DC Larson's JUKEBOX JURY

Capsule reviews by a jury of one: Iowa journalist/author DC Larson. Rockabilly, Psychobilly, Blues, Alternative, Western Swing, R and B, Punk, Swing, Hillbilly, Glam, Americana. DC Larson's retro science fiction writing blog, from which the Eddie Atomic Space Adventures are available, is RETRO RIFF BOOKS. And his political writings one is AMERICAN SCENE MAGAZINE. Both are also on Blogspot. All original content on these three blogs is under author copyright.

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

P. Paul Fenech

Happy Halloween IX 10" EP

(Mutant Rock Records)

Where matters concern P. Paul, there exist no consequence confusions. The Meteors' visage excels at dastardliness. Tracks weren't available for early consideration, as this 500-copy disc's issuance is timed for portentious All Hallow's Eve prefacing. But P. Paul's antecedent efforts all manifest his brick hammer-finesse and predilection for motifs disquieting. This writer feels assured touting new maraudings unheard.

Recommended: "The Thirteenth Chime," "You're Dead," "Ghost Mountain," "Funeral for a Saint (Muerte en Octobre)"

Videos from prior Happy Halloween VIII: "Gimme Gimme Halloween" "All Hail the Pumpkin Head (King of Halloween"

Philip Doyle

Slingers Duo - Stayin' Alive digital album

(Diablo Records)

Testament to the yowling pair's capacity is that they salvage "Stayin'Alive," the Bee Gees' atrocity that (at least in this precinct) always provoked regurgitation. One is floored by the spectacle of Philip Doyle's and Jeanmi Arnould's digits tearing up and down fretboards. Fold in their beer-hall voices thundering in jollification, and the admixture intoxicates.

Recommended: "Jim Dandy," "Seven Deadly Sins," "Big River," "Staying Alive," "I Love Rock'n'Roll," "Gone Gone Gone"

Video: "I Love Rock'n'Roll" (Mecrin France) private show (2:11) tour promo (1:04)

Al Foul

Come Back a Dog

(Fort Lowell Records)

"I think the reason everybody loved him was that he was a really good person," fellow Tuscon musico Ben Nisbet revealed to a reporter, as the ill tiding of 50 year-old Al's cancer death spread through May 2022. "He was the person who had an incredibly strong sense of integrity and a remarkable moral compass."

The troubadour's austerity is conveyed here to high effect. (He'd traveled considerable distance from his teenage stint with Boston punks Foul-Mouthed Elves.) The title cut imprints plaintiveness. From subtle onset, American standard "Frankie and Johnny" swells into feverishness. "All In the Name of Love" kicks up heels with abandon. And Dave Dudley's "Six Days On the Road" prospers from Al's offhand, bar-stage tack.

That he produced this, ensuring his vision was honorably inscribed, rates as proper. All monuments should be so faithful.

Recommended: "Come Back a Dog," "Darker Shade of Blue," "Memphis," "Frankie and Johnny," "All In the Name of Love," "Six Days On the Road," "Down Hill"

Video: "Come Back a Dog" "All In the Name of Love"

Zabilly

Acenei e Sorri

(Self-issued)

Following the route of previous Zabilly outings, last July's resounding "Seca Sovaco" emlazoned the three as redoutable mongers of sounds indomitable. Comes now "Acenei e Sorri," neo-Rockabilly whose brawn sneers at barriers. Red lights are as nothing to cats perpetrating jitter bop.

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Sunday, October 27, 2024

Al Duvall with The Freaks

The Flop Sessions

(Flop Records)

Al recorded as "Tough Ted Titmaus" in the early 1980s. The later Flop Sessions is all but invisible online, though, and these tracks' birth year is indeterminate. But whatever their vintage, they portray him cannily wedding wise-cracks to pre-war percolating, and cleverness is evergreen. The old-fangled ditties are of roll-back-the-rug disposition. Playfulness facilitates japery: "Buck Up," the wag advises, even "When you're soaked in gasoline, and you run into an old flame."

Recommended: "Buck Up," "The Killer Inside," "Miner Blues"

Video: live in 2010 (2:33)

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Krystal Jyl and the Jacks

"Hot Dog!" EP

(Tenvolt/Stephen K. Donnelly)

Bored teens dawdled over their malteds. But when one leather-jacketed kid fed the blinking Seeburg and crazy riffs buoyed by the Big Beat blared, couples tore into motion. Sideburned shop-class skip-outs and pony-tailed Betties whirled across scuffed black-and-white tiles. Rock'n'Roll is here to stay.

Recommended: "Clothing Swap," "The One That Got Away," "Hot Dog Roller at the Seven-Eleven"

Video: "Clothing Swap"

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Hombre Lobo Internacional

Let's Do It!! EP

(Lumpen Creativo)

Nothing scant of face-ravaging could be anticipated from a self-mantled "one Wolfman band," nor are such expectations dashed. A likely theory submits his sinister command of multiple instruments owes to lunar projections. Maleva knows his way is thorny.

