DC Larson's JUKEBOX JURY: August 2025

Sunday, August 31, 2025

Niki Sullivan

You Better Get a Move On

(Bear Family)

As an erstwhile Buddy Holly confrere, Niki knew damn well the fireworks real Rock'n'Roll packed, prior to bell-bottomed Nancy-lads' sissified blandishments. The esoteric Crickets alumnus bopped and strolled as only a first-generation cool-cat could. In step with the 1959 moment, though, Niki buffed away serrated edges, and crafted tunes that swung but were not so aggressive as to spook small animals. Here preserved are snapshots portraying his proclivities. Rugs are in for cuttings.

Bear Family advises of a "limited edition of only 500 copies."

Recommended: "It's All Over," "I Told Everybody," "Waitin'," "Take 9," "Treat 'm Gently," "It Really Doesn't Matter Now," "Creepin' In," "Say Hey Little Lover," "You Better Get a Move On"

Videos: "It's All Over" "I Told Everybody"

Down From Jersey

Paper Marriage

(Down From Jersey Records)

Three imperatives heft this: Players successfully grasp for instruments' meatiest capacities; groove pulsations make listeners' bones their cribs; and the foregoing are fused in fashions that seduce. Don't misapprehend behind comely Pop persuasion; tunes are mightily trussed by I-beams of steel. The air is thin, up here.

Recommended: "4pm Flowers," "Gemini," "Name of the Game" "Spy vs Spy," "Sweatin' Every Minute," "Reason to Call," "Linger"

Videos: "4pm Flowers" "Spy vs Spy" "Linger"

End it

Wrong Side of Heaven

(Flatspot Records)

Crunched tempest lofting harmonies that glide on the highest trails above? The counterpoint engrosses. Should Hardcore and Soul mateship strike readers as inauspicious, lending ears to the present effort is advised. Lead vocals beyond which no known note breathes, command. Shrewd fusion of literate blueprinting and sideswiping deploy. The resultant product grabs, with consequential subjugation.

Recommended: "Pale Horse," "Life Sublime," "Optical Delusions" "Could You Love Me/"

Videos: "Pale Horse" "Life Sublime" "Could You Love Me?"

Nightshift Merchandise

Brooklyn Vegan

Impericon

Apple

Razor Syndikit

Subculture Royalty

(Self-issued)

Spike Clarke grabs saxophone from holster to streak vivid lines atop "Meet the Rats!" and "103;" the former, a stutter-stepping, Psychobilly dash across terrains carbonated, and the latter, a moderated, Blues-aware articulation. Garrett Monroe splashes vibrancy via mightily caffeinated guitarwork. Per the Bandcamp listing, creators Alex Parsons (who turns his hand to sundry axes) and drum/vocals artisan Ben Rogers (the pair credit paranormal muse) boast previous strivings in Punk, Jazz, church combos, and (in Ben's case) even Polka. By that, we are reminded that genres share blood. It's all music, and we love it all.

Recommended: "Meet the Rats!," "Something in the Water," "Graveyard Boogie," "103," "Rat Life," "RDG," "Twilight Rampage," "Dive Bar Stomp"

Video: rehearsal snippet

Facebook (Alex)

Bandcamp

Instagram

Tuesday, August 26, 2025

Levi Dexter and the Ripchords, feat. Danny B Harvey

The Complete Studio Recordings digital album

(Daniel Bryan Harvey)

The early 1980s were electric: Golden-piped Robert Gordon, Danny Dean, and Colin Winski strutted at the fore of a stateside revival of raw Rock'n'Roll. Numerous European precincts seethed in like mode.

Levi had recently left anglo-American neo-Rockabilly dervishes the Rockats (a glad-rags gang the fancy-footwork Roots Man had founded, and to whose thoroughly solid cat-stylings Danny would later add his eminently gone fret ravagings). Shoulder-to-shoulder, and crackingly assisted by young fire-hurlers easily equal to the frenetic mission, Levi and Danny instilled crisp swagger into the wonderfully rakish bop creature first raised up in nights of white-walls, rickety tables, and gravel back-road games of Chicken.

