For their contribution to the Italian A Silent Place label, the Chicago drug/bike/psych/boogie/freak outfit Plastic Crimewave Sound continued to be, well, just that. But in their case that’s definitely a sign of playing to their strengths, and if Painted Shadows isn’t always a surprising album from them, it’s still entertaining in a “so why haven’t they been cast in their own grindhouse exploitation movie yet?” sense. That said, there are many moments of trying out different approaches — a song like “Arraj” is fairly murky on initial impact but creates the feeling of a bad trip that couldn’t necessarily have sounded as precise and textured as it would have been in 1967. (If anything, it also feels indebted to some of the more shadowy corners of 1980s 4AD releases!) That sense of darker vibes gives much of the album its best character, as on the zone-trudge of “(Can’t) Turn the Key,” while “I Feel Evils” kicks everything off with heavily echoed vocal pronouncements and, naturally, a crazed guitar solo over the Hawkwind-ish chug of the band. The lengthy title track has the feeling of the classic side-long jam — think Love on Da Capo — but “Ecstatic Song” is the real winner, a huge rave-up that never seems to stop and just gets crazier and more drum-heavy as it goes. If much of Painted Shadows can still have a hint of the pro forma about it, it’s still done very well. – Ned Raggett
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