Thunderbirds Are Now! -Justamustache

Tue 8th Nov, 2005 in Music Reviews

If one was to attempt to express the music of Thunderbirds Are Now! as a mathematical equation, it would possibly go something like as follows: 

Thunderbirds Are Now! = electro-glam-post-punk-pop = dance-rock for a post-modern world = the end of Bloc Party(?)

The band maintains that, ‘We like to let our hot licks and bomb ass beats do the talking for us,’ but rest assured – there is plenty to be said about their latest release, Justamustache.  Opening with the enthusiastic chant, ‘T-H-U-N-D-E-R-B-I-R-D-S ARE NOW!’ it is difficult to imagine that the album will be anything less than an exhausting yet thoroughly enjoyable adventure through some of the catchiest music to be found in the world today. 

It’s hard to believe that this band from Detroit used to be a Tool tribute outfit.  There is none of Maynard’s brooding here; in fact, the extent of their moodiness is an infectious sense of glee.  This is especially apparent throughout the amusingly titled Better Safe Than Safari.  If this song does not get you up and dancing then nothing will.  With its chunky bass line, energetic drums and Ryan Allen’s perfectly awkward vocals, Thunderbirds Are Now! demonstrate what they are about from the word go and it’s all about fun, fun, fun.  But despite the sometimes-caricatured humour of their sound, the solidity of their melodies is impossible to ignore.  So to is the witty absurdity of their lyrics, with such priceless snatches as, ‘Give me a kiss/With vocabulary lips’. 

Justamustache follows this funky formula from start to finish, expanding on the post-punk features of angular guitar and prominent bass to incorporate all means of electronic bumps and squeaks.  The band knows its way around a synthesizer and is not afraid to exhibit, as evidenced by track such as 198090 (Aquatic Cupid’s).  There are echoes of Devo in the band’s awkward energy and Thunderbirds Are Now! are certainly every bit as entertaining as those Moog-wielding kooks. 

Bodies Adjust is the only track for which Thunderbirds Are Now! slow their otherwise frenetic pace.  With its New Order-esque intro and reliance on electronic beats, it is comparatively minimal in nature and the band pull off this new approach with considerable success.  Follow-up This World is Made of Paper (Held Together by a Stapler) re-establishes the group as one of the most danceable around, despite featuring a curdling scream to rival Dani Filth.  In spite of the band’s broad instrumental range and their meshing of several genre formulas, nothing on this album sounds excessive.  The instrumental layers slot neatly into one another and the depth of the songs is complex without becoming complicated; a difficult balance to maintain. 

Justamustache is an album that is impossible to listen to without imagining how the songs would translate to the stage.  My personal vision is a frontman with all the assumed egotism of Pelle Almqvist (The Hives) and the tightness of a seasoned rock band.  Lack of confidence is certainly no issue here and it is hard to imagine a Thunderbirds Are Now! show being anything less than electrifying.  This band produces some of the most exciting, energetic and downright fun music around and if rumours of an Australian tour in February are true then the boys from Thunderbirds Are Now! are guaranteed to set the stage on fire.  Hopefully only in a metaphorical sense but with licks as ‘hot’ as theirs, you never know.