Dex Romweber Duo Ruins of Berlin

"Once you dive in, you'll be glad you did. There is excitement on this album unlike anything I've been able to get my hands on in recent years." — Gaper's Block

"The way [Dex] shifts between honeyed croon to snotty snarl - the very goalposts of rock and roll- is unequalled. There are shades of dark romance amidst the primal wail. It's spooky and it swings big time. Dex Romweber is cooler than Elvis." —Rochester City Paper

Twenty years on from the FLAT DUO JETS, who created the template for stripped down rock and roll that’s been copped by the White Stripes and a thousand far less clever bands, Dex Romweber has teamed up with his sister Sara (Let’s Active, Snatches of Pink) for the first time on the debut album by the Duo, Ruins of Berlin.

With their preternatural ability to play with and play off one another, the Duo lays it out there with nothing to cover it up. And while many mistake “stripped down” for “easy” or “simple,” it takes a fearless mastery to pull the tortured blues out of the delta, the punk thunder out of rockabilly, and the deep, dark and glorious pathos out of cabaret.

Dex’s guitar conjures the primal ghosts that live in the scratchy grooves of 45s that snake through our collective musical DNA; some are well known, most long forgotten, but no one can draw the line between Link Wray and Marlene Dietrich and have it make sense like Dex. And when he sings, you get the sense, sometimes uneasy, that here is a man that HAS to sing, has to let it out, or all the pain, longing and triumph of the heroes and hep cats and sinners and losers he sings about will tear him apart from the inside.

With Sara’s mammoth drumming as the spine, the Duo go well beyond any mindless retro tag; they absorb the essence of their idols before erupting with re-inventions that are both primitive and elegant.

Joining the Duo is a dazzling array of admirers that brings true STAR POWER to Ruins of Berlin. Dueting with Dex are indie rock chanteuses Cat Power (“Love Letters”) and Neko Case (“Still Around”), as well as punk icon Exene Cervenka (X) (“Lonesome Train”). Longtime Romweber accomplice Rick Miller (Southern Culture on the Skids) teams up with Dex on “Lookout,” egging on the Duo to new heights of surf-rock derring-do.

It’s hard not to be a fan, though, when you see Dex filled with the spirit, eyes rolled back, channeling a Baptist preacher, Elvis, and a poet who’s just had his heart broke, his beat up Silvertone distilling songs down to their barest essentials, and Sara hammering it all home. It’s powerful and pure.

As Dex says, “We’re making original rock and roll, but fast and weird and throwing in different things. Let’s get it done, no bullshit.”

"He hasn’t mellowed out or grown up; his music is still primal and full of the kind of visceral energy that once upon a time made rock ‘n’ roll dangerous. Romweber can still play a solo that makes the thrill hairs on the back of the neck stand up and sing a sad love song with enough emotion to tie heartstrings in painful knots." —Crawdaddy

"He mixes and matches swampy Sun rockabilly, tom-tom surf instrumentals, dreamy doo-wop ballads, jangly country and cabaret from the boulevard of broken dreams. Hey Quentin: Here's your next soundtrack." —Winnipeg Sun

"This comeback packs a punch that cannot be ignored [and] an authenticity that reveals why so many admirers credit Romweber as an essential influence." —Soundstage.com

"An amalgam of David Lynch-esque voodoo lounge muzak and croony cosmopolitan country, so just imagine Marty Robbins meeting Screamin’ Jay Hawkins in a back alley for a murky tango. [They] make one feel immersed in a smoke-encrusted, rundown cocktail lounge where the twinkle of dirty glasses becomes a constellation of lost love." —Left of the Dial

"It has all the telepathy you'd expect from a family affair, locking Sara's runaway-train drums in a race to the finish with Dex's rampaging guitar. Naturally, it's a photo finish. Dex sounds real, real gone as always, singing in a rockabilly-vampire voice perfect for late-night horror movies. It lands somewhere between a growl and a cackle, sharp-edged and feral." —No Depression