Album Review: Kitsuné Maison Compilation 6 - Various

Like a bunch of angry youths ditching their regular stabby, dull knives for lovely fresh luminous flick knives the new Kitsuné Maison Compilation (that's 6 to you) leaves behind a little (just a little) of the roughness in favour of some lovely hooks. That's right, Kitsuné Maison 6 is dubbed 'The Melodic One', almost like it is a two-dimensional character within a sitcom.

But it isn't two dimensional, is it? No, because it has melody, in the form of Lo-Fi-Fnk's gorgeously downbeat 'Want U' for example, but it also has nastiness - just check out the rather aggressive 'Say Whoa' by A-Trak or Etienne De Crecy's clanging 'Hanukkah'.

Maison 6's best moments see the above two approaches combined. The burst-ear-drum attack of You Love Her Coz Shes Dead's 'Superheroes' is drenched in distortion and melodies and shouts and hooks and it's like going from being 12 to 25 in three minutes. D.I.M.'s remix of Fischerspooner's 'Danse En France' takes the mildly subtle original, douses it in petrol and then spits a fag at it and the result is a bass line to alienate friends and lovers with but a salve is provided in the melodic hook that has been retained for the bridge.

Predictably then it's all rather good and dependable, a bit like PG Tips for nu-rave kids with glowsticks. If you haven't ever bought a Kitsuné compilation this is what to expect: the sound of that cool alt.friend everyone has, six months early. If you have bought one of the previous releases then chances are you actually are that cool alt.friend so you probably don't need this review.

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Album Review: Tapes - Various mixed by The Rapture

BlackPlastic has had a holiday - if you felt lonely in our absence then sorry.  If you didn't notice then well done, you successfully hurt our feelings.

Following on from last album, Pieces of the People We Love, and further demonstrating their eclectic tastes The Rapture are back with their first mix album, out on the ever reliable K7 imprint.

And it is, for the most part, a basement booty shaking riot that takes in thrills, spills and bellyaches in quick secession with tracks such as The Bar-Kays 'Holy Ghost' appearing in a track list alongside Ghostface Killah and 'Where's Jason K?' from the DFA's Syclops.

And BlackPlastic says "for the main part" because it, whilst it appreciates the guys' effort, it still isn't really ready to revisit Paul Johnson's 'Get Get Down'. On the flipside the band to incorporate a bit of Armand Van Helden's 'Flowerz' and, rather than spoiling the mix, it acts as a high point. It's undoubtedly one of Armand's finer, more subtle moments, and it shines as a result.

Overall this set represents a fantastic party soundtrack and whether it is in sunny disco in the form of Northend's 'Tee's Happy' or the 70s urban party chic twisted up into a k-hold that is Dances With White Girls' 'Everybody's Got to Make a Living' there is something to move you.

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Album Review: The One - Shinichi Osawa

Finally getting a proper UK release through Norman Cook's Southern Fried imprint, if you follow the mp3 blogs some of The One will already be familiar to you. On the other hand if you don't you are in for a treat. Following up on BlackPlastic's thoughts in introducing the new Morgan Geist album, The One takes the other approach - there is undoubtably talent at work here, it is just focuses on making the best thrills possible.

As some background, Osawa has previously released material under the guide of Mondo Grosso - this material tended to be more traditional house, veering towards deep house. The fact that he has begun recording under his real name reflects a change in direction, with his sound reflecting more closely his DJ sets, which are also performed under his real name.

Osawa's The One opens with his glorious cover of the Chemical Brothers' 'Star Guitar' and it's difficult to pin-point what is so great about it, particularly as the original was so perfect, but the beefed-up distorted bass and vocals from Au Revoir Simone certainly help. Seriously, can we get Au Revoir Simone to provide backing vocals for Black Plastic's life please?

As an album opener and lead single, 'Star Guitar' does a good job of introducing Shinichi to a new audience. Rest assured, if you like what you have heard of Osawa's work so far you are likely to enjoy this. But for the uninitiated, this is what to expect:

The One is an album of pop songs containing fuzzy, distorted basslines and catchy vocals mixed with enough attitude and bowel threatening wooshes and noises to annoy the hell out of the person sat next to you on the train.

