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The "Jon Spencer Blues Explosion"
has always been a kind of alternative to itself. Even the name
suggests "Blues" distorted to a new level, managing
to take the tangible and familiar, and warp it slightly askew
to come up with oddly attractive ugliness. The newest from the
JSBE showcases their expected mish-mash of blues, rock, hip-hop,
soul, country and maybe even some gospel preachings.
Most songs consist of easy listening verses
sung in traditional 4/4 prose, and a slick ruckus-like chorus.
Added in are an assortment of twangs and Beck-like phat-ass drum
machine breaks for bridges, and some smooth samples (more along
the lines of vocal samples than sounds).
Vocally, frontman Jon Spencer comes off
as a really hip Elvis impersonator doing 60’s hopped up
blues with a greasy production. There’s always this "thank
you, thank you very much" southern lilt to his accentuation,
but with a creamy smooth delivery every time (except when he’s
wailing through some nasty-ass distortions).
"Attack," which is the song Alec
Empire from ATR had his fingers in, comes off the loudest, and
I can distinctly hear that AtariTeenageRiot influence there with
the loud rhythmic buzz in the chorus ("Blues Explosion....Attack!)
The Stones-esque “Magical Colors” vibes with that same
high falsetto Mick Jagger furnished on “Emotional Rescue,”
and a lazy spindly guitar run that smacks of the Keith Richards
school of guitar. In fact, take the Stones at their bluesiest,
shake it up a bit, throw in some mean low-fi distortion with
a knack for structured dynamics, and your coming damn close to
the JSBE formula.
The production on "Acme" is as
special as the music. Employing the talents of multiple "who's
who" of the industry, including Steve Albini, Calvin Johnson
(with use of his Dub Narcotic studio and then mixed by Cypress
Hill alumni T Ray), Dan Nakamura (a.k.a The Automator), Jim Waters
(who had logged in previous work with JSBE’s "Now I
Got Worry" and "Orange"), Nick Sansano (Sonic
Youth/Public Enemy), Chris Shaw (Butthole Surfers/Weezer) and
finishing of the all-star production line (and most contemporary)
Atari Teenage Riot’s own Alec Empire. This avoids the trap
that some producers (too slick for their own good) that make
disks that sound really, really great, but really, really static
in the form of same guitar sounds for each song, same drums,
same bass until the songs come off as clones of each other even
though they might be drastically different (i.e. any White-Zombie
album, or STP’s debut "Core").
You can guess the recording and mixing
processes were as varied as the influences JSBE wears on their
collective sleeves. Equally as impressive is the list of contributors,
including Boss Hog's Christina Martinez and Hollis Queens singing
back-up on "Bernie" Delta 72's Greg Foreman’s
piano contributions on "Lovin' Machine," Luscious Jackson's
Jill Cunniff's vocal on "Blue Green Olga," Jeremy Jacobson
(a.k.a. "The Lonesome Organist") keyboards on "Magical
Colors," and Rick Lee of Skeleton Key supplying shortwave
radio noise on "Talk About The Blues." (Ok, I’m
not that friggin’ clued - I stole most of that info from
their website - but you get the idea.)
This newest from the JSBE keeps presenting
me the same vibe I get with Becks "Loser" - that kinda
funky, simple folksy-rap gone awry sensibility (most apparent
on the backwards tape runs, sparse guitar twings and cut-n-paste
drum loops of Talk About The Blues). Its not an entirely new
direction from past JSBE releases (with the exception of the
production), but the JSBE has pretty much always been its own
direction. Buyer beware, blues traditionalists will not find
Muddy Waters remakes. The name has always been a bit misleading
to the general public. But the JSBE is bluesy, the same way Beck
is funky, the Black Crowes are classic rock or Squirrel Nut Zippers
are swing. The starting point is apparent, but the finished product
is an entirely different entity. |
