Album Review - Lo Fi Fnk


Last year when BlackPlastic visited the glorious land of ice that is The Republic of Iceland (not the shop, obviously) it picked up a sampler CD for that year's Airwaves festival despite that fact that the festival had been and gone without BlackPlastic's attendance. And thank God for that CD, for if it wasn't for that the Lo Fi Fnk album might have completely bypassed this site.

The Airwaves CD featured the fantastic slab of stop / start electronics of 'Change Channels', listening to which felt somewhat like sinking into a sponge of the sweetest sounding electronic funk imaginable. A song that makes the listener think, "they can't keep this up, surely?"

Well guess what? They've only done a whole album... 'City' sounds like the most exciting drive home ever as breakbeats are married to the acid washes and indie vocals and 'Adore' is just as happy. 'System' is a lo-fi robot make-out, darker in tone but still a pure pop moment.

When 'What's On Your Mind?' taunts the listener... "Why don't tell what's on your mind? Nothing's going to change if you keep on whispering... Why don't tell what's on your mind? It's no reason to be all that boring!" it feels like this is an album by a bunch of permanently cheerful ADD sufferers, but it's sooo infectious that you can't help but love Lo Fi Fnk for it.

Lo Fi Fnk is shiney happy music. It is Prince vs Daft Punk. It is broken beat vs funky house. It is fntstc.

Augusto! Song of the montho!

In The Great War of 2009 , later dubbed "War of the Knives's", a ferocious battle with two sides raged between Union of Knives and The Knife. Initially BlackPlastic supported Union of Knives, seeing their anthemic, melancholic yet uplifting call to arms "Evil Has Never" as the sound of a power ballad as played by Radiohead. Brilliant.

Unfortunately, for the Union of Knives at least, BlackPlastic was eventually won over by The Knife and their vicious leader, El Knifo, who launched a fantastic propaganda assault on the senses under the innocent title "We Share Our Mother's Health". Awesome.

Too short by half, "We Share Our Mother's Health" sounds like a revolution in your head. Military forces storm gingerbread houses, tanks crush teddy bears beneath huge rolling caterpillar tracks, attack choppers are cast aside by a gust of wind from a huge oversized pin-wheel.

There's no denying it - this is how pop music should sound.

Comment: Thom Yorke - The Eraser

BlackPlastic has always been a fan of Radiohead but has tired a little over recent years of, if anything, the pretentiousness not of the band but the fans. Nevertheless, a character like Thom Yorke deserves the utmost of respect and here he is with his debut solo LP.

Unsure of what to expect BlackPlastic has just finished listening to opening and title track, 'The Eraser', and all that needs to be said is wow.

"Wow".

Coming on like a cross between Hot Chip's track 'The Warning' (see the BlackPlastic review here) and The Blue Nile, this is special. Radiohead could feasibly have been accused of lacking a little warmth, but there is no way the same criticisms could be levelled here whilst Yorke sings of the impossibility of erasing his subject. If this is anything to go by then The Eraser deserves to be one of this year's albums. More as and when BlackPlastic feels the urge.

Album Review: Hot Chip - The Warning

The Warning is undoubtedly one of the more awaited albums of this year and from the opening synths of 'Careful' it doesn't disappoint. This is the sound of a band that seem to have made a calculated decision to sound even more contemporary.

'Colours' is a gorgeous audible moebius strip, lyrics gradually twisting in on themselves. 'Over & Over' is so knowing it hurts, a song that it is surely impossible to dislike. As with their debut, The Warning seems unafraid of a bit of melancholy, with the wonderfully wistful 'Just Like We (Breakdown)' being a prime example. Elsewhere things are sweetly saccharine on 'Look After Me' and 'So Glad To See You'.

When the band gently insist that "Hot Chip will break your legs, snap off your head" on the album's title track upon a bed of melodic electronics and clicks and pops the effect is very endearing. The fact that one journalist (unsure of the citation - possibly The Observer Music Monthly) nearly wrote The Warning off because the band didn't sound threatening enough for this line illustrates a clear lake of understanding or musical appreciation.

The album highlight is the closing track proper, 'No Fit State', a New Order-esque to feeling decidedly off colour - probably inspired by an ill fitting sweater - that starts off on a downer but ends up soaring into the stratosphere. A beautiful piece of music that immediately makes you want to return to track one and start over, the only problem is the average hidden track that follows it up.

Essential.

P.S. Does anyone else find that 'Careful' reminds them of the title screen in videogame Rez?