More than any band of their time,
Electric Six are here for the party, and if that party happens to be dominated by smart, snarky guys firmly in touch with their own cleverness, that doesn't mean they're not going to do all they can to fill up the dancefloor. On their 12th studio album, 2016's
Fresh Blood for Tired Vampyres,
Electric Six are beaming in their show from the land of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it, just turn it up." They sound leaner and more beholden to drum machines and electronics than they did in their mid-2000s heyday, but the approach on
Fresh Blood doesn't seem especially different than what they were doing on
Fire, Señor Smoke, or Switzerland in the 20th century. As always, the band raves up mightily, with guitarist Johnny Na$hinal and keyboard whiz Tait Nucleus? delivering a 50/50 mix of dance swagger and rock & roll pomp. And vocalist Dick Valentine is front and center throughout, howling with semi-operatic force about sex, culture, and the relentless pursuit of new forms of decadence. (Though his efforts to work mathematics into the formula on "The Number of the Beast" at least suggest the group is interested in promoting the STEM curriculum amongst hipster party advocates.) Mania has always been the commodity
Electric Six were most determined to deliver, and 13 years after their debut album, they can still whip it up and lash it out.
Fresh Blood for Tired Vampyres is a rather remarkable feat when one recalls that most of their contemporaries from the brief moment when Detroit was the center of the indie rock universe aren't even together anymore.
Electric Six can still make albums that show they have life left in them, and as someone once said, partying well is the best revenge. ~ Mark Deming