The Frank Mustard Project

Jelly Butter EP

Comprising 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.

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This article appears in May 23 • 2014.

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Tim Stegall contributed to The Austin Chronicle 1991-1995, and was a staff writer 1995-1997. He returned as a contributor in 2013. He has also freelanced for publications ranging from Flipside to Alternative Press to Guitar World. He plays punk rock guitar and sings in the Hormones.