Recommended: "Let's Do It!!," "Gotta Fade Away," "Never Been Loved"

Videos: "Gotta Fade Away" "Never Been Loved"

Back In the Day, 1994

Hank Flamingo

s/t

(Giant/Warner)

As the Tuff Darts lamented, you can't sell something if it hasn't been sold before. Hank Flamingo (a band, not an individual) produced one LP that captured its olio of traditional Country, Rock'n'Roll merriment, and sideways 'alternative' adventurism. It was home-style good and sporadically quirky. "Little Miss Fire Prevention" and single "Baby, It's You" romped with familiar dirt-road mischievousness, their fiddle and six-string interplay of back-country blood. But "Tennessee Plates" and particularly "Redneck Martians" (which cultivated idiosyncratic visage) employed tilted sonic effects, locating them at a distance from Nashville proper. Label marketers surely had a stern go. Audiences groomed to applaud orthodoxy were nonplussed. Regardless, much fun was had by those without rigid demands.

Members atomized the following year. Drawling and baggy-suited frontman Trent Summar, whose freewheeling demeanor portrayed affability, formed Trent Summar and the New Row Mob. Over years, the group featured Flamingo guitarist Philip Wallace, as well as eminent picker Kenny Vaughn (McBride and the Ride, numerous ensuant marquee-name associations, and Marty Stuart's present band). Others included Michael Granda (Ozark Mountain Daredevils), and Dan Baird (Georgia Satellites). Two platters were cut for Palo Duro.

Earlier this month, Trent led the Trent Summar Band in performing at the California Avocado Festival. He is also the "boss man" of Farm Rock Music Publishing.

Recommended: "Little Miss Fire Prevention," "Baby, It's You," "When You Ran With Me," "Tennessee Plates," "White Lightnin'," "Redneck Martians Stole My Baby," "Slaw"

Videos: bio and "Baby, It's You" (13:11) "Redneck Martians Stole My Baby"

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Saturday, October 26, 2024

The Franklin County Trucking Company

The Death-Defying Adventures of...

(Tri-Nut Records)

Fcotco looses barnburning jolt with clod-kicking inclinations, and does so with assurance that can only be earned through hardscrabble toil. Figures associated bespeak hat-doffing timber. Members include Jim Rotramel and Taylor Sprehe of Number 9 Blacktops Rockabilly fame, Supersucker Eddie Spaghetti, and flat-out drum-killer Sean Hopkins. (Most tracks were penned by either Rotramel or Hopkins.) Additional luster is lent "Me and Mr. Pibb" by erstwhile Del Lords plank-spanker Eric "Roscoe" Ambel. Owing to executive-level production, Fcotco's fourth release shouts with serrated definition.

Recommended: "Bless My Soul," "Shotgun Ghost," "Bobtail," "Truck Drivin' Rock'n'Roll Songs," "Raise Hell, Praise Dale!," "Ain't No Duke In Paducah," "Rollin' On," "Me and Mr. Pibb," "Work Hard, Be Humble"

Video: "Truck Drivin' Rock''Roll Songs" "Rollin' On"

Ferlin Husky

Essential Classics, Vol. 558

(Essential Classics)

As they were Ferlin's deepest etchings on sales charts, "On the Wings" and "Gone" were obvious selections for inclusion. His pew-testimonies and heartsore ventures portrayed somber aspects. But more appealing to some fans (including this reviewer) were brassy high-steppers that showcased impeccable 1960s Country electric and steel-guitar masteries, and Ferlin's own loose and broadly grinning relatability. When the limber-limbed, Missouri-born caller reared back and belted out "I feel better all over more than anywheres else!" (as he did in 1966 film Las Vegas Hillbillys), everyone knew to believe him. Were Ferlin confronted by one of today's woke Pop-Country manikens, he would clean bust a gut.

Recommended: "Wings of a Dove," "I Feel Better All Over," "Gone," "Tennessee Central Number 9," "Prize Possession," "Detour," "I Wouldn't Treat a Dog Like You're Treating Me," "I Will," "I'll Never Have You," "Very Seldom, Frequently Ever," "The Drunken Driver," "How Much Are You Mine"

Video: "I Feel Better All Over" "I Wouldn't Treat a Dog Like You're Treating Me" "The Drunken Driver"

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Ferlin with Mamie Van Doren and Don Bowman in Las Vegas Hillbillys.

Lasse Edin

"My Sunshine" single

(Talking Music)

Wide-open and swaggering uptempo Blues, carrying an avowal of devotion belted out by a Romeo sporting shades and laying down a groove invincible. The happily handcuffed prisoner of passion enjoys the company of good-time 88s and rejoiceful harmonica. This is the out-loud strut of a man blissfully smitten.