This compilation first saw issuance in 2015. Two versions of the recordings are today available: a 15-track release, and one comprising 19 cuts.

Recommended: "I Get So Excited," "Other Side of Midnight," "Victim of Kool," "Let's Roll," "Jitterbop Baby," "That's It, That's All," "B-I-Bickey-B-Bo-Bo-Go," "Reckless Rebel" (demo), "I'm Gone," "Catfight," "21 Days"

Videos: "Other Side of Midnight" "Victim of Kool" "That's It, That's All" "I'm Gone"

Levi:

Danny B:

The Hangmen

Hellriders on the Wall of Death digital EP

(Self-issued)

'Descent' applies in two manners, here. Each morbid episode - one, a double-time portrait of wickedness, the other, lurching with all eternity's time - incorporates descending chordal negotiations. 'Descent' also describes a dark journey not considered by persons who shouldn't be listening to Psycho, anyway. The rest of us relish badness perpetrated well.

Recommended: "Hellriders on the Wall of Death," "I See Dead People" (reheasal room recording)

Video: "Hellriders on the Wall of Death" (live)

Back in the Day, 1928

Tampa Red & Georgia Tom

"It's Tight Like That" single

(Vocalian)

"'It’s more of a combination between suggestive lyrics and comedy mixed with Blues as a background, and they had a bunch of people that were doing this so-called Hokum Blues, which was almost like a code language,' said John Tefteller of Tefteller’s World’s Rarest Records, in a 2012 Goldmine article. 'They could use words that people in the black community knew what they meant.'"

Some say "It's Tight Like That" was among the earliest waxings of the 'Hokum' style, and that the disc proved quite popular. (Indeed, future days saw numerous reinterpretations, both by Tampa Red and others.) Red and Georgia Tom had thrown in together to play brothels and house parties. The two produced an eventual 60 records, sometimes using names "The Hokum Boys" and "Tampa Red's Hokum Jug Band."

Their rough-hewn, acoustic-and-piano renderings - topped by candid vocalizations that had for years knocked around several unabashedly natural blocks - attracted and retained approbation. Many Easy Riders grinned expectantly when finger-picked gut-box and bawdy-house 88s embraced ribald themes.

Early Hokum Blues efforts were primitive. rural double-entendre ribaldries whose slyly smutty imprints thrived in decades-later waxings like Billy Ward and the Dominoes' "60 Minute Man" and Dorothy Ellis' "Drill Daddy Drill."

It hardly shocks that unromanced sparkler Tampa Red earned renown that endures in the minds of Blues connoisseurs. But the case of Georgia Tom does give pause: Under his birth name of Thomas Dorsey, Georgia later enjoyed celebration as the "father of Gospel," penning various beloved praiseful selections (such as "Take My Hand, Precious Lord) that stirred passions in beholders' higher ambitions, just as his earlier works had done with regard to barrel-house revelers' earthy ones.

Back in the Day, 1956 and 1957

Ray Harris

"Come on Little Mama" b/w "Where'd You Stay Last Night" single

"Greenback Dollar" b/w "Foolish Heart" single

(Sun)

Common knowledge among those whose familiarity with golden-age Rockabilly exceeds marqee icons, Ray, too, windmilled in that class. He issued these two singles (other recordings by him went unreleased in their eras.) "Come on Little Mama" remains one of the genre's more sweat-flinging and histrionically whooping specimens. Wayne Cogswell tore off six-string franticness that courted psychiatric investigation. Somewhat measured, "Where'd You Stay Last Night?" also attested to Ray's unique bent.

"Greenback Dollar," a Folk standard, and courtly Country outing "Foolish Heart" were fine vehicles for Ray. But predecessor "Come on Little Mama's" live-wire spectacle made it vastly more meritorious. That the song pops up in current-day combos' set lists ain't nuthin' but right.

Once opining that he had been "on the wrong side of the mic," Ray turned to producing. We'll never know what might have transpired, had he maintained mic-stance.

