DC Larson's JUKEBOX JURY: May 2025

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

Eliza Stark & the Dappers

Higher

(Old School Records)

Sly pacing is the key to effectiveness. The trio conspiring to enrapture do so in measured manner, their commanding Rockabilly not so much outright conflagration as smoldering menace. Particular power is kindled when nimbly picked guitar, slam-smash drums, and doghouse-slapped-dizzy storm together. Grrr vocal salvos bedeck arrestingly. Ain't nobody gonna throw down against these three.

Recommended: "Gonna Get You Higher," "The Lonesome Soul," "Never Let Me Drink One More," "Motorbikes," "Fuck Them All"

Videos: "Gonna Get You Higher" "Never Let Me Drink One More" "The Lonesome Soul"

Dr. Void

In Search of...B Sides: Echoes of the Plenetary Death Machine...

(Self-issued)

Fantastical Psychobilly reflected in smashed mirror-shards. The collected songs are said to represent five relative bands from the 1980s to 2016. What they share is uncanny: stuttered guitar flailings, hot pepper percussion that skitters unstoppably, and a whimsical sense of morbidity. Shoutings resound against otherworldliness. Bass delineates form. Fused into eerie amalgamation, all are propelled through starry, miles-high vistas at inhumanly adrenalized velocities. Novel adventurings constitute delectable bizarritude. And the Lord Acton cameo...

But that's only a partial portrait. Elsewhere are brutal volleys of more bottom-dollar Psycho character. Those reduce to smithereens everything dumb enough to stumble into their breakneck paths.

It is the contrast between strangely daring voyages and reliable pulverizings that locates this on a high shelf.

Recommended: "Planetary Death," "Erosion Crisis," "Gaia's Revenge," "Die With You, Die With Me," "This Is the End"

Videos: "Planetary Death" "Die With You, Die With Me"

V/A

Punk At the Tap

(Strummer Room Records)

It's to be expected of compendiums that certain entries compel more than others. Those here that feature furious guitars, violently flung manifestoings, and the amphetemine arcs typical of Punk as wrought by its ripped progentitors loom tallest.

Admirable is the noble intent prompting this: "Every penny from the album will go towards supporting the invaluable work of BARKS [Banbury Animal Rescue and Kindness Service] in rescuing and caring for animals in distress," informs the Bandcamp page.

Recommended: "I Don't Think So" (Order #227), "Amsterdam" "Hummus Don't Scream" (AWAP), "Horse Face" (Sinews), (Gutter Puppy), "12 Systems" (YT-1300), "She's Not of This World" (Das GHOUL), "I Like It That Way" (The Long Time Dead), "Robinson Resigns" (The Gadgets)

Videos: "I Don't Think So" "12 Systems" "I Like It That Way"

All Strummer Room Records:

Daryl Haywood Combo

Eager Cat EP

(El Toro)

1950's notoriety came to Texan Ray Campi when he waxed "Eager Beaver Boy." Similar regard is due Daryl - not only for his "Eager Cat," but also for its three grooved confederates. Assuming this stage are the rollicking bop natures that so vitalized plain-folks Country back in the day, that the whole world was fractured into franticness from which, hopefully, recovery will never arrive. Good ol' boys got the sock.

Recommended: "Eager Cat," "Rockin' and Rollin' Mr. Moon," "I'm a Hepcat," "The Girl's Back Home"

Videos: "Eager Cat" "I'm a Hepcat"

Sunday, May 18, 2025

Roy Head feat. Deniz Tek

Last Time Around

(Wild Honey Records)

Lore holds that Soul/R&B/Pop belter Roy - who could slip from full-bodied exhortation into creamy crooning as eminent as any we're likely to hear in this life - was once kicked off a James Brown tour for untethered onstage exuberance. We owe gratitude to Wild Honey and Radio Birdman guitarist Deniz Tek for now restoring Roy to deserved approbation.

The re-recording of Roy's 1965 hit "Treat Her Right" paired him with Deniz, and is featured here. Deniz also lent his fret faculties to two additional cuts. His articulations flabbergast. Unreleased 2020 tracks feature the singer's guitarist son, Sundance; Head the younger exhibits serious chops and substantial flash worthy of the moment.

