By John Hudson
For The State News
Electric Six's upcoming album "Señor Smoke" allures listeners with the same contagious dance beats and droll songwriting heard on its previous release "Fire."
Warner Music UK refrained from releasing "Señor Smoke" in the States despite its considerable acclaim in England. Consequently, the band left and signed with Metropolis. The album will be released in its native land today.
The album pounds through track after track with the band's trademark dance/synth/rock style. While enjoyable, the overall sound is all too familiar.
Heavy guitar riffs join funk bass with synthesizer so kitschy that it's "cool." Dick Valentine's hearty vocals still resemble Tenacious D's Jack Black — an observation loyal fans hastily refute. The comical elements arise when Valentine belts out absurd and sometimes raunchy lyrics with the most feigned sincerity.
"Señor Smoke" will be Electric Six's sophomore release. The debut album "Fire" came out in 2003. The band uses stage names because, according to its official Web site, "(W)e had a stupid idea one night and now we have to live with it."
The band consists of Valentine (lead vocals), Tait Nucleus (keyboards), The Colonel (guitars), Johnny Na$hinal (guitars), John R. Dequindre (bass) and Percussion World (drums).
On "Jimmy Carter," Valentine begins listing such historic/Biblical events as a plague of locusts — Ronald Reagan falling asleep, Harry Truman dropping the atom bomb and a birth in Bethlehem. He then confidently sums up these events with the phrase, "Backstreet's back, all right."
The album's limitations appear rather quickly when one realizes that "Señor Smoke" is a mere continuation of "Fire." Musically, it offers nothing new with the exception of a few piano tracks near the end. Lyrically, Electric Six delivers the laughs but in the same manner as it did in its 2003 release. The problem with the same joke is that it gets old.
"Pleasing Interlude No. 1" suggests a desire to move on to different arenas of comedy. The result is a lame track of prose that sounds like it was written by an overconfident high school freshman.
The opening track, "Rock and Roll Evacuation," brings some political angst to the forefront as Valentine declares, "Mr. President, make a little money sending people you don't know to Iraq. Mr. President I don't like you. You don't know how to rock." Although one might question what financial benefit the war has had, one might also chuckle at the allegation that George W. Bush doesn't know how to rock.
All in all, Electric Six is a fun band. The show rocked the paint right off the walls at the Union Ballroom last November. The college youth in attendance were enthralled and utterly disorderly. "Señor Smoke" doesn't achieve anything great but it's a hell of a good time to hear and see performed live. Avoid the album but catch the band on tour.