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The Playtones

"Hoppin' and Boppin'" single

(Atenzia Records)

Finned Bel Airs, Delta 88s, and Buick Roadmasters were parked at crazy angles. The house rockin' could be heard clear down the block. Jaunty Rock'n'Roll drove tattooed celebrants into a delirium beyond that to which Schlitz and Falstaff had already opened the door. And the Playtones got it all down on tape.

Video

Wednesday, October 23, 2024

The Dead Beat Jacks

Graveyard Chicks Are Easy

(Jax-Wax Records)

Perhaps it's because these lunar-bayers have been occupied with onstage lurkings (including with Hillbilly Casino), that 2021's Graveyard Chicks has thusfar remained their sole full-length waxing. But a crisp platter will soon loom. And in the present time, sordid relish of monster melodies here gushes unspeakably. Once you've entered, the door will slam behind you. It only opens from the outside. You won't care.

Recommended: "Psychobilliac," "Before I Lose My Mind," "Graveyard Chicks Are Easy," "Scary Truck," "Baddest Cat In Town," "A Undying Quest," "Bone Stimulator"

Videos: "Psychobilliac" "An Undying Quest" live in 2023 (24:11)

The Altar Billies

"Ridin' On the Santa Fe" single

(Self-issued)

So solid a Country-shaded Rockabilly proposition are Orange County's Altar Billies, they were invited to stomp the stage at last month's Roots Music Festival in Westminster. Theirs is a rollicking interpretation of the American Rebel Music that, when first ripe, shook popular culture to its foundation. Impeccable Gretsch picking and sleek harmonizing cruise compellingly to a gingery backbeat.

"The legendary Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe railway is considered by many to be a 'Fallen Flag' railroad that might be gone, but is not forgotten," wrote the limber-legged trio, in a Facebook post. That precious memory now has a theme song.

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Billy Irwin & the Gambits

If the Shoe Fits...

(Revivalist)

I was unaware of rough gem Billy, prior to hearing of this. His irrepressible acoustic, unvarnished singing, and song-writing flair mark him as especially gifted. Initially, I'd been moved to investigate by the participation of picking phenomenon Bart Weilburg (who previously backed Wayne Hancock). Bart's prowess proved only one facet of a Honky-Tonk treasure. Also at Billy's elbow was fiddler Flora Knight. Without her peppery sawing, considerable vitality would be absent. Additional heft was lent by guest hay-bale minstrels. All involved seem to be having a whale of a time, making rafters rattle.

On Intagram, Knight wrote: "Billy writes a fine song, and from a very genuine place. What you see is what you get...The album is Country as hell..!"

Recommended: "Thorn In My Side," "I'll Find It Where I Can," "Sober and Lonesome," "My Sweet Love Ain't Around," "T For Texas," "Can't Go Back to Oklahoma," "Dad's Song," "Slow Walkin' Slow Talkin'"

Videos: "Thorn In My Side" "Sober and Lonesome"

The Nightdrivers

"You're the One" single

(Rehn Music Group )

Every quality this song possesses, charms. Against gentle acoustic strums, a swain (assumedly on bended knee) plights his troth to a Heaven-sent woman he caresses with poesy of adoration: "You're the one meant for me / I am so lucky as a man could be." The pillow of melody upon which our hero's whispered devotion is offered comforts as it encourages.

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Sunday, October 20, 2024

Greaser Phase

s/t

(Shambotic Recordings)

This was still cooling when Shambotic gave up the ghost. Undeterred, the NYC guitar/vocals duo of Benny Imbriani and Jonny Crouch are soldiering forward. (The two benefit here from the in-pocket assistance of drummer Kevin Shea.) Influences are robustly embraced and thrown into textured melange: Keef riffs chime with classic Rock'n'Roll's carbonated jubilance, compelling singing etches personality, and even Pop happens by to bestow mellifluous wonderment.

Recommended: "Lonely Hearts Killer," "Back In California," "Believe It," "Love Is Guaranteed," "False Paradise," "Over and Out"

The Tragic Radicals

Year of the Radical

(Savage Magic Records)

Adventuresome instrumentals, rendered starkly by electric guitar and drums. Much respect is due musicians who contrive song architecture with plenteous intellectual investment. The stylistic compound here is a construct unto itself, numbering among constituents Garage, Surf, Grunge, and Prog (that last being something the present writer generally turns from, though in this instance, it intrigues). Songs are best appreciated in their entireties; disparate tempos, shadings, and ambitions flicker mischievously, only to transmogrify into things unanticipated. Listeners may well wonder where songs will ultimately wind up - the answer can only be learned through experience.

