Electric
Frankenstein - Super Kool
By Travis Becker
Here’s a challenge: Collect every
recording by punk journeymen, Electric Frankenstein. To complete
the challenge you’ll have to perform a Herculean scavenger hunt the likes
of which will have to match the original Dr. Frankenstein’s lofty ambitions
of necrotic regeneration. Instead of having to locate a few dozen
viable human body parts, you’ll have to dig up over 100 appearances on
record spanning 40-plus record labels. Good luck with that.
In thirteen or so years worth of living death as a band, EF has made a
career of cranking out albums faster than Starbucks can mass produce over-priced
coffee houses.
In 2005, it looks as if EF will continue
their breakneck pace. With a new album due out in April, clearly,
the pitchfork-bearing mobs of EF fans needed a stopgap for those extra
few weeks. And so, “Super Kool” is brought to life on the mountain
laboratory’s table.
In what can only be described as Electric
Frankenstein’s umpteenth release of their storied career, the band delivers
like they always have. There’s really no point in expecting anything flashy
in an EF record, they don’t have time for bells and whistles. It’s
just bass drums and guitars yet again, but if you’re doing it right, why
do it different? Besides, they have to get to work on their next record.
“Super Kool” is an EP culled from the tracks
that will not appear on the bands forthcoming album featuring five new
songs and three covers of such stalwarts as the Sex Pistols, Black Sabbath
and the Nomads. To their credit, these songs don’t sound at all like
castoffs. “Injected”, “Tear it Down”, and the title track are all
worthy additions to their already vast catalog. There’s a workman
like efficiency to these songs, this is a band going to work doing what
they do best. EF is past of the point of even being “in the pocket”,
they’re symbiotically related. Even the covers are above average for covers,
the Sabbath tune is particularly strong. If they had recorded it
in an outhouse it would fit in nicely on Evil-Live, it’s got that Misfits
feel to it. Beyond the obvious influence of the Misfits, Black Flag, and
the Damned, hints of early Mudhoney and even a little Grand Funk slip through
the tightly woven rock tapestry that is Electric Frankenstein. The
bands that EF is most reminiscent of, however, are juggernauts like the
Ramones and Motorhead. It’s hard to try to drop EF into shoes as
large as those, but their mentality is the same as the above-mentioned
genre-definers. It just so happens that the genre of music they elect
to play has already been defined. In essence, what makes the Ramones
and Motorhead tick is the complete lack of regard for anything extraneous.
The music is stripped down and rocking, but, as EF is quick to point out
in their bio, they don’t forget the “Roll”. In a perfect world these
songs would be Pop songs. The world, however, is not perfect.
And it’s probably not ready for Electric Frankenstein either, but resistance
may be futile as we continue getting buried in piles of their LP’s and
CD’s like so many fuzz pink Tribbles.
But hey, at least they Rock... And Roll.
CD Info
Electric
Frankenstein - Super Kool
Label: VMS/Morphius
Records
Rating:  (on
an EP curve)
Tracks:
1. Super Kool
2. Who's Watching You
3. Tear it Down
4. My Distraction
5. Injected
6. You Can't Keep a Bad Man Down (Nomads
cover)
7. Satellite (Sex Pistols cover)
8. Never Say Die (Black Sabbath cover) |
Listen
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