Single Review: U Can Dance - Hell

Hell's last album Teufelswerk felt impenetrable purely due to its sheer length - it turns out that two discs of camp German techno is not necessarily always a good idea.

So the chance to focus on one track at a time is welcome, particularly when it features guest vocals from Bryan Ferry and boasts remixes from Carl Craig, Tim Goldsworthy and Simian Mobile Disco.

If you know any Hell then the original track sounds exactly as you would expect it to. It is Bryan Ferry, crooning at you through the lowered partition screen whilst you bomb it along the Autobahn in a black Limosouine at 3:30 in the morning. Ultimately it's functional but not a patch on Hell's fantastic 'Tragic Picture Show' on NY Muscle.

The remixes have a lot to live up to - RadioSlave's thirty-minute mix of 'The DJ', on which Hell was joined by a(nother) angry rant courtesy P Diddy about the fact that real DJs play it looooong ("15 minute versions!"), was clever if a little obvious but more importantly it was well executed.

Inevitably nothing here lives up to that, probably due to the source material more than anything. Carl Craig turns in two mixes, imaginatively entitled Mix One and Mix Two. The first adds a bit of synth but is a fairly functional version of the original, just re-tooled for dancefloors. Mix Two is more ambitious and strips back much of the original's production, eventually adding in a fairly serious bit of acid. Sadly when the full vocal is introduced it can't help but feel forced, and the music and vocal melodies clash. It is a shame the vocal was not applied more sparingly.

Simian Mobile Disco's mix amps up the paranoia, dousing Ferry in petrol and threatening to spit cigar butts at his head. The resulting horror show (think Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet) is much more consistent, with the vocal doing far less to constrain the track than Craig's first mix and fighting with it far less than his second. It eventually dissolves into hiss but sadly lacks the conviction to leave it that way, coming back in for the inevitably dull DJ outro.

Of all the mixes you would perhaps expect Goldsworthy to be the best positioned to handle this track, Goldsworthy having worked with Andrew Butler as Hercules & Love Affair, whose vocals share a certain pomp with Ferry. And Goldsworthy's mix is easily best - the most effortless, going with the vocal rather than against it but at its best on the percussive outro once it is abandoned.

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Album Review: Don't Stop - Annie

Following up on yesterday's review of Dragonette's latest album BlackPlastic takes a look at Annie's long-awaited second album, Don't Stop.

In constrast to Dragonette's Fixin' To Thrill, Annie's looooong awaited second album takes a bit longer to love. Perhaps it's fitting, since it has taken years to get released, with false starts and internet leaks and at times it felt like it never would see the light of day.

With a tracklist that has seen more changes than the line-up for the Sugababes there are four producers (and that is on top of Annie herself) in Xenomania, Paul Epworth and previous collaborators Richard X and Timo Kaukolampi. With a few tracks (the Epworth efforts) being added at a later date and at least three producers well known for their distinctive styles it is unsurprising that Don't Stop feels a little like a taster menu.

Yet with a but of time invested it becomes clear that Annie still got it. Whist it isn't strong in the traditional sense Annie's voice remains distinctively irresistible - the auditory equivalent of some sort of candy floss / ice cream / chocolate combo that feels sweet, fun and sexy all at once.

Admittedly the album may not flow as well as it would under one (or indeed two, or even three) producers, the individual tunes themselves more than make up for it. 'Songs Remind Me Of You' still feels like perfect Richard X - a re-imagining of the Human League and synth pop for our times. Whilst at least some of the Xenomania tracks shine - 'My Love Is Better' for example - it is Epworth's work that defines the album. Opener 'Hey Annie' breezes with confidence and self-assurance and boasts a depth of sound and detail that sparkles whilst 'I Don't Like Your Band' is the most fantastic put-down record, delivered in a cool and condescending way that just makes Annie seem even cooler:

"Don't get me wrong, I like you - but I don't like your band, your style, your sound"

From Annie's lips it's a pretty cutting line. As we approach the tenth anniversary of Annie's breakthrough single 'Greatest Hit' it seems a shame that we have had to wait so long for new material. It also seems frankly ridiculous that earlier singles 'I Know Ur Girlfriend Hates Me' and 'Anthonio' got cut from this album in an effort to make things fresh since they would comfortably provide highlights here and are hardly over-exposed.

