Album Review

Plastic Little – La La Land

• 29th May 2009

Whether it’s garage revivalism, or the near-cult around blues standards, there’s something seductive about returning to the familiar turf, whether rock city or a dazed la-la land. With new single ‘La La Land’ Plastic Little revisit those age-worn joys of rap’s favourite subject-its own battles, with this playful and (obviously) self-obsessed account of an mc face off between the crew. Beats and trade-offs aren’t particularly distinctive but showcase an easy chemistry which clearly begs to be framed within the right sound alchemy to gain lift-off.

The original comes overlaid with broken-up beats and honking noises like an aural menagerie or jam session, and works efficiently enough as a compilation piece. However, the more intriguing aspects of Lala Land’s release happen between tracks 2-6 . This dubstep/grimy piece benefits from having — as is the tendency—a plethora of remixes, from the pared-down skit-like argument of Dirty’s basement restaging to the Picasso-like re-cubing of the entire tracks structure ; the most successful though has the sound mechanics from Plastic themselves discovering its true destiny as a skeletal-dubbed metronomic potential club-thumper. It’s hardly an insistent classic but it’ll suit the sceneheads well enough and has enough to suggest cross-over potential soon enough.