Videos: "Come on Little Mama" "Greenback Dollar, Watch and Chain"

Bandcamp (Sun)

Sunday, August 24, 2025

Memo PST

"Puzzle Piece" b/w "Killed by a Loser"

(p (doom) records)

Of course, it's high praise when I write that this recalls CBGB '77. One finds here the same snotty-crusading-in-the smug-mug-of-meandering-self-indulgence that so charged that drop-out class. Set to thunderous torrents as impressive as many offered then - but with contemporarily aware dash - each slices deeply.

(Meanwhile, Miki Zone stumbles into Billy Rath. And Johnny Blitz admires a Berlin stilleto from Dee Dee's blade collection.)

Video: "Puzzle Piece"

The Dollheads

Adol-essence

(Bottles to the Ground)

The rage is real, as are the sardonic japes, pipelined in from Teenage Wasteland by a sneering sibling- triad intent on (and ferociously capable of) chucking chords of recklessness into your heads. Sporadic Poppish flavorings, ladled in spare measures, leaven upset.

Recommended: "Burger King is Hiring," "Don't Let It Take Me," "See You in Hell," "Dirty," "So What," "To My Face," "

Videos: promo Don't Let it Take Me" (live) "Burger King is Hiring" "See You in Hell"

Site

Facebook

Instagram

Bottles to the Ground

Discogs

The Planet Smashers

On the Dancefloor

(Stomp Records)

Ska's union of mathematical precison and drollery steps bluntly. It is at once determinate and up for any good time about. Here, lissome syncopation goads every porkpied creature extant. The Planet Smashers are sterling reps of the smirking and sunglassed mosh beat, which in 2025 no longer enjoys once-wide renown, but flares yet in the feet of solid adherents.

Recommended: "Meet Me on the Dancefloor," "Things You Do," "Falling," "Torpedo," "Walk on Back," "Lies," "Wiping Out," "Easy Like I Do"

Videos: "Meet Me on the Dancefloor" "Things You Do"

Anti Ritual

80 Years EP

(Indisciplinarian)

Were a phalanx of jackhammers to violently etch one's prefrontal cortex, their purified clangor cramming ears way past overflow, they still would not equal this. One speculates medical personnel would renounce their vows, were they to espy spotlighted yowler Marco's grated vocal chords. In the event someone ventures Punk isn't prone to rocket-raving episodes, ram "80 Years" straight down their gullet.

Video

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

T*Becker Combo

four

(Records Freight)

Bordeaux and Roquefort are not the only piquant exports issuing from Macron's countryside; this proudly hayseed bop also merits regard. The T Becker Combo mirror the magical moment Hillbilly and spring-heeled exercises fused in America's Eisenhower-era South. They render good-times with a rollicking backbeat identical to the one that induced calloused regular folks to make juke-joint floors creak as they picked 'em up and put 'em down.

Recommended: "Bop A Billy Bop," "Would You Be Mine," "Don't Kiss Me Goodbye," "Sweet Heart of Mine," "I'm Back," "Let Me Sleep," "I Miss You Baby," "Let's Have a Good Time," "Why Do I Fall in Love"

Videos: promo "Boogie Beat" (live, Béthune Rétro 2022)

Facebook

Records Freight

The Vignatis

Django Gypsybilly Vol. 8

(Self-issued)

Vivacity irrepressible. I knew to expect as much, having previously appraised Fabrice and Tracy's winsome genre crossbreedings. Jaunts endeavored by jaw-gaping guitar mastery and clarinet mellifluosness that comprises equal measures agility and winking merriment cascade from a cornucopia; Jazz, Gypsy, and august movements frolic with fellows Rockabilly and Country across plateaux of oxygen-stealing topography.

Recommended: "Douce Ambiance," "Parc De Verdure," "Cruisin' for a Bluisin'," "Stompin' at Decca," "Nuages," "Djangobilly," "Crestline," "Tears," "Latchco 13," "Minor Swing"

Videos: promo "Djangobilly" "Minor Swing" (live)

X-Ray Cat Trio

"Sir Gawain & the Green Knight" b/w "Greensleeves" digital single

(Property of the Lost)

Exiting medieval mists to invade beach-party transistor blare are instrumental marauders that enthrall. Remember the ancient suits of armor that stood mute witness to countless Old Dark House melodramas? Recast them as silver surfdogs. Dust-blanketed airs enjoy crisp animation in the hands of craftsmen.

