"Pleasure's everything!" calls Scott McCloud from the second track, "Pleasurized," which sounds like a hard rush through a space tunnel. And in the kick-off song, "Park Avenue," the singer teases and taunts like Iggy Pop/Devil's advocate: "Do you still dream like me/Infectious, corruptive dreams?" In a way, this is Girls Against Boys' answer to Radiohead's trippy, dreamy, nervous OK Computer. McCloud -- alongside the propulsive, hardcore keyboard work of Eli Janney, the primal drumming of Alexis Fleisig, the gut-thumping bass of Johnny Temple -- says "quit worrying, let's party!" In other words, Girls Against Boys has produced the most decadent disco album of our decade.
It's a seductive place to be, but, as fun as it is, it's hard to imagine Freak*on*ica standing up to the test of time. That's kind of the point, as McCloud clearly states when he begs the question: "Fuse, just burn like you don't exist/My idea of fun/Can I burn with you?" The album is blatantly one-dimensional, and not nearly as interesting as 1996's House of GVSB. This is a concept album with one theme: "fusion." In "Speedway," with its lines, "Kiss my soundsystem... Can you do it like a machine?", it's the robotic fusion of man and machine. With "Vogue Thing," "Psycho-Future," and others, it's about fusing sex and advertising. With "Push the Fader" and "Roxy," it's about fusing sex and product (music). All in all, it's about getting what pleasure you can from a capitalist system that's built on guilt and the pressure of owning the "next big thing."
Of course, this is where it gets tangled... if things go the way they should for Girls Against Boys, they will be that next big thing. Mocking the system, Girls Against Boys is ready to ride it out for what it's worth. After all, in the end, Freak*on*ica is more about sticking your head in the speakers, seizing the dance floor, and rocking out than it is about anything else.
-- Sara Scribner