Album Reviews Plankton - "Ganja killed the Dinosaurs" I really don't know what the hell to make of this. This is so diverse, it is basically impossible to describe. You see, Plankton is basically all about stealing other people's ideas and mixing them all together into a pretty distinctive and off the wall sound. In some ways this reminds me of early Happy Mondays, or a more electric Black Grape, without really sounding like either. It would seem from the press release that they really do have a lot of friends in high places, and justifiably so as well because there is no denying that this is a pretty good album, I just don't know how to review it, which is actually a good thing in it's own right in this day and age when everyone sounds like everyone else. The album title just about sums up the band's quirkiness. Quirky but pretty damn fine to my ears. Ochre Records. BB20 MagazineMusic Reviews indie/rock Plankton - " Ganja killed the Dinosaurs "*** From the opening of "Apple Crumption , Crumble Pea", it becomes clear that the lunatics have taken over the asylum. "Headless Chicken" is skewered weird punk with vocals that sound like Norm from the Twix ad, Motto sounds like Leonnard Cohen after dropping acid and Subdub is too sleazy for words. Most of the album is New Wave Punk with "Lola" coming across like a modern version of Sham 69 and "Ask" with it's Psychobilly punk style evokes memories of The Cramps. But it is not without it's weird moments like "Sheiksbeerstools", with it's trippy psychedelic soundscape making you feel like you've eaten one too many 'shrooms.... and Drums which sound like they've been stuffed with cotton wool. By the final track, "Beautiful Hole" you're convinced that aliens have invaded your skull.... You'll either love it (particularly if you're off your head) or loathe it. The choice is yours.... The Big Buzz magazine Dec/Jan 98/99PLANKTON - Headless chicken vs. Subdub (Ochre) "Subliminal lyrical content amongst frenzied musical madness reminds the listener of a youthful Mark E. Smith off his box strawberry picking!" The title track is quirky punk rock with completely wacked out vocals. I've no idea what he's going on about, but I'm not sure that it matters. The remix of the title track appealed to me more for some reason, perhaps it's the mechanical feel and the odd sound effects. The Continental, Bellingham, Vol # 3PLANKTON - Pick Your Own (Ochre) *** Plankton have done the only punk cover of a Leonard Cohen song that I have ever heard. Between the singer's accent and the distortion on the vocals I don't have a clue what they're singing about, but I suppose it doesn't really matter. Punk's usually not my bag, but I kinda liked a few of the tracks on here. If you can imagine a punkier version of the Fall then you'll get an idea of what's going on here. The Continental, Bellingham, Vol # 5SOUNDS FISHY.... Two Isle of Dogs brothers and their band. Brothers Miles and Marcus Lavers, along with bassist Roger Duffield and drummer Richie Mansfield, are Plankton, who release "Ganja Killed the Dinosaurs" this month, a collection of songs that can only be described as unique. Their music has been described as "lo-fi punk gems" and "hypnotic and faintly disturbing", Plankton's debut album, "ganja Killed the Dinosaurs" is out on Ochre Records on CD and limited edition vinyl on November 16th. You can catch Plankton at a rare live appearance later this month when they surface at Highbury's The Garage on Wed Nov 18. East London Advertiser, Nov 11th 1998PLANKTON - GANJA KILLED THE DINOSAURS (Ochre) This east London-based foursome learned their trade DJing at illegal raves. Quirky rhythms and bizarre vocals: Headless Chicken is a full-on blast with wiry guitars in the style of Captain Beefheart, Boredom is Blur playing a Fall song! Jaminay is punk yeller. NM. Front magazine. Feb 1999PUNK GEM FROM PLANKTON In the same way as the Byrds took eight-minute Bob Dylan epics and transformed them into pop classics, Plankton have taken one of Leonard Cohen's most beautiful love songs and turned it into a lo-fi punk gem. "Sacrilege", purists might wail. Until they hear the latest release on Cheltenham's Ochre Records. Little remains of Cohen's accoustic ballad. Instead the track kicks off with a short drum solo (sic) before plunging into a driving guitar riff. Singer Miles Lavers delivers the charming man's poetry in an affecting Tom Waits-style growl. Backed with cool, smoky jazz track "Jaminay", this is an essential addition to any Cohen collection. Gloucestershire Echo, Friday October 10th, 1997Plankton, Unique new avant headliners play their Ganja Killed The Dinosaurs LP. upstairs at the Garage, Highbury corner, N5 8.30pm "theGuide" The Guardian magazinePlankton, Junkie quirk rock might not be a category Mr Branson has in his megastores, so you'll have to use your imagination to seek out Plankton's oddball jangly guitar trash seven inches. More likely to be seen on the underground party circuit where the crowds are often into four figures, this is a rare opportunity to catch their demented Ruts-meets-Mondays lunacy. INTERSPACE Jan 1999Plankton "Ganja Killed the Dinosaurs"LP/CD (Ochre , Distributed by SRD) Welcome to a land where one too many a mushroom tea has been brewed and everything is positively class A. Welcome to the very unusual and almost certainly wibbly-wobbly world of Plankton; 4am smoking to industrial garage beats when the party was supposed to finish the day before. Stalwarts of the free party circuit in their guise as DJs and general anarchists. Plankton astonish with their punked-up mish mash of psychedelic rock and the occasional touch of Ska, a