Accompanists all meet the task admirably. Brass alternately swells, descends, and flows in sterling service to each passionate passage. And the dynamism furnished by the agile-yet-stalwart rhythm section maintains vitality.

Tragically, Roy's passing occured as he was recording this collection. His gritty oeuvre puts the lie to the racist fancy that white men can't grab up Soul and R&B pulsations, twist them mightily, and wring out every possible drop of sweetness. (Identical salute is also merited by Wayne Cochran.)

"'Living legend' is a word used too carelessly, these days," Deniz once said to Detroit Rock'n'Roll magazine. "This is one time that it fits."

Recommended: "Feels Like Rain," "Slow Down (But Don't Stop)," "Lean and Hungry," "Ice Cream Man," "Still Married," "Undercover Agent for the Blues," "Earthquake," "Ain't That Lovin' You Baby," "Daddy Oh," "Treat Her Right"

Videos: "Ice Cream Man" (feat. Deniz Tek) "Ain't That Lovin' You Baby" "Treat Her Right" (Hollywood A Go Go TV show, mid-1960s)

Wild Honey (Bandcamp)

Facebook (Deniz)

Green Noise Records

Sounds of Subterrania

Apple

Amazon

Spotify

Deniz Tek

Chinese Hoodie

Quick Pop Fanclub

(Self-issued)

Ska and Hardcore share tidal-wave habitat with Ramones-touched Pop swayings, and their ebullience locates this in unique placement. From the moment of ignition, breakneck rush rockets ever on; its destination isn't important - it's the fun of the velocitous journey that recommends in screaming tones.

The sole request properly extended to this combo is that they continue issuing similarly worthy discs.

Recommended: "Enjoy Yourself," "Rapid Express," "Cobra," "No Kidding," "True Duelist," "Cider Beach," "My favorite Things"

Video: promo

The Twistettes

Red Door Open

(Last Night From Glasgow)

One has no option other than submission to The Beat, so all-encompassing is it, and so alluring its essence. Scottish sisters Jo (bass) and Nicky (drums) join powers to admix lilting Pop with twelve-mile depth that jars each and every bone in the skeletal structure. An overwhelming emprise.

CD and limited red vinyl iterations available.

Recommended: "Bounce Baby," "All I Want," "Ice Cream," "Big Boned," "Leaf Upon a Tree"

Videos: "Big Boned" "All I Want"

Facebook

Instagram

Bandcamp

Last Night From Glasgow

Proper Music

Rough Trade

Apple

Huck It

Reloaded

(Self-issued)

Heated vocal urgency is demanded by the uproar of the whole. So summoned, it erupts amidst instrumentalism of raging rank. All assembled hurl themselves headfirst into Punk sweaty, declarative, and snotty in a beloved mold. Any contending adroitness and vehemence can't be located in a single spot can shut their yaps.

Recommended: "Sucker," "Far Away," "Sinister Girl," "Careless"

Videos: "Sucker" "Sinister Girl"

Instagram

Apple

Boomplay

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

Jane Rose & the Deadends

Didn't Know the Devil

(Self-issued)

It's predictable: When Jane hauls off and lets fly a booming shout and her kick-ass allies give it all they've got, walls will quake and shingles will scatter. Heightening the group's appeal is an ability to take it down just a bit to render smoldering hypnosis. Don't mess with this if you can't handle the good stuff.

Recommended: "Lies," "Didn't Know the Devil," "Tuff Teddy Boy," "Jivin' Jim," "Gimme That Sugar," "Petty Betty," "Red Hot Mama," "Spaghetti Jane"

Videos: "Lies" "Jivin' Jim" (live, Viva Las Vegas 28) "Red Hot Mama"

Back in the day, 1959

Lloyd Price

The Exciting...

(ABC - Paramount)

From his 1940s church-choir brethren, to Ed Sullivan's 1960s TV audience, to 2014 Viva Las Vegas rockers, all who were fortunate enough to hear Lloyd knew he was of a voice golden. His debut LP showcased the man to be no less adept at "Stagger Lee" stomp as "What You Do To My Heart" aching romanticism. Difficult to grasp as it surely is for those aware of Lloyd's mastery, there are some today to whom his name rings strange. Their woe.

