Well, well, well, looks like the 2 long years since the release of Rad Times Xpress IV are over and the new disc, Electric Brick Wall, is here to rock our socks off.
Jennifer Herrema and her crew of radical compatriots are back with 11 tunes of fuzzy, scuzzy glory. More than once a listener will be forgiven from exclaiming "What the hell am I listening to?" as genres and influences jostle like folks trying to get into Studio 54 in 1979.
From the Parliament-meets-Jermaine Jackson wickedness of "Physical Emotions" to the Rockwell-with-guitars charm of "Eve's Child", Electric Brick Wall is, somehow, more of a wonderful hodgepodge of styles than its predecessor.
And yet, somehow this one feels more coherent. On Black Bananas' new record the band sounds more comfortable. While Electric Brick Wall might sound like 3 records playing at once -- not that that's a bad thing, mind you! -- the band's reliance on funk tropes has loosened things up and tightened them simultaneously. Less of a genre-hopper than Rad Times Xpress IV, 2014's Electric Brick Wall is funky-fresh, you know?
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Electric Brick Wall drops out of the sky on June 24 from Drag City.