la that smack-inspired eighties softmints ad. But before you utter the words "crusty" let's get one thing straight - apart from not having dreadlocks, Plankton ROCK! Oh yes, and not only do they rock, but they have TUNES too! The excellent "Lola" is here, as is "Headless Chicken", "Motto", "Boredom" and a plethora of titles that'll mean nothing till you get this, and everything thereafter. The record flows instinctively from one track to the next, it's well balanced, and seems to sneak back to the turntable over and over again. How on earth do they do it? If ganja killed the dinosaurs, then this lot must be totally invincible! INTERSPACE Nov. 1998PLANKTON Bird on a Wire (ochre) Elementary bass, over and over; the odd rippling piano chord; ray guns shoot through the spaces. It goes on for five or six minutes. That's it, and it's a good "it". It's hypnotic and faintly disturbing. Hold it - that was the "b" side, and a remix.... Melody Maker magazine, Oct 4th 1997PLANKTON "Lola" Tranquilli, non si tratta di un improbabile remake dei Kinks. La "Lola" di cui cantano i Plankton, nuova scoperta della ottima Ochre, e vicina a Residents e Joy Division, non certo alla musicalita di Ray Davies. Nervosa ed elettrica, l'esatto opposto di "Detour", composizione strumentale ed acustica che evidenzia il lato piu melodico del quartetto e che nel remix della seconda facciata sembra sperimentare futuristici suoni con intermezzi vocali tutti da ascoltare. Da tenere assolutamente d' occhio. MUCCHIO magazine Italy, 1998PLANKTON "Pick Your Own" "Lola" Any record that begins with an entertaining super fast version of Leonard Cohen's "Bird on a Wire " will grab your attention but fortunately the other material here is also quite good. "Boredom" is very reminiscent of the Fall while "Jaminay" and the extended "Jaminay - the Antidote" sounds like something the Happy Mondays might have done if they took even more drugs! "Lola" (not the Kinks song) is a pretty good single too. The "A" side is a punk-inspired rave-up of sorts, where the girl in the song is referred to as a "fucking slag"! While "Detour" and the "Detour (Too Fake)" remix are psychedelic jams that recall the Doors circa "The End".PLANKTON "Headless Chicken vs. Subdub" Seriously bonkers and probably the most original sound all year: a hypnotic Fall-esque funk with jagged guitars and a demented rant about decapitated farmyard fowl. Record collector April 1997PLANKTON "Pick Your Own EP" The sheer insanity of some avant-punk can disturb and alienate; others, like Plankton's frankly unhinged oeuvre of erratic outbursts and mid-fi rock, can be warm, funny and enchanting. For this second outing, imagine a lobotomised Fall circa "This Nation's Saving Grace". Record Collector magazine, Nov 1997PLANKTON "Lola" Readers of these pages will know that Plankton are, quite frankly, insane. They can't sing, they can't play, but their obtuse take on avant-punk marks them out as endlessly fascinating Mark E. Smith types. "Lola" is the most conventional thing they've done so far, though things go marvellously awry elsewhere on this four-tracker. Record Collector magazine, March 1998Plankton genuinely make music like nothing you've ever heard - unless you've attended a jam session between The Fall & Soft Machine. Hmmm that does sound a little weird dunnit? The band consists of brothers Marcus & Miles Lavers - who spend time out from Plankton as live DJs mixing techno with other urban influences at underground parties in "unofficial" London venues (Thames barges, Russian Submarines...) under the guise of "SubDive" - Bassist Roger Duffield and Drummer Richie Mansfield: they plied their trade as Plankton playing at dance clubs, swapping instruments mid set for decks & vinyl to delight surprised party - goers. Plankton's debut album, "Ganja killed the Dinosaurs" is out now on Ochre Records. Record Mart & Buyer Feb 1999Plankton- " Ganja killed the Dinosaurs " (Ochre) From Gloucester's finest label Ochre, which has released some of the finest spacerock in the last few years by (most notably) Glide (aka Will seargent from Echo & the Bunnymen) and Bom (aka Damon Reece, Spiritualized's Drummer) as well as a ton of stuff that no-one has ever heard of, comes one of the strangest guitar albums for a long time. Plankton clearly aren't afraid of being labelled mad, as this album shows. They are a strange brew of the Cardics ( to whom Supergrass owe a great debt) and the Pixies, punk, spacerock and dub, and it is exceptionally refreshing to hear something like this. Possibly the best thing about this album is the diversity - there is absolutley no way of telling what's going to happen next, except that it won't sound anything like the last track, and it lakes a couple of listens to even begin to wrap an already warped head round this. Quite what the title has to do with anything is anyone's guess. Out Now. NS. Roar Magazine 23rd Nov 1998Plankton, Ganja Killed the Dinosaurs (Ochre) CD Plankton inhabit the same fertile field as Donkey. They grind like the Dog Faced Hermans, growl like an asphyxiated Mark E. Smith playing the Godfather, grub up a dubby bassline aand throw samples at it, skank like good 'uns, write songs that mimic Buster Bloodvessel in an end of the pier matinee, and then go all prog on you. Sometimes. Other times they're only incredible. It's a real blast and it ends with a song called "Beautiful Hole". Draw your own conclusions. SBN Radio reviewRock, Reggae & Soul- Churning rhythms, abstract time patterns and blood curdling vocals from Plankton, whose debut album "Ganja killed the Dinosaurs" (Ochre) was released on Monday. Time Out magazine Nov 11th 1998