The Frank Mustard Project
Jelly Butter EP
Reviewed by Tim Stegall, Fri., May 23, 2014
The Frank Mustard Project
Jelly Butter EPComprising local pranksters playing pseudonymously – including main collaborators "Frank Mustard" (Jeff Rowe) and "Ed Mayo" (bassist Eric Carter), plus keyboardist "Richard Ranch" (Justin Sherman) and ex-Alejandro Escovedo drummer Hector Munoz ("El MexiCan Droid") – the FMP follow up a three-year-old EP, Future Music, and considerable touring. This melange of robotic synthesizer and percussion, disaffected vocals, and guitars dripping with distortion thick and ugly enough to make Billy Gibbons guffaw, boasts some seriously catchy New Wave. Opener "Do Some Damage" casts the rules of Fight Club into some oddball erotic ballet, while closing bookend "Let's Get Radioactive" sounds like Top 40 bubblegum for teens of a future imagined by some ultra-paranoid, Cold War-era sci-fi novelist. Never has ennui and angst sounded so danceable or commercial. Play this in your Renault while driving 150 mph on your way to your next nervous breakdown, next therapist appointment, or your next computer date with a robot.
