Record & Book Review // Dexter & The Moonrocks "Sad in Carolina b/w For Once"

https://www.dexterandthemoonrocks.com/ 

At some point in 2024, I had heard "Sad in Carolina" enough times on the radio and enjoyed it that I decided I had to look up this band Dexter & The Moonrocks and see what they were all about.   I immediately fell in love with their 2024 EP "Western Space Grunge" to the point where I am borderline obsessed with it (I do listen to it at least once per day)   That EP only exists in the digital realm, so back around the holiday time I decided to buy two "mystery boxes" from the Dexter & The Moonrocks merch site.   

These mystery boxes got me two different t-shirts, a koozie and a sticker but then Dexter & The Moonrocks announced perhaps the most important piece of merchandise in the history of merchandise.  See, Dexter & The Moonrocks have a song called "Wasting Away" which begins with four things that are now fun to sing (and forever stuck in my head) cigarettes, cocaine, car rides and airplanes.   Dexter & The Moonrocks announced that they would be making an illustrated book based upon this song, kind of like a children's book but definitely not for children.

"Western Space Grunge" is a six song EP that I could write books about each song- it was really my favorite EP released in 2024- and this one song, "Wasting Away", having an entire lyric book done up like this is exactly why.  This book is hardcover, but would later be re-released in soft cover because it sold out in something like 45 minutes.  I kid you not, this book was released the day after Thanksgiving and I was out that particular hour but I was fortunate enough to still be able to place that order.

While ordering this book I also picked up this small record of "Sad In Carolina" b/w "For Once".   I figure this way I have three of the six songs on "Western Space Grunge" covered in a sort of physical sense.  This record is smaller than I thought it would be (I was thinking of a 7" or so, but this is much smaller) but I like how compact it feels.  I'm not sure if anyone has ever made a record in this size before, as I don't know the history of records, but I assume someone out there has.  I just wish more artists would release a song or two on a record such as this and sell it to me.  I'd very much enjoy having a collection of records this size.

"Sad in Carolina" is the radio hit (actual fact, not just my opinion) and "For Once" is the slower, power ballad which comes right after it on the EP.   It's funny because on "Western Space Grunge", these songs- "Sad in Carolina", "For Once" and "Wasting Away"- go 2, 3 and 4 respectively.  But it's really this non-stop onslaught of great rock music as we go from the radio hit to a slower song which still rocks and then into probably the second heaviest and yet also one of the catchiest songs in "Wasting Away".

As I sit here now, typing about all of this in the year 2025, now more than ever it is important to help support artists that you like by buying their merch.  Sometimes that means a record, cassette, t-shirt, etc.   But with Dexter & The Moonrocks, the fact that you can get t-shirts and stickers which I like, but also somehow get this tiny vinyl and a book (which is now only in soft cover until it sells out)... Buying merch to support artists is being made so much easier by Dexter & The Moonrocks and every other artist should take notes.