Louis XIV - The Distances From Everyone To You

Genre rock Publisher Atlantic Records/Pineapple Recording Group External Links Official Louis XIV Website Official Atlantic Records Website Buy Louis XIV's "The Distances From Everyone To You" on iTunes

Louis XIV are the best rock and roll band around right now. I know that's a pretty bold statement, but it's the truth. Well, after the one-two slam of the band's Illegal Tender EP and the full-length of The Best Little Secrets Are Kept in 2005 and a live show that beats both (they blew away headliners Hot Hot Heat when I saw them at the now defunct Bottom Lounge in Chicago and made me not regret missing Dinosaur Jr. at 2005's Lollapalooza), the San Diego-based band is back to make sure you know it with a four-track EP to whet your appetite for early 2008's tentatively titled Guilt By Association.

Starting off full-throttle with the wild, unbridled "There's A Traitor In This Room" (the only song here that made the cut for the album), The Distances From Everyone To You gets off to an incredible start. As he tries to get some action with his girl in the back of a cab, singer Jason Hill cries out, "Two, four, six, eight/Who do you appreciate?/Me! Me! Me! Me! Me!". Nice to see that none of the slams against the band's rampant sexuality has been diminished. The tongue-in-cheek(y) sexual playfulness that the band exudes is a big part of its charm and welcome in these very conservative times for music.

The two non-album tracks, "Your Shoes Are The Star Of The Show" and the EP's title track are both quite strong in their own right. "Shoes" has a wicked guitar part, with some sweet harmonies and great interplay vocally between Hill and vocalist/guitarist Brian Karsicg. While "Distances" pushes Karsicg to the forefront with a very glammed up ballad about a "porcelain doll" who does anything for a "backstage pass."

Ending with a bit of a guilty pleasure, the band's cover of Queen's "Flash's Theme" (for Sci-Fi's new Flash Gordon series) equals the classic rock band's pomp and strut. They're on tour now on their own and as openers for The Killers (good friends of Louis XIV), but expect much more touring in 2008 when Guilt By Association is released. I for one cannot fucking wait.