Listen local: Electric Laser People
July 13, 2008”]
Regular readers of this blog could probably compile a list of what I think is notable in music: local artists; funny, sexy or geeky lyrics; band members with academic or scientific day jobs; hooky, danceable songs; great live shows. If you had to create a band that I would love, Frankenstein-like, you’d probably come up with Electric Laser People. A minor disclaimer – I initially went to see them play because they are friends of friends.
Musically, think electroclash crossed with hip-hop, with a dash of punk, and a soupçon of opera, thanks to classically-trained Jess Riley’s soaring vocals. The Boston-based (check) band sing songs like “Disco 3000,” about going to the future and trying to get with ‘permatan honeys’ at a club where ‘everyone is beautiful/and owned by Monsanto’ (lyrics: check). Lead singer and bassist Dan Paluska is an award-winning robotics engineer for art installations – check out this insane video of one of his pieces – and guitarist Grant Kristofek is a design consultant; we share a colleague, in fact. (day jobs: check).
Their album, Straight Talk on Raising Kids, is permanently embedded in my car stereo, to say nothing of my brain, since many of their songs are catchy to the point of becoming earworms (hooky: check). However, they really come into their own live. Like Dan Deacon or Holy Fuck, they just seem like they are having enormous fun on stage, and that gets communicated to the audience (great live: check). Electric Laser People play at Church on August 20th. Go check them out.
More Electric Laser People: myspace website allmusic bio buy
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