Bang, The Earth Is Round

SLAMM
June 5, 1996
Soundwaves

The Sugarplastic
Bang, The Earth is Round
(DCG/Geffen)
*

You can take this band for what their name implies: sugar-coated silliness covered in artificial musings. Not only do these guys cite Disney characters as influences, they pretty much sound like cartoon personalities themselves. (That is, when they're not busy copying XTC's sound to a perfect tee.)
"I've described us as musical interpretations of cartoon animals brought to life," says Sugarplastic drummer Josh Laner. Indeed, taking the listener on a detailed excursion of animal-like vocals, little chirping instruments and whimsical lyrics, Bang, The Earth Is Round is guaranteed to appeal to the Cartoon Network crowd.
"We wanted each song to have its own individual place," bassist Kiara Geller explained, "we didn't want it to be a one-dimensional album; we wanted it to go to a lot of places."
And such places you'll go -- the songs include the XTC-ish "Another Myself", the nursery-rhyme reminiscent "Little Teeth", and the happy "Polly Brown", which again was so imitating of XTC thatI had to check the CD insert for the name Andy Partridge under the "Additional Vocals" column (I didn't find it). Dare I say, the melodic vocal workings on the last track, "Ohio", end up being the high point of the record, and it's a long wait to get there.
If you're longing to hear those goofy records your mom played for you when you were a kid, or getting obsessively nostalgic for XTC's heyday, then The Sugarplastic is a band for you. If not, I'm sure you can come up with several more creative ways to spend the next 39 minutes.

--Lora Watters

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