Album Review: Noise Won't Stop - Shy Child

When Shy Child released their debut album, One With The Sun, back in 2004 there was a fair amount of critical praise from the specialist press - particularly for single 'The Noise Won't Stop'. Sadly it seemed like the band lacked both the production values and the sheer volume to have any real mainstream cross-over potential.

Thankfully Shy Child are back and on their new album Noise Won't Stop they have rectified both of these concerns. The drums are considerably beefier and the is definitely more a new layer of volume and distortion. The observant will already have figured that the new LP's title is a reference to the sleeper hit 'The Noise Won't Stop' and both this and one other track ('Summer' since you ask) make a reappearance in a more polished form.

It really now sounds like Shy Child actually have the sound they probably always thought they had. Opening track and lead single 'Drop The Phone' sounds like a frantic rant carried out by Stressed Eric or possibly Fry in the episode of Futurama when he drinks one hundred coffees. It's a modern anthem about the absolute terror that ensues when one drops their phone and there is so much going on that half the time BlackPlastic is too strung out to even notice the complete wig-out of a sax solo in the background. Who the hell doesn't need that in their lives?

The highly enjoyable Spank Rock (Spank Rock MySpace) feature on Kick Drum, lending some vocals and some stupid bass. The re-tooled 'Noise Won't Stop' suggests that Spank Rock didn't ensure they had all their valuables when they left Shy Child's place as it seems to feature the same completely over the top bass that graces Spank Rock's own 'Backyard Betty'.

'The Volume' and 'Summer' manage to sound like pop music made by kids too cool for pop music, resembling 80s pop and Brit Pop respectively but with edge and added electronics. 'Generation Y (We Got It)' even has a wicked female vocal join-in bit and the album's probably highlight comes in the form of 'Astronaut', which descends into a lush electronic freakout.

BlackPlastic has already noted that the album's unrelenting nature is reminiscent of Test Icicles' frankly fantastic For Screening Purposes Only but it all also feels somewhat like The Rapture's recent Pieces of the People We Love in that it's essentially a bit of a party album with issues. It will be interesting to see where the hell Shy Child can go from here but following a stint supporting The Klaxon's you can be fairly confident that with hooks as enjoyable as the ones found here and a sound so indisputably 'now' this will not be the last we hear from our stressed friends from NYC.

Shy Child - MySpace / Official Site.

Album Review: † - Justice

Potentially the years most anticipated LP so far it seems that, aside from the slightly inevitable cries of 'sellout' that greeted D.A.N.C.E, Justice and their Ed Banger cohorts can do no wrong. Can they keep the pressure on for a whole album? Read on to find out...

So how do a bunch of thrash metal fans that create electronic music kick off an album? Well given that they call themselves Justice and their album is called, simply, † (pronounced 'cross'), it comes as little surprise that things start with an opening track entitled 'Genesis'. From the very outset † sounds like it is determined to destroy your soundsystem and possibly whatever fragile friendship you have with your neighbours, throwing out nasty basslines and pounding drums - this cries out to be played loudly in the car.

'Let There Be Light' continues the theme before distortion gives way to those funky shouting kids on 'D.A.N.C.E', which provides the natural relief one would expect - a sun ray through the clouds, it continues to sound as commercial and damn catchy as ever, but benefits even more from its context on †, the guilty pleasure you'll want to flip straight back to after the album closes.

The Daft Punk influences are never far from view, as demonstrated by 'New Jack', a distorted yet funky freak-out with cut-up vocals. Those familiar with Ed Banger Records' label compilation Ed Rec 2 will know what to expect from 'Phantom Part I', another instrumental distorted funk-fueled breakdown that gradually sounds like it is falling apart until it comes back to life in the form of 'Phantom Part II', a phoenix from the flames that ups the funk with some strings and a little more space.

'Valentine' is exactly the type of slightly camp French electro-wizardry one would expect of Daft Punk, almost reminiscent of 'Veridis Quo' from their one Discovery album. 'The Party' introduces the absolutely wonderful Uffie to the masses. It's fun, adorable and possibly the first thing that Uffie's lent her vocals to that could actually get played on the radio. In fact 'The Party' could just be the laid back sound of the summer and like 'D.A.N.C.E' it acts as a natural counterpoint to the rest of the album.

'DVNO' is fresh filtered vocal house that sounds like the sort of thing Daft Punk should be doing. Again, it's relatively commercial and radio friendly yet retains a spiky enough edge to keep the fans happy.

†'s closing quarter kicks off with 'Stress', sounding like a hand grenade to the face. Huge whirling synths encircle strings whilst the basslines build to the point of spontaneous combustion, at which point the sirens kicks off. 'Stress' is the realization of all of Justice's experiments in downright nasty distortion and as potentially the biggest dancefloor record here it will tear the roof of any club that plays it. You have been warned.

Former single, 'Waters of Nazareth' keeps the volume levels up with its trademark filthy cut-up bassline. In retrospect 'Waters of Nazareth' pretty much sounds like a mission plan for this album, a watershed from the slightly thin sounding (now at least) 'Never Be Alone' (which doesn't appear here). Things draw to a close with the surprisingly down-tempo 'One Minute To Midnight', a nice chunky bass workout that sounds like it wants to be a gansta rap metal record.

† may disappoint some people. It isn't quite as nose-bleed inducing as it could be and there are several rather commercial tracks. BlackPlastic argues that this is no bad thing - if anyone can shake up pop music a little bit it's the Ed Banger crew. We need Uffie on MTV and we need SebAstian remixing Girls Aloud and this record just might help to achieve that. What's more, as a whole † is a killer album with some skull-rupturing climaxes and has done what Daft Punk have been unable to in two albums. When it's in full swing † is so epic it feels like giving birth to He-Man.

