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Sunday, March 8, 2026

Lee Rocker

"Jungle Rock"   digital single / video

(Upright Records)



Evident at each turn is that doghouse-manhandler Mr. Rocker is having a ball, in his frolicsome reinterpretation of Mizell's 1958 safari-territory jaunt. "I was walking through the jungle just the other night / Oh well, I heard a big a'rumble and I thought it was a fight" opens the madcap tale of wildlife whooping it up in fractured abandonment. Lee quickly gets the Sock: "We stopped there to listen, I began to move my feet / It was a jungle drummer doin' a knocked-out beat!" Assisted most ably by cats who are, themselves, adept at runaway, jitter-joint romping (their combined forces total upper-tier prosecution), Lee leads the finger-popping exploratory party's stomping down underbrush, as creatures great and small do dance sensations that are sweeping the menagerie nation.

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Sonny West

The Shuffle   CD or limited marbled vinyl

(Killertone Records)



No grooved base is left uncovered: Consider the smoothness-by-candlelight crooner "It's Gone 11," the pugnacious ex-con of danger-vibe "Diamond Tooth," and "The Shuffle" - an everybody swingalong that'll leave each square foot of nightspot dance floor occupied by happy creepers and stilettos. Nine additional jukebox options punch in, all cobbled by a Gretsch-packing, down-slung-forelock cat eminently suited to pink Cadillac sound adventures. (And fittingly, he's joined by lethal associates.)

Recommended: "It's Gone 11," "Diamond Tooth," "The Shuffle" Only these cuts were available at presstime. (The disc I purchased from Killertone hasn't yet arrived.) But their worth gives confidence disc mates also merit high regard.

Videos:  "It's Gone 11"   "Diamond Tooth"   "The Shuffle"


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The Swingin' Blackjacks

Never Tire, Never Stop

(Self-issued)



Interviewed last month by Blues.Gr, axeman/singer Matt Allen made clear a crucial truth that rigid doctinaires fail to grasp: "Blues didn’t shape Rock and Roll by itself; Jazz, Gospel, Hillbilly, and earlier 20th Century Pop music all had roles in the birth of Rock and Roll. It’s like a delicious musical stew with plenty of spice." 

Revolutionary 1950s DJ Alan Freed stressed as much, in days when our music was barely out of its germinal stage. And Canadian Matt's Swingin' Blackjacks shout that verity in song after persuasively-jukin' track. Matt, drummer Adam David, and bass player/vocalist  Gary Kendall maintain cool and collected Jazz poise, while perpetrating hot and cool, rockin' rhythms that goad flesh-and-blood transportation departments into fancy footwork.

Recommended: "Misery Train," "Deep in My Heart," "Heart Full of Soul," "Rock All Night," "Black Cat Blues," "Let's Pretend We're in Love"

Videos: "Misery Train"   "Rock All Night"   "Black Cat Blues"  "Let's Pretend We're in Love"


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Feral Housecats

Go Feral Yourself!

(Hot Boots Records)



Rock'n'Roll has become a global, multi-billion-greenback corporate behemoth, with its own mega-luminaries tarted up in pricey, designer fashions and a 'money talks' Hall of Fame that excludes actually meritorious sorts of that specified genre in favor of made-to-order Hip Hop gagmen. 

Feral Housecats are an indispensible 'fuck you' to such overblown commodified/domesticated shenanigans, much as was the glorious Punk eruption of the 1970s. There are occasional, unsanded edges here. And that's entirely okay. Rock'n'Roll (as was first germinated, and remains in true believers' hearts) isn't supposed to cover its mouth when sneezing. 

These guys dig to death the cool dirtiness they do. And that truth-in-tuneful-demolition is one matter that separates authentics from counterfeits. Another is outsiderness of the sort that guarantees one's John Hancock never shows up on tea-luncheon invitation scrolls. 

