Electric Six - Switzerland

Genre rock Publisher Metropolis Records External Links Official Electric Six Website Official Metropolis Records Website

Switzerland: land of neutrality, good chocolate, the International Red Cross. Though their newest album is named for this trilingual landlocked country, Electric Six take their rock/punk/disco/garage blend all over, from the hottest nightclub in town to the best kitchens of France down to hell and back. On "There's Something Very Wrong With Us So Let's Go Out Tonight," Dick Valentine sings of an interconnected world: "Dutch hip hop in Atlanta/Tight new R&B in Estonia/Just another sick American at Yoshinoya." And the following track has Germans invading Mexico in a spoof of immigration politics and xenophobia. In the end, Switzerland may be one of the few places Switzerland doesn't visit.

The Six's irreverent sense of humor, evident in many songs, sometimes approaches Bloodhound Gang-levels of juvenility ("I gave you my heart, I gave you my soul/Now I'm just another number at the Center for Disease Control/Feels like a fire down below," from "Infected Girls"). But the giggles are backed up with far better beats than the Gang ever produced. When the guitar is distorted, the synths swooping, and the drums pounding like an Alps avalanche, Valentine's stylized growl, doused in testosterone and irony, sounds best. Though "The Band In Hell" makes an odd opener with its (relatively) moody Southwestern atmosphere, "I Buy The Drugs" picks up the pace with rollicking piano riffs and a generous offer to "fill your prescription with some degree of accuracy." "Infected Girls" turns a Prince-style sexy slink into an extended STD joke, but "Mr. Woman" presents a serious-minded critique of celebrity culture, which lends a little weight to the album. Some filler in the second half ("Slices Of You") slows Switerzland down, but it doesn't compromise the record's brash, energetic journey across a comicly strange but recognizable world.