Electric Six I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me CD

As over the top as ever, Electric Six continues to satirically embrace the excess of sex, drugs, rock & roll -- and excess itself -- on I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me from Being the Master. Lyrics are fueled by an annoyance with present-day society (most notably: computers, fast food, television personalities, politicians, and Lenny Kravitz), but these themes are barely noticeable when paired with the throbbing dance beats and the campy Jack Black-ish mannerisms of Dick Valentine, who maintains the party atmosphere throughout. A high-concept album isn't necessarily what E6's fan base is looking to hear -- they want to have fun -- and it's nice to see that Valentine hasn't lost his acute sense of bombast. The macho swagger is still an important highlight of his shtick, and he continues to invent ludicrous catch phrases like "put a little mustard on it" and bellow them with a completely straight face over a kick drum and a noodling clarinet line. He questions whether his vocals were too sexy in "Dance Pattern," he hits the bottle with Ronald McDonald in "Down at McDonnellzz," and he breaks out his rhyming dictionary on "Rip It," with the absurd closing line, "Put me in motion/Drink the potion/Use the lotion/Drain the ocean/Cause commotion/Fake devotion/Entertain a notion/Be Nova Scotian." Sharing a lot of stylistic similarities with Switzerland (Electric Six's former album, not the country), this record could easily be labeled a counterpart to their last one. Songs are considerably darker and more experimental than the disco-influenced singles on their early releases, but even though the group has broadened their range, the hooks are still abundant. "When I Get to the Green Building" is a radio-friendly ballad in the vein of U2 and the Eels, and "Lucifer Airlines" an electro-jam that mirrors the loose swagger of Prince's "Erotic City." These are some solid moments, and the genre-spanning variety keeps the album interesting, but the group's best songs are always the energetic dance rockers that made them popular. There are enough innovative ideas on this record that it feels fresh, but it never strays too far from the Electric Six formula, making for an entertaining romp, as usual. ~ Jason Lymangrover

Composer: Zach Shipps.

Electric Six: The Colonel (guitar); Tait Nucleus? (synthesizer); Smorgasbord (bass guitar); Percussion World (drums); Dick Valentine, Johnny Na$hinal.

Personnel: Dick Valentine (vocals); Johnny Na$hinal, Jaxzon S. OLeary, Zach Shipps (guitar); Jim Wyse (clarinet); Bradley Stern (saxophone); Ross Westerbur (piano); Nucleus (synthesizer); Suzanne Cole (background vocals).

Recording information: Big Sky Recording; Hamtramck Sound Machine; Tempermill Studios.

Photographer: Alicia Gbur.

Additional personnel: Longmont Potion Castle (guitar); Jim Wyse (clarinet); Brad Stern (saxophone); Ross Westerbur, Jaxzon S. OLeary, Suzanne Cole.Uncut (p.90) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[T]hey prove to have hidden depths. Musically they stir up their usual pristine rock with leering saxes and filthy funk..."
Alternative Press (p.134) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "There's a nice mix of sassy piano and synth riffs with straight-ahead rock 'n' roll throughout the album's 50-plus minutes of relentless fun..."
Kerrang (Magazine) (p.47) - "Dick Valentine's eclectic and vaguely sinister mob thrill with vaudeville hooks, jolly synths and big bursts of guitar."