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Tracy + The PlasticsCulture For Pigeon Too Pure/Remote Control/Inertia It's the logical next step for electro femos everywhere and the only way forward for art punks: to use the excesses of the techno gadget era to create a virtual band, as video artist Wynne Greenwood has done here. Tracey + The Plastics is the group of (alter) egos of the performance artist, Greenwood being the one physical member, the others projected characters she plays when she performs. Two video pieces accompany the music disc on DVD in the combined CD/DVD format where we are introduced to "Cola", "Nikki" (the Plastics) and "Tracy" in the band "performances": band room "dialogues" giving insight into the band's personalities and sensibilities. Tracy + The Plastics is a punk name and it is punk in it's ethos of using the accessible technology to disrupt what it means to be a "band", and also by making music that is softer than what one would expect from the label "lesbian feminist video artist": lo-end, mid-fi warm electronic sounds which bubble underneath an accomplished vocals and cool emotion. There is a mix of beatsy, harder, tracks such as Knit A Claw (which wouldn't sound out of place on 'Fatherfucker', reminiscent as it is of Peaches darker side) and Quaasars, a track which more obviously approaches party pop. The simple, sliding bass tune Cut Glass See Thru is more ponderous and the opening Big Stereo beats a billowing path inspired by Boards of Canada, but with a deliberate and delicate vocal. The music is intimate, it lingers a little too long on some slow parts, but operates with abandon at the dancier points, just as it should. Underproduced but overflowing with ideas, 'Culture For Pigeon' is a much better listen than one might expect from a video performance artist, and a damn good addition to the growing genre of women-driven DIY electronica.  |
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