Album Review: Cosmogramma - Flying Lotus

Sometimes you just have to go back.

BlackPlastic can't be everywhere all at once and that is why we never got around to reviewing Flying Lotus' latest album Cosmogramma. But sometimes an album keeps pulling you back in and that is how it is with Cosmogramma. To pass it by forever more would leave a little itch in the soul.

Flying Lotus is one of those artists that seems to continually expand his horizons whilst still retaining enough focus to make each release different, challenging perhaps, yet still ultimately accessible and magnificent. He once made instrumental Hip-Hop but Cosmogramma could never be so conservatively labelled.

Opening with in-your-face aural-enema 'Clock Catcher', followed by a couple of heavy-set funk numbers it is track four, the Eastern sounds meets soulful strings of 'Intro//A Cosmic Drama', before Cosmogramma shows its true colours. From this point things become increasingly psychedelic - next track 'Zodiac Shit' is a half bass-heavy, half string-laden epic.

The obvious talking point: Thom Yorke's guest turn is actually remarkably subtle - his soulful vocal used sparingly yet worked into the very fabric of the song itself. And more than anything this freeform approach reminds BlackPlastic of jazz. 'Arkestry' is wandering trumpet and rolling drums and it feels like big band gone loco. The result is a little bit staggering.

'MmmHmm', featuring Thundercat, is probably Flying Lotus' most J Dilla moment yet. The first of a run of three beautifully varied but complimentary tracks, joined by funky house-inspired 'Do The Astral Plane' and the blues-y 'Satelllliiiiiiiteee', it marks Cosmogramma's highest point. But there is so much else hear - we haven't mentioned the ping pong sampling 'Table Tennis' featuring Laura Darlington or the dizzy closer 'Galaxy in Janaki', for starters.

Clearly increasingly inspired by his heritage (it's all too often pointed out that Flying Lotus was great-nephew to Alice and John Coltrane), as Flying Lotus gets more experimental his music gets more and more generous. BlackPlastic comes back to Cosmogramma now because it still has so much to say... Every listen feels just a little bit fresher.

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Cosmogramma is out now on Warp, available from Amazon.co.uk on CD, LP and MP3 [affiliate links].

Album Review: Future Balearica - various mixed by FETE

In which people like you and I can reclaim the Balearica tag and the damned whole White Isle for out own.

This isn't one of those compilations you see advertised on TV with Judge Jules providing the voiceover, although to be fair it isn't strictly in keeping with the kitchen-sink-ism kitsch that originally defined Balearic either. Instead it is, as the subtitle suggests, a collection of 'new chill and warm laid back sounds'.

And that pretty much works for BlackPlastic. Occasionally it feels a little deliberately inclusive - slotting The XX's 'VCR' in at track two will certainly help shift units - but actually within the context of the (excellent) mixing it actually works.

So this is a very laid-back mix for daytime lounging and evening warm-ups that would be in danger of feeling formulaic if it wasn't for the fact that enough of the songs are pretty much fantastic. Of the fantastic the most sublime is unquestionably DJ Kaos' 'Love The Night Away', remixed here by Tie Dye it is just the right mix of hippie vocals, retro disco vibes and sunny melodies. Within the context of the mix it works so damn well that it justifies the mix on its own.

Less successful are the slightly formulaic folky numbers that close the mix and Animal Collective as a closing track almost feels a little too obvious but it does the trick.

Future Balearica isn't going to change anyone's perception of chilled out dance music but it certainly manages to do a lot more than many other similar albums. And you can be sure it would sound pretty sublime on the beaches of Ibiza.

BP x

Single Review: She's Bad - Gadi Mizrahi & Soul Clap

Gadi Mizrahi & Soul Clap's 'She's Bad' is without doubt the slinkiest little soul jam to have dropped through BlackPlastic's virtual letter box in some time.

Minimal in approach it focuses on doing not a lot but doing it rather well. 'She's Bad' screams for laid back afternoons on beaches, its keys hot enough to make the tarmac go sticky under foot and the snatched vocal performance straining under the weight of a sun-baked libido. This is basically what shithouse funky house would sound like if it wasn't shit an was actually quite good.

'Beautiful Thang' over on the flip is a little less irresistible but still a pleasant way to pass a few minutes, with a thick and slightly rude bassline. It's a more dance-floor focused affair and won't permeate your subconscious in the same way but the campy vocals provide a standout moment.

She's Bad is out on Double Standard Records.

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Single Review: Even Your Friend - The Chap

The Chap continue to baffle and please in equal measure on this, their latest single. The Chap have always sounded a little bit like what Fischerspooner would have sounded like if they hadn't been tosser art students who took themselves too seriously.

The ironic humour in The Chap's records is almost too abundant - to the point where it can be difficult to derive a long-lasting sense of enjoyment from their music. Yet their songs are often just about infectious enough that, try as you might, you just can't help but dig it.

Such is the case with 'Even Your Friend'. BlackPlastic is not exactly sure what 'Even Your Friend' is about - it starts off sounding like an annoyed rant at a friend or lover who doesn't know how to have fun but ends up descending into some sort of Beach Boys-esque summertime love call to arms. Whatever - it moves at 250 miles per hour and frankly leaves us baffled but enamoured enough that we can't help but have another go.

B-side 'Friendo for Life' is a twisted but laid back affair that somehow manages to sound like a chilled out dub take on boss nova. It lacks the instant gratification of 'Even Your Friend' and as such struggles to hold the attention.

Two remixes of 'Even Your Friend' are also included. The Teenage Fantasy mix strips the sing back to a dubby, ambient sequence of chords. BlackPlastic isn't sure how or why the original inspired this but each to their own - it does what it does well enough, it just doesn't feel like it has any of the spirit of the original left. The Ghostape Remix makes more sense, comparatively - again it is dubby and ambient but retains more of the vocal and in looping the "Summertime Love" refrain over a laid back beat it manages to create an enjoyably blissed out feeling.

Pleasing in places and alienating in others - Even Your Friend illustrates just how The Chap's continued efforts to experiment can deliver brilliant and confusing results, sometimes all at once.

BP x

EP Review: The Bit Parts - Youth Sounds

Brother and sister duo Youth Sounds' The Bit Parts EP treads a line somewhere between the dazed show gazing vibes of School of Seven Bells and something much more 'pop'.

Which means it is something of an unashamed pleasure. And so there is nothing challenging about The Bit Parts and in all honesty, in some ways that is a shame. The duo are clearly at their best when forced down a path other than the straight up ditty that is opening track 'As Strangers Would'. 'Smoke and Mirrors' goes for a comparatively stripped back approach - it is the distortion of The Jesus and Mary Chain applied to the Pixies quiet-loud-quiet methodology. By far the best of the three tracks here, it really allows Erika Mejia's breathy, whispered vocals to shine.

So The Bit Parts demonstrates that the Youth Sounds have promise. The choice is theirs as to whether they turn into an interesting band or simply the coolest band your mum listens to.

Head over to Youth Sound's MySpace for more.

BP x