Electric Six

Remember back in 2002, around the time Rolling Stone magazine famously and lamely declared that rock was finally back, we were hit by an avalanche of bands trying to sound like the White Stripes or look exactly like the Strokes? Now we can all safely say that the Hives are not the next incarnation of Nirvana. We can also look with clarity at the few surviving groups that were actually worth some of the hype. Detroit-based Electric Six has always been something like the Napoleon Dynamite of indie rock. The band’s songs feel nerdy, and maybe you shouldn’t like them that much, but damn if they are not also catchy and danceable too. This has much to do with charismatic frontman Dick Valentine, whose suave swagger and racy lyrics turn songs like “Gay Bar” and the newly minted President Bush-baiting “Rock and Roll Evacuation” into fun, edgy, unpretentious gems of indie rock.