DC Larson's JUKEBOX JURY

Sunday, March 1, 2026

Hola Ghost

"The End of the Road" b/w "Iron Reich" 7" vinyl

(Svart Records / Hola Pete Records)

Bone-visaged leder Peter Sandorff knows an infernal agent need not break measured pace. Hence, "End of the Road's" enigmatic narrative gains from his chilling steadiness. The one-time Necromantix guitar menace executes passages and slicing punctuations with preciseness born from a career of taboo toils. Associated scoundrels Jeppe B. Jessen and Kristian Sandorff (Psycho Mariachis from a skewed, eerie dimension) build intensity - their formidability rivets - and spicy, sombreroed accompanists the Haunted Horns augment with poltergiest harmonies from ebony ether. Flip "Iron Reich" (a "lockdown" document) appeared in different form on a previous Hola Ghost waxing; here, it assumes acoustic constitution. And Sandorff's humanity-wrenched strains are emphasized all the more by starkness.

This 7" disc portends a full-length one due later in 2026. The single was initially available as either black & white swirl or clear/black smoke. But in a January Facebook note, Svart advised "All 7” versions are sold out from Svart’s webstore, even the test pressings! Ask your local well-equipped record store if they have a copy or grab one from the band."

Videos "The End of the Road" (live) "Iron Reich"

The Monokids

s/t

(Self-issued)

Italy's Monokids are the whole package: a second skin, cat-style look; Neo-Rockabilly (plus sundry other bents) so tight and energetically tossed out that neophyte competitors likely grind molars enviously; and such apparent affection for the bop that drives cats and gators into lava-blooded paroxysms, that sound systems tremble at resultant roar.

Recommended: "Always Do the Bop," "Real Gone Daddy," "40 Days in a County Jail," "The Last Goodbye," "My Blues," "Blazing"

Videos: "Always Do the Bop" "Real Gone Daddy" (clip) "40 Days in a County Jail" (clip)

Trouble Bound

"Paranoia" digital track

(Work Whorse Records)

Rage comes via roundhouse. Knuckly chords bash away and drumsticks besiege, as amphetemine basslines ricochet off pretty much every available surface. "They want your mind they want your life they want to poison you!," Dan Szeli yowls in splenetic alarm. Hostile agents abound from inner and outer frontiers. Rather than withdrawing in defense, though, best one stand tall with fists to the fore.

Video

The Dillards

Songs That Made Charlene Cry - A Tribute

(DillardSong Records)

At 83, singer/guitarist Rodney Dillard is the final breathing member of the famed Bluegrass combo. Notable among his and fellow Dillards' accomplishments were their 1960s portrayals of deadpan boonies pickers the Darlin family boys. Those Andy Griffith Show characters livened six episodes of that immortal sitcom, with dust-raising romps.

Last summer, as Bluegrass Unlimited previewed, a contemporary Dillards iteration was slated to treat Kentucky ROMP festival attendees to old-ways musicalizing. Rodney himself joined in a Country Music Hall of Fame "featured artist exhibit." And he delivered a University of Missouri college commencement; that school also bestowed an honorary degree upon the stringin' instrument icon.

"Got time to breathe, got time for music!"

In 2026, sit back in a rough-hewn rocker (assuming you're not itchin' to caper about the cabin), close eyes, and let regular-folks melody makin' put your mind at satisfied ease. This sprightly joyfulness roused overalled generations of stump jumpers and sod busters to whoop in celebration of plain livin' joys. It's chargin' up the room and happy footin' 'cross the Robert E. Lee natural bridge.

Players pooling talents here with Rodney and wife Beverly (banjo and vocals), were Maddie Denton (fiddler from East Nash Grass) and Jarrod Walker (mandolin, also a Billy Strange sideman). Other contributors included Gary Smith, Tony Wray, Tyler Walker, and Cory Walker.

In the mind's panoramic imagery, the Darlin boys build fire 'neath the still like all get-out, whiskered pa Briscoe grabs up his jug, and blond Miss Charlene holds off heatin' up Fish Muddle to whirl skirts, a toothy grin all over her fetching features.

Andy takes up a five-stringed acoustic, lets his thumb hang free, and dives in. Barney couldn't get the grin off his face if he wanted to. And outside, even rock-heaver Ernest T. is cuttin' a mountain jig.