Recommended: "Stagger Lee," "I Wish Your Picture Was You," "Talking About Love," "What Do You Do To My Heart," "Mailman Blues," "Where Were You (on Our Wedding Day?), "Just Because"

Videos: "Stagger Lee" (live at Viva Las Vegas 14), "I Wish Your Picture Was You" "Mailman Blues" "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" (live w/Little Richard on TV, 1994)

Back in the Day, 2001

Andy G. and the Roller Kings

That Kings County Sound EP

(Sympathy For the Record Industry)

Brazenness bursts omnidirectionally, its cranked-to-the-extreme volume and headfirst dash appropriate to the splash of Rock'n'Roll orthodoxy that sparkles its vibrancy at the core of every kicking party. Big grins decorate mugs and shoe-leather scuffs at delightful speeds as sax and guitars raise up good ruckuses. The beat cannot be resisted. Rocking Pop gestures recalling transister radios and sidewalk surfing swing and bop with the welcome familiarity of old friends. Kids are even dancing on the roof.

Recommended: "My GTO," "Stay Awhile," "Summertime Girls," "Dance Last Night," "Feelin' So Good"

Videos: "My GTO" "Summertime Girls" "Dance Last Night"

Back in the Day, 1985

X Invaders

"Storm Boys" b/w "Lover Boy" single

(Pinner)

Early 1980s English juggernauts X Invaders did release full-length platter X Sessions, but it was not available for present review. This 45, though, proved sufficient for transporting this writer backward to a time and place in which neo-Rockabilly shouted with gleeful freshness and absolutely no regard for status quo strictures. The crisp style's creators sported natty glad rags and took razors to their heads. And X Invaders' amphetemine reading of classic moves spurred to feral footwork cooler members of their generation. Rock'n'Roll will always be.

Videos: promo "Storm Boys" "Lover Boy" "Out of Line" (unreleased track) "

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Discogs

Sunday, May 11, 2025

Handsome Dick Manitoba

Back On Broadway 7" vinyl EP

(Heavy Medication / Ghost Highway / Take the City)

It's clobberin' time.

Since 1975's The Dictators Go Girl Crazy (Epic) first perched on shop shelves, Handsome Dick has been the prototypical Punk band's global visage. Given those decades of branding, surviving members' current attempted relaunch without their storied frontman is as futile as would be a 'new' Stones without Sir Mick.

His 2019 solo debut, Born In the Bronx (Liberation Hall), heralded the larger-than-life, one-man power crisis's return in limber fettle. As affably bombastic as ever, he tossed off brash attitude with pipes undiminished by seasons; it was as if the seventies' wise-cracking Two Tub Man was again charging from a turnbuckle. Dynamic, metallic robustness raged at each turn. It was a colorful opus whose alternating textures and ambitions satiated.

As Back on Broadway attests, he is unmolested still by the calendar. Brusque and blasting. The wall-bouncing life of the party assembled an urban squad of formidable torpedoes. Frank Meyer (Streetwalkin' Cheetahs), Scotty Slam (Circus of Power), Michael Butler (Jetboy), and Craig Berhost (Two-Bit Thief) forge and maintain a hard-line propulsive force no counter could best. Chords crush, changes unspool with lightning-flash drama.

Notable, too, is his clever way with a lyrical pen. The sunglassed brawler can contrive swaggering japes with the finest on offer. Self-penned studio cuts "Back on Broadway" and "DeLuise Nation" split waxen turf with Dictators tune "Savage Beat" and "The Party Starts Now," a free-for-all from the Manitoba's Wild Kingdom era.

Handsome Dick's trophy-belt possession remains undisputed.

Recommended: "Back On Broadway," "The Party Starts Now" (live), "DeLuise Nation," "Savage Beat" (live)

Video: "DeLuise Nation" (live at Bowery Electric, 2021, w/saxophonist Arno Hecht. Song starts at 1:50)

Take the City Records

Bandcamp

Kid James

"Bewildered" single

(Wild Records)

As he recently evidenced at Viva Las Vegas, Kid James embodies all the flames and crazily hopping dervishness with which classical Rockabilly punched its way through 1950s' staid popular music ethos. "Bewildered" is a sterling stage for him to mount his talents. Throwing out lyrics in growls, jackhammer exclamations, and histrionic whoops, he attacks electrified strings in paroxysmal abandon that befits the flat-gone bop agitator he devastatingly is.

