Post Ramone

Sounds Like This

(Mom's Basement Records/Jolly Ronnie Records)

There can be no more virtuous manner in which to honor the leather-jacketed pioneers referenced in Post Ramone's chosen name, than to pen and blast similarly concise, infectious Pop Punk aburst with strobing harmonies. Ohio headbanging veterans all, band members internalized the wisdom handed down by the Big Apple "brudders" that fusing buoyant tunefulness to tumultuous aggression makes for peculiar seductiveness. 

Recommended: "Droppin' Off," "ADAL," "Take Me Home Pt II," "Breakdown," "Sending SOS," "Freakin' Out," "One Of These Days," "Yo, OH"

Video: "Take Me Home Pt II" (live in studio)

Facebook

Mom's Basement Records

Jolly Ronnie Records

se.7digital

Jack Rabbit Slim

Beat It Creep

(Western Star)

Authenticity ensures Jack Rabbit Slim its high location as much as does all 'round crack musicianship. Faith in their entrancing undertaking, rooted solidly in meaty popular music traditions, imbues this latest wax no less than it did their previous rocking efforts. When cleverly carpentered material is interpreted by seasoned players with true hearts, rare bounty redounds to everyone's benefit.

Recommended: "Beat It Creep," "Rude Not To," "Cat Talkin' Baby," "Loser On Judgement Day," "The Popular Loner," "Rock'n'Roll Bones"

Video: "Cat Talkin' Baby"

Facebook

Western Star

Amazon

Spotify

Sacred 20s

Come Alive

(Self-issued)

Though as decisive as Psychobilly fellows, the Sacred 20s eschew netherworldly sympathies others banner and loose demolition songs devoted only to lean sprinting. Through such attention to efficiency the trio locates definition. Particular note is due "Silver Bullet." Its tormented Talbot-esque protagonist makes his plea for death's release (punctuated by howls) against an accelerated backdrop whose careen features instrumental rambunctiousness.  

Recommended: "Come Alive," "Silver Bullet," "Drinking Tonight," "30 Seconds Away," "Creeper Run," "Pick Up the Pace!"

Video: "Creeper Run"

Bandcamp

GetRockMusic

Apple

Carlos Washington's Steel Horse Swing

A Little Western, a Little Swing

(i2i Records)

Carlos' untroubled drawl is so consonant with this unpretentious rustic lilt that it seems organic, flowing effortlessly in pacific rhythmic offhandeness. Bouncing with steel guitar animations, tastefully picked guitar, and ever-busy fiddle, music of this nature compelled many-a dirt-road couple to whirl across the hardwood, while whooping friends clapped and a Stetson-sporting buckaroo barked directions. Foam-topped glasses should be raised in salute to Carlos and his band for not only realizing Western Swing's potential for lighthearted pleasure, but for maintaining that gem of American popular culture.  

Recommended: "Little Bit of Western, Little Bit of Swing," "Got To See the West," "One Way To Swing," "Party On Piedra Lumbre," "Desert Skies"

Video: "One Way To Swing"

Site

Facebook

i2i Records

The Caezars

"Heartache Overload" b/w "Back In the Jungle" 7" single

(FOLC)

Prior to the group's 2016 dissolution, it issued numerous vinyl slabs that crackled with uncompromising electricity and left throngs (including a Viva Las Vegas one) seething in states of hot-bloodedness. They did not brook tepidness then, nor do they now. Two crisp songs attest to The reformed Caezars' abiding capacity for spirited Rock'n'Roll of vintage essence. Flames are free to burn most spectacularly within elementary frameworks, a truism nimbly portrayed here.

Video: "Heartache Overload" (Bopflix video)

Facebook

Bandcamp

Stutterin' Devils

Devil Behind the Wheel 6-song EP

(Bad Billy Records)

(This previously posted review has been updated.) Like other European nations, Finland hosts an avid Neorockabilly subculture, one in which tattoo-sleeved and Bettie-banged enthusiasts storm dancefloors at the instigation of constituent bands like the Stutterin' Devils. Exceptional cut "Life Out Of a Suitcase" handily illustrates the group's trademark qualities: Infectious songcraft, performative ruggedness, and ambition to communicate the passion that compels them. The briskness with which they dispatch direct material, and the muscularity flexed throughout the doing, are hallmarks of this band likely to reap wide acclaim in future days.

Recommended: "One Night Out," "Devil Behind the Wheel," "Undisguised," "Meet Me Halfway," "I Heard the Gossip," "Life Out Of a Suitcase" 

Video: "Life Out Of a Suitcase"

Facebook

Bad Billy Records

Spotify

Back In the Day, 2011

Johnny Hatton

Johnny Hatton's Gospel Bop

(CD Baby)

Finnish Rock Pastor Pontus J. Black directed me to this undersung opus, a kindness for which I'm indebted to him. "Spazz" Hatton's impressive resume is too extensive to recount here; suffice it to say he is perhaps best known for head-turning toil with the Brian Setzer Orchestra. Another BSO alum, much-lauded drummer Bernie Dresel, helped bring this Divinely inspired roots romp into riveting being. No strict genre demarcations are observed, as Rockabilly rollick and Country sway join with crooned harmonies in cumulative diversion. One can only marvel at the talents of Douglas Livingston and Fino Roberto, the former a slide specialist and the latter a much-in-demand, fleet-fingered session virtuoso.

"My aim was to get a real rocking album," Johnny told a 2016 interviewer. "I am a minister and I play in the church band. Financially speaking, it was a dumb idea [to record Gospel Bop] because nobody wants to play Gospel on the radio stations..."

Market insights aside, though (and as cost-free as it is for laymen to argue), rewards most sublime are not pecuniary in nature. Gospel Bop was a resounding triumph deserving of greater applause in its time. The disc still offers benefits to those wise enough to seek it.

Recommended: "I Saw the Light," "Gospel Bop," "Shake a Hand," "The Other Side Of Me," "Racing With the Devil," "Jesus Loves You Baby Anyway," "If I Lose My Way," "Get In Line Brother"

Video: "Gospel Bop"

Facebook

Amazon

Spotify