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Los Disidentes del Sucio Motel, Soundtrack From the Motion Picture: They Need Somewhere Else to Drive

So they’re a French band with a Spanish name that sings in English – got it? Really, that’s just the start of the semi-confused/confusing elements at play with Strasbourg five-piece Los Disidentes del Sucio Motel. Their debut album, Soundtrack From the Motion Picture (released via Deadlight Entertainment), is to a movie that doesn’t exist, follows a context-less narrative structure and boasts numerous guest appearances throughout, culminating in a hidden bonus track cover of a remade “We are the World” – they turned it into “We Rock the World” (yes, really) – that has no fewer than 15 singers on it. The record is 12 tracks, 13 with the bonus, and 64 minutes of desert rock primarily derived from Queens of the Stone Age and Kyuss, and moves into and out of stoner ‘70s biker movie clichés with all the grace of an antelope.

It’s also a lot of fun.

Ultimately, that’s what saves Soundtrack From the Motion Picture. There are a few flubs as regards the tracks, but even those are upbeat, and when Los Disidentes del Sucio Motel hook into a catchy desert rock chorus, they do it right. Of course, they’re also pretty much doing it exactly how Josh Homme would – in addition to being one of the best songs on the album, “Chapter II: Revenge Is A Dish Best Served Cold” is also so much out of the Songs for the Deaf playbook that it could almost count as a cover – but I don’t think they’re trying to pass any of this material off as being completely original. Rather, the cumbersomely-nicknamed band – Francky “The Ice Screamer” Maverick on guitar/vocals, Bobby “The Big Bear” Maverick on bass/vocals, Johnny “The Devil” Maverick on guitar, Billy “The Mad Guy” Maverick on drums and Sonny “The Magic Finger” McCormick on keys/vocals – lightheartedly groove their way through opener “Sir Dany Jack,” the accented-English chorus of “You’ve gotta rock/You’ve gotta ride/You’ve gotta roll and do it all the time” being completely heartfelt and endearingly free of irony. The band members may be playing characters, but it’s pretty clear they put some time into the songwriting, silly though the results might be. “All Alone”’s second half is right off Welcome to Sky Valley, and “Not Folk” follows a quirky Homme-y start-stop pattern that’ll be familiar right from the guitar intro.

“Chapter II: Revenge Is A Dish Best Served Cold” is like-minded, but with a fuller sound and more interesting vocal interplay, that come out especially in some post-hardcore screams that show up again on “Oogie Boogie Drive in Burger” later on, and of course on “We Rock the World” as well. “Brotherhood” is the shortest of the bunch at 3:26 – nine of the 12 are between four and five minutes long – but one of the most effective riffy grooves – the guitars really dialed into the compressed Dave Catching production-style crunch – and it’s a catchy, unpretentious chorus that Los Disidentes del Sucio Motel do well with, taking a step back from some of the purported craziness on the other tracks to just ride the riff. “Beauty Among the Crowd” ends the first half of the album with guest lead vocals from Chrys Caridy, back-ups from Mary Schoenbock and another Queens of the Stone Age guitar line underscored by organ sounds from “The Magic Finger,” whose nom de guerre, if you didn’t notice before, is the best of them all.

The second half of the tracklist keeps to many of the same patterns. Schoenbock and the organ return on the more lumbering “Backdoor Woman,” and “No Pity for the Cheaters” holds some similarity in structure and arrangement to “Chapter II: Revenge Is A Dish Best Served Cold,” but isn’t as well done on the whole. The aforementioned “Oogie Boogie Drive in Burger” lives up to its name, but it’s “From 66 to 51” that’s the highlight of the second half of Soundtrack From the Motion Picture. A guest lead vocal from Andreas Bengtsson of Swedish heavy rock outfit Deville fits well over the Euro-stoner flow and at 6:19, the track has a little more time to develop on its own and in relation to what’s around it. The same influences are at play, but Bengtsson helms the song capably, and the long fadeout adds some sense of atmosphere to the desert-hued antics. Comparatively “Under the Sun of New Mexico” is a comedown in theory, but the actuality works out to be less offensive. The chorus is essentially a hardcore breakdown, and the verse has one of “The Mad Guy”’s best performances on drums. Appropriate enough that he and the guitar should end the song, leading into the acoustic closer, “Somewhere Else to Drive.” Again, the accented-vocals are a big part of the charm here, as Los Disidentes del Sucio Motel try to channel Johnny Cash and deliver the best line of the whole album: “I wish I could set my memories on fire,” which is only held back by being repeated several times. Can’t blame them, as it’s a damn good line, but really easy to overdo too.

And speaking of overdone, “We Rock the World,” which comes on following a couple minutes’ silence, boasts a gang chorus (what else to do with 14 guest vocalists?) and a hardcore-styled reinterpretation of the original song, which was part of a number of problematically culturally-imperialist ‘80s benefits for the African continent. It’s obviously a joke, and given the jocular nature of the rest of the record, it’s not even out of place. You could probably argue that at over an hour, the album’s already long enough, but if you’re not on the hook by the time you get to “We Rock the World,” you’re not going to be, and if you are, you won’t care. Soundtrack From the Motion Picture has its issues, no doubt about it. At the same time, though, it almost acknowledges them head on by being so up front about its influences. Most listeners will probably brush it off as overly derivative, and I’m not sure I would argue with doing so, but there are a few flashes where Los Disidentes del Sucio Motel shine through with something more individual. Where they go from this concept record is anyone’s guess – projects like this tend to falter after an the idea that was the impetus for the band has been expressed – but Soundtrack From the Motion Picture is probably worth looking up for anyone still lamenting the fact that QOTSA never made Songs for the Deaf, Pt. 2 (even though they kind of did). Thinking about it can only detract from any possible enjoyment.

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Deadlight Entertainment

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