Music Recommendation: Charlie Megira and The Bet She’an Valley Hillbillies — “Jack the Ripper” [Link Wray Cover]

BRUCE’S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC

Music: “Jack the Ripper” [Link Wray Cover]

Album: THE END OF TEENAGE

Artist: Charlie Megira and The Bet She’an Valley Hillbillies

Artist Location: Israel

Info: “The bastard love child of Elvis and Lux Interior, Israeli guitarist Charlie Megira brewed a heady amalgam of ’50s trash rock, surf tremolo, and reverb-drenched goth […]. Armed with only an Eko guitar, a black tuxedo, and his signature wrap-around shades, Charlie Megira was a mold-breaking artist who disintegrated while we were all staring at our phones.”

“Megira recorded and released several versions of THE END OF TEENAGE, all with his backing duo the Beth She’an Valley Hillbillies. Tracked between 2013-2015, Teenage finds bassist The Dead Girl and percussionist Corso locked into the same wave, with Megira tube riding between them with his sinewy guitar style. The surf eventually crumbles into madness. Teenage ends.”

“His was a music both familiar and entirely alien at once. It touches on corners of darkness, an isolation both lonely and sweet, all wrapped in a cold glow that draws the listener into each note, each melancholy melody triggering unrecorded experiences. His various projects put out music which began as a junction point between Link Wray’s surf guitar and the theatrical psychobilly of The Cramps, took a turn towards goth-inflected post-punk, and towards the end of his career would sojourn back into his earlier musical fascination with late 1950s and early 1960s rock ‘n’ roll.

“The Israeli guitarist recorded seven albums worth of material in 15 years during his all-too-brief 44 trips around the sun.”