PLASTIC HOUSE ON BASE OF SKY

My first listen to any Toby Driver music project is always so darn humbling. Every time. And Plastic House on Base of Sky is definitely no exception to this pattern. Surprise, shock and awe are invariables in my range of responses. Toby does things with sound, with music, that are beyond any conceptual imaginings that I could ever have for the scope and bounds of musical expression--and I think I have a pretty good imagination! I can honestly say that every single Kayo Dot album has caught me totally unprepared. I'm never sure whether or not I really like the music I'm hearing but I am ALWAYS floored and awed by it. Creative genius. Expanding the horizons of musical possibilities like nobody else in the 21st Century. Taking ten steps further into the realm of techno-electronic music than they did on 2014's Cofffins on Io, Toby Driver and company have once again put forth a challenge to all lovers of progressive rock and progressive music: Is this good? Is this progress? Is this prog? I can hear the arguments from both sides lasting for years to come. I, for one, like the constant unpredictability of Toby and the projects, themes, and musical directions he has chosen. To my mind, he is one of the very few truly "progressive" artists in the music industry today.

1. "Amalia's Theme" (7:33) is an amazing song of layers upon layers of--as if five different songs are all playing together as one--each "song" playing in their own channels (tracks), oblivious to one another, and yet the blend, the weave, works as a cohesive single song. This is so difficult to describe. This is techno pop taken to the next level, 70s BOWIE or 80s DEPECHE MODE elevated to meaningful sophistication. Awesome melodies, awesome effects, awesome instrumental weave, awesome synth solos, topped off by one of my favorite vocals from Toby. One of my favorite songs of the year! (10/10)

2. "All The Pain in All the Wide World" (10:09) Cool sounds can't save the discordant disconnect between music, melody and lyric on this one. Perhaps it is intentionally done, but it makes for a very difficult listening experience when one feels pulled apart in three and sometimes four or five directions all at the same time. Again, this may have been the desired effect KD had here, but I find it more than I choose to take. Perhaps it'll grow on me. (7/10)

3. "Magnetism" (7:29) DEPCHE MODE 30 years later! Even the vocal sound is stylized remarkably like that of DAVE GAHAN. No more need be said! (9/10)

4. "Rings of Earth" (8:40) opens with some synthesized drum sequence and multiple layers of synths before Toby's treated voice--mixed slightly back of front and center--enters. At 1:10 the music shifts a bit and Toby's voice comes slightly forward. This is so like early SIMPLE MINDS! Especially the rhythm programming. ("Promised You a Miracle" comes to mind.) The next shift in the third minute is pretty cool--multiple synths doing multiple things while a gradually increasing multiplicity of Tobys shout out, "Rings of Earth."* Then things return back to the second part before a ROBERT FRIPP-like heavily distorted guitar solo begins. The vocals become really cool with multiple voices layering and even harmonizing. Another outstanding song--perhaps more favored than "Amalia's Theme"! (10/10)

5. "Brittle Urchin" (4:32) opens with a heavily treated midi-bass skulking slowly over some distant background synth chords. A minute in, Toby's voice--in a fairly clear mix--leaps out at us with some more synths and slowly strummed guitar chords also present themselves very forward in the mix. At 2:30 drums and heavy bass chords join in. Toby continues singing in this pretty, mellifluous voice. It sounds like a PETER GABRIEL song! This is actually a very pretty, sedate song for TD! And a very pleasant end to an album. (10/10)

Another five star masterpiece of progressive rock music. This is rather premature, but I have a feeling that this is going to end up being my favorite TD album of all-time--even above my beloved three maudlin of The Well albums released since Y2K. Thank you, Toby, for never getting stuck in a rut, for being ever-lured to explore new pathways, for going beyond where anyone has ever gone before, for feeling that you always have to test yourself (against yourself)!

4.9 Stars. All the synths in all the wide world

Kayo Dot are one of those few bands that you can never tell what they are going to do next. The only true connection between PHOBOS and the rest of their discovery is the desire to combine genres and styles to create something very unique and Avant-garde. PHOBOS uses many of the same building blocks as their previous album Coffins did i.e strong 80s synths, a heavy focus on rhythm and enough repetition in their songs to be highly rememerable. However unlike its predecessor the musical density is not only high, but though the roof in terms of complex layers which are pretty overwhelming on the first listen.