Recommended: "Fuckin' Weirdos," "POTUS Redding," "The Madman," "Mayday!," "P.S.," "Rabiessquirrels," "Romanian Noodles," "Rinse & Repeat," "Welcome To Dyownsville"

Video: "Fuckin' Weirdos" (live) "Madman" (live) "Mayday!" (live)

The Battlebeats

Meet Your Maker

(Sweet Time Records)

Maximium Rock'n'Roll wrote that Andresa Nugraha sired this Indonesian Garage-Punk project in 2019. Today, the man played all instruments on Meet Your Maker. (He apparently retains touring players - they recently aimed flamethrowers at Tokyo.) Such is the breakneck frenzy and string ravages that comparisons have been drawn to Guitar Wolf and Teengenerate. All but leaps from packaging.

Recommended: "R'N'R All Night Long," "Don't Talk To Me," "Dressed To Kill," "Meet Your Maker," "The Anaxiphiliac," "Wicked City," "You Wanna Be Me," "Born To Lose," "You Ain't Better Than Me"

Video: live in Tokyo, 2024 (37:44)

Drive-In Radio

The Voyageur

(Tenvolt)

There's nothing ostentatious to be found here, which is precisely the reason it warrants acquisition. Tremendous reward can be got from simple Country. One acoustic, one standup, and two common drawls with uncommon tunefulness coalesce in hand-tooled cordiality.

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Saturday, October 19, 2024

Shane Vain and the Village Vandals

Rubber City Rumblebilly

(Rumble Road Records)

To quote Sir Cliff: "Ballads and Calypso have got nothin' on / real Country music that just drives along!" Carousing in these grooves is Rock'n'Roll all liquored-up and with eyes peeled for kicks. Paraded are devastations from the Akron combo's extant catalog, as well as just-out-of-wrapper "Can't Beat the House." Milquetoasts would scamper from this howl.

Recommended: "Hot Rod Big Rig," "Till That Moon Goes Down," "The Ballad of Large Marge," "It's Not Rocket Science," "How Many Times," "Three-Ton Jack," "Can't Beat the House"

Video: "Hot Rod Big Rig"

Los Rockin' Jacks

"Pensaba en ti" single

(Alguacil Records)

Dancehall lights lower as a tender ballad intones. Romeos and Juliets search one another's eyes, and drift into embrace. Couples enflamed revolve glacially. The song's majestic changes are familiar and adored; classic Rock'n'Roll from which generations of lovers have taken inspiration. The dance will soon end. But the night has only begun.

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Arbo

"Cry Love (Live From the Living Room)" single

(Histrophonics)

The song before us is more than only lissome comfort (though it cetainly is that). Louisiana-bayou voicing, unhurried pace, and mandolin pluckings total Americana genuineness that only men can produce; no studio technology could even near that prize.

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Back In the Day, 2012

The Chop Tops

Evil Six: Revisted

(Swillbilly Music)

Crisp tidings hold that the bomb-hurling Chop Tops have prepared a reunion platter titled Fabrikate for 2025 issuance. (The group's site advises that "limited-edition pre-order" bundles have already been depleted.) Their last release, Evil Six, initially saw store racks in 2001; this 2012 version reminded of the group's skull-swinging vigor. Ferocity leapt with fists up in opening instrumental "Sun Down." That pugnacious stance was maintained even as the coda subsided, eleven tracks later. Interludes arrived via intermittent down-shifted cruises. Relish of the Chop Tops' antecedent waxings is enriched by knowledge that the flames yet rage.

Recommended: "Sun Down," "Let's Ride," "Hey Baby," "I'm a Rocker," "Doin' My Best," "Evil Six," "Drinkin' My Life Away,"
"Johnny Law," "Too Many Cats," "13 Months"

Video: "I'm a Rocker" "13 Months"

Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Zombina and the Skeletones

The Call of Zombina

(9x9 Records)

Being a lifelong devotee of horror cinema (both classic and drive-in detritus sorts), the present writer is reminded of director/co-producer Tod Browning's 1931 Dracula. (The titular menace was, of course, interpreted by ominous icon Bela Lugosi.) Throughout The Call of Zombina, cobwebbed circumstances in which eerie misdoings seem imminent abound. The magnetism that lurks is as much the product of somber tones as august movements. Dark passages hurtling and implicitly sinister are brewed judiciously; the effect is deliciously fearsome imbalance.

Recommended: "Blood Rite For the Resurrection of a Sleeping Countess," "Cemetery World," "The Black House," "Vampire's Kiss," "Don't Kick My Coffin," "I'm Horrified!," "Valley of the Shadow," "Dead Birds," "Ghost Train II: Oblivion," "No Wonder I'm Always Anxious"

Videos: "Blood Rite For the Resurrection of a Sleeping Countess" "Ghost Train II: Oblivion"

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