Electric Six - Senor Smoke

Genre rock Publisher Metropolis Records External Links Official Website Metropolis Records

OK, imagine this unholy union: If The Darkness, Tenacious D and The Bloodhound Gang got together and somehow impregnated Meg White with their collective sperm, their offspring would probably sound a lot like Electric Six. Now that The Darkness has made the world safe for ridiculous tongue-in-cheek (or not?) rock - and THANK GOD they did - bands like Electric Six can find an audience. I put on this CD while I prepared to clean my place but found my attention grabbed again and again by the solid rock and clever lyrics. I laughed out loud on more than one occasion and hoped they'd be able to keep the joke going for the whole disc.

The first 3 songs are an undeniable avalanche of rock and roll. Things finally chill out a little on the understated "Jimmy Carter," which provides a nice change of pace while amusingly managing to make the lyric "backstreet's back, alright," sound sinister. "Dance Epidemic" busts out with my favorite lyric on the whole album: "Your body goes to waste every minute you don't give it to me." More great lyrics ensue on "Be My Dark Angel": "You scorcher, you scorcher, fry an egg on your face girl." "Vibrator" (with a vibrator hum panned to the right on the opening...nice) addresses why a woman would need a "non-organic excavator" when she's got him. Hilarious - even though I have the feeling it's being posed as a serious question. The "Pleasing Interludes" are ok although they feel like inside jokes I don't get. I learned from their website that their cover of Queen's "Radio Ga Ga" was not necessarily their idea but for all that it's a more than respectable version. The piano based "Taxi to Nowhere" showcases impressive musical versatility and the last song "The Future is in the Future" contains my second favorite lyric: "If money talks I'd be mime."

Overall Senor Smoke is a very tight, clean and well-produced rock album with impressively balanced new age-y keyboard accents. It can be a challenge to keep this style fresh and interesting, and while there are places where the momentum falters (the end lyric of "Boy or Girl?", "welcome to Burger King may I take your order?" comes to mind), there is enough variation and redeeming quirks to carry it thru. It's definitely the kind of music that will benefit from being heard live. That being said, these are Detroit boys for whom I am admittedly biased; as long as they're around, I'm not going to get much cleaning done. And that's ok with me.