These 11 ditties alternatively scream, lope, mesmerize, and spring forth unstoppably, with each player pounding out 110 percent. Far and away, most rock-'em-sock-'em tracks emanated from the hip pen of guitar/vocals man Greg McGill. (Rounding out this well-turned, no-garage-could-hold-'em ensemble are bassist David Evans, drummer Evan Carr, and guitarist David Auden. Some extra drumming came courtesy of Andrew Gordon.)

Now and again, gestures redolent of classical songs that once hummed from car dashboard radios while he's and she's got down to business find ways into arrangements, but always with idiosyncratic sways. Souls uncrating this thankfully ragged effort, during big-grin appraisals, will dig bits of Contours, Lux Interior and David Byrne (in vocal moments), The Forest Hills pinheads, and Fun Comes In Spurts curl-shooting that's led-wayward wigged-out kids since Roky Erickson first met the 13th Floor Elevators.

Rock'n'Roll should never be welcome in scrupulously polite environs. The humongous thing the calculator crowd has made of our music is of no interest to devotees of the real article. But never forget that all that garbage was built atop sounds rebellious, spirited, and that Feral Housecats heft high the torch.

Recommended: "Gee, I Wish I Could Paint," "I Hope," "Murder in the Basement," "Strong Bones and Sharp Teeth," "I Luv U But I Hate U2," "Something Good," "An FHc's Surfing Theme," "I Shoulda," "Sniper," "Don't Go Home with L. Cohen"

Videos: "Gee, I Wish I Could Paint"   "Strong Bones and Sharp Teeth"   "Sniper"


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Speedy Haworth

Video: "Rockabilly Boogie"


Lovesick and Accordi Disaccordi

Video: "Sitting On Top of the Word"




Wednesday, March 4, 2026

Various

Compilado 25

(Punk Con Punk)



Anarchy en español. As is always so with voluminous band compilations, merit is inconstant. But the finest presented boast enough strength to flatten heads, and techniques honed but not la-di-da. Translators are not needed; demolition rocketeering is a universal language in our underground. Not only will Punk never strike its colors, so long as mifits with perpetual scowls and guitars in hands stalk sidewalks, but every geographic outpost has been molested by surly shouters. Which is pretty damn cool.

Recommended: "Esto Es Madrid" (The Rejects), "La Basura Que Somos" (Viejos Tiempos), "Tema De Adrián" (Fracasso Italiano),   "Policía Corrupto" (Los Puta), "Don't Try This At Home" (Whatever!)), "Bhopal" (Punkonia), "Perros Plaga" (Terranos Baldíos), "Tranki" (Qué Dirán), "Alianza" (Alianza), "Alta Frecuencia Que Cura El Dolor" (Hernán Dolor)

Videos: "Esto es Madrid"    "Whatever"   "Tema De Adrián"   "Perros Plaga"  


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FORMER staff writer for Rockabilly and Pin Up America magazines. FREELANCE credits include Daily Caller, American Thinker, Free Republic, Huffington Post, Counterpunch, Dissident Voice, Independent Political Report, USA Today, Des Moines Register, Iowa City Press-Citizen, Waterloo Courier, Cedar Falls Times, Marshalltown Times Republican, Cincinnati.com, IndyStar, Arizona Republic, No Depression, Goldmine, Blue Suede News, Rock and Rap Confidential, Crackerjack, Blues News, Wrecking Pit, Punk Globe, Prairie Sun, Music and Sound Output, BAM, New Music, and 1980s NYC fanzines Shake, Rattle, and Roll, Rebel Rouser, and Off the Wall. AUTHOR: Shake, Rattle and Rocket!, Ghost Saucers in the Sky!, Stratosphere Boogieman!, Flesh Made Music, That a Man Can Again Stand Up: American spirit vs, sedition during the incipient Trump Revolution, and Ideas Afoot: Political observations, social commentary, and media analyses. WORKED as 2004 Iowa coordinator for Ralph Nader independent presidential campaign; co-founded Iowa Green Party, also served as statewide media coordinator; press coordinator, 2002 Jay Robinson (Green) IA gubernatorial effort. Wrote extensively re Trump campaign..