Danger! High Voltage - EP

Album Review

On their Danger! High Voltage EP, the Detroit quintet Electric Six pick up where their previous incarnation, the Wildbunch, left off, cranking out a cleverly stupid mix of garage rock, disco, metal, and whatever else catches their fancy. While "Danger! High Voltage," "I Lost Control (Of My Rock & Roll)," and "Remote Control (Me)" were all previously released as Wildbunch singles, these newly recorded versions feature a more polished sound and more fashionably tacky posturing. A horny single in both senses of the word, "Danger! High Voltage (Soulchild Radio Mix)" adds a cheesy pop touch to the disco-punk trend, mixing brass, a steely guitar line, and disarmingly androgynous backing vocals from one John S. O'Leary (although he sounds more than a little bit like the White Stripes' Jack White) into a charismatic guilty pleasure. The remix by les Rhythmes Digitales' Jacques Lu Cont shares the ironic humor of the original but takes it in a totally different direction, stripping the song down to its chorus and adding squiggly synths to give it a robotic danceability. On both "Danger! High Voltage" and the less brilliant but equally flamboyant "I Lost Control (Of My Rock & Roll)," singer Dick Valentine adopts an elaborate, psuedo-Euro accent that could actually just be the results of having his tongue stuck so firmly in his cheek. Even on the relatively straightforward rocker "Remote Control (Me)," there's a theatrical, arty distance that sets Electric Six apart from other garage-rock revivalists and leaves little room for fence-sitting; you'll take the group's high-concept, low-brow style as campy, catchy fun or as cynical and calculated. Either way, the Danger! High Voltage EP is a good introduction to Electric Six's different sounds and sets the stage for their full-length debut, Fire.