener 'It Ain't Love'. What really stumps BlackPlastic though is the people that hold The Looks up as a masterpiece only to shit on this.

Both MSTRKRFT albums are enjoyable but neither could honestly be considered great (certainly not on a par with either Justice's début nor DFA 1979's sole album). The Looks lacked polish and ideas whilst Fist of God has both in spades in places but then lacks variety (and 'Word Up' featuring Ghostface Killah is quite quite horrible).

So Fist of God is worth checking out, yes. As good as The Looks? Probably. Brilliant? Sadly not.

BP x

Available on Amazon.co.uk on CD

Album Review: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - Phoenix

In which Phoenix get a promotion from 'band BlackPlastic quite digs' to 'one of the most heart-warming band BlackPlastic knows', Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix feels like being 19 and on the verge of something great. It has the same yearning and neediness of fellow French band the Teenagers, just sans the selfishness and the irony. The result is an album that sounds like every night is prom-night and the best day of your life might (just might) be around the corner.

Where previous Phoenix albums maybe lacked a little cohesiveness Wolfgang... confidently delivers, with one sexy, polished, funky feeling running the full course of the album. It never strays as far as (the admittedly great, if slightly bonkers) 'Funky Squaredance' did on United and the result is a classic case of focus trumping variety - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix isn't trying to be a jack of all trades, it's busy enough being the best technicolor-disco-punk-funk album in years.

Which is not to say there is no variety - we've already discussed how great '1901' is but it's worth pointing out that 'Love Like a Sunset' is, in contrast, a beautifully slow-burning Balearic trip, a feeling that builds until it takes over. 'Lasso' is another contrast - blunt like the love you can't keep secret: effervescent and unstable and infectious and totally irresistible.

Phoenix have undoubtebly made the best album of their career so far. It's so damn enthusiastic it would be churlish to ignore it.

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is out on 25 May 2009.

BP x

Album Review: FabricLive 45 - Various mixed by A-Trak

After making his name winning the world DMC mixing chanpionships and then as Kanye West's tour DJ A-Trak has gradually taken a sideways step towards a much more dance orientated sound. FabricLive 45 reflects that, taking the eclecticism of Hip-Hop (and Turntabilism more specifically) an applying it to what is largely a house set.

The results are pretty solid, if not necessarily innovative. Except for a handful of through backs most of the tunes themselves are pretty current and generally good, with the notable exception of the auto-tuned 'I'm The Ish' by DJ Class which makes Kanye's last album look like Sign o' The Times it's so shit (appropriate given the lyrics) - not even good in an ironic sense.

Predictably Zombie Nation, Alex Gopher and Metronomy, whose 'Heartbreaker' gets a spooky remix courtesy of Diskjokke (when did that name ever sound like a good idea?), all deliver the goods. With a mix between the squealling electro Zombie Nation have become known for together with more straight up house (the lush Aeroplane mix of Friendly Fires' 'Paris') the result is a suitably varied set.

The main criticism of FabricLive 45 would have to be that such variation ends up in a set that could simply do with a little more direction. It represents a good snapshot of 'now' but is unlikely to keep you coming back in years to come. What's more, given that this is a set from a World DMC Champion the mixing is functional over mind-blowing: this isn't to say it's bad, just that it isn't a noticeable as one might expect.

Overall a solid mix, just don't expect a revolution.

BP x