HepTown straight ahead

A couple of discs arrived at Sideburn HQ from Swedish retro culturalists HepTown. Now, stuff dropping on the mat is no guarantee of anything, so don't bother getting any ideas Mr Jay-Z.

First up, Astrolites - Play For Keeps. A three-piece (guitar, bass, drums) putting out, in their words, 'original hi-speed rockabilly'. It's that power rockabilly, more akin to The Stray Cats having a bust-up with The Cramps rather than purist Charlie Feathers twang-a-chug. Dick Dale, Duane Eddy, Billy Lee Riley... all in there. You're making yourself a cheese sandwich and this'll make you cut way too much off the cheddar and slice the bread all to cock. It made me run into the next room and punch the living shit out of an imaginary foe. It's that sort of thing. Great for making you feel like you're driving a slammed '37 Ford to a rumble, rather than the Multipla to Tesco. Almost all the tracks are originals written by the band, but a robust cover of Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire injects the urgency of a full-throttle search for a public toilet following an especially potent chilli-fest. Definitely worth a spin.

Next, Duck and Cover - The Pasadena Recordings. This throws you further back, to the Southern USA of the '40s and '50s. Far more mellow, bit of swing, bit of Ernest Tubb-style honky-tonk (and a Hank Williams cover, in fact), some rock 'n' roll. Great cover of Wanda Jackson's 'Funnel of Love'. Pretty authentic sound and apparently recorded on vintage equipment and all that. Now, instead of making me want to fight, this stuff prompts me to grab hold of Mrs P for a bit of impromptu bare-foot front-room dancin'. OK, I call it dancing, for Mrs P it's more of an unfortunate meeting with a twitching, tongue-lolling idiot, but she's very good about it and simply wipes the drool off her clothes and pretends it never happened.

Good albums, both. Seek them out. MP