HANK SHIZZOE 6/13, FITZGERALD’S I was suckered in by the guitar-playing garden gnome on the cover of Swiss guitarist Hank Shizzoe’s Low Budget, but after repeated listening I have to admit there’s nothing remotely as clever about his friendly and reverent blues rock. In fact, his version of Robert Johnson’s “32-20 Blues” sounds more like he’s covering the Black Crowes covering the Stones covering Johnson, and his “Stagger Lee” is so laid-back it makes Dave Matthews sound like Howlin’ Wolf.
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TICKLEPENNY, ANGRY JOHNNY & THE KILLBILLIES 6/13, LOUNGE AX If Steeleye Span represents the noble superego of folk rock, Chicago’s Ticklepenny is its feral id, joyously sloppy and obviously familiar with the Shane MacGowan school of drunken Irish bastardy. Massachusetts’s Angry Johnny & the Killbillies serve up flashy, trashy, country-fried rockabilly on all the great themes–drag racing, car crashes, whiskey, roadkill, prison, Lucifer, and lots and lots o’ death (their Hankenstein includes two ditties about chain-saw murders and a third in which the narrator fantasizes about “flirting with all the boys” dressed in his murdered girlfriend’s skin). For at least one night Lounge Ax gets a break from all those experimental-music geeks who don’t buy enough beer.
ELEVATOR TO HELL 6/16, EMPTY BOTTLE There’s a lot to like about this New Brunswick trio’s Parts 1-3 (Sub Pop), its first album and EP rolled into one CD. The 27 tracks fluctuate between gentle, introspective indie pop and enough guitar ripping and fuzzy synth groans and creaks to keep things from getting revolting. But I think to really get the full story you have to look at bandleader Rick White’s grim and spindly comics, so I hope they bring some.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): My Life With the Thrill Kill Cult photo by Thomas O’Donell.
