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Reverend Horton Heat
Whole New Life
(Victory Records)
Opening song "Whole New Life" busts wide open, reminding not only of halcyon rock and roll's anthemic jubilation, but of preceding hands-in-the-air, down by the riverside salvational surges that so inspired.
In its own manner, each track thereafter rises to similarly glisten.
Recommended: "Whole New Life," "Sunrise Through the Power Lines," "Hog Tyin' Woman," "Hate To See You Cry," "Ride Before the Fall," "Tchoupitoulas Street," "Perfect"
Video: "Whole New Life"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVNvcQPGY_4
http://www.reverendhortonheat.com/index.php
https://www.facebook.com/reverendhortonheat/
http://www.victoryrecords.com/reverendhortonheat
https://www.amazon.com/Whole-Life-Reverend-Horton-Heat/dp/B07HGQ54NS
https://open.spotify.com/album/0EjVrfYB4lt4NXbT6Ulwph
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/whole-new-life/1435251719
Nat Freedberg
Better Late Than Never
(Rum Bar Records)
'Experienced' may sound like a polite euphemism for moldy, but this reminds that more complimentary interpretations can as warrantedly apply. Nat's familiarity with the creative process enables him to produce work that splendidly realizes potential.
Recommended: "Devil Rockin' Man," "Better Late Than Never," "If I Could Be the One," "I Think I Died and Went To Heaven," "World To Come," "If That's the Way You Want It," "Heavy Metal Cow"
Video: "If I Could Be the One" (live)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maifJp8liNk
https://www.facebook.com/nat.freedberg
https://rumbarrecords.bandcamp.com/album/better-late-than-never
https://www.amazon.com/Better-Late-Than-Never-Freedberg/dp/B07LD8VFRN/ref=zg_bsnr_5196_20/145-3348850-4345914?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=S65QXEXQVBSND7F5KC51
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/better-late-than-never/1448799433?app=music&ign-mpt=uo%3D4
https://open.spotify.com/album/1DfWJz65ZkhVaLbR4cMafY
The Eddy Blake Trio
Bucko
(Sleazy Records)
Were this in-pocket wax a visual...
Lanky and seventeen, cat clothes on, he bopped down the avenue. He spun and popped his fingers beneath a street lamp. The joint across the way was packed. He decided to have a look-see.
Recommended: "Terrible Tara Belle," "Love Me Baby," "That's Why I Do What I Did," "I'm Lost and I'll Never Find My Way," "Play It Up," "Good Old Boys," "My Girl Minnie," "Wrecking Ball," "You Can't Walk My Walk"
Video: "Wild One" (non-CD) live
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0-yARiauu4
https://www.facebook.com/eddy.blake/timeline?lst=100010389815287%3A716770310%3A1550631609
https://eddyblake.bandcamp.com/album/bucko?fbclid=IwAR2WNjAVJTk8wrY1idKI8G7Q3atYqUMUuu06GVseos4heLYjq9PS5ReNsUg
https://sleazyrecords.com/en/
Los Duggans
Death Folk
(self)
Affirms the appropriateness of confederating backwoods banjo-pickin' with death-metal magmatism, drawled psalms of desolation, and gut-bashing stomp. Experiential shouting with creek water in its kicks.
Recommended: "Preachin' the Blues," "Country Blues" (live), "Sugar Baby," "," "Drinking You Off My Mind," "East Virginia Blues," "Poor Boy In Jail"
Video: "Country Blues," live (starts at 3:14, after interview)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDwqOxudlH0
https://www.facebook.com/Los-Duggans-347545204591/
https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/losduggans3
Sweetie and the Toothaches
Live at the Casa Loma Ballroom
(self)
Rollicking 88s and brass caromed off the darkened ballroom's walls. Saturday night couples dressed to the nines spun and flipped under swirling strobes. The cat on the skins gave each beat all he had.
And, resplendent in red behind her mic stand, Sweetie tossed her tresses and poured her entirety into what was in those hours the most important thing in all of the world.
Recommended: "Lucky Lips," "Pennies From Heaven," "Sick and Tired," "Shine On," "Ain't Nobody Here, But Us Chickens," "Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean," "Farewell Blues"
Video: "Lucky Lips"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zSN1udD96A
https://www.sweetieandthetoothaches.com/
https://www.facebook.com/sweetieandthetoothaches/
https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/sweetiethetoothaches#
Tylor and the Train Robbers
Best of the Worst Kind
(self)
Old-West Americana that surrounds with such naturalness, you almost don't notice until deep into it how well its elements mesh.