Video

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Discogs

Zabilly

"Mobilete" single

(Self-issued)

Issued in the afterdraft of Psycho killers like "Seca Sovaco" and "Acenei e Sorri," Zabilly's crispest barrels with soundly slapped double-bass in its proper upfront location. Of course, it's hardly alone: serpentine guitar strikes, skins battered insistently, and sneers en español proclaim their coarse virtues in 3:27 of ruggedness replete with gang shouts.

Video

Tommy Ellsworth and his Rockin' Jesters

The Hertz Sessions

(Self-issued)

These never-issued songs were put to tape in 1963. Tom Nazziola ("Tommy Ellsworth") led a combo through gracious turns that exemplied Rock'n'Roll in an evolutionary stage. Southern-spawned Rockabilly's rip-snorting defiance had by then conceded real-estate to more widely accessible tunefulness that bespoke the influence of Northern inclinations and lacquered crooning. As apparent here, such smooth gestures harbored their own especial magnetism.

Endeavors benefiting from majestic harmonies and genteel instrumentation predominate. They cast shine on Tom's personable vocals, ones for which no note exceeds grasp. Sporadic inclusion of uptempo, somewhat sterner jaunts points up resourcefulness.

Singer Nazziola's son Tom recently discovered the reel-to-reel masters in storage. And together with his brother Jay, Tom the younger has now made these available in CD and streaming formats.

Recommended: "Every Day I Have to Cry," "Raining in My Heart," "Little Town Flirt," "Charms," "Your Lips," "If I Had a Hammer," "Black and Blue," "The Right to Love," "True Love Ways," "If You Wanna Be Happy," "Take Good Care of My Baby," "Every Day I Have to Cry" (background vocals version)

Videos: "Every Day I Have to Cry" "Your Lips" "Take Good Care of My Baby" "Little Town Flirt"

Wednesday, May 7, 2025

Guitar Slingers

Six String Bandit digital album

(Diablo Records)

Doyley just uploaded Guitar Slingers' 2010 second release to Bandcamp, for digital marketing. Within these grooves breathes the misbegotten issuance of Psycho and Punk having made Shakespeare's "beast with two backs." (Brisk Swing and Mex airs also thrust legs 'round the back-curtain, in striking cameos.) For happy lunatics, knowledge that Doyley stars is sufficient to mandate purchase. But the illustrious axeman/producer/label magnate was abetted by a slew of wicked co-conspirators: Names like Fantomas, Koefte, Daniel De Leon, and Nigel Lewis further spur wallet grabs. As those culpable despoil others' fabrications, electricity seethes with peculiar toxicity.

Recommended: "The Bandit," "Django Meets Bastardo," "Seven Deadly Sins," "Red Hot Rockin' Blues," "Don't Blame Me," "High Heel Sneakers," "Right Now," "Mexicali Baby," "Can't Catch Me," "Madame Oscar," "Bop a Lena," "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock Ya," "Momento Di Uccidere"

Videos: "Seven Deadly Sins" "Bop a Lena" "Mexicali Baby"

Facebook (Philip Doyle)

Instagram (Philip Doyle Music)

Diablo Records

Bandcamp

Discogs

Atomic Drifters

Atomic Man EP

(Self-issued)

Small wonder, that Viva Las Vegas 26 habitués tapped to this outfit's output; they and attendees were of one blood. Slouched Country disposition here imbues tunes whose jumped-up manners leave zero question about their rightness for that venue. Cowboy hats and cat music in hep symbiosis.

Recommended: "Atomic Man," "Come With Me," Devil In My Mirror"

Videos: "Atomic Man" "Come With Me" (live)

The Hammer Horrors

Creepy Cocktail

(Self-issued)

Delectable creepiness resounds off gray-stone walls, but that's only half the good news unveiled. The remainder is that the wretches who grabbed up angry instruments, having left shackles dangling, perpetrate strange savageries at once titillating and deleterious to moral being. If songs seem to pass quickly, that's because time flies when you're up to no good.

