For a quarter century,
Dex Romweber has trolled the dark corners and back shelves of the haunted thrift store of Americana ephemera and honed an extraordinarily idiomatic sound, a particular and readily identifiable DEXness for those in the know. It’s a creepy doll collection of surf, proto-rockabilly, garage, dark and vengeful blues, and nobody, but nobody, plays it like Dex. First with the legendary Flat Duo Jets and now with his Duo, Dex distilled the punk ethos of less-is-more to the essential guitar/drums template. Left in the wake of his lecherous and slithery Silvertone were early acolytes like Jack White, Neko Case, and the Reigning Sound as well as a current crop of the indie pack like Ty Segall, No Age, Japandroids, and The Black Keys. All owe an unclaimed pawn ticket of debt to his sublime and spine-tingling sound. He is a live wire back to the murky, sometimes dangerous and always unpredictable headwaters of real rock and roll.
Dex, with his whip-wristed sister Sara Romweber on drums, takes their third full-length release (and first since 2011’s Is That You In The Blue?) Images 13 through neon-lit alleys, full of pulp fiction juvey rock, sci-fi theme songs and greasy denim hipster jive. Recorded at Rick Miller’s (Southern Culture on the Skids) Kudzu Ranch studio in North Carolina, Images 13 would make everyone from Duane Eddy to Stan Kenton to Lenny Bruce crack a smile, a joke or the seal on a fifth of rye and head for the Naugahyde ice bucket.
Magic Bag Theatre
Saturday, March 15
w/ Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, and
Dom Flemons of Carolina Chocolate Drops
8 PM doors | $18
http://www.themagicbag.com/cale.htm
