An early Halloween, timeless jingles, Bowie redux, and more
A spooky new tune from Dracu-las, a Bowie tribute, and Peter Stampfel's historical "Song Shards"
THE DRACU-LAS - “Walking With A Vampire” (Bandcamp)
Who better to kick off the Halloween season than Jersey City’s Dracu-las, whose playful mix of garage, surf, power-pop, and Sixties girl-group pop always brings a kick of playfulness and fun. Riffing off their name, “Walking With A Vampire” conjures up the Ronettes doing the theme song to a 50’s grind house B-movie. There’s a twist, though; the girl with the bouffant hairdo and poodle skirt isn’t the victim, but the vampire! It’s kitschy, it’s fun, and the band nails the retro vibe. This year, you can celebrate Halloween with the Dracu-las when they open for Los Straitjackets at White Eagle Hall on October 31, which should be a spooky good time.
JASON DIDNER - “Deliver Me From Nowhere” (Streaming)
Jason Didner is a funny guy. His “You Can’t Get There From Here In Jersey” should be the state anthem, with its hilarious descriptions of the Garden State’s incomprehensible traffic circles and snarled highways. But inspired by Warren Zane’s Deliver Me From Nowhere about the making of Bruce Springsteen’s “Nebraska” - and with the movie version just a few weeks away - Didner plays it serious on this track. Written from the point of view of Landau, who helped the aspiring star through a rough patch of depression, the song celebrates the power of friendship and helping someone “through a dark place.” The lyrics and music definitely bear a Springsteen stamp, in Bruce’s somber, stately and moving mode. Jason Didner might not have Jeremy Allen White’s dimples, but this take on Bruce is well worth checking out. You can watch a demo of the track on YouTube now, but Jason is finishing up a more polished version for streaming, so hang on for that.
PETER STAMPFEL, Friends & Daughters - Song Shards: Soul Jingles, Stoic Jingles, Vintage Jingles, Prayers and Rounds (Jalopy Records)
At 86, Peter Stampfel shows no sign of slowing down. 2002’s Peter Stampfel’s 20th Century featured Stampfel performing one song from every year of the last century, from 1901 to 2000. This follow-up pursues the same archival impulse, but wackier, with really short songs, and instead of curated covers, half of the album features Stampfel originals. Download the 14,000 word liner notes and you can read about the genesis of these 46 tracks; it may take you longer to read it than listen to the album, which runs a bare 43 minutes.
Stampfel divides the album into two parts: “Stoic jingles” and “soul jingles,” and “vintage jingles.” What’s that mean? The first 26 songs began as aphorisms, Bible passages, prayers, hymns, or traditional folk rounds, which Stampfel tweaked and set to music. The “vintage jingles” are just that, advertising jingles from radio and the early days of television, many of which may well be embedded deep in your brain if you’re of a certain age.
The liner notes begin with Stampfel’s tale of his own pilgrim’s progress, from a childhood Catholic to atheist and then - while getting clean in Alcoholics Anonymous - back to prayer. His discussion of prayer focuses more on pragmatism than faith; even if you don’t believe in God, Stampfel writes, AA’s rules on how and when to prayer actually yield results for addicts and alcoholics, and he describes how he’s adopted prayer as a life strategy.
Stampfel came close to completely losing his voice about five years ago because of dysphonia, and only through hard work and years of therapy has he been able to get back an approximation of his unique cackle-and-squawk. That damage can be heard on the first half of the album, but even when Stampfel struggles to squeak out the lyrics, a top-shelf collection of old friends and his two daughters, Zoey and Lilly, surround him with folkie instrumentation and harmony vocals. The TV and radio jingles, I suspect, were recorded a few years ago, because his voice remains hale and hardy (if as weird as ever,) and a true joy to hear again.
While the stoic jingles fascinate with their blend of philosophy, faith, and wisdom, the advertising jingles succeed on two levels. First, there’s an archival importance in preserving these short blasts of melody and persuasion; they served as an important part of American culture in the 20th Century. And then, if you’re old enough, there’s the joy of nostalgia in hearing these ditties again. These songs bring back an long-gone America as sharply and clearly as a Jean Shepherd short story. Robert Hall’s cheap suits, Castro Convertible sofas, Blatz beer, Prell shampoo, Cream of Wheat and Log Cabin syrup, White Rose petroleum jelly and White Tower hamburgers... Many of the products have been lost to the foggy ruins of time, but the jingles remain indelibly embedded in our brains.
The Holy Modal Rounders and the Fugs paved the way for freak folk, anti-folk, and arguably, punk rock. That’s Peter Stampfel’s legacy. But it doesn’t end there. It’s 2025 and he’s still going strong, still playing out, still making albums that deserve not only a place in your record collection but their own corner of the Smithsonian.
JEM RECORDS CELEBRATES DAVID BOWIE (Jem Records)
The revived Jem Records has been utilizing its garage and power-pop roster to regularly churn out these classic-rock tribute comps, and given that their artists include NJ’s Gripweeds and Anderson Council, the Bongos’ Richard Barone, and power-pop avatar Paul Collins, the results always warrant a listen. Of course, these things raise the perennial question about covers: do you try to recreate the original or make the song your own? As far as these Jems comps go, it’s usually the former, and so it goes. If the idea of the Gripweeds doing a note for note “Space Oddity” or Glen Burtnik’s Beatles cover band the Weeklings nailing “Diamond Dogs” appeals to you, go for it. It is kind of fun hearing new takes on old favorites, but let’s face, you’re not going to surpass the original. So I prefer the deeper cuts, like the Cynz’ power-pop rendition of the Lower Third’s “Can’t Help Thinking About Me,” the Airport ‘77’s jagged art-pop “I’m Afraid of Americans” (from 1997’s Earthling album,) and the High Frequencies “Modern Love,” which they make sound like the lost B-Side to Kim Wilde’s “Kids In America.” There’s also much to be said for hearing the ageless Paul Collins (the Nerves, the Beat) rock out on “Hang On To Yourself,” the Anderson Council’s Mod take on “Boys Keep Swinging,” and Richard Barone nailing all the high notes on a gorgeous, live rendition of “Starman.”
> THE DRACU-LAS - “Walking With A Vampire”
This is really fun and charming, nice work to Susan & Co! Way to have a legit Halloween track ready to go, it sounds lovely.