Electric Banana
Odds & Ends
Electric Banana, Odds & Ends
The skinny on Electric Banana’s Odds & Ends? It, like their website, implies (the auspiciously added ‘rocks’ to their moniker) rocks. Grafting metallic guitars onto authentically 1980s synthetic drums, EB seems pleased to give the middle finger to their influences — there’s no way Dave Mustaine would be caught dead listening to this, and perhaps too aggressive for the members of Tears For Fears. Everyone else caught in the middle will shake their ass to the underlying synth-dirge, the fuzzed-out guitar, and the shout-a-long choruses. The punch of the first three tracks leads into a more somber, mature Electric Banana than seen on previous releases — the mood darkens, and you’ll be touched by the emotion-emitting vocalist Sean Patton’s usually loud-ass-throat for “Johnny’s 1957” and “You Don’t Have to Leave Me.” Things smoothly wrap up with an instrumental dance-off, which somehow bridges the gap between the Butthole Surfers and Daft Punk, without sounding like shit.
– W.C. Ruffnel