Recommended: "Hide Your Goat," "Lost and Lonely Miles," "The Ballad of Black Jack Ketchum," "Before It's Too Late," "Fumblin' For Rhymes," "Good At Bad News," "Pave Your Way"
Audio (scroll down): "Hide Your Goat"
https://www.tylorandthetrainrobbers.com/?fbclid=IwAR2zydzSVGueS3RiK6T3jFMbumGh-0NaoJ5SHeFNKjotfiyNYIuXuZsrHt4
https://www.tylorandthetrainrobbers.com/#home-section
https://www.facebook.com/tylorandthetrainrobbers/
https://kgmusicpress.com/tylor-the-train-robbers-press-release
Jersey Swamp Cats
Go Cat Go!
(self)
Dig: Effusive romps that no shark-skinned, sideburned Gleeby could sit out. Eminently solid rhythms buoy swinging guitar and hep voice to hot/cool accomplishment.
Recommended: "Jump, Jive, and Wail," "Cupcake," "Blue Monday," "Tootie Ma Is a Big Fine Thing," "I Get Evil," "Shiny Gray Corvette"
Video: "Jump, Jive, and Wail"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdqMq08_OLI
https://www.facebook.com/Jersey-Swamp-Cats-181307138936305/
https://www.reverbnation.com/jerseyswampcats
https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/jerseyswampcats
Los RIPpers MX
La Voz de los Muertes
(self / Sureste Records)
Only after passing to the dark side can souls truly know the ecstasies and atrocities that swell its every second. Should anyone dare to glimpse, this accommodates exquisitely.
Recommended: "Yo Soy la Muerte," "El Horror Ya Comenzo," "Danze Macabra," "Mors Et Vita," "La Que No Debio Ser"
Video: "Yo Soy la Muerte" and "Danze Macabra" live)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JjSEye5pSI
https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/losrippersmx3
https://losrippers.bandcamp.com/album/la-voz-de-los-muertos-ep-2016?fbclid=IwAR37yAhQZ3GppfYGNpaxUNRQaai-m-f9mg9q3Kd7enAPuC-6tUSW36OcHC0
https://www.facebook.com/suresterecordsmx/
https://www.amazon.com/Voz-los-Muertos-Explicit/dp/B07JM389Z2
https://soundcloud.com/hiram-bolio-s/sets/los-rippers-la-voz-de-los
The Don Diego Trio
Live From Austin
(El Toro Records)
That the unvarnished riff-bop churned by this rangy, whip-crack Texas roots-trio is sometimes familiar should be counted as a credit. It's not easy to faithfully interpret the traditional sounds of a culture while imprinting them with one's own features. And to do that, this well, is not something heard every day.
Recommended: "Rolling Wheel," "Django From Twango," "Truck Drivin' Daddy," "Loves the Rain," "My Window Faces the South," "I Didn't Walk the Line," "Austin"
Video: "Rolling Wheel" (live)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd0c5IIBv-8
https://diegocaster0.wixsite.com/dondiegotrio?fbclid=IwAR3eeIB3NrfQCcmSN-sqYh4liB_eGX3ObYHL95b6b2Gj8GSbA2c3jESrRKE
https://www.facebook.com/dondiegoproject/
https://www.eltororecords.com/New-Products/THE-DON-DIEGO-TRIO-GREETINGS-FROM-AUSTIN-LP::428.html?MODsid=sdqcld6vbjvqchfsog5sjdo8d0
Elvis Presley
Greatest Hits
(Public Domain / Vintage Jukebox)
Library shelves teem with books telling of a Tennessee truck-driving kid who, when Ike looked out on Pennsylvania Avenue, walked into a one-lung studio and set the woods on fire.
Practically of its own volition, the electrical vibrancy within him laced together rural rhythmic elements like hillbilly, gospel, blues, and boogie woogie. The new and bold creature relegated to passe status all that had preceded.
It's probable young Elvis was that afternoon more interested in making a few extra bucks than inventing something revolutionary. But here we are.
