DC Larson's JUKEBOX JURY

Sunday, September 21, 2025

The Rockabilly Band

This Ain't the Life

(BS Productions)

"My Daddy wore his work shoes to his grave, and I wore his church shoes the day he went away / He worked hard for everything he got, and I remember him every time I put on his shoes."

This wax isn't for everyone - only those of us who celebrate just-plain-folks Rockabilly. No one on stage has anything in mind other than locating and romancing the Country/Bop gem. "Tighter'n a 10 cent top," as Sheriff Andy once remarked. The songcraft is of upper station, instrumental disposition efficacious, and - as for persons unhip - we don't want them obstructing our kicks, anyhoo.

Recommended: "This Ain't the Life," "Chasing Shadows," "Sand in Our Toes," "A Place I've Never Been," "Rockin' Nights," "I Didn't Know I Was Poor," "Makin' Memories," "My Daddy's Shoes," "Rock'n'Roll Rendezvous"

Videos: "This Ain't the Life" "Rockin' Nights" "My Daddy's Shoes"

Amazon (US)

Amazon (UK)

2025 single

Surf Cult

Cosmic Horror

(Future Light Records)

1962 drive-in trash-classic The Brain that Wouldn't Die included a misshapen man-creature, the pitiable product of a lunatic scientist's experimentation. The melted-faced, pinheaded wretch had been exiled behind a bolted lab door. If he'd had a Fender Jaguar with reverb...

This results when someone welds a whammy bar to a Lovecraft paperback edition.

Apparent from labrynthine song construction is that upper-level thinking had as great a say in these instrumental maraudings as did sparks-flinging eccentricism. Digits blur as six strings carom across territories uncanny. While "Black Hole" arrests in forbidding fashion, it is hardly alone in magnetizing listeners. Intensity abounds, cascading in foamy onrush.

And by squinting over oceanic vastness, one can glimpse bubble-headed, invading saucermen shooting curls.

(For this one-year anniversary edition, Cosmic Horror's tracks have been remixed and remastered. A bonus portion was ladled.)

Recommended: "Planet Terror," "Cosmic Horror," "Into the Abyss," "Black Hole," "Interstellar Madness"

(No videos available at presstime.}

Ward Picklesimer, Surf Cult guitarist, songwriter, and producer.

Lucky 757

"Hey" Baby two-track release

(Self-issued)

Don't be lulled by track one's gentility; though its harmonies waft on accompaniment unassuming, and abilities easily able are obvious, a jumper readies itself around the corner. "Charlene" rips aside quietude in favor of Rock'n'Roll that stomps loudly in much-prized vintage fashion. Masterfully-torn Chuck Berry licks transmogrify into back-country dirt-road anglings that scar dance floors with boot-heel cavities.

Videos: "Hey Baby" "Charlene"

Amazon (US)

Amazon (ES)

Amazon (IT)

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Rumble Strip

Sayanara, Baby

(Martini Time Music)

Wordsmith Richard Rossi and ridiculously multi-talented Dave Nachmanoff evinced magical chemistry on 2021's Let's Roll. Comes today Sayanara Baby, ringing affirmation that when lightning strikes a second time, it can do so even more searingly. (Four tracks from the prior waxing reappear; their renewals reward.) Cherished stylings Folk, Pop, Rockabilly, and Blues are sampled in satisfying measure. Melodies frolic with the sweet spirits one would expect from veteran Al Kooper accomplice Dave. Erudite wordplay manages the seldom-realized task of suggesting both regular man and sensate versifier.

Too, remark should be made about accompanists Bart Van der Zeeuw (drums) and backing vocalist Megan Kieven; their presence is advantageous, as the two gild materially.

Recommended: "Sayanara, Baby," "It Could Always Be Worse," "Actuary of Love," "Uber Driver," "South of the Border," "He Talks to Me," "Adam West"

Videos: "It Could Always Be Worse" "Uber Driver" "Adam West"

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Dave Nachmanoff

Wednesday, September 17, 2025

Tad Overbaugh

Farther From Near

(Rum Bar Records)

The wise calculation of the Sherman Brothers' "Spoonful of Sugar" applies here. The communication of accomplished lyricism is facilitated by mellifluous architecture; indeed, so sweeping is the music - Roots and Pop earnestness that reminds many of Minneapolis Punk personages the Replacements - that one's consciouness benefits, even as glasses are tipped and feets do their happy business.

Recommended: "Mended Man," "14873," "Only Happy at Happy Hour," "July"

[No Farther From Near video clips available at presstime.]

Teenage Bottlerocket

Ready to Roll vinyl and CD

(Pirates Press Records)

"You won't catch me cryin', I'm the luckiest man alive!" exults "She's the Shit's" narrator. Prominent among madmoiselle's virtues is that "she doesn't know shit about Indiana Jones or Star Wars!" Combine giddy irreverence with eardrum-smacks that've bent ripped-jean knees before the altar of the Forest Hills brudders (as worthwhile, post-CBGB Punk typically has) and you've got in one package wiseass firepower tickled as all fuck at its own capacity.

Recommended: "Ready to Roll," "She's the Shit," "Post-Mortem Depression," "I Want to Die on My Birthday," "High-Speed Yoga," "All About It," "Giant Bug," "What to Be for Halloween," "Home to You," "Afraid of the Dark"

Videos: "She's the Shit" (live) "Post-Mortem Depression" (live) "Giant Bug" "Afraid of the Dark"

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Pirates Press Records (USA / CAN pre-order)

Tygers of Wrath

"Strike" single

(Smith and Miller Records)

Aggression that knows exactly what it's doing. A major point redounding to "Strike's" advantage is that liftoff is immediate; no moments squandered on tedious prefacing. Crunched chording hurtles at highest rate attainable, bombardments are engineered by a rhythm cell intent on devastation, and rope-burnt vocals prove ace complement. May cause bleeding.

("Strike" is excerpted from forthcoming LP Get Ready, scheduled for October 10 release by Smith and Miller.)

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Smith and Miller / Edition No Name

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Amazon ("Strike")

Amazon (Get Ready pre-ordering)

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