Platonica, the 2001 full-length debut album from the New York band The Pasties, is like Weezer's blue album without the crunch. Platonica begins with an assault of Ooh La La's at the beginning of "Shameless," the first song on the album. The rest of the album follows in this vein, lyrics never really living up to their prescribed hype and song progressions never reaching the dynamic possible for the seasoned musicians in the band.
Although sometimes unoriginally poppy, with overly melodic vocals, too much Moog keyboard and formulaic song writing, Platonica is not all bad. One has to admire the superior engineering by the band's guitarist, Eric Casimir, who has worked with artists such as Warren Haynes and A Tribe Called Quest. He gives the album a professional sound not found in most Do-It-Yourself albums.
One can definitely tell that The Pasties have an agenda. Although there is nothing wrong with promoting one's band and its talent, all too often a band ends up sounding contrived and unoriginal when it makes selling records its main goal. The music suffers, either through too much engineering or its obvious marketing strategy. One of the most redeeming aspects of this album is Devon Copley's smooth vocal style which, when combined with fast-paced guitar riffs and an occasionally imaginative bass line by Mike Davis, appeals to fans of The Refreshments, Dashboard Confessional, and the new Jimmy Eat World.
Although The Pasties' sound is nothing groundbreaking, Platonica's love songs have a fast-paced, light-hearted pop sound that have listeners tapping their feet by the third listen. It makes a good album for doing your spring-cleaning, and if you are looking for lovelorn melodies and a catchy beat, you can catch The Pasties at the Hard Rock CafÇ on Wednesday, March 13th at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin. Other than this, The Pasties are playing mostly New York shows, but you can check them out at http://www.thepasties.com for future tour info and mp3 samples.
Although The Pasties are not a terribly original band, Platonica does have the upbeat sound that makes it onto the airwaves, and its presence on the playlists of over 70 non-commercial radio stations nationwide shows that the band has something to offer those looking for straight-up pop.
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