The Essential Letdowns

Inferior Demise

(Self-issued)

Before the door closes behind them, The Essential Letdowns have torn into their set list and recorded longtime live favorites as a smirking fair-thee-well. "Hope ya enjoy it! Give it a chance, it's not so bad. You think you hate it now, wait 'til you hear it," read their recent Facebook missive.

Such dismal bannering is undue self-deprecation. Personnel changed through years (as is often true of volatile assemblages), but uproar remained constant. Raggedness endeared. The point was always the kicks inherent in assault - fuck niceties.

"Essentially letting society down since 2013." Again with the undue...

Recommended: "Shake and Die," "Rock'n'Roll Rascal," "Old Skool Ska," "Business in the Front - Party Rockin' in the Back," "Essentially Letdown"

Videos: "Shake and Die" (live)   "Old Skool Ska" (live)   "Business in the Front - Party Rockin' in the Back"

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Philip Doyle

The Guv'nor - A Psychobilly Tribute

(Diablo Records)

Various aspects of Psycho's grim visage are portrayed by distemperous rabble, who pack implements of mayhem. Ireland-birthed Diablo mastermind Doyley lays claim to such an extensive offense log in that field, and his Frankenstein Monster-presence towers so augustly, that the fact of his association suffices to impel wallet grabs. There will breathe no regretful spenders.

Also available at Bandcamp: "[A]ll the new music Philip Doyle creates, including this release and 21 back-catalog releases, delivered instantly to you via the Bandcamp app for iOS and Android." 

More: "Backstage, I will add unreleased demos, albums that won't be on Spotify, etc., and I will put one of my albums every week. Join monthly, and you can also cancel anytime. There is also a 10% discount."

Bonus: "The satisfaction of knowing you’re supporting me in a sustainable way."

Recommended: "Daddy is a Vampire" (Highliners), "Last House on the Left" (Doppelgangers), "Rockabilly Psychosis" (Spellbound), "Final Kick" (Moonshine Stalkers), "Don't Fuck Around with Me" (Clockwork Psycho), "Hotel in New Orleans" (Jack o' Bones), "Ride This Torpedo" (Guitar Slingers)

Videos: "Daddy is a Vampire" (Highliners)   "Rockabilly Psychosis" (Spellbound)   "Final Kick" (Moonshine Stalkers)   "Don't Fuck Around with Me" (Clockwork Psycho)  

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Blisterhead 

"Wake Up"   single

(Sunny Bastards)

"But in our minds, we are blank!" declare Swedish bomb-chuckers Blisterhead, turning one's thoughts to Hell's 1977 "Blank Generation." The two may differ somewhat (Richard's nihilist anthem is dejectedly measured, while these fresh what's-the-point-of-it-all ponderers favor velocitous demolition, of a sort that smashes all surrounding to shards), but each flowered in a 'hood where denizens function without digging exactly why.

Full-length wax is in the offing.

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Back in the Day, 1969

Steve Cropper

With a Little Help from My Friends

(Volt - US, Stax -UK)

In Jimmy Vaughn's phrasing: Six Strings Down. 

Wednesday the third brought news that Steve Cropper had expired, departing in his 84th solar orbit.

Steve's deft stylings took him from the 1960s' Stax house band (Booker T and the MGs) - with whom he gilded way too numerous Soul/R&B gems for succinct enumeration - to recording and filming with Blues Brothers John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd, to further global pinnacles unglimpsed by most.

A city cat and his country cousin slapped hands, threw their respective uptown blues and backroad bends into high-stepping frolic, and left for lucky us a plate piled high with tuneful savoriness.

By adding his writing faculty to the crafting of "Knock on Wood," "Soul Man," "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay," "Green Onions," "In the Midnight Hour" and more, he ensured his shadow would forever hover above American popular music.

Here is where the legend began its journey. A wholly instrumental work, it trained the spotlight on the man's plectrum prowess - as was only proper. Steve's manner was both judicious and adventurous; he steadily intuited how best to traverse ambitious avenues, digging the soulful capacity alurk in every meaty passage. 

A host of delights abounds. As ears are filled by sounds too cool for rules and too funky for button-down strictures, muscle memory may well answer the call, producing good-time limb gesticulations not viewed since Don Cornelius commenced the Soul Train Line. And Steve's own "The Way I Feel Tonight" is textbook belly rub stuff.

2023 witnessed an Omnivore Recordings vinyl rerelease. A digital, remastered and expanded version saw daylight in 2024.

If there be any sunshine piercing the dark cloud of a string master's sad demise, besides mourners enjoying works left behind, it is this: up-and-coming pickers can avail themselves of the inspirational example. The pick is passed. Such is the way.

Recommended: "Crop Dustin' "Land of 1000 Dances," "99 1/2," "Boo-Ga-Loo Down Broadway," "Funky Broadway," "With a Little Help from My Friends," "Oh Pretty Woman," "I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water," "The Way I Feel Tonight," "In the Midnight Hour," "Rattlesnake"

Videos: "Crop Dustin'"   "99 1/2"  "Boo-Ga-Loo Down Broadway"    "I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water"   "The Way I Feel Tonight"

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Mental Shakedown

"Reno Neon Lights" / "Here Comes the Sound"

(Bop 'n' Destroy)

It's likely these firecrackers Bop the Blues in their sleep. Truer passions for the steadily moving, country/blues ripsnorter adherents hail as Rockabilly cannot be located. Dedicated to late drummer Burnout Bruno, these tunes teem with revered flashes and dynamite downbeats endemic to the style, as were first wrought by names now matters of lore. The single can be bought in any of six colors, 50 of each having been rendered.

By the moment your eyes scan these words, current drummer Stephan will have played his final Mental Shakedown show, in Berlin. Future days will tell who will terrorize skins in his stead. Fieriness will be a requisite.

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Copasetic Mailorder

BeBe's Records

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The Dusty 45s

Butterflies  EP

(Sleazy Records)

Regardless of the style they take up - comfortably settled Rockabilly, het-up hijinx remindful of baggy-pants Vaudevillian carryings on, Bert Weeden's ethereal 1960 excursion, or Jazzy geniality accustomed to high-toned niteries - combo members turn hands ably. Poise walks hard and trumpet skedaddles merrily.

Recommended: "Simple Thing," "Butterflies," "Bright Lights and Blonde Haired Women"

Videos: "Simple Thing"   "Butterflies"   "Apache"   "Bright Lights and Blonde Haired Women"

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Raunchy!

"My Own Way of Rockin'"   single

Countrified Rhythm and Blues   full-length

(Sleazy Records)

In promotion of their approaching event, operators who engineer Spain's Screamin' Festival trumpet that Raunchy! offers "originals, sharp covers and a rhythm section that keeps strollers and shufflers locked in." To that sketch, I would add salt-of-earth vocals and guitar that knows well which foot-paths to take and how most entertainingly to navigate them. The Crazy Cavan cover shows precisely where members reside.

(Sharing the Screamin' bill will be the Delta Bombers, the Firebirds, Don Diego Trio, the Royal Flush, and numerous others. )

Recommended: "My Own Way of Rockin', "Big 5-0," "Flea Woman," "In Love," "Still as the Night," "I'm Walking," "Lulu"

Videos: "My Own Way of Rockin'"   "Big 5-0"   "Flea Woman"   "Lulu"

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