Plasticland - Color Appreciation / Plasticland

The Setup

Picture Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the early ’80s. The rest of the world is drowning in hairspray and cheap synthesizer presets, but Glenn Rehse and John Frankovic are locked in a basement, mainlining vintage British freakbeat and Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd. They pull together Plasticland, bypass the entire US music industry, and somehow drop their debut LP (Color Appreciation) on a French label called Lolita in ’84.

By ’85, the domestic underground catches on. Enigma’s psych-imprint, Pink Dust, snatches them up, shuffles the tracks, and unleashes the self-titled Plasticland LP onto the American teenage wasteland. While California had the Paisley Underground, the Midwest officially had its own pack of acid-fried garage wizards delivering pure, analog madness.

The Breakdown

Man, drop the needle on this thing and your bedroom immediately dissolves into a 1967 London club. It’s a total time-warp, but it doesn't feel like a cheap costume party. Glenn Rehse’s vocals have that perfect, bratty, nasal Syd Barrett sneer that makes you feel like he’s sharing secrets about a secret garden you aren’t cool enough to visit.

The band isn't just jangling guitars here; they are throwing a full-blown audio circus. You get hit with layers of Mellotron strings, vintage organs, and sudden bursts of woodwinds that have absolutely no business being on a mid-80s rock record. Tracks like "Alexander" and "Euphoric Trapdoor Shoes" are absolute masterclasses in two-minute psych-pop perfection.

But don't mistake this for soft, flowery hippie music. Underneath the whimsical flutes of "Her Decay" is a rhythm section that hits with genuine, post-punk aggression. It’s that exact friction—the collision between delicate British pop eccentricities and raw, bruising American garage grit—that keeps this record from ever getting stale.

Bottom line? The debut is a stone-cold masterpiece of the neo-psych revival. It’s frantic, colorful, and completely unbothered by what was "cool" at the time. If you claim to dig underground guitar music and you don't own this, go fix your life immediately.

Ripped to MP3

1. Alexander

2. Disengaged From The World

3. Her Decay

4. The Glove

5. Sipping The Bitterness

6. The Garden In Pain

7. Elongations

8. Driving Accident Prone

9. Color Appreciation

10. Wallflowers

11. Euphoric Trapdoor Shoes

12. Pop! Op Drops

13. Sections

14. Rattail Comb

15. Posing For Pictures

16. Magic Rocking Horse

17. Mushroom Hill