Videos: "Sir Gawain & the Green Knight" "Greensleeves"

Amazon (DE)

Sloe Gin Fizz

s/t

(Self-issued)

Viva Las Vegas, Hot Rod Rumble, Rockabilly Freak Show,Tiki Party - those names communicate the block these fireballs have raced around. They surely trod stage-boards alongside numerous jukin' notables, but one intuits Sloe Gin Fizz's brass-emboldened Rockabilly shone blindingly, regardless. Only partake of this swinging jackpot if in the market for fun etched in all-caps, with a gyrating exclamation point.

Recommended: "Strip Club Truck Stop," "Honky Tonk Girl," "Love Chevy," "Black Heart Baby," "Demolition Derby," "Freak Show," "Me and You (part one)," "Me and You (part two)," "Horny Bus Boogie"

Videos: "Strip Club Truck Stop" "Honky Tonk Girl" "Demolition Derby" "Black Heart Baby"

Sunday, August 17, 2025

Chip Whitson feat. Matte Martin

The Matte Sessions digital two-track release

(Self-issued)

No one here is looking to throw hands, just kick up heels in the Country swayed, full-blast Rockbilly Boogie stylin' no one clearly calls to mind come next day. Harmonies amble down a crimson shag laid out by guitar-twangs and good-time jukin' pals that just might be packin'.

Recommended: "As She Walks Away," "Eddie's Big Night Out"

Videos: "As She Walks Away" "Eddie's Big Night Out"

Chip

Matte

Night Shakes

s/t vinyl

(Jannek)

The strongest points, of which there are many, are those that keep out front the bare-bones guitar/bass/drums line-up bone-deep in all vital Rockabilly. Add in vocals as robust as they are limber - plus abundant swagger evoking Buick-wheelin', sideburned mavericks cutting loose down at the social hall - and it amazes that the jumpin' product doesn't bust straight out of its packaging.

Recommended: "Barn Burnin'," "Diesel Smoke, Dangerous Curves," "Black Rose Blossom," "Chicken Fried," "Struttin'," "Right on Down"

Videos: introductory clip "Barn Burnin'" "Chicken Fried"

DK and the Affordables

"Suicidewider" single

(Self-issued)

Those whose ears have been deflowered by the bop-cattin' trifecta's boot-stomp Rockabilly psalmizing will perceive the logic of their looming stage-spot with the legendary Red Elvises. Scotty Moore-inspired six-string licks guide through rolling rhythms very much akin to ones haunting Union Avenue 'round midnight. Safe speculation posits that the singer unscrewed a Mason jar.

Video

Back in the Day, 1959

George Barnes And His Quartet

Country Jazz: The Amazing Guitar of George Barnes and his Quartet

(Sparton / Colortone / Brigade)

Searching for superlatives fleet-digited George would not merit would be a fool's pursuit. Indeed, 'casual listeners' defy imagination; his graceful exercises in soundly Country jaunts entrance. Rapt attentions are drawn to (and maintained by) exquisite manueverings beyond most axe-sters, and which weave together far-traveling imagination and amiable posturings that savor the back-country from whence they rambled. Class with mud on its boot heels.

Country Jazz was reissued by Modern Harmonic in 2017

Per Bandcamp: "It’s been said that one Barnes fan, the terrific guitarist Danny Gatton, learned [Country Jazz] note-for-note–and that it inspired Jimmy Bryant to record his Country Cabin Jazz in 1960. Young guitarists who hadn’t yet been born when George died in 1977 are as enthralled by Country Jazz as rock guitarists are of anything from Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton, who referenced George in his autobiography."

