The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion [Album Covers]

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Album Covers : The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion 20 Albums

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1992 The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion SR	1992 Crypt Style	1993 Extra Width SR	1994 Mo Width
1994 Orange SR	1995 Experimental Remixes	1996 Now I Got Worry SR	1997 Rocketship
1997 Controversial Negro S	1998 ACME SR	1999 Xtra-Acme USA R	1999 Sideways Soul: Dub Narcotic Sound System meets The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion in a Dancehall Style!
2002 Plastic Fang SR	2004 Damage SR	2005 Crunchy	2007 Jukebox Explosion SR
2010 Dirty Shirt Rock n Roll: The First Ten Years SR	2010 Acme + Acme-Plus	$[ 19 / 20 ] 2012 Meat + Bone Its only fair to be wary of an album of new material from the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion; after all, its been eight years. There have been so many embarrassing reunions from virtually every corner of the rock & roll spectrum (the offending parties shall remain nameless) that a solid argument could be made for an enforced moratorium. Thankfully, JBSEs Meat + Bone proves the exception. The wild, cross-genre experimentation of 2002s Plastic Fang and 2004s Damage have been left in the desert wilderness of nostalgia in favor of back-to-basics dirty ass rock & roll, warped blues, and fractured funk. Spencers gone back behind the production desk and doesnt muck things up even when he gets (a little) adventurous. He keeps reverb and fuzz up front, the guitars at earschplittenloudenboomer, and the drums miked to 11, and he doesnt worry about much else. "Black Mold" roars out of the gate with the blasted, speaker-shredding riffing of yore. That said, it merely sets the tone for a journey thats sweaty, loud, and proud. "Bag of Bones" morphs the primal 1969 Rolling Stones and Licensed to Ill-era Beastie Boys with surprisingly effective results. "Boot Cut" youve heard before--its a shameless remake of "Bell Bottoms." Its the best cut here. "Get Your Pants Off" is guttersnipe funk that sounds like the Sonics playing James Brown. Things get loopy and whacked on "Bottle Baby," where power riffs, off-kilter rhythms, a lopsided bridge, shambolic, distorted production, and Spencer railing a stream-of-(un)consciousness rant serve grit and grease as a main course. "Black Thoughts" indulges itself in pure Rolling Stones worship, which is fine but not unexpected. "Unclear" is angular late-night blues, while "Bear Trap" is a sinister, howling rocker that would bring out Homeland Security if cranked to full volume. Thankfully, this whole 12-track mess clocks in at under 40 minutes. Meat + Bone may not restore faith in reunions in general, but it does prove that this burly trio has plenty of swagger and sloppy rock and roll left in them.$ 2012 Meat + Bone SR	$[ 20 / 20 ] 2015 Freedom Tower-No Wave Dance Party 2015 For a band whose approach was so thoroughly elemental -- two cheap guitars, one small drum kit, and enough energy to power a freight train, just like Hound Dog Taylor & the Houserockers -- the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion spent a lot of time looking for cool ways to trick up their approach on record after they mastered the recording studio on 1994s Orange. While the electronic-influenced shape-shifting on 1998s Acme showed off an impressively broad range, 2002s Plastic Fang attempted to polish the Blues Explosions sound with limited success, and while 2004s Damage and 2012s Meat + Bone were better, in many ways they sounded like holding actions as the band rallied its energies and formulated a long term strategy. With Freedom Tower: No Wave Dance Party 2015, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion seem to have finally figured out what to do and how to do it when making a record: wail hard on the blues (or whatever mutated variant this is) and dont fuss over the buff and shine. Freedom Tower is JSBXs most basic long-player since Now I Got Worry in 1996, and for sheer blues wailing fury, this is one of the most purely enjoyable albums theyve unleashed to date. Freedom Tower cuts to the chase and puts the focus on Russell Simins hard swinging drums and the interplay between Judah Bauers scrappy, minimal lead guitar and Spencers low-end six-string buzz, with Spencers vocals (pitched between high-attitude soul shouting and old-school rap science) lurking just beneath the surface as the band generates a boiling cauldron of fractured blues and detourned funk. And the band was shrewd not to put much sonic distance between themselves and the tape -- the JSBX are ferociously tight on this set, turning these 13 tunes into a set of lean, mean party jams that will set your head bobbing and your feet moving. Lyrically, Freedom Tower is a raw but sincere love letter to New York City, celebrating the gritty joys of life in the pre-gentrified city, and this music speaks to the sweaty ecstasies of a basement punk rock show and the joyous grooves of a pumping block party at the same time. Freedom Tower: No Wave Dance Party 2015 isnt quite the best album of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosions career, but theyve never made one that documents the frantic energy and atmosphere of their live show as well as this, and for a band thats been making music since 1990, this album is little short of a triumph; at 35 minutes, this LPs greatest fault is it leaves you wanting to shout for an encore.$ 2015 Freedom Tower-No Wave Dance Party 2015 SR