Artist.......: The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Album........: Album de la Semaine
Label........: n/a
Genre........: Rock
Catnr........: n/a
Source.......: DVBS
Rip.date.....: 2014-03-08
Str.date.....: 2012-11-00
Quality......: 230kbps/48.0kHz/Joint Stereo
Url..........: http://thejonspencerbluesexplosion.com/
track title time
1. Album de la Semaine 33:12
* Black Mold
* Bag Of Bones
* Strange Baby
* Boot Cut
* Black Thoughts
* Get Your Pants Off
* Bottle Baby
* Bear Trap
Runtime 33:12
Size 54.81
Release Notes:
After a long and semi-successful tenure as leader of scuzz-rock heroes Pussy
Galore, Jon Spencer took his anti-rock vision and hooked up with guitarist Judah
Bauer and drummer Russell Simins to create the scuzz-blues trio the Jon Spencer
Blues Explosion. Postmodern to the core, this is an ironic name; little of what
this band plays resembles standard blues. There is, however, a blues feel to
what they play, meaning that in many instances they appropriate aspects of the
blues (very often clichΘs) and incorporate them into their anarchic, noisy
sound. Not part of alt-rock's commercial establishment, Spencer also managed to
sharply divide critics who tended to see him as either inspired showman or
mendacious con man (frankly, he's both). He did, however, gain popularity and
critical respect during the '90s.
As with Royal Trux, the other band to emerge after the breakup of Pussy Galore,
the Blues Explosion's earliest recordings are virtually incomprehensible (and
impossible to find). The bass-less mix is awash in distorted guitars, precious
little backbeat, and howled vocals. In its favor is the music's exciting,
improvisatory feel; also true is that it's frequently incoherent and careless,
and doesn't hold up well to repeated listenings. It was with the Blues
Explosion's 1992 self-titled release that the band began to write semi-coherent
songs: Spencer adopted an imitation blues vocal style, and the band riffed
wildly and crashed around him in a bluesy sort of way. It was mostly fun, but it
also seemed like a bit of a put-on, and more than a little smug.
the Blues Explosion's "breakthrough" came (as it did for Royal Trux) when they
began to sound like a '70s rock band. With the release of Extra Width in 1993,
Spencer and company got some air time on MTV's alt-rock show 120 Minutes with
the video for the song "Afro." The most noticeable change was the new emphasis
on tight songs, funky backbeats, and loads of catchy riffs and hooks. As for
Spencer, he was now singing like a grade-Z Elvis impersonator, but, in turn,
lost some of the condescending attitude. Live, the band was (and remains) quite
a show, generating the kind of sweat and excitement that became anathema to many
punk and post-punk bands.
Orange, which was even more accessible than Extra Width, netted the band even
more fans upon its release in 1994; 1996's Now I Got Worry and 1998's Acme were
also successful. The band took a long hiatus thereafter, only returning four
years later with 2002's Plastic Fang and 2004's Damage, the latter their first
record for Sanctuary. Following this, the Blues Explosion went on extended
hiatus. They re-formed to play some shows when their catalog got the deluxe
reissue treatment in 2010, and the band issued the "Black Betty" single for
Amphetamine Reptile in 2011. In September of 2012, the Jon Spencer Blues
Explosion re-emerged with the full-length Meat + Bone.