DC Larson's JUKEBOX JURY

Wednesday, November 12, 2025

The Brains

Zombie Nation red-marble vinyl reissue

(Cleopatra)

In addition to elating hedonistic wreckabouts everywhere, this 2010 Stomp Records release further credited Rene De La Muerte's vehicle as deserving of upswept stratum. (The group's rank having been established by three prior discs.) A digitally remastered incarnation has now been set loose by Cleopatra. Orange-and-blue flame-tongues rage toward night skies no less now than when initially kindled. Somewhere beneath soil exists a rumbustious club where the Brains are in neverending rotation.

Recommended: "We'll Rise," "We Gotta Go," "Screaming," "Apres Cette Nuit," "Sweeter than Wine," "As I Stand," "Zombie Nation," "Evil Never Dies," "Mexikaners," "Enjoy the Silence"

Videos: "We'll Rise" "We Gotta Go" "Screaming" "Mexikaners"

The Pterodactyl Hunters

Terror in Demoland

(Crazy Love Records)

Country legend Cliff Stone observed "You gotta be bad, before you can be good." That may generally be so, but primitivism can have peculiar charm. And potency waves in these embryonic renderings. Pterodactyl Hunters were a French damage force that assembled, dare-deviltry in hearts and musical armaments at hand, back in Psycho's germinal period. Some acounts hold they ultimately lunged in somewhat sterner manner. The band's life spanned a brief 1989 - 1992 term) But their initial energies were of have-a-go animation, rollicking tunery (that sometimes skirted waggish madcapism), heaved by lads without cares, save for fun. Nothing wrong in that.

50 copies, in black, green, and orange vinyl, have thusfar been crafted.

Recommended: "Pterodactyl Airways," "Don't You Let Me Down," "Bitch Omaha Beach," "shout baby!," "Space Cowboy," "George Hamilton's Back," "It's Moving Inside," "Lonesome Train (on a Lonesome Train"

Videos: "Pterodactyl Airways" "Bitch Omaha Beach" "Space Cowboy" (live 1989) "Don't You Let Me Down" "Lonesome Train (on a Lonesome Track)"

Crazy Love

Bad Billy

diskunion

Back in the Day, 1981

Dave Edmunds

twangin'...

(Swan Song)

Some cuts came into being whilst Rockpile was extant. Members assist mate Dave, as they had on his previous Repeat When Necessary. Also present are outtakes hailing from jams previous. ("Baby Let's Play House" dates from a 1968 session.) Such is the immaculate Pop shimmer of "It's Been So Long" that Ray-Ban cheaters are advised. The Wicked Pickett's "Three Time Loser" is stepped up a bit, though Dave's reading retains the original's determination. General appraisal turns up jocular outings of crisp vintage, slid betwixt tunes culled from Elysium's Seeburg.

Significant is Dave's free-skimming recollection of George Jones's 1964 "The Race is On." Backing him here are the Stray Cats, whose own debut full-length was produced by Dave the same year.

Recommended: "It's Been So Long," "Singin' the Blues," "(I'm Gonna Start Living Again) If It Kills Me," "Almost Saturday Night," "Cheap Talk, Patter, and Jive," "Three Time Loser," "You'll Never Get Me Up (in One of Those)," "I'm Only Human," "The Race is On," "Baby Let's Play House"

Videos: "It's Been So Long" "(I'm Gonna Start Living Again (If it Kills Me" "Three Time Loser" "I'm Only Human"

Sunday, November 9, 2025

MindFucks

"The Deep Ones" single

(Bad Billy Records)

"Dutch Psychobilly from the graveyard of some dark asylum" is the grim quartet's self-designation.The song's title hints at Lovecraftian messaging, an implication after which the video's practically subliminal shots of members sporting beastial headgear slash exclamation point. And that's cause for gratitude; so velocitous is the surliness that bellowed declarations are indecipherable. Perhaps the most sharply textured of Amsterdam's crisp exports.

("The Deep Ones" is a slice from forthcoming longplayer Tales of Love and Murder.)

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Bad Billy

Jesse Cunningham

It's Tonkin' Time

(Self-issued)

Look who's come through the door - a cat with no particular claims to grandeur, save for estimable multi-instrumental aptitude and seemingly effortless, rural-fashion Tele virtuosity so profound that Charlie and Floyd's Cannonball nearly flew clean off Dead Man's Curve. Lyrics would be superfluous, given instrumentals' nothin'-fancy majesty. Flutter-finger fretism enjoys complement courtesy of drumming as precise as a Swiss timepiece, shrewd bass navigations, and steel guitar that knows its home-folks territory and carries on right proud.

(Jesse now adds serious flair to the Blast-O-Matics; their newest is reviewed below.)

Recommended: "It's Tonkin' Time," "Everyday I'm Shufflin'," "Chickens B. Pickin'," "The Train Robber," "Surf 'n' Turf," "Grandpa Walt's Waltz," "West Coastin'," "Blast Off Cowboy"

Videos: "It's Tonkin' Time" "Everyday I'm Shufflin'" "Chickens B. Pickin'" "The Train Robber" "Blast Off Cowboy"

The Dead Shout

Eponymous Product EP

(Mental Records)

Among the 2025 class that's ensuring Londoners (and others globe-wide) remain mindful of The Sock, The Dead Shout touch off blast-force volleys that pierce center target. Their repertoire finds icily confident strutting and flat-gone hurtling trading turns. Only scant essentials are employed for militant purposes - swingingly bellicose ones that carve bop initials.

Recommended: "Going Cold," "Jump Your Bones" (EP version), "Love Song"

Videos: "Going Cold" (live) "Jump Your Bones" "Love Song" "Drag You Down"

Blast-O-Matics

Blastin' Off digital EP

(Self-issued)

"Rock'n'Roll Machine" and "Rock'n'Roll" burst with such off-leash fervor, that "Coot Shoot Boogie" and "You Bring the Matches" pull one up short with their leisurely Country accents. And therein breathes distinction that touts the platter: Players involved are adept at distinct bents, their endeavors being colorful, rather than monochromatic. (Singer/plank-spanker Jesse Cunningham stands tall.) Hence doth victory arrive, chin high, shoulders back, and a bulging bag o' twang in each fist.

Recommended: "Rock'n'Roll Machine," "Coot Shoot Boogie," "Lights Go Out," "Get Lost, "You Bring the Matches," "Rock and Roll"

Videos: "Rock'n'Roll Machine" "You Bring the Matches" "Rock and Roll"