Album Review: Fantasy Black Channel - Late Of The Pier

Erol Alkan's 2008 production 'Holy Trinity' draws to a close, with Late Of The Pier's Fantasy Black Channel following on from first the Mystery Jet's Twenty One and the Long Blonde's Couples.

The fact that a band like Late Of The Pier are getting the kind of mainstream attention they are really is a sign of the times and a testiment to their forebears. The sound of earlier pioneers such as Soulwax (more of whom soon) and the initial post-electroclash wave are all over this. And that is a good thing because it gives those that know more great music but it also further blows open the whole scene.

But enough chat. Fantasy Black Channel delivers, just as that recenty reviewed album by another band in the third wave of the dance / rock crossover does. In fucking spades.

Fantasy Black Channel is the air raid siren that signifies the end of the beginning for an entire genre: check out the opening synths of 'Space of the Woods'. They're so thick you can chew on those bastards as the ooze out of your speakers. When singer Samuel Eastgate indicates it's time to don a radiation suit you just might begin to worry there is something toxic in those basslines. The previously released single 'The Bears Are Coming' still fidgets and scratches like a bed of itching powder - warbling basslines and squelching drums contrasting beautifully to a the yelp of the bridge - whilst 'Random Firl' shows a more playful, sexy side.

And there is plenty of play and drama here - check out 'Whitesnake' and you can hear references to not just punk but maybe even some Deep Purple (deliberate given the name?) in the chugging bass and some Queen in the sheer over-the-top-ness of it all.

Overall Fantasy Black Channel sounds post-apocalyptic whilst managing to take this cliché and make it fresh. There are references throughout the lyrics but it is also in the music itself, in the dischordant and self-destructive melodies of 'VW' and 'Focker' for example, that this determinism shines through.

Some may try and call this album derivative - it is certainly more evolution than revolution - but there is no doubt that Late Of The Pier push harder, better, faster, stronger than their peers. The Klaxons have there work cut out for them if they are going to top the sheer spirit here. By the time the frenetic coupling of "get your hands on your waistline / and move your body to the bassline" arrives in the glam-opera closer (and past single) 'Bathroom Gurgle' and you progress to the subsequent ghost track that follows BlackPlastic's money is on you agreeing on this one.

BP x

Album Review: The History of Science and How to Mend a Broken Heart - The Wonderland Project

"Traditional distribution and payment models for music are broken!"

We all hear it everyday, and yet the labels seem intent to do everything they can to repeatedly stab their customers in the eye and treat them like morons rather than give them the choices they want. The Wonderland Project neatly sidestep this issue with their album The History of Science and How to Mend a Broken Heart by, erm, not really distributing or charging for it. Sort of.

So whilst it may be available in iTunes and on Amazon (which is good for you as it means you might stand a better chance of hearing a copy) the 'primary' method of distribution is the listener. Imagine peer-to-peer constrained to the physical world: the idea is that there are a number of CD copies of the album out in the wild right now, waiting to be found in places, each accompanied with a note instructing the finder: You can listen to it and stick it on your iPod but then you must leave it somewhere else for someone to find and put the details on The Wonderland Project website so they can track the album's movements.

It's a captivating and magical idea and, frankly, the majors should be kicking themselves for not thinking of using this as a method of promotion for a major artist.

So how does it actually sound? The History of Science and How to Mend a Broken Heart is a blend of country-tinged electronic music that most closely resembles Nowergian alt-acoustic musician Magnet. There are also hints of The Postal Service / Dntel in the bleeps and clicks of the sparkly 'You Look Prettier When I'm Happy' and Radiohead on some of the darker tracks like 'A Sense of Community'.

For the most part it works: The History of Science... is an enchanting record that sounds like it was made to drag you through a dreary Monday morning and with such an innocent distribution model it's hard not to be charmed. It attempts to capture the magic of those moment in life that stay with you: helping a beautiful girl get fuel for her car, meeting a stranger on the train; and, just occasionally, it captures it.

BP x

Album Review: FabricLive 41 - Various mixed by Simian Mobile Disco

What happens if you create a robotic version of your dead ex-lover with artificial intelligence? Yes, it's obvious, everybody knows it will end up snapping and killing you and only in death will you truly be reunited with your squeeze.

