Plastic Crimewave Sound - Flashing Open
(Eclipse)
Plastic Crimewave is the name by which the singer and guitarist of this band goes by. He is well known for his truly awesome zine, Galactic Zoo Dossier, which besides having great content, is decorated with the best and most easily recognizable psychedelic artwork around (sorry Terrascope and Broken Face, who both also have great artwork). So what kind of music does a man make who drew trading cards of the top "Damaged Guitar Gods?" After seeing them live recently and being far from impressed, I approached his recordings with more than a little hesitation, thinking that in his case the old adage is true that writers don't make good musicians. Much to my surprise, the recordings show seemingly completely different forces at work than I witnessed live.
Opening with the trance-like "No Vision," the song slowly unfolds around ringing pulses (courtesy of bassist Mark Lux), slowly chanted vocals, and the opening strains of a backwards guitar (which achieves a droning, sitar-like effect). "Caged Fire Theme" explodes into an amped up psyche-punk song with quietly mixed, but loudly howled vocals. The fuzz is on 11 for the next couple tracks, though the burst of energy abates for "Go Away." The music discordantly echoes the sentiment of the track's title by slowly building a steady roar, which engulfs the song completely. "Husk" is a freaked out rush of adrenaline, with spastic guitar noise, frantic vocals screeches, sloppy bass and a simple but manic drum beat. The Acid Mothers Temple influence becomes apparent when a synthesizer soars above the mix, giving the impression that Cotton Casino may have set up in the studio with no one realizing. Luckily, Plastic Crimewave knows when an idea has reached its end, and lets the song die out naturally rather than extending it another 20 minutes (like Acid Mothers Temple would have likely done). The album's second to last track, "Down and Out (Junky Lament)," is its most confident. Distorted bass and a wonderfully basic drum part hold down the low-end riff while the guitar soars through walls of noise and wah. The vocals drone away, repeating the same melody through various images of death, pain and confusion. Leaving the album to end peacefully with the acoustic based "Roar Back and the Waves."
Much like Splendor Mystic Solis (another Eclipse release featuring Plastic Crimewave), the artwork for this is drawn by Plastic Crimewave, and is absolutely beautiful. Drawing on a wealth of inspiration, Plastic Crimewave Sound's sound falls somewhere in the exciting area between the MC5's energy and the Japanese psychedelic scene's textures.
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