DC Larson's JUKEBOX JURY

Sunday, August 10, 2025

Guana Batz EP

Rockin' Banshee 7" EP

(Tombstone)

"Only a few left!," Bad Billy declares. That hardly surprises. Such is the predictable response when yet-hot Guana Batz product is issued. The spinaround Psycho they've mongered for decades (revolving personnel being a frequent feature in the genre) crashes dead-ahead while never forgetting to cultivate accessibilty of a sort; it doesn't reach toward you, you will longingly grasp.

Recommended: "No Way Out," "Rockin' Banshee," "Run to the Promised Land," "Corridors"

Video: live 2024 (53: 38)

namedroppers

Cool Blue Shoes

(HMG Recordings)

Drummer Bobby Torello and bassman Scott Spay have Johnny Winter among credits, so merit can be assumed. That vital quality is compounded by all others who render Blues dynamism that usually works its roots in measured fashion. Gospel accentings appear in organ swirls and majestic backing singers. In moments, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes ring in memory - always a positive.

Recommended: "Think Yiddish," "Out of This Blue," "Be Alright," "Yes I Will," "Keep Pushin'," "Cool Blue Shoes," "Hard Way," "That's the Way My Love Is," "Killing Floor," "Cool Blue Shoes"

Videos: " "Cool Blue Shoes" "Yes I Will"

the RoundUps

Fast Color

(Self-issued)

Lead-off "Blue Collar Blues" is far too authentic to have been penned by some corporate-label poindexter with baby-soft meathooks. Its personal essence and Country comfortableness crop up elsewhere, as does Rockabilly fit for folks looking to cut all kinds of loose. Flesh-and-blood hearts dropkick tech artifice into the alley. These masterly players may not be acclaimed on the world stage, but that's the globe's hardship.

Recommended: "Blue Collar Blues," "Wanda Dean," "A Farmer's Lament," "Duke Tinnell," "Demolition Girl," "The Master's Call," "Little Teaser," "Why Oh Why"

No video available

Bastardes

No Glory vinyl LP or CD

(Sunny Bastards)

Credit is due these Swedish spark plugs for both witty songcraft mindful of melody, and their sure-handed governance of gingery rollick. Though the union of organic hooks and brawn is one not easily realized, it glories in its culmination, here. ("The beast with two backs," as scrawled the Avon icon.) One appreciates that oversight of firepower-at-hand makes for redoubled effectiveness. "I can't never, ever, live one more day / Without Punk Rock in my life I won't stay!" Testify, brethren.

Recommended: "Wild Young and Free," "Boys in Blue," "Broken Dreams," "Born a Loser," "Run Away," "Raise Your Voice," "No Glory," "Pint of Beer," "One More Day"

Videos: "One More Day" "Boys in Blue"

Wednesday, August 6, 2025

Guitar Slingers

Greatest Hits Digital-only release

(Diablo Records)

This reviewer rushes when opportunities to tout personal favorites present themselves. And Guitar Slingers - Psychobilly berserkers with Gretsch-batterer Doyley hectoring at their fore - ricochet between that category's perimeters. Various co-conspirators popped in and exited through years covered, but Doyley and lunatic fury were ever constant. Thunderation laughs derisively at speed laws. Trace elements of Morricone and outer-space hijinx percolate with Rockabilly rampage. Roky Erickson's Dr. Rorsach would surely drop his drawings if confronted by this crooked-grinned, LOUD deluge.

Sam Phillips had no idea the extreme to which his chance breakthrough would one day hurtle.

Recommended: "Fuck You," "Boppin' 'n' Shakin'," "Babylon's Burnin'," "Seven Deadly Sins," "Ska Trek Krew," "Fly with the X-ray Eyes," "Django Il Bastardo" Alien Hooligans," "I Feel Psycho," "Geraldine," "Psycho Mad 'n' Proud," "Hellhouse Stomp," "Psycho Cop," "Rise of the Cybermen," "Never Steal the Devil's Wheels"

Videos: "Fuck You" "Fly with the X-Ray Eyes" (live 2015) "Geraldine" (live 2014) "Rise of the Cybermen"

Facebook (Doyley)

Bandcamp

The Rumjacks

Dead Anthems Digital album

(Australian Broadcasting Company)

Rousing, full-spirited animation colors their every effort, as does musical adventurousness that spans distance from rowdy-street calls-to-arms to measured sentimentality. The turn immaterial, connection to olde-world ways and the faiths they cherished roars consistently, as legacy airs are revivified with slam-head Punk.

Recommended: "Come Hell or High Water," "They Kick You When You're Down," "Smash Them Bottles," "Cold Like This," "An Irish Goodbye on St. Valentine's Day," "October," "Father's Fight," "Eye for an Eye," "Some Legends Never Die"

Videos: "Come Hell or Hot Water" "Cold Like This" (live) "Eye for an Eye"

The Lagoon Lurkers

It Came from the Grave Beyond OuterSpace

(Self-issued)

Crammed into a Honda Accord, whimsical confectionists the B52s sped along a backroad, only to be dive-demolished by Lux and Ivy's mutant saucer. Ponying Pop grooves and Rock'n'Roll unspeakables lay everywhere. "I Was a Teenage Thermonuclear Cheerleader" ("She's hotter than a super-nova in a muscle car!") ranks among 2025's wittiest handles. And the hat-tip to an infamous, ballyhooing director of cult-relished drive-in detritus pleases with peppiness. Once one's laughter falls away, though, the understanding that players of proficiency toil amidst this campiness claims purchase.

Recommended: "It Came from the Grave Beyond Outer Space," "Midnight at the Mortuary Hop," "Boogie from Beyond," "I Was a Thermonuclear Cheerleader," "Kiss Me, I'm Mutated," "Castle of Shock," "The Brain that Screamed Forever"

Videos: "Midnight at the Mortuary Hop" "I Was a Teenage Thermonuclear Cheerleader" "Castle of Shock"