Yet this is what it sounds like Simian Mobile Disco have done for their FabricLive album (that'll be 41 for you number fiends). It starts out all robotic but gradually gets a little nasty on you before you emerge, blinking, the other the side of the pearly gates at The Walker Brother's 'Night Flights'.

The spooky Santiago remix of Hercules and Love Affair's 'Blind' eptimomises this mix perfectly. From a distance it might sound like it loves you but when you hear the spooky electronic echoes, whooshing ghost noises and masses of dead space you realize your phone was being tapped the whole time and a swat team are smashing through your bedroom windows.

BlackPlastic said that the recent Simian Mobile Disco Clocks EP was "alright-not-great-innit". Maybe it's the context of the album. Maybe it's the remanent dopamine still coursing through BlackPlastic's body post-SMD's Field Day performance. Hell, maybe BP was just on crack at the time because, here, 'Simple' sounds fucking awesome, fool. As does most of side one (hillarious throw back to tape, or vinyl, take your pick).

The first half of this album is like Space Invaders taking over your little brain and that'll do just fine, thanks very much. Check out Smith N Hack's 'Space Warrior' and Discodeine's 'Joystick', even the titles scream: "The Princess is in another castle!"

Where this drops the ball slightly is when it does things like relying on Metro Area's 'Miura', Paul Woolford's 'Erotic Discourse' and Green Velvet's 'Flash'. They were great once but they're just too well trodden these days. It's like your robot wife offering you missionary position: "That's great thanks, but I know it quite well... How about..."

Oh, and no matter how much Simian Mobile Disco love Simon Baker's remix of 'Sleep Deprivation' (apparently quite a lot) they need to stop being so coy. The original is probably the best pure club track they have ever done and to snub it is unnecessary.

It starts brilliantly. It isnt as good as their Bugged Out mix. It becomes slightly less exciting towards the end. It's still the best fabric album in a while. Go figure.

BP x

Album Review: V - Van She

It seems a lifetime ago that Van She's original five-track EP came out and as such a significant level of expectation potentially burdens this release. Things aren't made any easier by the fractured styles the band have meta-morphasised throughout this period and it is interesting to see how they address this point within an album strucuture.

The answer is actually straight forward, if slightly disappointing. V is a rock album, plain and simple, and so everything fits within the template of early singles 'The Cat & The Eye' and 'Strangers'. That disappointment isn't to suggest what is here isn't good, it is. Within the new context both of the aforementioned tracks shine, whilst 'Changes' sounds reminiscent of Zoot Woman's muted and monochromatic take on pop music and 'It Could Be The Same' and closer 'On The Edge' show a darker side.

Atmosphere abounds, V is just perhaps more sophisticated than we had come to expect. Even the gorgeous 80s cocaine ride of an anthem that is 'Kelly' has been revised and toned down slightly into something slightly more subtle.

V is a lush album and what it loses in excitement it gains in cohesiveness, accesibility and maturity. BlackPlastic may well be playing it all summer but you can be sure a little part of us is hoping for the next album to encapsulate the dayglo acid excessiveness of remix side project Van She Tech.

BP x

Album Review: Me, But Perfect - Engine7

Take a dash of post-rock, throw in some Global Communication inspired ambience and a sprinkling of atmosphere. Simmer gently on a hot summer's day whilst stirring gently.

This is Engine7.

Me, But Perfect seems to want to be a concept album in that each track title is followed by a time of day and these run in chronological order from 7:14am through to a not staggeringly late bedtime of 8:07pm. If it is supposed to be a concept album it's a bit thin on the concept side but perhaps BlackPlastic is over-analysing again. And if this is the soundtrack to a day then it must be an important one filled with earthquakes, floods, deaths and births. Or at least an unpleasant break-up and some exciting kissing bits.

Because Me, But Perfect is pretty emo, less in the I-hate-myself-and-want-to-die way and more in the I'm-watching-Planet-Earth-and-want-to-cry way. Which basically translates to this: Engine7 sound like an electronic Sigur Ros who have lost their singer. If you have always hated the Icelandic-guy-wailing (not whaling, we're mostly politics free here) element of the Ros, or maybe just want a bit more moody-yet-at-times-uplifting-atmospheric-music, then Engine7 are worth a listen. Particularly if you can do it whilst cooking on a deserted beach this summer.

BP x