I can almost hear a faint rumbling in the chillingly elitist world of the musical underground as everyone arms themselves with an abundance of criticisms, ready to shoot at the very mention of ‘Carbon Kid‘. Since the release of Placebo’s last album, ‘Black Market Music’ the word “Placebo” has rarely been heard without an echo phrase of “past it”, two expressions twinned together almost as strongly as “Brian Molko” and “bald patch”.

Considering this, probably the best thing to do is to forget Placebo. This isn’t a Placebo song. This is the product of the Alpinestars, and I bet you’ve never heard of them, have you? Certainly a band with less stigma attached, anyway. And that’s probably a better basis to build a review on.

Think basic, flat guitar lines, lent perspective via the mind spinning beeps, bleeps and electronic samples used similarly by inspirational acts such as The Cooper Temple Clause… Imagine one of The Beta Band’s more futuristic, Star Wars sounding songs. Then, layer it with the incredibly distinctive, nasal vocals and melancholy melodies that are so very Placebo and you’ll come up with something along the lines of ‘Carbon Kid’. A sure fire hit, I’m sure you’ll agree.

If you loved Placebo, but feared the looming problem of an out-dated, stale sound, the Alpinestars are your saviours. Booting the rest of the band and giving Molko a kick up the arse, thrusting his musical ear a hundred years into the future, this is how new music should sound. It may be repetitive, it may have a tune that’ll end up driving you insane, and in two months you may have forgotten it ever even existed. Call it throw away pop, call it what you want, but for at least the next six weeks, this track is going to be hard to escape.

...And that is just the way I’d like it!