Recommended: "The Shape in the Shadows," "Tombstone Shuffle," "Creepy Cocktail," "Hot Bitch From Hell," "Friday Night Frightmare," "Every Dead Thing Needs a Hole," "Just Buried," "Bloodmobile," "Sundown In Bloodtown," "Beast"

Videos: "Tombstone Shuffle" "Just Buried" "Beast"

The Honkytonk Wranglers

Hangin' Around

(Swelltune Records)

In 1971, at 12 years old, I spent a weekend with a paternal uncle and his family. They lived in one of Iowa's tiny rural towns.

I was from a city. So, for me, country life was a different reality. Sunday meant all-day fundamentalist church, punctuated at noon by a houseful gathering. A table was loaded down with hot dogs, cold meats, breads, pop, and potato salad. A spirited throng gathered, dressed in church-going finery.

Roaming the rooms, I found a black-and-white 8x10 stashed on a bookshelf. It was a posed publicity shot, and depicted a country western-type combo complete with stand up bass, acoustic, electric, and steel guitars. They sported de rigueur cowboy attire: big hats, neckerchiefs, boots.

I didn't know the photo's vintage, nor did I recognize anyone featured. Some distant family members, perhaps -- ones who'd once dreamed vainly of celebrity? (Excerpted from the author's "Flesh Made Music.")

The Honkytonk Wranglers brought back that memory. They just played Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend, and the Country they genially offer - polished (as in professional), but never overly so - is the sort of rug-cutting affair home-folks can never get too plentifully.

Each hand present maintains cool poise. Whether arrangements call for pacific interpretation, or for all on deck to lean back and let loose with jaunty diversions, caliber of executive rank is consistently on tap.

They are too damn good to end up like the unknowns in that 8x10.

Recommended: "Hangin' Around," "Cryin' In the Deep Blue Sea," "Sunday Down In Tennessee," "Better Safe Than Sober," "Under the Influence of Love," "Much Too Young To Die," "Pick Me Up On Your Way Down," "There's Not Any Like You Left," "The Late and Great Me"

Video: "Hangin' Around" (live) "Better Safe Than Sober" (live) "Cryin' in the Deep Blue Sea"

Sunday, May 4, 2025

High Street

Welcome to High Street

(JLC Audio)

"We are currently releasing our album one song at a time for streaming, and the rest is available for purchase on our website," read the message sent me by High Street. (This reviewer was provided with confidential audio.) While putting songs to tape, group members trod the same Union Avenue studio floor as had giants. Arising amidst many spring-heeled ravers are a few reserved offerings that boast urbane harmonies and mannerly instrumentation.

Back in days when primordial Rock'n'Roll burst from blinking Wurlitzers, romps of identical spirit earned every cool kid's coins.

Recommended: "Little Emma," "Where is the Time?," "Call Me," "What's a Man Gotta Do," "Watching (With Those Eyes)," "High Street Hop," "Your Little Secret," "Doctor, I Don't Know What I Got"

Video: "Little Emma"

Rampires

Voodoo Queen four-track EP

(Ring Of Fire / Bat Rock)

Discogs observes this orgy of the dead is limited to 100 hand-numbered copies. Those digging it will find themselves in the crazy-stitched company of tiltedly barreling Psychos who know precisely how to evoke calamitous uproar, whilst evidencing musical bents only true horror-men harbor.

Steal into the nocturnal cemetery, put an ear to the grass, and witness sounds wraiths relish.

Recommended: "Voodoo Queen," "Calling Me a Monster," "Werewolf Priest," "Blood and Bones"

Videos: "Voodoo Queen" "Werewolf Priest"

Kieron McDonald

Because Of You 4-track EP

(Sleazy Records)

Australian finger-popper Kieron (the Flatfoot Shakers' founder) is possessed of pipes eminently suited to let's-get-loose bop. While cats at his back give out with snapped-tight shakings - prominent are Kid James' lapel-seizing guitar lines - Kieron dispatches lyrics with cool-daddy aplomb; consistently on the beam, the man plainly digs the melody cruise. And when's the last time anyone heard a Rockabilly Rebel name-check Dino?

Recommended: "Because of You," "All She Wants to hear is Dean Martin," "Exotic Woman," "At the Bop Hop"

Videos: "Because of You" "All She Wants to Hear Is Dean Martin" "At the Bop Hop"