The One ditches any ideas as dull as a concept and focuses on soon just one thing well: sticking forteen of the biggest, most enjoyably upfront radio-friendly electro-dance tracks you'll have heard in a bit all on one album.

There is a nice flow to the album, with slower tracks ensuring everything is paced well (and probably ensuring there will be the opportunity for some nice extended club mixes at some point).

It may not be sophisticated enough to be regarded as a classic but The One has enough attitude and ideas that it doesn't matter: this is a damn good ride.

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Album Review: Double Night Time - Morgan Geist

Some songs sound like a tumble down the stairs into the warm embrace of a brand new lover: they are full of excitement, adrenalin an gimmicks. Others rely much less on tricks and instead focus on quality and longevity. BlackPlastic has two upcoming reviews, with one falling into each of the above categories.

Unsurprisingly, Morgan Geist's new (and to BlackPlastic's knowledge, first solo) album Double Night Time contains songs that resemble the latter template rather than the former. Put it on your CD shelf and it WILL be judging you, your frivolous Ed Banger CDs, that ridiculous Hadouken! album, the fact that you have a secret admiration for the Wombats.

Because, without doubt, this album is too good for you. What you have in Double Night Time is a beautifully crafted body of work. An album where every click, drum pattern and synth line has been carefully considered, fretted over and perfected.

Yet there are the odd duff moments, like on instrumental 'Nocobo' for example, where the ideas just seem to lack the pizazz of the releases of Geist's other project Metro Area. The occasional dry patch is more than made up for elsewhere, however. Following in the footsteps of last year's 'Most of All', which itself features here, many of the songs here feature vocals from Junior Boys' Jeremy Greenspan. And the result is never less than glorious - 'Detroit' is pure sophistication, shimmying on by like the best lay you never had whilst 'Ruthless City' boasts a minimal approach to pop that shows what you can do with a bass line, a bit of synth and a few snippets of the right vocal. Greenspan's vocals are just made for this shit - the subtlety of the instrumentation complimenting perfectly the understated nature of his voice.

Yet despite how good a combination Geist and Greenspan make, Double Night Time's best track is completely instrumental, the relaxed yet haunting 'Lullaby'. Minimal and intelligent, it largely reflects what makes Geist's music great on the whole. The trumpet that carries the melody through to the album's finish is a fitting end to an set that sparkles.

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Album Review: Notwave - Various

The DFA still effortlessly piss all over all other record labels in the cool stakes just like your best friend's cooler older brother did when you were eleven. No matter how much they try, no other label quite manages to nail the maturity combined with experimentalism of a DFA release. Notwave sees them team up with Rong Music to revisit the NY No-Wave scene of the late seventies...

...Only instead of peddling some cuts from thirty years ago we get a fresh batch from current artists. With the exception of a cut from James Chance and the Contortions, one of the bands actually present for the original movement, these bands are drawing inspiration from a scene that passed away years ago but the tracks themselves are all bang-up-to-date.

So you get some nice, spikey, angular rock like the muted 'Unwelcome Guest' from Quad Throw Salchow and Freshro's dark and sexualised cover of Spoon's 'I Turn My Camera On' that just make great, intelligent, pop records. Tim Love Lee turns in two mixes in the form of the free-falling 'No Search No Entry' by Striplight and Circuits' 'Pistols at Dawn'. The former sounds like Republica re imagined as a post-punk roller coaster whilst the later is a throbbing crescendo to a climatic vocal call that results in the record descending into a tribal rock breakdown. Both are utterly fantastic.

Notwave is the DFA's best compilation in ages, possibly ever. Streamlined and beautiful, it boasts a fantastic atmosphere that drags the listener through more sounds, places and genres than you could find in most entire record shops. From clipped dub workouts like Tussle's 'Elephants Meandering' to the dark and evil re imagining of the Peter Gunn theme that is Welcome Stranger's paranoid 'Smoke Machine', Notwave is never less than exhilarating.

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