Danger! High Voltage

AMG Review of Danger! High Voltage

Heather Phares
All Music Guide

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.