The Sensational Second Cousins

Pepper and Salt   digital and limited 10" vinyl

(Topsy Turvy Records)

Ravin' Jerk beats stuffing out of every drumhead in the house, as he and guitar throttler Hectic Henri swerve exultantly through rootsy landscapes whose soil is rich with Punk dynamism. Just when it seems probable that someone spiked Henri's mystery liquor with some experimental substance - given his eyes-popping vocal catwheels - the pair close the platter with slow-dance decorum of such refinement, chaperones return to their seats.

Recommended: "Pepper and Salt," "She's a Witch," "Friends with Benefits," "Just a Quickie," "You Only Live Once"

Videos: "Pepper and Salt" (live)   "Friends with Benefits"   "You Only Live Once"

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Ploegendienst

"Asfalt"   "Surinaamse Broodjes"   singles

(Excelsior Recordings / Ploegendienst)

Blastforce singer Ray Fuego (SMIB) throws in with have-a-go heroes from Adolf Butler and Aux Raus to crank volume and lay waste to all creatures great and small. "Figuratively, it is a band that wants to destroy every venue in as short a time as possible," brags Excelsior, home base for these "anti-everything" flaying Dutchmen. Hurtling from grooves' hidey-holes is Oi! that greets with roundhouses and thrives on kindled chaos while decrying annoyances systemic and mundane. Crank volume and have an ambulance on speed dial.

Videos: "Asfalt"   "Surinaamse Boodjes"   live (PinkPop 34:36)

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Sam Ghezzi Blues Band

Initially put to Savoy vinyl in 1957 by the Jive Aces, the elegant tune - lovingly recreated by glad-rags crooner Sam and his majestically voiced vriends - stretches its stylishly slacked legs in imperturbable courtliness.

Video: "Bad Boy"

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T-Drifters

Life is Pretty

(Tombstone Records)

While the trio's name was abbreviated following cover art completion, the sound transmuted nar' a whit. Originals are filled to overflow with leg-shakin' jitter-bop, fit to blast today's Gone Disciples straight up to stars 'n' planets upper reaches. They'll slap skin with ghosts from some 1957 high school hop who're already makin' the scene, pickin' 'em up and puttin' em down in crazy man crazy orbit.

Recommended: "Boppin' My Life Away," "Fade Away," "Life is Pretty," "Fifteen Cats," "Liquor Blues," "Rocking Rebels Rock On," "Tennessee Boogie"

Videos: "Life is Pretty" (live)   "Rocking Rebels Rock On"   "Tennessee Boogie"

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Sick Shooters

Super Sonic Rock Saga

(Wap Shoo Wap Records)

Cut the first, "Heartbreaker Soulshaker," comprises all the elements that make successive tracks blaze incandescently: youthful, kick-out-the-jams feverishness; vocals from the coolest Garage in town; hooks so tunefully efficacious they must've come down from the clouds; and Seven Day Weekend Rock'n'Roll firepower. Scuse me, while I "mess around with the Mokum sound."

Recommended: "Heartbreaker Soulshaker," "Evacuation," "Sick Shooters," "Daisy," "Sweet Telephone," "Supersonic Lovin'," "Never Comin' Home," "In Between," "Holding On," "Gambling Girl," "Great Escape (On the Run)"

Videos: "Heartbreaker Soulshaker"   "Supersonic Lovin'"   

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Milwaukee Wildmen

Blood Fear and Evil   digital ep

(Self-issued)

Vicious liquid foams over the lunar-lit monster chalice's rim, pooling about its base. The three Milwaukee Wildmen thrash in ear-splitting, other-side-of-midnight rampageousness, as they long have to the delight of cursed misfits everywhere. Wreckage surrounds. Cold fingers curl about the goblet. Lips gape.

Recommended: "Don't Get Killed," "Unfriendly Visitor," "In My Blood," "Out on My Own" (1992 alternate version)

Videos: "Don't Get Killed"   "Unfriendly Visitor"   "In My Blood"  Live in Spain, 2025 (20:08)

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Doctor Velvet

New Breed   vinyl LP

(Wap Shoo Wap Records)

Apparent from the sounding is that these Netherlands finger-popping perpetrators enjoyed well-spent youth carousing in an old-school R&B 'hood where righteous rhythms, stank guitar articulations, bold brass, and keyboard paradings - crowned by been-through-travails vocals that still find reason to exult - swing down the late-night boulevard. (And "Put the Hurt On Me" discloses J. Geils lyrical shadow - see "Homework.")

Recommended: "City Jungle," "Messed Up," "Blue Moon Caravan," "Bad Luck Baby," "Fool's Desire," "Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere," "Put the Hurt On Me," "I'm Crying"

Video: "Messed Up"   "Bad Luck Baby"   "Put the Hurt On Me" (live)

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