Imperial State Electric
Pop war
Psychout Records
Yep, I'm one of those closet nerds who owns pretty much every Hellacopters' output since "Payin' the dues" in '97. It always amazes me how one band I recently reviewed for IAT, borrowing the same 70's/80's references -- like the wailing Alice Cooper-Kiss riff thing -- can do it so wrong, while Nicke from The Hellacopters does it so right time and time again. Is it the vocals? I'm thinking that's part of it. Maybe even the guitar sound and makeup-less image. There's always some raw underbelly of punk behind it too, not to mention transcendent dueling guitar solos between a lefty and a righty and a highly educated sense of the blues. But you knew that already. Sure, Imperial State Electric sound like they're continuing on the more mature course of The Hellacopters' final releases, but after a decent debut in 2010, Nicke's once again enlisted his pals in Backyard Babies, The Datsuns and Captain Murphy to release yet another solid album. I wouldn't call it the best or most radical record we've seen this year and I have yet to find anything rivaling my favorite 'copters tunes, but it is hit-worthy and (more importantly?) party-friendly. And it's comforting to know that wise musicians are out there not deviating too drastically from what they do best. Huge respect to Nicke for continually slingin' out something new with something old.
- Ann Sung-an Lee
