Electric Six: Absolute Pleasure (Metropolis)

The dynamic blend of Motor City hard-rock riffing and funky disco rhythms practiced by Detroit band Electric Six is best displayed in an anything-goes concert setting. So the group's first live album was a no-brainer.

The band's audacious attitude and unbridled enthusiasm can be credited in large part to the booming presence of frontman Dick Valentine, who comes across like a hybrid of carnival barker and drag-race announcer, whether he's testifying in song or engaging in between-songs patter.

An obvious highlight on the 17-track album is almost-hit "Danger! High Voltage!," in which a dance-floor inferno serves as proxy for incendiary love. Tracks such as "Infected Girls," "Jam It in the Hole" and "I Buy the Drugs" may lack subtlety, but they also are dosed with serious levels of rock 'n' roll abandon. Then there's "Gay Bar," a near-perfect example of wah-wah-laced psychedelic-garage rave-up.

"Future is in the Future" embraces living in the moment with muscular guitars, a robust dance beat and a Prince-style synth figure. It also features a breakdown during which the ever-charismatic Valentine repeatedly lauds his drummer and reminds the audience they are present during the making of an important live record. That self-aware hucksterism cannily balances irony and sincerity, and somehow the result is irresistible.