The Plastic Constellations
http://www.plasticconstellations.com
styles:
pop punk, sing-song, stadium rock, emocore
others: Les Savy Fav, Fugazi, Single Frame, The Dismemberment Plan
 Crusades
Frenchkiss, 2006
rating: 2.5/5
reviewer: willcoma
Hooray for power chords and restless youth! I'd call the Plastic Constellations
generic, but it seems that's what they want. And whatever criticisms I could
make would only come across like killjoy music nerd claptrap. What we've got
here is a go-to-their-website, download-an-mp3-and-see kind of scenario. The
band's a solid, kinetic power-pop quartet, and they likely do a fine job of
pumping up crowds and making kids happy. Their songs are concise, their vocals
are authoritative (with exclamatory, affirmative lyrics), and their tuff
progressions are bouncy and twist-filled in the Les Savy Fav tradition. Only,
unlike that band, these guys are sounding truly primed for MTV stardom.
They're better than all those countless sound-alike pop-punk bands the network
pimps. But this is only due to a particularly discernable earnestness apparent
in their use of that overflowing-prose singing style.
So, this is vitally unpretentious music, but it's also niche music. It takes me
back to the days when I listened to Mineral and NOFX really loud, locked into
the reliable swelling and erupting of every track. I imagine a lot of us music
lovers older than the guys in the Plastic Constellations (who started playing
when they were fifteen or so) like them due to a fear of seeming too mature to
have some good clean fun. Speaking for myself, I still like that ol' unvarnished
fun, anthemic music, but what passes has just become more refined. Time Out
New York said these guys had "Modest Mouse-esque songwriting skills," and I
think that's where the fine line here becomes abused. Modest Mouse has dramatic
builds, rests, and swells -- but do their songs sound like anybody else? Well,
maybe, but they amalgamated those apparent influences in a refined and
undeniably individualistic fashion.
After a while, the Plastic Constellations' constant grandiose self-affirmation
just begins to feel like hard-headed, hard-working hardcore band clichés. Of
course that's fine. Critics will never make this band as much as the sweating
kids who love them. They're tough, infectious and -- once again -- VERY
POSITIVE. While I can't argue against this attribute, I think I'd rather have a
marathon session with Stewart Smalley (remember? Al Franken used to be funny!).
This is proud, steely, cobweb-busting rock, but I'm afraid it can't touch the
vitality and potential shelf-life of something like Weezer's debut. Hell, it's
not even Rubberneck in terms of stand-out pop-rock LPs. The most
indelible moment on here would have to be the chorus in "Iron City Jungles,"
whose winning surge makes me want to fist-pump the negative aspects of this
review into clouds of record-release party confetti.
Many will love this band, but I mostly love them for reminding me of why I've
gravitated toward the "indie" realm that labels like French Kiss circulate in.
For me, it has so little to do with general DIY ethos and David vs. Goliath
spirit when stacked up next to being surprised by arrestingly alien sounds. All
trends should be disregarded, whether they "get the crowd moving" or not. A
dressed-down, back-to-basics approach to energizing jock rock may be timely, but
timeliness has nothing to do with what's been great about "underground,"
"indie," "alternative" -- whatever you want to call it. This side of the music
world, as intertwined with commerce as it has inevitably become, shouldn't have
to be so caught up with popularity, with being relevant. It's everything to do
with exciting, eye-opening (and yes, frustrating! why the hell not?) art. If you
don't like the "a" word when it comes to music, then go ahead and call it
novelty. I guess The Plastic Constellations are somewhat novel, but in a very
utilitarian fashion. The band's music is disarmingly guileless, sure -- but
they're punk-pop pros. And while there's nothing wrong with that, there's
nothing truly notable about it either.
1. Phoenix and the Faultline
2. Iron City Jungles
3. Best Things
4. Quixote
5. Sancho Panza
6. Belly of the Beast
7. Men in Dark Times
8. Reunitiation
9. Ghost in the House
10. Bring What You Bring
 Mazatlan
2024, 2004
rating: 4/5
reviewer: nicolemc99
I was introduced to the Plastic Constellations a few years ago when a
friend passed me a copy of their debut album, Let's War. The album
was youthful and exciting, and I was incredibly impressed with the group's
sophisticated use of vocals; all four members sing, and their vocal
interplay is unique and fascinating. You can imagine my surprise when I
did some research on the band and learned that Let's War was
recorded when the members were just seniors in high school -- I could tell
the band was young, but not that young. How could a few high
schoolers be writing such interesting songs? All the bands in my high
school were crappy three-chord punk bands or did Dave Matthews covers at
house parties, and they definitely weren't recording anything of value.
Meanwhile, these four Minneapolis suburban high schoolers were forming a
band at age 14 and self-releasing an EP and a full-length album before
making it to graduation. Did the students of Hopkins High know how lucky
they were?
Five years later, the band has gone to college, gotten degrees, and
returned to the studio to create the follow-up that was going to get them
noticed. With four years to grow as musicians and as people, the Plastic
Constellations have succeeded in maintaining their youthful exuberance
while still maturing their sound and maintaining the signature vocals that
had me so captivated with the band in the first place. This time around
the songs are much fuller and more developed than those of Let's War,
making for a more cohesive album filled with sonic anthems for the Gen-Y
set. The Plastic Consty's (as they're affectionately called by their fans)
set the stage for the album with opener "We Came to Play" and it's
commanding chorus: "We wrote this and laced up our shoes/ we came to
play, it's what we do." From here on out, the songs seem to come at us
at breakneck speed, with the various singers impressively spitting out
more lyrics than you thought could fit in only one verse. It's
pump-your-fist-in-the-air kind of music, and it's completely energizing. A
little over halfway through, the band finally takes a breather with title
track "Mazatlan," the closest the Plastic Constellations comes to a
ballad. It's also the biggest reminder of what stage the band is in life-
recent college grads wistfully singing about the big spring break trip
they couldn't afford to take. Ah, those were the days.
The album isn't perfect; sometimes the band turns to pseudo-rapping that
doesn't always work, and the second half of the album can't quite hold up
under the strength of the first. But it's a breath of fresh air in an
increasingly pretentious and affected music scene. Hey, remember when
music was just fun? The Plastic Constellations seem to. Yes, there's still
room to grow for the young Consty's, but if this is the kind of quality we
can see from a band so early in its career (if careers can really start at
age 14), then their future is long and bright.
1. We Came to Play
2. Evil Groove
3. Beats Like You Stole Something
4. Davico
5. East Cleveland
6. Movement Momentum
7. Mazatlan
8. Oh No, Iowa
9. Vicious Devotion
10. No Complaints
11. Keep It Live
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