Single Review: Rave On Kids - Acid Invaders

Acid Invaders' 'Rave On Kids' doesn't really require a review, because quite simply it does what it says. This is an acid assault on the senses - it's not clever but it's pretty fucking big.

So 'Rave On Kids' is the right mix of old fashioned acid application fused with wonky bass. Campy robot vocals encourage us to take a trip to New York city (is it just BlackPlastic's imagination or are stupid vocals about New York back in?) and basically this is a track to lose memories to. And quite frankly, we like that.

'You Should Have Known Better' on the flip side feels a little like revenge. If 'Rave On Kids' is simplistic good fun then 'You Should Have Known Better' is what happens when you wake up in the corner of the nightclub without your phone, wallet or keys and the sense that you missed out on something important. The title is deeply relevant - the much darker chugging acid this time dosed in guilt and uneasiness.

BlackPlastic has no idea where Acid Invaders can go from here - it pretty much feels like they just nailed the genre of their namesake - but for the moment, stick in on and forget how you got here.

BP x

Rave On Kids is out today on Introduce Records.

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.

BP x

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

Single Review: Foca Master Sarajevo - Soul Mekanik

This is the kind of big room bothering Balearic nonsense that BlackPlastic should probably frown upon but frankly it just pushes our buttons too right and too hard for us to resist.

'Foca Master Sarajevo', out on Wonk, is long and strong. Starting as a warm, percussive number it initially feels underwhelming if pleasant enough. The world probably doesn't need more deep and tribal house but if it did, this is serviceable. What makes 'Foca Master Sarajevo' work then is where it goes: the break that emerges three-minutes in. It transforms the track from formulaic to genuinely loveable house that feels like it truly deserves a spot on the White Isle of old, rather than the jaded joke the island's clubbing scene has become. If anything there are elements of Tears For Fears in the piano refrains and muted guitar that rear their heads throughout the track's length. And that has got to be a good thing when it comes to being Balearic

BP x