Plastic Operator/ Me & You & Everyone We Know/ Renu Reviewed
Plastic Operator - Different Places (Fine Day)
I remember some time back on a compilation a good friend did for me a track that stood out amongst the others, a song that showed a move with the times and mankind’s infinite ability to transform even the most mundane happenings and objects into a metaphor for feelings of the romantic kind, the endless obsession of falling in love, of being loved and of telling the one you love just how much you love them but also mankind’s hopelessness in being able to communicate those feelings without disguising in such guises as previously mentioned. Fifty years ago this would not be possible, it would be laughable but now in all its glory Plastic Operators Folder is a touching upbeat love song to make your heart glow, “that’s why I copy and paste into your folder with your name/ it would be more than I can take/ if I just told you what I feel/ that’s why I just copy and paste into your folder, with your name.” Who can deny being part of this, hiding behind technology, treading water in text messages and emails, slowly dropping hints before finally plucking up the courage to bear all, only to hold back, scared of handing over those feelings, scared of being hurt…again?
And so here Plastic Operator delivers a full length album of electronic genius replete with gems (Parasols, Special Case, Peppermint & Couch especially) similar to the aforementioned folder, each one a shimmering synth pop treat, like Figurine if only they were more consistent, like Freezepop if they weren’t so cartoonish and Fog & Ocean had they been more focused & a more grown up Lo Fi Fnk.
Good things come to those who wait, and so if you’re after a summer of synth pop perfection then look no further than Plastic Operator, songs that you’ll sing along to, dance to and no doubt relate to.
www.myspace.com/plasticoperator
www.myspace.com/finedayrecords
www.last.fm/music/Plastic+Operator
Me & You & Everyone We Know - Michael Andrews / Various Original Soundtrack (V2)
Its been some time since I watched a film, maybe a bit of Jurassic Park over the bank holiday but a whole film, I’m not sure perhaps Vodka Lemon several months ago, a film that didn’t impress me and left me wanting so much more, my attention span seemingly can’t cope with two hours of intake, I imagine if I were to think hard enough the only other films I’ve watched with the exception of Pirates of the Caribbean 3 (which I fell asleep to at the cinema) are Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind and Donnie Darko, two films that I adore and could watch over and over again. Tonight is Monday and I’m bored stupid, well I’m ill in fact and can’t bring myself to read, study or even listen to music and then arrives the idea of watching a film. I bought Me & You & Everyone We Know some time back, you no doubt understand the power of Fopp, the impossibility of entering but not purchasing, its one reason to be grateful for its demise.
It’s a strange film that covers some fairly risqué subjects but on the whole is the most inspiring thing I’ve seen in some time, the camera angles, the character studies, the fragile story line that is less important than the dreamy music that serenades each scene, all fuzzy and cotton soft, moulding itself to the shape of your ears, politely imposing itself in your sub consciousness, instantly throwing you into a dream like moment, the ability to make you feel like you relate to the everyday characters held within the stories and yet they are not everyday characters, these are the dreamers, these are hippy death cult members, these are the people that fascinate me, the little girl who collects consumer goods and hides them in a hope chest, the obsessive lady who misreads scenarios and lets herself get hurt without reason, the one who sees the beauty and the mystery in other peoples photographs, who makes stories to go with the film stills. This is the most beautiful soundtrack I’ve heard in a long while, perhaps even better that Jon Brion’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and his superior again Punch Drunk Love. An album to dream away sunny days to.
www.myspace.com/elginpark
www.myspace.com/meandyouandeveryoneweknow
www.myspace.com/mirandajuly
Renu - Into the Skyland
The critical reviewer will immediately point out to you that Into the Skyland is in all but name a Boards of Canada album and they wouldn’t be wrong. Renu creates a sound that is so close to that of the aforementioned Boards that you wonder if perhaps he himself knows just how similar it is, I say this only because I discovered a lot of my musical heroes after I’d made music similar to theirs but I guess Boards of Canada are slightly more well know than Henrys Dress and a song called 1985 that sounds uncannily like Boards of Canada’s trademark woozy, kaleidoscopic electronica who’s Geogaddi featured a song entitled 1969.
But after all this I cannot help but love Into The Skyland, I never really got into The Campfire Headphase and Geogaddi was one of the best discoveries my record collection ever stumbled across hence if you loved that then you will no doubt love Renu.
www.myspace.com/renumusic