Recommended: "Jolly Joe Clark (Old Joe Clark)," "Turkey Cobbler (Turkey in the Straw)," "Banjo Hop," "Old Kentucky Ramble (My Old Kentucky Home)," "Rockabilly Boogie," "In the Gloaming," "Hot Guitar Rag," "Strollin' Slow," "Rockin' the Weasel (Pop Goes the Weasel)," "Chicken in the Rough (Chicken Reel)," "Bass Guitar Blues," "Dan's Plumb Tuckered (Old Dan Tucker)," "Arky Travels Again (Arkansas Traveler)," "Bluetail Buzz (Bluetail Fly)," "Hot Shortnin' Bread (Shortnin' Bread)," "Old Joe's Boogie (Old Black Joe)"

Videos: short film promo "Rockabilly Boogie" "Chicken in the Rough (Chicken Reel)"

Facebook (fan page)

Country Hall of Fame Museum store

Bandcamp

Discogs

ebay

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

The Drowns

Live At Rebellion

(Pirates Press Records)

The moment opening guitars blast omnidirectional furor, timid souls scurry for refuge and thrill-craving pinheads surge forward, maws a-drip. All is full-bore rioting. Songcraft is airtight. Ears collapse as happy casualties. Rock and Roll looms as thunderous conquerer. By the set's closing minutes, when flamboyant English lads The Sweet are thoroughly turned out in rampageous reconstruction, quietude is but a detested memory.

Recommended: "Ketamine & Cola," "Hold Fast," "Cue the Violins," "Live Like Yer Dyin'," "Blacked Out," "Just the Way She Goes," "Eternal Debate," "Ballroom Blitz," "Them Rats"

Video: "Hold Fast" (live at Rebellion festival 2024) "Live Like Yer Dyin'"

Site

Facebook

Pirates Press Records

Darkside Records

se.7digital.com

Factory Records

Thee Scarecrows AKA

Born Dead 10" dark green vinyl

(Rub-A-Chicken Records)

Glorious pile-up out behind the barn. All kinds of uproar. Rusty strings slid smack dab into harmonica yowlings, and an overalls-clad scapegrace called the dance in a voice packed-to-busting with blustery countrification. Good-natured brutality resounds a far piece. Skin crawls in the best way. Had Hilly opened his storied hole-in-an-urban-wall where killing floor-destined critters roam, this woolly-and-wild explosion would surely have been a product.

Recommended: "Wash the Frog," "Born Dead," "Black Betty," "Don't Stop," "Bucket's Got a Hole In It," "Ace of Spades"

Video: live 2025 (3:54) live 2024 (2:00)

Facebook

Rub-A-Chicken Records

Gorgonis

(Fuzzed Up & Astromoon Records)

Baltimore composer/guitarist Aaron Jay Myers convened assorted musicos to give voice to his inspired architecture: sideways, feet-over-head rollercoasters whose ending points arrive logically. Though accurate, the Punk and Psychobilly folders in which this was found indicate but factors of the whole. Dashing secret agents pilot Aston Martins along motorways, too, and moderne Jazz eccentricities unspool wonderments. Splashed with layered colorations, tableaus cry 'cinematic overtures.' (Though films would be hard-pressed to realize equal measure.)

Recommended: "Want, Need," "Dr. Robotnik" (Both tracks appeared on Choice Paralysis, the full-length issued earlier this year.)

Video: "Want, Need"

Instagram

Fuzzed Up & Astromoon Records (Facebook)

Fuzzed Up & Astromoon Records (Bandcamp)

Bandcamp

The Slow Drags

Off the Cuff Rock'n'Roll

(Self-issued)

The surest measure of mens' oneness with Rock'n'Roll can be got by hearing them rip it from any instruments at hand. By that gauge, a whole lotta proof jumps betwixt these grooves. The Rebel Sound so beloved by us is incarnated here in aspects of the Eisenhower-era Malt Shoppe, back-handed Garage slaps, Blues-fixations, indie, and Rockabilly so breathless it all but knocks the juke off its pins on its way out into the night. Jaggedness pinned live, by discreet producer David Matta.

Recommended: "Devilish Lips," "Cold Cold Night," "C'mon," "Money in My Pocket," "Whole Lotta Fun," "Riding Out"

Video: live 2020 (6:16)

Amazon (USA)

Amazon (AU)

qobuz

anghami