Single Review: Tomorrow - Ladytron

Next month sees Ladytron release their new single from their last album Velocifero.  Entitled Tomorrow it has been freshly remixed for some radio airplay - the re-work is actually quite subtle but definitely to BlackPlastic's preference - the vocals sit slightly higher in the mix and the drums pack just little bit more punch.

Potentially more interesting are the remixes and the gorgeous video, shot in Kansas and Barcelona by Neil Krug:

As a sample of the remixes, check out the Vector Lovers remix we have to share. It takes things in a much more dancefloor orientated, minimal direction but the whispered vocals are gorgeous and with a lush little bouncing melodic bassline at the end it is well worth a listen.  Download here (right click & save as).

Tomorrow is available as a digital download on 3 March.  Ladytron - website & MySpace

Single Review: Coming Clean - The 39Steps

Busy preparing their debut album for its April release on Bad Sneakers, the 39Steps represent a jazzy blend of soul and hip-hop.

With the album produced by Kato, if this is anything to go by BlackPlastic is rather excited - title track (and single) Coming Clean sounds like Portishead if they spent less time strung out in suburban Bristol and more time performing caberet in smoke filled jazz clubs and with something to feel genuinely guilty about.  The quality of the production oozes sophistication and Laura Fowle's vocals out-class all those artsy female singer-songwriters currently propping-up the charts.

The single is available now on eMusic, 7digital and iTunes.

Watch this space for news on the album...

The 39Steps - website & MySpace.

BP x

Album Review: Choral - Mountains

Mountains is Brendon Anderegg and Koen Holtkamp and Choral is their third album and marks a watershed as it is the first not to be released on their own Apestaartje label, but on Thrill Jockey. Ambient in nature, Choral takes it's cues from Eno and post-rock in an effort to create a serene, emotive sounscape that could be the soundtrack to a Alejandro González Iñárritu movie - it has that same feeling of chaos in slow motion.

And the understated, slow-moving sounds are beautiful.  What is perhaps more surprising however is that they pack an emotional punch and a degree of technical brilliance too.  It might be easy to make music to visit the spa to - all new age imagery incorporating the sounds of nature - but to aliken Choral to that would be to cheapen it.  The sparse us of guitar and the melodic patterns give the album a level of emotional gravitas that can be all to easy to lose in ambient music and the technical brilliance is obvious - much of Chorals was done using no overdubs and when they were used it was to add a larger, choral sound.  Sounds of nature have been incorporated - Telescope for example features the sounds of a thunder storm - but these have been utilised in a way that makes them simply another musical instrument that Mountains have at their disposal, the origin of the sound disguised behind layers of sound.

Relaxing, considered and defined by space, yes but boring never - Choral is a beautiful piece of work.  You can download an MP3 of the opening (title) track here (right click - save as).

BP x

Single Review: Method of Modern Love - Saint Etienne

In which Saint Etienne prove they can out-do Girls Aloud at sounding like Saint Etienne. If Girls Aloud 's The Loving Kind sounded like a relatively enjoyable Saint Etienne rip-off (it did) then this is the real thing.

Back in our hearts again this track deserves to be huge - it has the accessibility of the best pop singles yet doesn't struggle to squeeze in words like disinclined in the way that The Loving Kind does. What's more the production starts with the gorgeous washes that made the afformebtioned track feel fresh and builds on them... This feels like a hot coffee and a winter coat on a cold day like today.

Also back from the brink is Richard X, who provides his first remix in ages (as far as BlackPlastc can recall). Unsurprisingly it's good - he always was great at getting the most out of this kind of cotton-candy-with-female-vocals sound - if slightly more conservative than expected.

Available on iTunes or on 7" now.

BP x

Comment: Midnight Beach Mix - Various mixed by Youth

Just a quick tip o' the hat to bloggers favourite Youth who has posted a loverly mix on his MySpace page, entitled Midnight Beach.  The mixing is occasionally a little choppy but on the whole this is great - particularly the use of Ashley Beedle's remix of Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill.  The track listing speaks for itself:

Clashing Egos - Aminjig nebere (Joakim's Afrobot Mix) - 2005
Dolle Jolle - Balearic Incarnation (Todd Terje Remix) - 2008
Youth - Dark Moons (Exxxxclusive mix) - 2008
Maroon 5 - This Love (Cut Copy Galactic Beach House Mix) - 2008
Lexx - Axis Shift (Original Mix) - 2007
Aeroplane feat.Kathy Diamond - Whispers (Original Mix) - 2008
Human League - Don't You Want Me (Extended Mix) - 1981
Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill (Ashley Beedle Edit) - 2007
Stevie Nicks - Smile At You (Youth's Going Home Dub) - 2008
Brando - Rainy Days (Extended Mix) - 1983
Neon - Skydiver (Extended Mix) - 1981
International Music System - Dancing Therapy (12" Mix) - 1984
Neon Neon - I Lust U (Original Mix) - 2007
ABC - The Look of Love(Radio Edit) - 1982
Wide Boy Awake - Slang Teacher (12" Mix) - 1982
The Breakfast Club - Never Be The Same (Shep Pettibone Mix) - 1987
Fleetwood Mac - Big Love (Arthur Baker Piano Dub) - 1987
Mike Mareen - Dancin in the Dark (Galactica Remix) - 1985
Elke - Blue Dream Lover (Youth Midnight Surf Mix) - 2009
Bag Raiders - Shooting Stars (Instrumental) - 2008
Midnight Star - Midas Touch (Acapella) – 1986
America – Horse With No Name (Original Mix) - 1971

BlackPlastic is currently spending wasting lots of time cruising around Paradise City in Criterion's Burnout Paradise and trust us - this is the perfect soundtrack.

Get it on Youth's MySpace.

BP x

P.S. Props to the always fresh Hyperbole for the find.