On a related note the video for 'D.A.N.C.E' is on YouTube and is rather awesome. Take a look:

Album Review: BUGGEDOut! Presents Suck My Deck - Suck My Deck

In a revamped re-launch Bugged Out reprise their rather ace Suck My Deck series with a set from everybody's new favourite electro rave duo, Simian Mobile Disco.

This latest Suck My Deck consists of a considerably more varied take on things than both Ivan Smagghe's or Damian Lazarus' and is more approachable as a result. Things kick off with Joakim's 'Drumtrax', taken from his excellent Monsters & Silly Songs long-player, it's a slow, somewhat restrained start to an album that is anything but elsewhere.

Liasons Dangereuses and Fast Eddie are thrown into the mix to provide prove a bit of retro savvy, contributing spikey post-punk and hip-house respectively, but for the most part this is recent stuff. Simian Mobile Disco's 'It's The Beat' gets things really going - you quite possibly know it but if you don't the album's almost worth buying for this alone, building from a hip-techno start into something much more melodic when the synths kick in - it's cold, melancholic and awesome. It sounds like the surface of another planet and it just might make the hairs on your neck stand up.

The somewhat minimal yet arse-shakingly funky 'The Madness of Moths' by Vincent Markowski builds into Holden's unapologetic 'Idiot', who proves yet again that he'll be damned if he's going to be contrained by anything as conservative as a genre. If you've not heard 'Idiot' it sounds like a Atari 2600 knocking you out cold with a lump of acid before running off with your car, girlfriend and career. It's ALIVE.

In a move that makes it sound like they were born to be together, SMD gentle massage 'Idiot' into Sebastian's 'Walkman', here pitched up considerably to turn it into something even more ferocious. You can tell you've arrived when you get an article in The Guardian's Guide - 2007 is going to be Ed Banger's year so you better get used this this in your face brand of French distorted house. Not that that should represent a problem - it's fucking awesome after all.

More French craziness comes in the form of Riton's mix of Para One's Midnight Swim. With the help of Switch's midas touch Ms. Thing's Love Guide successfully mixes ragga and dance hall with cranium crushing techno. Simian then go on to utterly destroy the Klaxon's Magick, reducing it to its core elements and reverse engineering nu-rave into a series of vocal cuts and stabbing synths. It's big, very loud, very clever and guaranteed to please almost any dancefloor in the country right now.

Moving into Suck My Deck's closing section, Alter Ego make Partial Arts' 'Trauermusik' somewhat less minimal with their fairly typical yet totally enjoyable squeaky acid. Kerowack's 'Naf Monk' sounds like it was literally created to kill anyone that listened to it and from this comes last-track but one, LFO's 'Freak'. Again, you probably know it, if you don't it's a cut-up mess of acid chaos that those around you will try and tell you isn't even music. Ignore them and play this loudly. Things are brought to a close proper with the eerie, Lynchian 'Love Without Sound' by The White Noise.

They also make it sound too easy, but in the form of Suck My Deck Simian Mobile Disco have created what BlackPlastic would argue is currently 2007's best mix album. It cares little for genre and absolutely nothing at all for the state of your ears but it is utterly glorious all the same. Here's hoping there's a shorter wait for the next Suck My Deck album, and that SMD's forthcoming artist album lives up to the building hype.

Single Review: Justice - D.A.N.C.E

Everyone loves Justice right? Right... So it's with great joy that BlackPlastic tucks into their forthcoming EP, D.A.N.C.E.

'D.A.N.C.E' is fairly typical Justice with a huge dollop of summer on the side. Chirpy vocals encourage you to "Do the dance" whilst a thick bass line keeps things moving along and some strings try and sound like 'Strings of Life'. It's good, and you know that the Justice long-player will be great. Everyone in the world seems to be loving D.A.N.C.E in fact - just take a look at some of the blogs.

However, just when you think things couldn't get anymore Daft Punk B.E.A.T turns up on the flip side and, holy crap, does this sound like the bastard love child of Daft Punk and the Go! Team?! Essentially B.E.A.T is a re-tooled version of D.A.N.C.E, with absolutely massive Daft Punk bass lines, ridiculous filtered disco bits, massive join-in, "what fucking 80s song did they come from?!" Go! Team style vox and a huge glass of sunshine.

BlackPlastic now thinks Justice and MSTRKRFT are having some sort of secret Daft Punk-off in an attempt to see who can turn into a pair of robots before selling out fastest... This isn't clever, it won't change your life. It will however give you the fucking biggest smile you've had since last summer, it will destroy the Terrace at Space if such a thing even still exists and it just might make you wonder why you need an 80gb MP3 player when this is the only song you ever need to hear again.

Check it out over at The Yellow Stereo.

Guilty Pleasure: Avril Lavigne - Girlfriend

What can be said about this other than it's an absolutely ridiculous, pop-punk re-imagining of Toni Basil's "Mickey"? Avril has obviously never represented BlackPlastic's usual choice of sound and should never, ever be enjoyed without your ironic shoes on, but damn, this is catchy.

So yeah, Avril could be my girlfriend, and she's all pissey about my current girlfriend so she's decided to construct a meaningful melody about it. And there's a rap bit which is frankly the best thing Avril's ever done - the sound of an artist saying "I don't give a fuck if you don't respect me anymore, now where are the dollars?". And if that's not punk, BlackPlastic don't know what is.

BlackPlastic even feels an empathic connection with this record. Truly.

She's like, so, whatever...