Xploding Plastix
The Benevolent Volume Lurkings EP
Colombia/Sony Music

I have been looking forward to hear some new material from the Norwegian electronica duo Xploding Plastix, so I was a little disappointed finding them opening their new EP with "Shakedown shutoff", an old track taken from their two years old debut album Amateur Girlfriend Go Proskirt Agents. No doubt that this is an excellent tune, maybe one of their best so far. I just didn't expect them to start their new five tracks EP with an earlier released tune, and in any case not same one as on the album, and not in a remixed or new version.

In spite of this the rest of The Benevolent Volume Lurkings EP contains three new tracks, and "The famous biting guy" even comes in a clean version and in a Joseph Nothing remix. This is also the EPs funniest and most energetic track, with Xploding Plastixs distinctive bustling rhythms and heavy drumming, switching from hectic to calm sections, and using a characteristic sound of a synthesiser to play the easy recognisable melody. Together with the "Skinny love spasm", also a typically Xploding Plastix tune, this two tracks got a feeling of instrumentation from the eighties. Using a digital voice over something that sounds like a computer game sample (remember Pac-Man on a Commodore 64), it definitely gives associations to what was happening in every boy's room in eighties. Maybe an irritating tune in the long run, but still I find it quite amusing.

"Joy comes in the morning" is more a track in the tradition of style they represented on their debut album, with a very organic sound and a dirty cinematic film noir feeling. All in all Xploding Plastix manage to show that they can deal with and manoeuvre in different styles and genres on this EP. Xploding Plastix has been a little overshadowed by other Norwegian bands in the same genre (in example Jaga Jazzist, Røyksopp and Ralph Myerz and The Jack Herren Band). Since they now are out on a big international label for the fist time, let's hope these guys get the attention they deserve.

Copyright © 2003 Thomas H. Molden