The main focus on this album is ultra-complex rhythms and a huge depth of musical layers, most of them synth and drum based. 4 of the 5 songs follow a similar pattern, where you are swamped with bright and flashy synths that keep going at a medium-fast pace and refuse to let you rest. It's only the final track that takes a darker and somber turn where you get some reprieve and a change in direction. Despite the similarity of the first 4 songs each one has a very unique and distinctive personality, with some being energy pumping rock and others deep voltages into the avant-garde world. PHOBOS is also a concept album, telling the story of the oracle Amalia set in a futuristic world. The first 4 songs deal with drugs, murder, prostitution and satellite observation/spying respectively, with the final track having a bleak doomsday direction for the world the band created.

"Amalia's Theme" starts the album off with the main rhythm for this song and gradually adds layers which is followed by Toby's "Bowie" vocals. The track weaves between different themes here and there, creating a labyrinth of complex rhythms and sounds. When I listened to this song the first time it was so overwhelming and uncomfortable to my ears that it was almost nauseating. It took many repeated listens to slowly adapt to what was being presented. But the breaking point into getting me to enjoy this was the subtle but infectious hooks that are hidden in the song and leave you humming the main musical themes afterwards. This is the most technical of the 5 tracks and has the greatest amount of changes in direction.

"All The Pain in All the Wide World" ranks as one of the most challenging, adventurous and brilliant songs the band has ever composed. The first 4 minutes are actually very melodic and instantly beautiful, which is a rarity for this album. This part has a synth-pop feel to it that gradually increases in intensity up to the 4 min mark.

However after 4 min the track becomes increasingly chaotic and anxious, with Toby chanting "I'm only talking, talking, but you're not listening" over and over. This seems to be a political remark about big governments and companies not paying attention to the poor, and others in general which results in mass confusion and misunderstanding. The song then descends into what appears to be absolute chaos. Toby is ranting incoherent vocals everywhere and the music has also gone completely wild. However despite this the music and vocals balance themselves to create a uniform level of weirdness and chaos that can only occur through a high level of composition hidden within it. The sound created here is so unique and out there that only listening to it will do any explanations justice. They then drag the track gradually to some sort of order before things end abruptly.

"All the Pain" is mindblowing in every sense of the world. In all my years of listening to Prog I have never heard such a intense unison of order and chaos. I'm still coming to terms with the magnitude of this song and how it has opened the floodgates of a new way to compose music. It has to rank as one of the greatest songs I have ever heard in my life and makes the album an essential listen in its own right (although everything else on PHOBOS is also brilliant).

"Magnetism" is the most instantly gratifying track on the album. Very strong and memorable rhythms and a much greater focus on the electric guitar means that this track rocks really well. There is a masterful build up in intensity and drama which erupts into a flowing 2 min of pure power and euphoria right at the end of the song. The drumming on this track is particularly inspired here and what gives the track its strength. This is my second favourite song on PHOBOS and it was a excellent choice to release this track first in order to get buyers.

"Rings of Earth" is a song of two halfs. The first uses extra 80s "spacy" synths that are bright and almost cheerful. Toby has some incredibly catchy vocals which combined with the synths gives a strong pop feel, if it were not for the subtle layers of texture in the background. There is a gritty guitar in the background which is gradually brought into the foreground as the second half of the song starts. Here there is a major contrast in mood where all the positivity is lost and you are surrounded by oppressive synths and distorted guitars. Almost as if to say how the positive intentions of the satellites have now backfired and are now a force for evil and manipulation. The song finishes with a wall of distortion and Toby's deep, doom-laden singing.

"Brittle Urchin" carries on this bleakness with 40 seconds of a single, deep layer of synth. This darkness and extreme musical simplicity is in stark contrast to the rest of the album, as if all the bright futuristic toys are gone and only hard reality remains. A simple bass line along with Toby's vocals enters and we are treated with the classic KD sound of old like that found on "Cartogram out of phase", "A pitcher of summer" etc. This "bass + wavering vocals" is ended with the return of synths, drums and guitars but this time the atmosphere is pure negativity and despair instead of flashiness. The song cuts off dramatically at the end and the album finishes almost instantly.

At the moment PHOBOS ranks as my third favourite KD album and is only slightly below the No 2 spot. However when you consider that my top KD record ("Choirs") is a top 2 album of all time and the other ("Hubardo") is a top 10 then you know that I think PHOBOS ranks with the best of the best. This album has everything you could ask of it. It has insane complexity and endless layers that requires many many listens to fully explore what is going on, let alone to get your head around the album and begin enjoying it! However despite this each song has a key strong hook that holds everything together and acts as the gateway into loving each track. Finally it has the originality, by taking 80s sounds and musical principles that no Prog band would dare touch and doing something completely different with it. It even has a excellent concept and lyrics that despite the futuristic feel and occult overtones is becoming increasingly relevant as we get well into the 21st century.

