News: More Sounds of Silver 'out there'

If you've not heard any you're probably sick of hearing about it, but BlackPlastic has managed to hear another three tracks from LCD Soundsystem's forthcoming album, Sound of Silver, and as with 'All My Friends' it is all fantastic. In fact, fantastic doesn't do it justice. BlackPlastic would rather have just the four songs that it's heard from Sound of Silver than the whole of the first disk of LCD's debut album.

'North American Scum' is a hard-edged rocking number, a rant against perceptions of America and, quite possibly, a rant against America at the same time.

'Someone Great' features a portion of LCD Soundsystem's '45:33', but this time with vocals it is an ode to an unknown musician by the sound of things. Perhaps the least instantly accessible of the tracks BlackPlastic has heard, by the time you have heard James Murphy's climatic vocal, "When someone great is gone...", for the third or fourth time it is impossible not to love it.

The final track, which also happens to be the album closer for real is 'New York I Love You', a Bowie-esque paranoid rant at the state of New York post-9/11. The sound is elegantly wasted, the lyrics poignant and considered and the end result is probably the best example of song writing to come out of James Murphy. Truly, this track will give you goose bumps.

New York I love you, but you're freaking me out.

Song Revier: Wolfmother - Woman (MSTRKRFT Remix)

Despite a healthy love of stupid 70s & 80s rock music Wolfmother, as with The Darkness, have never truly appealed to BlackPlastic for one reason - they are just too self-aware and deliberately ironic. Both bands would be considerably more enjoyable if they were 'for real'.

However, a re-rub by MSTRKRFT (formally of the metal band it's okay to like, Death From Above 1979) has turned this in to something rather enjoyable. The singer's voice remains intact with all of its Lep Zep trademarks, let almost everything else has been thrown out. A heavy bassline, reminiscent of Death From Above 1979's work, lend things a harder edge whilst a synth line twirls breaks through, lending further prog-rock credibility and further enhancing BlackPlastic's suspicions that MSTRKRFT are the new Daft Punk - check out their remix of Metric's 'Monster Hospital' for further evidence.

It won't change your life, but it might change your weekend.

News: New LCD Soundsystem material 'out there'

On a related note to last month's 45:33 review BlackPlastic has now heard a track from the next LCD Soundsystem album, Sound of Silver.

If 'All My Friends' is anything to go off the next album is likely to be a little rougher in its production with a very audible kraut rock edge. 'All My Friends' is well over 7-minutes long and is absolutely fantastic despite the fact that it doesn't really go anywhere, instead featuring James Murphy's vocals struggling to be heard over a steady piano plod and waves of guitar feedback.

A whole load of tracks have been leaked but obviously BlackPlastic will be waiting for a legitimate copy and would advise you do the same, judging from 'All My Friends' the wait will be worth it. Here's hoping Sounds of Silver, due in the first quarter of 2007, is the first great album of next year.

Album Review - Radio Slave presents Creature of the Night

Eskimo have long been pretty much the finest providers of electronic mix albums since Eskimo Volume One came out back in 2002, but things have been a little quite of late. Here to shatter that silence like two fanatical Nintendo characters smashing a Wii are Radio Slave.

Opening with P Diddy's acapella from DJ Hell's 'Let No Man Jack' Creature of the Night demonstrates an interesting combination of darkness and funk from the beginning, with Diddy's screams echoing over Sly Mongoose's boogielicious 'Snakes and Ladder'. What's more, in the form of 'Wrong Galaxy' Shit Robot deliver one of the most exciting tracks BlackPlastic have heard all year. Acid crescendos give way to stabbing synths, reminiscent of T.H.D.'s excellent 'Hippies In Da Houze' (as heard on Miss Kittin's Radio Caroline Volume One).

The Kills turn up with the getting ubiquitous 'No Wow', this time mildly tweaked by Radio Slave, a track that even when played in its original form somehow manages to sound neither as though it is played through real instruments or electronic equipment, conjuring a mixture of glitch house and rock music. X-Press 2's 'Kill 100' (again, messed with by Radio Slave) takes things somewhere even moodier and Green Velvet's 'Shake and Pop' is typical Green Velvet, somewhere between House and Techno and very likable.

Ricardo Villalobos' mix of 'Behind the Mask' by Señor Coconut is as bizarre as it sounds - a kitsch, techno-latin romp that gives way to Corey Hart's eighties classic 'Sunglasses At Night' (more recently covered by Tiga). Stopping off for some more kitsch with The Osmonds, Creature of the Night ends with Dennis Parker's almost Bond-like 'Like An Eagle' (you'll recognise the sample as the hook from Par-T-One's 'I'm So Crazy'.

Creature of the Night is as you would expect, dark, funky and, since it's Eskimo, a damn fine mix album.

Piece of music deisgn for running to review: LCD Soundsystem - 45:33 Nike+ Original Run

Despite the fact that BlackPlastic is a little unsure how it feels about Nike, and even less sure how it feels about LCD Soundsystem teaming up with them we have to admit this is a good idea.

LCD Soundsystem have returned to the fray with not an album, or a single, but a piece of music 45 minutes long written specifically for running to. As you would expect from the DFA stable this is not what you would expect - less four to the floor to set your pace by, more spacey, melodic funk.

Consisting of what could only really be termed 'movements' 45:33 zips through a lovely bit of piano based funk to electronic dub, to electronic punk-funk and beyond. The concept is, of course, that this all fits in with the changes your body goes through as you push it through the experience of running. Following the movements already described, about 28 minutes into 45:33 there's some weird, Mexican sounding freak-out that gradually descends into chaos prior to a 7-8 minute ambient work-down climaxing with the sound of your heart stopping.

45:33 is a good piece of music just for listening to at home, and following BlackPlastic's workout down the gym we can confirm it's pretty good to run to as well.

Currently 45:33 Nike+ Original Run is only available via iTunes.