REVIEW: Plastico, Boomerang (Epic Import)
- Chris Candreva
I'm going to cut to the chase on this one: Buy this album.
Boomerang marks the second release from the Swedish group Plastico. While their self-titled debut album is available only as an import, Plastico's stateside appearance can't come soon enough; I'm tired of only playing old music at my parties.
Juding from the links on their web site (located at http://www.cabal.se/mnw/mnwlabel/plastico/index.html ), Plastico seems to call themselves a glam band, citing the 70s influences of Abba, Marc Bolan, David Bowie, Gary Glitter and Sweet. On this one album though I hear a multitude of styles; they owe as much to Blondie, Berlin, and Joan Jett as any glam rocker. A few tracks almost even have a Nine Inch Nails flavor. Rather than just another "Retro" band, what we end up with is a Glam / Pop / New Wave / Rock / Techno fusion that may be one of the only truly unique sounds to come out recently.
The driving force behind Plastico's sound is the duo of Peter Guzz on keyboards and guitar, and Penny on guitar, percussion, and CD-ROM design the lead vocals, both individual and as duets. Guzz is also the main composer and producer of their work. A host of other musicians provide other instruments and vocals, resulting in the full and varied sound we hear on the album.
Boomerang opens with "I Fade Away", a driving techno-rhythm with vaguely sexual lyrics that, though slightly unclear, make you want to pull the love of your life out on to the dance floor. "(I Wanna Get Into Your) Heart" is a moderate up-tempo rock number whose name should be self-explanatory. "Waste of Time" is the closest the album comes to a downer. Though it's a song about getting out of a relationship, it's a pretty acoustic ballad otherwise.
We pick right up with other musical references including "The Bump" (apparently a cover about doing - you guessed it - The Bump), "Going Down" (where Penny harkens to Joan Jett singing "Black Leather"), "Resist" (about how you can't), "How We Try" (with a drum-beat ala Gary Glitter), and "Voulez Vous" (which manages to mix Blondie with The Runaways while completely avoiding the Abba song of the same name).
If you like Pop, Glam, or music about going out and having fun instead of sitting around and complaining in flannel, then Plastico is exactly what you have been waiting for.
