FRANK LENZ
THE HOT STUFF
(10-TRACK FULL-LENGTH CD)
Frank Lenz is either the funkiest white guy this side of Beck, Barry White's sauciest love child, or, hell, both. Either way, Lenz, who has spent most of his time drumming in such bands as the Lassie Foundation and Fold Zandura, has concocted a fetching full-length that's nothing like Lassie's winsome melodies or Fold's spry alt.-rock. Instead, he dishes out a totally unexpected, heaping, 10-tune slab of prime '70s slow-groove R&B, replete with wide organ swaths, bump-and-grind backbeats, alluring horn charts, and Lenz's come-hither, octave-smashing voice—all of it meshing to create an album that slithers around like the soundtrack of a vintage porn flick. Really, someone was feeling randy in the studio when these tracks were, uh, “being laid” (ba-dum-bump!), and Lenz lets the horniness vibrate throughout. On the opening title track, he croons, “Come on, come in, let it begin now. . . . The hot stuff is in you”—and we doubt he's talking Tabasco. “Freak Train” is a seductive invite—he wants you to take a ride, y'understand—a slow jam laced with string sounds; he lets an uncredited female singer wail away on “Electric Light Battleship,” unless it's Lenz himself manipulating his voice through some freaky electronic noodling; and “Line Dancer” drops Mercury Rev in the lyrics—”I've got Mercury Rev on the radio, so don't come too late”—which made us giggle because we don't think we've ever heard them on our radio (yo, Frank—can we borrow yours?). The biggest pleasure in all this is that it comes from the creative psyche of a drummer, and drummers (we remind you) aren't supposed to be talented! But nonetheless, this is juicy, oily stuff. Slip it on—and probably a Trojan, while you're at it.
Info: (714) 992-6202; Di******@ao*.com">Di******@ao*.com; www.northernrecords.com. OC and Long Beach bands and musicians! Mail your CDs and tapes (along with your vital contact info, plus any impending performance dates) for possible review to: Locals Only,OC Weekly, P.O. Box 10788, Costa Mesa, CA 92627-0247.
