Quantcast

Call for Music Critics and Music Bloggers

Music

You want to know whether or not this album is any good, and, believe me, I want to be able to tell you. But we’re dealing with an unknown substance here. What I can tell you is that Planningtorock is the project name for the deep-voiced, American-cum-Berliner Janine Rostron, and that Have It All is her debut album of truly bizarre electronic pop. While most artists work their weirdness through odd song structures and kooky instrumentation, Rostron is a subtle subverter of what we commonly expect from the pop/rock song format. There are verses and choruses, fairly straightforward beats, and even identifiable musical landmarks: early electro, Sparks, T. Rex, Robert Plant, and, not surprisingly, the electroclash group Chicks on Speed, who own Planningtorock’s label. But knowing all of this still doesn’t insulate my brain from the queasily unsettling ride through the hall of mirrors, parallel pop universe that is Have It All. You’ll just have to experience it for yourself. But be sure to lie down immediately afterward. This album will make you feel weird.

Rating:

Michael Keefe is a freelance music journalist, an independent bookstore publicist, and a singer/guitarist/songwriter in a band. Raised on a record collection of The Beatles, Coltrane, Mozart, and Ravi Shankar, Michael has been a slave to music his whole life. At age 16, he got a drum set and a job at a record store, and he's been playing and peddling music ever since. Today, he lives in Oregon with his wife (also a writer, but not about music), two cats, and a whole lot of instruments and CDs.


Media
Planningtorock -- Have It All
Related Articles
28 Jun 2011
Planningtorock plays games with identity on this woozily compelling sophomore effort.
Comments
Now on PopMatters
Love, and Other Indelible Stains (Columns) [Wed, 2:00 am]
Sigur Rós: Valtari (Reviews) [Wed, 2:00 am]
Lemonade: Diver (Reviews) [Wed, 2:00 am]
Cory Branan: Mutt (Reviews) [Wed, 2:00 am]
Big Science: Difficulty (Capsule Reviews) [Wed, 2:00 am]
Cut Chemist: Outro (Revisited) EP (Capsule Reviews) [Wed, 2:00 am]
Cygnets: Dark Days (Capsule Reviews) [Wed, 2:00 am]
Young Hines: Give Me My Change (Reviews) [Wed, 2:00 am]
Gazpacho: March of the Ghosts (Reviews) [Wed, 2:00 am]
Loga Ramin Torkian: Mehraab (Reviews) [Wed, 2:00 am]
Max Payne 3 (Reviews) [Wed, 1:00 am]
Call for Music Critics and Music Bloggers (Announcements) [Tue, 3:00 pm]
  1. The Top 10 Overplayed Songs You Hate by Artists You Love (Sound Affects)
  2. Tea with 'Sherlock': Investigating the Investigators (Features)
  3. Sunk? This 'Battleship' Stunk! (Short Ends and Leader)
  4. Tenacious D: Rize of the Fenix (Reviews)
  5. Top Ten Lost Midwest Punk Singles (Sound Affects)
  6. Like 'Doom', In Heels (Moving Pixels)
  7. 10 Pieces of Cinematic Art That Require Revisiting (Short Ends and Leader)
  8. She's a Rainbow: A Tribute to Donna Summer (Features)
  9. Punk Rock's Pet Sounds: An Interview with Bomb the Music Industry! (Features)
  10. Counterbalance No. 82: U2's 'Achtung Baby' (Sound Affects)
  11. 'Albatross': A Not-So-Weighty Coming-of-Age Meets Mid-Life-Crisis Film (Reviews)
  12. Counterbalance No. 83: The Stooges' 'Fun House' (Sound Affects)
  13. The 10 Greatest Aspects of the 'Star Wars' Franchise (Short Ends and Leader)
  14. We Will Avenge Them Or… Be Avenged?: The Individual in the US Experience (Features)
  15. The Queen and Her Crayons: An Interview With Donna Summer (Features)
  16. Early Summer 2012 New Music Playlist (Mixed Media)
  17. Killer Mike: R.A.P. Music (Reviews)
  18. The Best Canadian Records of the Year? The Fun Agony of Voting for the Polaris Prize Long List (Sound Affects)
  19. Sherlock Holmes, Dirk Gently and the Case of the Eccentric Detective (Columns)
  20. Flash Points: Mommy's Breast, Marriage Equality and Why Chipotle Is King (Features)
  21. Sergio Leone: Something to Do with Death (Columns)
  22. In Support of Supports (Moving Pixels)
  23. Flash Points: Chicks, Sluts and Facebook (Features)
  24. In Defense Of... Rock Radio: A Force in Popular Culture (Columns)
  25. Saint Etienne: Words and Music (Reviews)
  26. Garbage: Not Your Kind of People (Reviews)
  27. The Cult: Choice of Weapon (Reviews)
  28. Willie Nelson: Heroes (Reviews)
  29. 'People's Pornography': The Mundanities of Pornography and Surveillance Culture (Reviews)
  30. Feeling '80s Spirit: Post-Hardcore Punk for the Plastic Generation (Columns)
PM Picks
Music Archive
Announcements

© 1999-2012 PopMatters.com. All rights reserved.
PopMatters.com™ and PopMatters™ are trademarks
of PopMatters Media, Inc.

PopMatters is wholly independently owned and operated.
PopMatters is a member of BUZZMEDIA Music, MOG and Guardian Select.