Recommended: "That'a All Right," "Paralyzed," "(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care," "Got a Lot O Livin' To Do," "I Want To Be Free," "(Let Me Be ) Your Teddy Bear," "A Mess A Blues," "All Shook Up," "Baby Let's Play House," "Don't Be Cruel," "Good Rockin' Tonight," "Hard Headed Woman," "Heartbreak Hotel," "Hound Dog," "I Got a Woman," "I Got Stung, "It's Now Or Never," "Jailhouse Rock," "Love Me Tender"
Video: "That's All Right Mama" (live, 1954 Louisiana Hayride)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxHmj7jQaIQ
https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/elvispresley16
Ken Curtis
Ranch House Party Favorites
(Kit Fox Records)
Western Swing jewels of timeless worth, lent tranquil assurance with good-humor peeks by a talent whose praises merit song long after the cows have come home.
These seven tracks were preserved from the 1946 Ranch House Party radio show, and also feature Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage, The Plainsmen, and Art Wenzel and His Ragtime Cowboys.
Recommended: "Ship Me Out By Saddle," "Singing On the Trail," "Strawberry Blonde On the Strawberry Roan," "I'm Heading For the Great Divide," "Ida-Ho"
Video: "Singing On the Trail"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3SkTHWW-_o
https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/kencurtis#
P. Paul Fenech
The F Files
Happy Halloween V
(Mutant Rock Records)
Those shrewd enough to snatch up both these 2018 releases needn't fret over track listings. Each cut deliciously portrays the chin-high inhumanity, diabolical predilections, and screeching metallic uproar that made Psychobilly creator Fenech both a lurid legend and the object of much wishful emulation.
Recommended (F Files): "What's in the Basket?," "Raging Thunder," "The Multiple Deaths of Pichina," "Who's Laughing Now?," "Love Charms," "Off the Chain," "Voodoo Man"
Video: "What's In the Basket?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkSGsQFAnCA
Recommended (Happy Halloween V): "Midnight Monsters Hop," "Werewolves With Motorcycles On Speed," "Halloween Stomp (Graveyard Stomp)," "Let's Go Play At the Myers House," "Graveyard," "Wombie Zombie," "Surf Monster"
Video: "Midnight Monsters Hop"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7_MlpG6RiY
https://www.facebook.com/ppaulfenechofficial/
https://www.facebook.com/MutantRockRecords/
http://www.mutantrockrecords.com/
https://www.amazon.com/F-Files-Explicit-P-Paul-Fenech/dp/B079R7V22V
https://open.spotify.com/album/0sn1Qi68QSpQvpTea61q8G
https://www.amazon.com/Happy-Halloween-P-Paul-Fenech/dp/B07JR8C8CG
https://open.spotify.com/album/4yLv6P85OeVgEEzq5gb325
Roy Dee
and the Spitfires
Desert Wind
(Wild Records)
Enough raw power to charge entire dance halls. Beat-devotion is raised to a dizzying plane, from which crazy-legged rocker couples dive bomb to spectacular destinies.
Recommended: "I Got Demons," "I Did It," "Like a Rocket To My Baby," "I Don't Belong To You," "Rolling Through the Night," "Bop Like That," "Shake, Shake Like a Rattlesnake"
Video: "I Got Demons"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5tzPE46Oi0
https://www.facebook.com/Roy-Dee-The-Spitfires-Wild-Records-321190041562891/
https://www.wildrecordsusa.com/
Snakebite
Rockin' Up a Storm
(Atenzia)
"Let's fuckin' rock and roll!" Jorgan roars, as he mounts a fierce assault on the old six string. Killer 88s rollick in answer to his gravelly exhortation, the beat that's enslaved generations works its visceral voodoo, and rockabilly of cheeky Ted bearing picks 'em up and puts 'em down into the wee hours.
Recommended: "So What," "Born To Rock," "I'm Comin' Home," "Moonshine Boogie," "The Blues Had a Baby (They Called It Rock and Roll)," "Just a Game," "Teddy Boy Rocker," "Feelin' Best For Me," "Nothing Is Good Enough"
Video: "So What"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_MFBO_SUSA&list=OLAK5uy_mAqGjfyyFSTwhoTVSEfNDJlhFtgW70oG4&index=13
https://www.facebook.com/atenzia/
https://www.amazon.com/Rockin-up-Storm-Snakebite/dp/B00DS2BKB0
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/rockin-up-a-storm/663916699
https://open.spotify.com/album/6TxGY2mBLLsRjmHM4KCZs1
Priscilla Bowman
A rockin' good way
(El Toro Records)
Priscilla brought what the moment needed: A commanding vocal presence and a spirited sense for rockin' blues that, whether high-stepped under the lights or whispered in shadow-draped club corners, kept hearts abuzz.
