Thursday, August 11, 2011

Album Review: The Plastic Boots/The Plastic Boots Psychedelically Fierce Blues-Rock Brings the Party

The Plastic Boots keep it down and dirty, fronting a universe recalling Buck Cherry, Black Crowes, Zappa and the Toadies. Rock grows thick and swampy with distorted guitars, B3 organ, electronic funk, bar-rock lyrics and a head-expanding psychadelic groove. It's hyper, bold music for when all you have is smokes, the taste for whiskey and a good night out.

The Chicago four-piece relishes in packing venom and raunch into a caucophony that squeezes parts like party-goers jamming into a small car. Crunchy guitars ooze like fire alarms next to head-banging toms that hit hard while cymbals are fat and brassy. Vocals boogie with Led Zepplin-era aplomb, paying homage to action. Psychadelia is held in check with tight, purposeful solos tucked into the dense sonic arrangements.

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There's some space to breathe in “This Ones for All the Bitches”, which showcases the players' chops. Greater than the sum of its parts is dance-infused “Stripper Soul”, held down by keys while guitars grind and twirl. Flexing straight-forward riffs, “Dig That Twang” wears classic blues-rock on its sleeve. The band takes a break from ripping your face off with “Abraham's Falafel,” which reads like an electronica song where the distorted vocal mic becomes one more element in a sound collage; an extended vamp that recalls Zappa's “Help I'm a Rock”.

On their debut LP, The Plastic Boots retain an edgy, tweaked sound that swirls in a trippy telescope and hits like a wrecking ball, handled from the ground up with well-mixed drums. With relentless fervor, songs pack as much punch as possible and lean on groove and excitement rather than verse-chorus formula. Hypnotizing like a burning building, with densely layered parts that push and pull, The Plastic Boots deliver the sonic equivalent of upbeat claustrophobia of a hot party. Disorienting and dynamic, it breaks new ground while staying tight with its roots.

Check out their upcoming show Saturday Sept. 17, 2011 at Elbo Room in Chicago.
www.reverbnation.com/theplasticboots

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