Album Review: The Real Feel - Spiral Stairs

If BlackPlastic could do one thing to make the world a slightly better place it would make it illegal for smug bankers to use their BlackBerry on the train for anything other than calling the wife or accessing porn. Presented with countless opportunities however, an endless magic lamp if you will, then just one thing BlackPlastic would do is hide this début solo offering from Pavement's wayward Spiral Stairs inside the case for every single copy of the Arctic Monkeys last album.

Because whilst, predictably, this isn't a patch on any of Pavement's output, it does achieve a bluesy, melancholic, whisky-soaked sound that feels like the kind of album the Monkeys thought they we making.

The Real Feel is a slow and thoughtful album that shines due to it's space and timing. Opener 'True Love' may feel a bit too formulaic (if at least authentic) but there is much more elsewhere - 'Call The Ceasefire' is morose, wounded and self-pitying yet compellingly so. 'Cold Change' manages to convey a nervous optimism in its join-in "bup-bup-bup-bup-bup-ba-ba" chorus, like the audio equivalent of dusting yourself off after a fall that only one other person saw. Forthcoming single 'Stole Pills' changes things up nicely mid-album with a flick-knife jangly punk vibe.

But The Real Feel hasn't really got any new ideas. And that isn't necessarily a criticism, yet more of an observation. There are moments of delicacy here delivered in such a gimmick-free fashion that the fact that you may as well have heard it all before feels unimportant. It's not the slacker-gold soundz of Pavement, but it's not bad.

The Real Feel is out now on Domino, available on CD from Amazon.co.uk [affiliate link].

BP x

Album Review: 24/7 - GusGus

GusGus' move to Kompakt for their latest album release speaks volumes. This is an album that only continues the move away from the accessible pop-tech-house of Attention that we glimpsed on last album Forever.

And such a move represents a decision that BlackPlastic can't help but lament. In a typically Icelandic fashion 24/7 is a slightly unhinged minimal tech-house album.

BlackPlastic will precede what we are about to say with the assertion that 24/7 does contain moments of greatness - the soulful vocals of 'Hateful' and the contrast between it's angular, unemotional production and its lyrical content.

But everything is so damned spaced out, in both senses of the phrases. The vocals and minimal sound create a weird sense of isolation - the whole album feels delirious - and at the same time it feels like everything is built with such a focus on slow progression that the result is an album incapable of surprising the listener. Case in point - 'On The Job' with it's repeated shouts of "On the job, 24/7 never stop!" over it's 11-minute length... It's an acidic tripped out epic but it ultimately feels meaningless.

The synthesizers are, as always with GusGus, key here. Therefore you can understand why they have tried to strip everything else out - the likes of the evil sounding, acidic 'Take Me Baby' are far better than your average minimal output. The album is a paranoid, lonely one that conjures the feeling of the band's cold homeland in a way so far from the likes of Sigur Rós that it bears no comparison.

The problem is that GusGus also know how to write a good tune, yet on 24/7 it feels like all the actual tunes have been sacrificed - put out to pasture in favour of a concept that simply doesn't have the mileage to compare favorably to their earlier work.

BP x

24/7 is out now, available from Amazon.co.uk on CD and LP [affiliate links].

Single Review: Not Made For Love - Metronomy

Metronomy have no right to be this bloody good. Last album Nights Out recreated the Metronomy sound in the form of a band with proper vocals and everything - you only need to take one listen to the last Simian Mobile Disco album to get a feel for how well (or not) that can go. But Nights Out surprised because, actually, it wasn't shit. In fact it was rather good.

And now this: basically three tracks (plus a stack of remixes) of sheer, wonky-pop-gold. 'Not Made For Love' sounds like Metronomy's best Hot Chip impression and golly does it sucker-punch BlackPlastic with it's slow, soulful hook and dough-eyed vocals. 'Do The Right Thing' recalls Nights Out's 'Thing For You' with it's falsetto vocals, only this time the whole song feels like it has been ground down to dust by dark winter nights and walks home following miss-understood romantic exchanges. Finally 'What Do I Do Now' is a completely bizarre electronic trip. With distorted vocals and a driving synth it feels like the actual soul of a spurned computer game, pining for a lost love but unable to understand it's feelings.

The whole EP feels like music that is being more honest than it intends. It may set out to make you dance but it ends up crying on your shoulder instead. Metronomy have just created the perfect soundtrack for those contemplative autumnal evenings now the nights are drawing in.

The remixes may be ultimately surplus to requirements but the package certainly is not. A perfect way to keep warm as autumn draws in.

BP x

Not Made For Love is out now, available from Amazon.co.uk on LP and MP3 [affiliate links].

Album Review: Impossible Ark: A Compilation - Various Artists

Released on Unfold, Impossible Ark: A Compilation features a selection of recent tracks from the stable of jazz stable Impossible Ark.

Modern jazz is always in danger of trying far to hard as far as BlackPlastic is concerned - adding the tag to another genre or getting so noodle-y that any semblance of melody evaporates just doesn't do jazz justice. Impossible Ark's merits are obvious in that this set doesn't risk any of this - instead it treads a pure line through a set of tracks that are timeless enough to make guessing their age practically impossible.

From the opening of the floaty and spacious 'What Is Life' from the Fiction Trio this album is just drenched in class. The Rhythmatic Orchestra's 'African Mailman' fuses salsa rhythms to a pair of jazzy solos from a piano and a flute, creating that perfect laid back afternoon vibe.

Jeb Jay Nichols provides a couple of vocal tracks, with the organic sounding 'Lake Whitfield' proving a highlight. Contemporary vocal jazz is often in danger of losing the magic beneath a collection of too highly polished session musicians - not so here, Nichols' band provide some of the most beautifully understated instrumentation BlackPlastic has ever heard.

Accessible yet authentic - Impossible Ark: A Compilation is genuinely a little bit spellbinding. Ending on the muted brass of The Voices of Time's 'Solstice', BlackPlastic cannot imagine a better way to spend the day than sipping coffee and taking in all the sites the world as to offer whilst soaking in these jazzy vibes.

BP x

Impossible Ark: A Compilation is released through Unfold on 5 October, available for pre-order from Amazon.co.uk on CD [Affiliate Link].

Single Review / Download: Gave It Up - Pollyn

BlackPlastic has spent much of the last week digging on this slice of melancholic pop from Pollyn. 'Lost It All' sounds like the by-product of Annie and Robyn trying to out-do each other in the 'sad song' stakes whilst hanging out in a smokey little karaoke bar and in BlackPlastic's book that can only be a good thing. The slightly jangly backing track is just the right side of La Roux and the track drips with just enough sassy desperation that you can't figure out whether whether the singer is a basket case or not.

Check out the live studio performance:

Things get even better on Peter Visti's mix, which sees the whole tracked turned into a cosmic disco stormer... Sharp percussion and a muted guitar giving the whole track a moody, lost-on-the-dancefloor vibe and the break five minutes in, complete with discordant synths, really makes the whole thing a little epic.

Download 'Gave It Up' - Pollyn [right click, save as]

Download 'Gave It Up (Peter Visti Remix)' - Pollyn [right click, save as]

Head over to Pollyn's official site for more.