Come to think of it, those are felicitous in every era.
Recommended: "A Rockin' Good Way" (with the Spaniels), "Hands Off" (with Jay McShann's Orchestra), "I've Got News For You" (with Jay McShann), "Don't Want You No More," "Yes I'm Glad (Everything's Alright)" (with Al Smith's Orchestra), "I Don't Need Your Lovin'" (with Jay McShann), "Sugar Daddy," "(Keep a) Spare Man" (with Al Smith's Orchestra), "I Ain't Givin' Up Nothin'" (with the Spaniels), "Why Must I Cry" (with Riley Hampton Orchestra)
Video: "Hands Off"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvGhhUvWePM&index=9&list=PLR9Sgv7wm8EztlZgh70RqmIO49qVToB5N
https://www.eltororecords.com/El-Toro-R-B/PRISCILLA-BOWMAN-A-ROCKIN-GOOD-WAY::481.html?language=en
https://www.amazon.com/Rockin-Good-Way-Priscilla-Bowman/dp/B07KLJDSMT
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/a-rockin-good-way/1440203167
The Don Diego Trio
Live From Austin
(El Toro Records)
That the unvarnished riff-bop churned by this rangy, whip-crack Texas roots-trio is sometimes familiar should be counted as a credit. It's not easy to faithfully interpret the traditional sounds of a culture while imprinting them with one's own features. And to do that, this well, is not something heard every day.
Recommended: "Rolling Wheel," "Django From Twango," "Truck Drivin' Daddy," "Loves the Rain," "My Window Faces the South," "I Didn't Walk the Line," "Austin"
Video: "Rolling Wheel" (live)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd0c5IIBv-8
https://diegocaster0.wixsite.com/dondiegotrio?fbclid=IwAR3eeIB3NrfQCcmSN-sqYh4liB_eGX3ObYHL95b6b2Gj8GSbA2c3jESrRKE
https://www.facebook.com/dondiegoproject/
https://www.eltororecords.com/New-Products/THE-DON-DIEGO-TRIO-GREETINGS-FROM-AUSTIN-LP::428.html?MODsid=sdqcld6vbjvqchfsog5sjdo8d0
Batmobile
Brand New Blisters
(Butler Records)
Batmobile imbues detonative trio psycho with so much humor and off-balance perspective as to be singular among monsters of string and skin. Legends into the future.
Recommended: "Rock and Roll and Alcohol," "Save My Soul," "Never Gonna Stop," "Motherfuckin' Hippie," "Apeface," "From the Get Go," "Fucked Up," "Rest In Peace," "Big Bob"
Video: Album teaser
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZTrBrVgZxE
https://batmobileforever.com/
https://www.facebook.com/batmobileofficial/
https://butlerrecords.com/
https://www.amazon.com/Brand-New-Blisters-BATMOBILE/dp/B01N1FWSWQ/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=batmobile&qid=1550002110&s=music&sr=1-2
Mr. Irish Bastard
The Desire For Revenge
(Reedo Records)
Blood floods madly through the swelled veins of this proud creature. Old Country airs and punk demolitions knock about in fraternity. Serves equally well as bracer for the familiar and deserved boot-kick for all others.
Recommended: "Oliver Cromwell's Head," "Darlinka (Darling Karlinka)," "Poor Irish Billy," "Pirates of the Irish Sea," "Mike Malloy," "I Only Like You When I'm Drunk," "The Soundtrack Of My Life"
Video: "Oliver Cromwell's Head"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7-eelFXnGo
http://www.mririshbastard.com/?fbclid=IwAR0K2hrfUuKOiTTkaNYo3RIKHa7hGkOX9qHOi0mUCd7sTZUi-Yp0cMNqZ6k
https://www.facebook.com/mririshbastard/
https://www.amazon.com/Desire-Revenge-Explicit-Irish-Bastard/dp/B079K1BL49
https://open.spotify.com/album/5HXxi7waZPDX2StM0E5XrQ
Zulj
Resetiraj Civilizaciju
(Monsterbilly)
Tom Joad looked at Johnny. "Wherever rude guitars are fighting, I'll be there. Wherever there's snarling, you'll see me. And wherever raw-boned punk challenges the world to a final rumble like it's never been challenged before, I'll be sporting the sideways grin of an outsider who's just crazy enough to grab for the impossible."
