REVIEWS

Buy this album from iTunes

Electric Six
Señor Smoke

Metropolis Records

Posted: Thursday, September 21, 2006
By: Mike Ventarola

Here is a band who had to go to the U.K. before being taken seriously by their home country of America. Hailing from Detroit, Michigan, Electric Six endured line up changes, name changes, and even recording contract changes. Some bands fall apart right around this juncture, but this is not a band who will sit idly by. In fact, while this review is going to press, the band already has a follow-up CD available! Señor Smoke tackles indie rock in a novel way by mixing it up with elements carved from the quarter beats of the disco era right through the punk and garage era styling with dashes of humor tossed in to see if anyone is paying attention.

At the outset, listeners are brought through a retro glam-punk era with "Rock & Roll Evacuation," a four-to-the-floor kick ass track that is pure fun. While it may not be "dark," it crafts enough of a dance rock element in it to make it a showcase single for the band to introduce to the clubs. "Devil Nights" is an homage to the Detroit "holiday" of the same name and, again, pushes a hybrid of new wave, funk rock, and dance into a song that is equally at home in the clubs or a film soundtrack somewhere. "Bite Me" will warm the hearts of those in need of a nostalgic new wave fix as it pummels with the best of the '80s style intensity. "Dance Epidemic" is the track of choice that college radio would most likely select as it is a rock funk fusion with overt pop sensibilities.

Upon the rather forceful recommendation and insistence from their previous label, the band took to task to deliver an obligatory Queen track, selecting "Radio Ga-Ga" for the offering. Electric Six actually made the song sound better than the original without any cheesy element in the least. One could venture to say that this version is the way it should have been recorded from the outset.

Dark music fans may or may not be inclined to seek out this band, but for those not stuck in a genre rut, they do deliver the musical goods far better than most bands in the pop rock world today. Due to the fact that our reading audience is from the dark music and electronic realm, the CD receives a 3.5 out of a possible 5. It is a worthwhile recording that will hopefully garner more fans for the band from those who are uninitiated with their sound.