Flat Duo Jets – Introducing the Flat Duo Jets

Imagine a backwoods bastardization of the Cramps. The hick-rock thing seems to be big these days, from Jon Spencer’s semi-citified bluesy howl to the trailer-trash frat-rock of Southern Culture on the Skids. The Flat Duo Jets have been honing their craft for over six years, playing porch-stomping punk that owes more to lo-fi radios filtering in fifties rockabilly and R&B ballads than to MTV’s Alternative Nation.

I used to lump them in with schticky hick stuff like Mojo “Elvis is Everywhere” Nixon, but I think they’ve moved beyond that. Stripped down to a bare minimum of drums and guitar, Dexter and Crow have a darker and somehow fuller sound. Slightly sinister, but slinky and sexy as hell (“Mexicali Baby”, for example, makes the little hairs on the backs of my arms stand straight on end). No novelty tunes here, just good old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll with a slight twang.