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Staff IconSunshine - Electric! Kill! Kill! (Cover Artwork)

Sunshine

Electric! Kill! Kill! (2004)
Custard

Reviewer Rating:


Contributed by: Adam
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Published on March 4th 2005


Electric! Kill! Kill! is wonderfully polished, remarkably sharp, electronic-tinged punk rock from the Czech Republic. Sunshine shares stylistic quirks with the current crop of post-PIL / Gang Of Four dance punk acts, but it's a mistake to assume they've jumped on that bandwagon. This is a band more than ten years into their career, who've shared splits with At The Drive-In and No Knife, and who (for whatever reason) hasn't really broken the US market yet. It's funny then that while they're not necessarily following the trends of today, those trends are what might help Sunshine gain wider recognition.

Fans of Sunshine's tourmates the Faint will definitely have a good time with this. The band's sound is still pretty well rooted in rock, particularly New Order-styled new wave (or maybe later-day Primal Scream), and as such they lay down some infectious tunes while avoiding any outright "Death Disco" moments. This EP features two new tracks: the dark, frenetic "Victimisanothernameforlover" and the speedy rock song "Vampire's Dancehall." There's also two remixes here, the first being "Lower Than Low," done by Chris Corner of Sneaker Pimps / I AM X, and it leans heavily on the new wave aspects. Casey Chaos of Amen remixes the tune "What You've Got" and it's the best of the batch. The song comes off furious and sleazy, more concerned with creating a propulsive crunchy rock groove than anything else. The EP wraps up with another Sunshine original, "Thru Magnetic Fields," which previously appeared on 2001's Necromance (Gold Standard Labs released it stateside in 2003). The tune's another throwback to their influences, with a bubbling bass line underlying vocals filtered through a vocoder. It fits the overall feel of the EP so the fact that it's an older cut isn't really apparent.

Electric! Kill! Kill! Is meant to tide fans over until the band's upcoming full-length hits, but it’s a fine introduction to the band for the uninitiated. It's true that we're being pushed a lot of music cut from this cloth nowadays, but to their credit Sunshine are at least drawing their influences from an earlier, less diluted, pool than their peers.



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    Anonymous (March 7, 2005)

    i killed them.

    shindo (March 6, 2005)

    1234go: This came out late last year as far as I know, or at least thats when it showed up on my doorstep... and I'd love to review your records but I haven't seen any of them (although I do own your FHH / StC split and it's wonderful, but I digress).

    Anyways, Brian's the review coordinator and he gets most of the mail, so give him a shout to figure out where things are.

    -adam

    1234go (March 6, 2005)

    Didn't this come out a long time ago...like isn't what you're reviewing even a reissue? I could be wrong. Either way...review new records...like the ones I send in for a change!

    Anonymous (March 5, 2005)

    These guys are alright, but the Czech Republic fuckin' rules! Hottest chicks this side of...hotchickville or something!

    innocentbystander (March 5, 2005)

    saw these guys open for sparta and they put on a great show.

    Anonymous (March 5, 2005)

    isn't that what the internet is all about?

    bemused (March 4, 2005)

    I'm by no means the coolest guy in the world, but did you guys just argue over punctuation on a msg board?

    -Chris-

    inagreendase (March 4, 2005)

    While we're on the topic of punctuation and grammar...
    ATTN: Anchors. When you address a track on an album in your review, you always put "albums." That's plural, not possessive. Throw in an apostrophe and we can call it a day.

    Anchors (March 4, 2005)

    Two things:

    It should say 'bands names.'

    And I realize the punctuation is in the album not band name, it just got me thinking. Oh, and I forgot Tora! Tora! Torrance!

    Anchors (March 4, 2005)

    Punctuation in bands annoys me.

    Love Like... Electrocution
    I, Robot
    Stop It!!
    !!!
    Godspeed You! Black Emperor
    Against Me!
    ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
    Volcano, I'm Still Excited!!

    Enough already. Well, it could be worse, they could have blood or dying in their name. That needs to stop immediately.

    xWileyx (March 4, 2005)

    I like them I just hope they don't get all bland like all of the other "retro" bands

    Anonymous (March 4, 2005)

    I heard a couple of songs of their before and liked them. I'll need to check this out.

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