Recommended: "Dirty Me Dirty Me I'm Disgusted with Myself," "Don't Hit Your Gramma with a Great Big Stick," "Will You Love Me When I'm Old and Ugly," "Wet Shoes in the Sunset," "Dance 'Til Your Socks are Hot and Ravlin'," "Towsack Full of Love," "Tearin' Up Your Old Clothes for Rags," "Keep Your Money in Your Shoes and It Won't Get Wet," "Slimy River Bottom," "Briscoe's Dream," "There is a Time"

Videos: "Dirty Me Dirty Me I'm Disgusted with Myself" "Wet Shoes in the Sunset" "Dance 'Til Your Socks are Hot and Ravlin'" "Keep Your Money in Your Shoes and it Won't Get Wet" "There is a Time"

Site (Rodney Dillard)

Rodney and Beverly

Wednesday, February 25, 2026

Robert Gordon and the Di Maggio Connection

s/t

(New Shot Records)

Never again will there ring out a voice so resonant, capacious, and packed with the joys of gut-level Rock'n'Roll, as was the late Robert's. His tones filled every hall. Name any storied veteran you care to, and RG - having long ago internalized their's and fellows' iconic persuasions, imbuing them with marvelous personal aspect - merits placement in identical lofty rank.

Among axe wielders with whom he crafted swing-from-rafters boppery through shook-up decades were Link Wray, Chris Spedding, and Danny Gatton. Royalty, all. Guitars were their sceptres.

Just as Robert belongs in a relief with past masters, so Italian Marco Di Maggio could cut heads with storied predecessors. The man is that wickedly gifted, as all who've relished his own years' worth of recordings can jump up and testify. (It seems likely Marco never fudged a treble note in all his born days.)

Live album Robert Gordon and the DiMaggio Connection was recorded in 2006, at Crallo in Scandiano, Italy. Players assembled take each curve on two wheels. In addition to Marco, Connection associates included bassman Matteo Giannetti and drummer Marco Barsanti. A pair more suited to killer goneness simply doesn't draw oxygen.

No stylistic deviations appear on the songlist, which is entirely okay. Robert chose only the finest material. And one never tires of hearing his booming interpretations. Greater love for finned fracture hath no cat. Doubtlessly, his spirited exhortations cleaved pomps in back rows.

Let's all spill a bit of PBR.

Recommended: "The Way I Walk" "Lover Boy," "Look Who's Blue," "The Worryin' Kind," "Hello Walls," "Sea of Heartbreak," "I Just Found Out," "Drivin' Wheel," "Rockbilly Boogie," "Don't Be Cruel"

No videos from this gig were available, so here are others featuring Robert and Marco Di Maggio: "The Way I Walk" "Lover Boy" "I Just Found Out" "Drivin' Wheel" "Rock Billy Boogie"

Marley Bone

"Vampire Orgy" digital track

(Marleybone Records)

No one returns to the land of the living from this revelry. Intonations adorning low-gear, chunka-chunka Rockabilly nonchalance articulate a doomful scenario. Unsuspecting, flat-gone merrymakers will soon join legions of the blood-thirsting undead, like it or not. Axe strings pounce, here and again. Were instrumentation less precise in its practice - in such leanness, every note must be vital, and herein is - effectiveness would not be so utter. Beats are agile and poised. All is sinister substance. Some 3 minutes in, players shift into a Jazz-accented breakdown during which tasteful turns enchant. Bass steps nimbly. "Then he ruffles her hair, and his fangs are bare / And it's way too late to scream..." A laugh echoes, thunder rumbles, and lids are sealed against rising sun.

Video

Guitar Wolf

More Jet

(Guitar Wolf Records)

As your eyes sweep across these letters, Seiji and curled-lip collaborators Takura and Gotz are deluging New Zealand and Australia with mega-voltage thunderations of twisted Punk metal. Sparks are surely spattering that besieged landscape. Official alarms scream. Spotlights criss-cross ebony nights. Masses of tittilated adherants will be happily deaf for days.

Seven years have transpired since the leathery trio last detonated within studio confines. Those are as nothing. Personnel permutated, but one satisfiedly savors familiar blast/gash/smashes fired off with febrile relish. I have it on reliable imaginary authority that jagged-toothed Rock'n'Roll of incalculable velocity is the audio equivalent of Ponce de León's diving pool.

Recommended: "More Jet," "100m Girl," "Long Tall Sally," "Coelacanth Galaxy," "9AM Pornomag Planet," "Kung Fu Bikini," "Super Sonic ihatov"

Videos: promo :23 "Long Tall Sally" live 10:21 (New Zealand, 2025)

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