Recommended: "Sloboda?," "Drzava," "Restiraj Civilizaciju," "Uniforma Krvozednih," "Junk," "Istine su Lazi," "Probusi Balon"
Video: "Resetiraj Civilizaciju" (Live, Slovenian Kramp Fest, 2018)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkWxJ1owLr4
https://www.facebook.com/%C5%BEulj-197444563984952/
https://zuljpunk.bandcamp.com/album/resetiraj-civilizaciju-2018
https://www.facebook.com/monsterbillyrecords/?modal=admin_todo_tour¬if_id=1550007904001241¬if_t=page_invite
V/A
Cajun Stomp
(Beast Records)
Before sterile computerized stuntery sucked all the humanity out of music made by breathing and feeling people, there were marvelous, fat-vinyl records cut in shoebox studios tucked away in rural regions where actual life was lived.
Those weighty black discs deserve hearing today more than any cloying chart confection or faceless rap dismalness available. Yesterday's preserved examples hold inspirational reward for those wise enough to seek it.
Recommended: "Coming Home" (Jay Stutes and All the Sugar Bee's), "Come Back Little Girl" (Jay Stutes), "Sweet Thing" (Cleveland Crochet and His Band of Sugar Bee's), "Hound Dog Baby" (Cleveland Crochet and and His Band of Sugar Bee's), "Allons Rock and roll" (Lawrence Walker), "Two Step De Vieux Temps" (Rambling Aces), "Open the Door" (Adam Hebert and the Country Playboys), "Cajun Twist Le Tortillage" (The Cajun Trio), "Lemonade Song" (Nathan Abshire and His Pine Grove Boys)
Video: "Come Back Little Girl" (Jay Stutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiRxp4PHfgA
http://beastrecords.free.fr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=274&Itemid=47
Jay Stutes
Powersolo
"Backstab" b/w "Nedtur"
(Slovenly Recordings)
How delectable, to wake still drunk and scramble sideways through a stomping garage-blues surreality paved with mad-side witnessing.
Video: "Backstab"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHDfjCPxlgA
https://www.facebook.com/POWERSOLODK/
https://slovenly.bandcamp.com/album/powersolo-transfixing-motherfucker-ep
https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/powersolo#
Delta 88
Firefly
(Western Star)
The melodies entrance with such bubble, and the affable drive is so engaging, that dropping the needle means committing to specialness.
Recommended: "Cherry Pie Until I Die," I Fell In Love On the Wall of Death," "Massachusetts Firefly," "Rockin' On a Sunny Afternoon," "Panther In the Night," "Return of the Girl With a Raygun," "Gonna Get Me a Motorcycle"
Firefly CD Promo Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiRBtKckRck
http://www.delta88.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/Delta88rockabilly/
https://western-star.tmstor.es/cart/product.php?id=41147&cur=USD
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/firefly/1449752555
https://open.spotify.com/album/0DeWs52cdxzQ6QO29Ihr8x
Haney's Big House
Herding Cats
(Western Star)
Hot and cold iteration of ageless heptitude. To quote the Treniers: "It Rocks! It Rolls! It Swings! It Jumps! Man, it really moves!" Consider yourselves put wise.
Recommended: "Herding Cats," "Dawn Patrol," "Eyes Wide Open," "She Can't Keep Still," "Not Me," "Just In Time," "The Lurcher"
Video: "Herding Cats"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9xmLk4nDFg&list=PLbiDsVZ184Z_8Ao4dx0BtFqmTat2IZt8K&index=2&t=0s
https://www.haneysbighouse.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/haneysbighouse/
https://western-star.tmstor.es/cart/product.php?id=41059&cur=USD
https://www.amazon.com/Herding-Cats/dp/B07N5DQM6Q
https://open.spotify.com/album/0PIQ4PnUdls5iXesYGrL7T
