Lil' Lisa & the Finks

Introducing...

(Work Whorse / Wavy Gravy)

If it weren't so that these four road-burning mean-kick celebrations of absolutely unhindered hedonism (with mindbending groove accentings) arose as a side project of Chicago punk band The Dyes' Lisa Louise, greasy greenbacks would bolster supposition that they'd swung onto the scene from the soundtracks of a late-60s American International drive-in biker flick, one whose lurid banner cried Wild, Mama, Far-out, Stompers, and Savages.

Recommended: "Chopper," "Have Love Will Travel," "Henrietta," "No Good to Cry"

Videos: "Chopper"   "Have Love Will Travel"   "No Good to Cry"

Facebook

Instagram

Work Whorse Records

Bandcamp

Amazon

Apple

iHeart

Pete Vengeance

Scarlett Witch

(El Dandy Records)

Pete Hutton's low, full voice is fathomless in the manner of icons. Ballad dreaminess laps on shores amour, only to be equaled by its uppity sibling. Crazy string licks flash out of Kicks Alley, muscling their way into rumbustiousness marshalled by standard instrumentation required by sideburned orthodoxy. This is the sound and style of kool kats who care not one flung whit about pedestrian opinions, and it ain't goin' nowhere -- if jukebox jivers like Pete have anything to say. And man, Pete does.

Recommended: "Because the Way You Look Tonight," "Black Widow," "Got the Blues," "Would You Could You Fall in Love," "Scarlett Witch," "You Were So Suspicious," "Tempting Kiss"

Videos: "Because the Way You Look Tonight"   "Would You Could You Fall in Love"   "Got the Blues"   "Tempting Kiss"

Facebook

El Dandy

45Cat

Bear Family

Discogs

Amazon

Apple

Soundcloud

Criptidos

CRipTIdoS

(Self-issued)

It's a lesson taught by the Ramones' Sire debut, as well as by vital vinyl pre- and post- their entrance into popular-culture chin-wagging: When judiciously leveraged, less is not just more but overwhelmingly and wallopingly so. Gloriously valid (and pretty damn devastating herein) is that Punk is a projectile requiring only rudimentary implements (and about a million grams of outsider attitude), its bombardments to inflict.

"This is our first album, we hope you like it, and if not -- go fuck yourself!"

Recommended: "Akoso Kallejero," "El Tren," "ImPUNKstores," "La Banda Del Karro Rojo," "S.E.P."

Videos: "ImPUNKstores"   "La Banda Del Karro Rojo"

Bandcamp

WyattChristmas Five

Are You Ready?

(PART Records)

The union of first-chair musicianship -- in American genres familiar to jukers, dancefloor denizens, and goodtime elbow-benders -- and ingenious lyrical delving into matters of universal existentialist qualities magnetizes. Add in sometimes broad wit that sailed its hat across the room. Think, laugh, and shake your good foot.

(Personal note: I read a Blues-site critic's faint praise of this rollicking-fun compendium. He rightly commended instrumental knacks, but kvetched about allegedly frivolous wordage. It's been my altogether unpleasant experience that rigid Blues doctrinaires (who, while asleep, can rattle off the number of songs Ivory Joe Hunter recorded in the spring of 1947, and tell you which of them were in certain time signatures) are among the most rebarbative folks you'll ever turn away from.)

Recommended: "Are You Ready?," "My Best Friend Went Crazy," "Changing Times," "Devil's Got a Hand On Me," "Alligator Bar Blues," "Riot in My Trashcan," "Please Do Like You Did It," "Too Far Too Long Away," "I Am Waiting"

Videos: "Are You Ready?" (live)   "Alligator Bar Boogie" (live)   "Too Far Too Long Away"

Site

Facebook

Rockabilly Shop

BeBe's Records

Sonic Rendezvous

Bear Family

Amazon

Apple

The Rumbletones

Having carpentered admirable repute by purveying bygone classics of fin and whitewall, Floridian rockers step out with self-penned juke joyfulness. Partyfun bounce / voices exultant / elephant tusks gettin' jiggy. Dig.

Video: "Rock N Rollin' Baby"

Facebook

Rebel Cats

Runaway guitars compelled. An Al Adamson/Sam Phillips/Miki Zone stitched-form leapt from his threadbare flip-up in the abandoned movie palace, grabbed fishnetted and mascaraed Vampira by her pallid hand, and tripped the light ghastly 'cross the cobwebbed aisle. Hideous wretches mash-potatoed on the silver screen.

Another Saturday midnight, in the Rock'n'RollMonsterMadhouse.

Video: "Palomitas y Películas de Horror"

Facebook

American Patrol go Ameripolitan

AP General Jerry Sikorski tells me he just entered his group's "I Ain't Never Been a Cheater" in the Rockabilly classification of the Dale Watson-founded Ameripolitan's 2027 Award competition. 

Previous awards winners include Nick Curran, Kyle Eldridge, Jane Rose, The Lucky Stars, and Nic Roulette.

In reviewing AP's recent platter last May, I wrote "Sandburg's line about coming in on 'little cat feet' has no relevance here. Opening track 'I Ain't Never Been a Cheater' makes like a lion with its tail stuck in a wall socket." 

"I Ain't Never Been a Cheater" (live)

The Ameripolitan Awards nomination period is now open, and will remain so until late summer / early fall. Nominees can be put forward not only by bands themselves, but also by peers and fans.

Following the nomination term's conclusion, top nominees will be compiled. Official voting on final nominees will end in October or November. General Ballot Blaster voting will then be open until late December or early January.

The Ameripolitan Awards ceremony is set for February. 

Ameripolitan

Facebook (Jerry)

Instagram