PHRANK
WHAT'S YOUR PLEASURE
ALBUM GMR RELEASE: APRIL 22, 2002 REVIEW: JUNE 28, 2002

The concept of playing music on junk is deceptively simple. There is a world of difference between just drumming on garbage pails and the refined use of weird instrumentation of the likes of Einstürzende Neubauten or Tom Waits.
The use of industrial equipment in music is as much a question of image as a musical purpose. The industrial music genre has simultaneously been criticising and glorifying the grand project of industrialisation using its tools and symbols, machines and noise in their music as well as on stage. Many artists have used this imagery to convey ideas of subversive politics.
Not so for Phrank. These Swedes have been known to wear gas masks on stage, playing “angle grinder”, “railroad track”, “fire extinguisher” and other diverse instruments. Yet I wouldn’t go as far as calling them industrial. Songs are essentially built around sampled guitars and the junk noise seems to be added for a little extra effect. The result is something like harsh electronic body music with occasional noisy peaks. Claimed likenesses to Rammstein and The Prodigy should be taken lightly; Phrank are much less disciplined, closer to the garage than the studio. They are in it for the hell of it, and songs like “Arsepunch” and “Lardass” have no aspirations to politics or poetry: this is entertainment! Somehow, the band seems to be all about dressing up, making noise and having a blast.
The first single and Public Image Ltd cover “This Is Not a Love Song” is a pretty nice, but the rest of the album is lacking in good choruses and the strained vocals leave something to be desired.

MATTIAS HUSS