The Uniques - Lady's Man / Bolivar J

The Uniques are a pretty fun Louisiana rock & roll/garagey group, though the more research I do the less they seem like a Louisiana band. Usually the Shreveport Paula label = Louisiana, but it seems the Uniques were formed in Arkansas, according to this website I somehow had never seen before. Interesting, considering that this was produced by Dale Hawkins, often considered a Louisiana artist despite spending the greater part of his life in Arkansas. Whatever I'll take it, I like these guys, I like their more popular single with the cover of All These Things, I like their LP Uniquely Yours though mine has a big chunk taken out of the first track. Maybe otherwise I'd upload it for y'all, until then I'll keep an eye out.

Anyway, these are both pretty upbeat, not quite KILLER but fun. Lady's Man here might be a cover? I haven't been able to find the details, I'm probably missing something obvious


I like Bolivar J a little more with its big stompin' and prominent organ. This one was definitely written by the band



blog note: sorry it's an eternity between posts, the Youtube crowd is just really on top of their game, everything's been gotten to already!

A few things I've been listening to

First of all, I got a surprise message from the French surf rock group The OK Kings, who graciously sent me a promo of their brand new album to play on my show. Phil Dirt gave it 5 stars but really, I've never dug Phil Dirt reviews, especially with his lo-fi dismissals. So here's my short review: it rips.

The OK Kings - Washout

Their Myspace is right here

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Also found on Myspace: The Space Agency
This is a pretty DIY effort and their myspace looks even worse than mine, but the previews were good and my well-developed gut feelings were screaming at me so I placed an order for their first album. It was expensive to begin with and coming from the UK didn't help, but it was worth it. Fuzzy lo-fi weirdo surfy stuff that, honestly, out-psychs the new Satan's Pilgrims album (not that I don't like that album). I seem to remember finding something saying the lead guitarist went to grad school studying Indian music or something, I don't know

The Space Agency - You Make Me Nervous

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Alabama Kid - Rockin' Jalopy

this was on some garage compilation somewhere. I don't know anything about it... I don't even know if it's being played at the right speed considering that there's two other Youtube videos at different speeds. I do know I listened to it on repeat for a little while

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Lastly, here's some of the most kickass old-style zydeco I've heard. The only information I've been able to find so far is from a goldband records site saying he only recorded about five songs. 

Thaddus Declouet - Shake it Up All Night Long

Thaddus Declouet - Lake Charles Doo-Doo-Dia

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Hope we all had some fun. I'd love to hear about anything cool you've heard lately, I'm by no means some sort of guru (if you've been checking this site out often that much should be clear).

AND

Storm Surge of Reverb starts at 4PM today (2 hours from posting time) at www.wtulneworleans.com

Let's get heavy

The real benefit to my radio show at WTUL right now is that I can plow through the 7"s and find great garage acts that I wouldn't have heard otherwise. One of the better finds so far was the Chrome Cranks. I might be showing my age here, maybe they were actually pretty big in their day, but I've been listening to this song an awful lot for the past few days.


Download Chrome Cranks - Lo-End Buzz

There's a pretty clear noise influence in there and it's a lot more harsh than what I would normally call Rock & Roll, but the attitude is definitely there. Sure, they're not the only band to do this brand of Rock & Roll; Jon Spencer's done this in all sorts of ways for instance.

Two great bands that do a similar thing, though perhaps less stricly within the realm of rock & roll.

The Distortions (sorry, no MP3 for you because I don't have any)


Download Clockcleaner - Vomiting Mirrors

Johnny Zorro

I found out about this artist from one of the Frolic Diner compilations and headed to ebay to pick up a random 45. That's about all I can tell you here other than that it's surf, fun, wierd, and the B-Side is good but not as much as Bongo Guitar. Wish I knew more about it, since Bongo Guitar is ferocious.


download Bongo Guitar


Download Kangaroo Hop

These are hosted on my recently-graduated-school's hosting which may not be legit so get it while it's hot.

I've been a little slow lately because of hurricane nonsense and indecision about what to throw up here next. It's between the Lifeguards, Joe Houston or Little Richard + Sister Rosetta Tharpe