Boots Electric - Honkey Kong Review

Eagles of Death Metal frontman Jesse Hughes shows up with plenty of danceable grooves for the people via this 10-song slab of fun. Opening with “Complexity,” an easy-to-digest three minute platter that doesn’t really add up to much more than Hughes tossing out some cool beats and dashing off the word “shit” a few times, and closing with the rockabilly-ish “Swallowed By The Night”, Honkey Kong isn’t more than some carefree rock ‘n’ roll, nothing more, nothing less.


“Love You All The Thyme” is an appropriately neo-psychedelic-cum-pure pop number that imagines a marriage between Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and, in a weird, weird, way, Rilo Kiley––perhaps it’s the sense of soul and the handclaps that account for the latter. Whatever the case, it’s hard not to shake your hips and stomp your feet over the three-and-a-half minutes that whir by from the track’s first beat until its last.


In an age when everybody’s gotta engage in a little self-mythologizing, it seems only fitting that Hughes would whip out the “Boots Electric Theme”, a dose of sexy sleaze that you can take only as seriously as an elevated terrorist risk warning. It’s the kind of thing those charming English fellows in Cornershop might have done earlier in their career, but then cast aside as too sophomoric for release. Here, that lack of depth and maturity make it an utterly perfect moment....full text There’s a part of me that sincerely thinks that Boots Electric is the greatest rock star of all time. For the uninitiated (and you guys have really been missing out), Boots Electric, a.k.a. Jesse ‘The Devil’ Hughes, is one sleazily charismatic, wickedly entertaining half of Eagles Of Death Metal – Josh Homme’s ‘other band’. Honkey Kong is Hughes’s first solo effort since EODM’s flamboyantly catchy, lady-killing rock‘n’roll first caught the world’s attention back in 2004. You might remember the lead single from the band’s hilarious 2006 album Death By Sexy, ‘I Want You So Hard (Boy’s Bad News)’. The track boasted cameos from Jack Black and Dave Grohl, but as far as EODM are concerned, Boots Electric has always been the star of the show. Not only has the guy written some damn catchy songs, but he is exhilaratingly confident, pant-wettingly funny and ever so slightly nuts. What more could you want from a rock star?

‘Complexity’ opens Honkey Kong with a patter of electronic drums that echoes LCD Soundsystem at their most frivolous, before squelching pulses of synth and goofy faux-baritone vocals make this one of the dumbest, most fun pop songs you’re ever likely to hear. If David Bowie had spent the early Eighties working with Mr Blobby rather than Nile Rodgers, ‘Let’s Dance’ would have sounded like this. Undoubtedly there’ll be plenty of people who find that this song makes them violently ill, but to anyone with even the slightest sense of humour, it’s clear that ‘Complexity’ is a work of dance-‘til-you-hurl genius.

The song is a break from Hughes’ blues-guitar-wielding tradition, though it’s completely in keeping with Boots Electric’s fun-loving, womanising persona. That gets cranked up to eleven on ‘Boots Electric Theme’, a salacious collaboration with Brody Dalle that sounds like a porno soundtrack written by Le Tigre. It’s probably Boots Electric’s filthiest work to date, with steamy lyrics that make Hughes and Dalle sound like a twisted parody of Elton John and Kiki Dee....full text Best known for his dirty and danceable garage rock tendencies, ‘Honkey Kong’ sees Eagles Of Death Metal frontman Jesse Hughes marching to a different, though no less erotic beat, as Boots Electric. A blend of electronic beats, keyboard-heavy dance grooves and hip-shaking pop underpinned by distorted guitar lines, this is funky and enjoyable stuff. ‘Speed Demon’ sees his rock ‘n’ roll roots in full blossom, though things take a turn for the worse when he tries his hand at electro-balldry on ‘No Ffun’....full text