In summary PHOBOS is a virtually perfect record that needs to be heard by every forward-thinking Prog lover. It also must be listened to many times as it is very hard to get into initially. A good speaker or headphones is needed to hear every layer that is going on, as without the proper equipment for listening the music suffers immensely. Kayo Dot have now firmly taken the crown as the most progressive Prog act in the 21 century, and since the 70s if we are being honest. 100% essential music.

Toby Driver delivers again. This album's promotional material stated that "Kayo Dot never makes the same album twice", and while this is largely true, this is definitely the most similar two albums in a row have been. This definitely is not a bad thing in this case. Coffins on Io, while fantastic, had a tendency to drag for these ears, where many tracks seemed to be built off of repetition over the usual compositional depth that Driver is known for. Now for this album, sonically it is very similar. There is still a heavy reliance of analog synthesizers, even more so than the past album, but this time, it is coupled with the depth and complexity of composition that was missing from the past album. The album is still filled with the catchy 80's crooner lines from Driver's "David Sylvian" voice, but this time the music further separates him from his influences, creating a way more original sound. In fact, after multiple listens, I found myself actually humming some parts (especially Amalia's Theme and Rings of Earth). With this album, Driver struck the perfect balance between accessibility and sheer experimentalism, for even though there are parts you can hum to, there are equally as many parts that I still have no idea what's going on, but in a good way. Coffins on Io was definitely the foundation, but this album has fully solidified Driver's newfound obsession with the 80's as artistically viable. One of my favorites of this year so far, I can't give it any less than 5 stars, not a single low point to these ears.

'Plastic House on Base of Sky - Kayo Dot (72/100)

Roger Ebert once wrote of the wonderful director Werner Herzog that he had never created a single uninteresting film: "Even his failures are spectacular." There are a few select bands that bring that quote to mind for me. Kayo Dot's always been one of them. I have less fingers on my left hand than bands I'd say I admire as much; even if every album hasn't hit me with the same awe, it's never been because Toby Driver and company have ever lacked for talent nor inspiration. Is there another band that's been so dedicated on reinvention? Ulver comes to mind, but even then, I don't think their leaps were always so consistently wide. Kayo Dot has fashioned immortal music from metal to drone, darkwave and beyond, but knowing that they'll always move forward makes a new KD album more promising than most.

Coffins on Io from 2014 was a predictably unpredictable turn into 1980s Goth and darkwave from a band that had created an avant-metal masterpiece with Hubardo the year before. The 80s synth fetishism didn't start on Coffins, but it was the first place where the move characterized the atmosphere. In that sense, Plastic House on Base of Sky takes less of a risk than some of Kayo Dot's past transitions. The atmosphere is unmistakably based in the retrofuturist nostalgia of the 1980s; the dark brooding synths draw from the same well as the Stranger Things soundtrack from last year, and the lo-fi but busy drum programming sounds equally as nostalgic.

Vague threads of Coffins' aesthetic have carried over to Plastic House; the new album sets itself apart in other ways instead. While Coffins on Io was thick and bassy, here Kayo Dot have gone relatively light and airy with the style and production. I don't really agree with the notion that these changes have necessarily made the music more accessible. "All the Pain in All the Wide World" is as cacophonous as anything on the earlier album, and it's arguable that they've gone even deeper into atmosphere than before. For all their nostalgic charm, the synth arrangements are cumbersome, usually busy enough to flush out most melodic hooks on the first couple spins. The most immediate track isn't "Amalia's Theme" but "Brittle Urchin", surprisingly. With fewer synth textures to wash out the mix, Toby's vocals finally get a better chance to shine through.

Even if Plastic House on Base of Sky is actually one of the less immediate albums Kayo Dot have put out, I think there is something to the way some listeners have been interpreting this new evolution as a lighter, poppy alternative to Coffins on Io. There probably is a pop musical skeleton laying here, but the atmospheric arrangement drowns it out. I don't think that's a bad or a good thing, really; "Amalia's Theme" and "Brittle Urchin" are brilliantly written enough to have succeeded as standalone unplugged pieces, while "All the Pain in All the Wide World" would probably feel just as overloaded with any approach. The hazy, ethereal vibe is what gives Plastic House its character ultimately; for better or worse, Kayo Dot committed themselves to a specific artistic niche and fleshed an album out of it.

Originally written for Heathen Harvest Periodical