Ultimately though? Annie oozes so much class you can't help but simply revel in her return. BlackPlastic just hopes the next album comes quicker and has Epworth and Richard X at the helm.

Check out 'Songs Remind Me of You' below:

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Out now, available on CD, LP and MP3 from Amazon.co.uk [affiliate links].

Single Review: I Won't Kneel - Groove Armada

'I Won't Kneel' is Groove Armada's first proper single from a new album since the better-than-expected Soundboy Rock. And it would be easy to write it off and BlackPlastic is sure that many - except PopJustice possibly - will. Groove Armada just aren't cool.

But we tell you something - 'I Won't Kneel' is fab. It's a sparkling-modern-power-ballad-epic. It's a hands-in-the-air girl-power-boy-power-everyone-power liberation anthem. It's not cool, but it tears the fucking roof off and beside, this is what good pop music should be like. Gaga can goo goo all she wants, give us this any day.

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I Won't Kneel is out now, available on Amazon.co.uk on CD, 12" and for a limited time on MP3 for just £0.29 [affiliate links].

News: Free Charlotte Gainsborough MP3 from new album

Charlotte Gainsbourg's 5:55 was something of a masterpiece and if 'IRM' is anything to go by the follow-up album, from which it is taken, could be even better.

Check the video for a teaser and a quick interview with Charlotte but if you head over to Charlotte's site you can download an MP3 of the song for free. Inspired by the rhythmic sensation of undergoing an MRI scan it's a trippy, spooky number that feels a long way from the melodic autumnal walks of 5:55 but still captivates.

BlackPlastic is excited to hear what impact this new found eclecticism will have on the forthcoming album.

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Retro: The Nervous Track - Nuyorican Soul / You Can Do It Baby - Nuyorican Soul feat. George Benson

By accident this week BlackPlastic suddenly thought about all the old Masters At Work material we used to love so much. Luther Vandross came up in conversation - something that is always 100% guaranteed to get BlackPlastic thinking about his utterly sublime eight-minute epic 'Are you Using Me?', produced by Masters At Work.

Having routed around the old collection we came across some old CDs that had never even found their way onto the computer hard-drive, let alone the iPod: Masters At Work's ten year anniversary compilations. The problem with Masters At Work is they are another one of those acts that never understood what made them great... As the production values ramped up over the years all the charm vanished - the roughness that made their music feel real. By the time Our Time Is Coming [affiliate link] came out much of the magic had disappeared.

So here are a couple of cuts to show off just how good Kenny Dope & Louise Vega could be.  First up, the first ever release under their highly celebrated Nuyorican Soul guise - 'The Nervous Track'. It's a thrilling track, with its warm synths in the background, catchy bassline and rolling drums. It really captures the excitement of early electronic dance music despite the fact it only dates back to 1993... And those stabs of brass are pure class.

Another Nuyorican Soul jam to demonstrate how different Masters At Work's material could be. This time their collaboration with George Benson. You need to give this a good few minutes before it even gets going, but trust if you've never heard this track, trust us when we say that you need to - it's without doubt one of the best pieces of house music ever made. Ever.

The Masters At Work Tenth Anniversary compilations are out of print now but fairly easily sought out - something it is well worth doing due to the size of them (four discs each, and there are two) and the fact that they have a lot of the full length mixes that are hard to find elsewhere, they are also pretty cheap. Sellers have both Part One and Part Two on Amazon and the Nuyorican Soul album is a must have too [affiliate links].

They may have gone of the boil since the turn of the century but if you like music, you need to hear this stuff.

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