Certain corners of the internet went batty earlier this summer over the trailer for Rob Zombie’s The Munsters. Beyond the fact that Rob Zombie was directing a PG-rated Munsters movie, the trailer looked wonderfully goofy. Bold green and red lights bathed the action. The production quality seemed to fall somewhere between “Spirit Halloween” and “live-action PBS Kids show.” Assuming Zombie is purposefully going for those things, The Munsters could be a hoot, akin to another beloved scary-silly movie…
Which brings us to Milwaukee electro-punk duo Lavish Waste and their debut record Juice Demon. Take a look at the cover. There are those same green and red lights bathing Steven Look and Emily Evans—though in this case, the poses and costumes are clearly paying homage to Tim Burton’s 1988 classic Beetlejuice. (“We’ve come for your daughter, Chuck.”) The music contained within may not exactly channel Danny Elfman or the Munsters‘ theme (Fall Out Boy already massacred the latter in 2015), but it does possess some of the same wicked, spooky-fun vibes.
Opener “Dirt Hollywood” is all low-fi keyboard beats and effects-drenched vocals, offset by a delightfully menacing guitar stomp. “Excess Yourself” takes a turn into retro-futuristic Kraftwerk territory, while “Strain From Kansas City” dirties up a disco beat for the most hook-filled and accessible three minutes of the album. (For more hook-filled goodness, revisit Look’s previous band, King Eye & The Squirts.) Juice Demon‘s title track is a hilarious and caffeinated ode to ultra-cheap knock-off Halloween costumes (Beetlejuice in particular), and closer “Discokoopa” plays like a red-alert instrumental for an especially grueling NES platformer. Do Look and Evans also turn in a mud-caked and deadpan version of “Ring Of Fire” (retitled “I Fell In”)? Yes they do.
“Having trouble with the living?” Beetlejuice asks in his used-car-salesman commercial. “I got demons running all through me!” At a brisk six tracks and 17 minutes, Juice Demon still manages to have plenty of good-time demons running through it, too.
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