I have seen the future and it is fantastically alluring! Well, to be honest, I was able to chat with two individuals who have an in-depth view of the future tied into their original music. However, my moment into their time traveling realm was one of a kind. I was introduced to this musical crew called, The Fantastic Plastics, and was surprisingly blown away by their unique sound. With their brash and electric powered rock, they had me interested immediately. Curious to learn more about their world, we met via Skype and had a simple and lovely chat.
Future Wave, New Wave and Synth Punk are the style of music they honor or have been declared saviors of. They are also simply described as, “Candy Coated Cyanide.” That part of it all stood out for me. For some reason, that was an apt description after meeting them, as you shall soon hear! When I turned on Skype I was met with Miranda and Tyson Plastic, who made me smile instantly with their attire. Miranda was aglow in a lovely Fantastic Plastic outfit that proudly displayed their band’s badge and had a huge grin on her face while Tyson with hair exploding off his head sporting some 3D glasses greeted me with a confident, “welcome to the future.” I laughed and replied that it was great to be there. I kid you not; the image for this article is exactly how they looked.
To start I mentioned their sound description and asked how this whole endeavor began with their special and unusual place. “It was a combination of the stuff the three of us (Dylan Plastic is the third member) have worked on. Eventually our sound got more extreme into the most refined way that turned into future wave.” In the culmination of their similar interests and natural curiosity with all things science fiction, listeners can really grab hold of their sound that is hard to place but at the same time extremely satisfying. Their music is only a slight reflection on their character and imagination that shines through well.
One example of this is their stage presence during their shows. “We try to make the most impact with our uniforms. We are attempting to represent the space race for the year 2000 with fashion and technology in what, we feel, should have happened then.” To make that clear, Fantastic Plastics are trying to express the future in their own eyes for us all despite the current world of Apple, blogging and amplified social media. They are reinventing the past to make it more ideal in their mindset with the medium of music. We then started talking about my hearing aids and how I am anxiously awaiting the iHearing Aid! They were impressed with the fact that my current hearing aids are Bluetooth compatible. We laughed at the topic and slowly moved on to lip reading skills. Naturally, I tend to digress, my apologies.
Last weekend the band performed an album release show for their new full-length record, ‘Devolver’ at Pianos downtown. “Pianos has a great projection wall of which we do a lot of video installations.” Their live shows are enhanced with vintage TVs, Atari video game graphics and film apparatuses, along with costumes and outstanding dance moves. “We are writing new songs and hoping to do a tour for the pockets of our fans. Right now we are trying to get though filming six videos in six months. We make all of our videos with the use of green screen walls.” They use a lot with found footage for their clips. Not only focused just on music, they are also creating a graphic novel with lyrics from their songs. “Being creative is something we have to work with and enhance. We think about things like how make it look and sound better.” Believe me, they are definitely creating different boundaries that any other musicians out there today are doing.
Their work is pure entertaining performance art fueled by music. Similar artists like Empire of The Sun and Of Montreal create comparable musical experiences from their costumes, dances and wild antics that entertain fans everywhere. While they may perform well, the music always keeps the energy solid. “We love to use props and lights, but since we are in NYC, we are limited to clubs and what we can do or cannot do. Plus, we have to plan out how to take things to and fro with taxi cabs.” I think they may have to start doing the Uber SUVs…
To end, My favorite song of theirs off of their new album, ‘Devolver,’ is Overtime! (You can jam out to on their band page or purchase). It is an epic tune that provokes a serious jerking of the head. Overtime! is a musical sensation of pure thrill. The song makes me think of a flow of electric jive with the power of hard synths revolving around a mix of video game magic. Yes, I am aware that sounds like a gigantic drug trip, but bear with me here.
You really cannot get much better than that for a tune. In fact, the entire album is full of futuristic dance pop that you cannot help but groove to. While they may be riding the punk/new wave theme, I think they hold more power then they think. With their passionate side projects and intense focus on making the music their own, they have nowhere else to go but into the future of musical success. I highly recommend you get down to their stuff and join them as they time travel for humanity. They come in peace and want us to be a part of it all!
Jam On.
