From a reviewer’s perspective, it’s always helpful when a band name and album title immediately tell you what you’re in for, but that’s actually true for fans as well. The Sensational Second Cousins are exactly that: two second cousins from the Netherlands—The Heck’s Hectic Henri (vocals, guitar) aka songwriter Herman Heinrich Sulmann, and Ravin’ Jerk (drums, vocals, keys) aka Jerk Heijnen—and their sound is indeed nothing short of sensation.
Ten years after their debut LP Earthquake, the duo returns with eight new tunes gathered on the mini-album Pepper & Salt. You get fifteen minutes of steaming garage rockabilly, passionately crafted with little more than a battered guitar, a homemade stand-up drum kit, and throat-shredding yelps. It’s raw, raucous, and explosively energetic, but above all, it’s a sweat-soaked good time. Closing track You Only Live Once—the longest at 2:48—is more subdued but no less intense, just the right thing to catch your breath before hitting the repeat button.
Pepper & Salt—recorded, mixed, and mastered by Arjan Spies—is out now on 10″ vinyl through Topsy Turvy Records.