Last full length outing ‘Grand Explosivos’ had me musing that: “Some bands look back at their early work and feel that they have to move on, others just get fixated on endlessly repeating themselves. Here you feel that Electric Boys have chosen the best of both worlds – embracing the past but also managing to make it sound as fresh and exciting as ever. A real contender for album of the year.”
And here we are a couple of years on with an EP – a scant four track affair, with no vinyl or physical media in sight. As someone who over the years has collected the entire catalogue in all its various forms it looks like the buck stops here. Thankfully I still have the ancient tech available to burn a CD, print out a cover and stick it in the collection…
All those antique ramblings out of the way, it must surely be time to dance!
Opening up with ‘Head Honcho’ has all the funk and swing you could want and a whisky-soaked vocal that punctuates the swagger. It’s a song that has all the hallmarks of the bands early work, quirky lyrics, a cool breakdown and a groove to die for.
Track two ‘Grand Explosivos’ underlines the feeling that this is an EP that, even if not made up of tracks that didn’t make the album of that same name, are certainly sonic siblings. its a song that jumps right in with crunch in the guitars before falling back onto a lighter tequila flavoured passage. It’s a light and shade that works particularly well and a solo to set the dusky Mexican night on fire.
‘Looking For Vajayay’ (surely we know where to find them by now?) adds a hypnotic chug of guitars to fuel a funky stumble through the streets of the shady side of town, in the eternal search for ‘vajayay’. It’s another winner but maybe the only song here that sounds like it maybe needed a little more time to simmer.
Final track ‘Keep It Dark’ is a great song, more classic rock than funky stew, it’s catchy as hell and sports a killer solo and lights the way hopefully for more from a band who whilst always delivering the goods over the years now seem capable of producing another masterpiece. There’s few bands of a ‘certain vintage’ that seem so effortlessly capture the grace and excess of their youth.
EP of the year – no doubt about it.
9/10
