― Patrick Sinile, Tuesday, 17 August 2004 05:58 (nineteen years ago) link
― Sorry for the double post, Tuesday, 17 August 2004 06:05 (nineteen years ago) link
― stevie (stevie), Tuesday, 17 August 2004 07:57 (nineteen years ago) link
― Bruce S. Urquhart (BanjoMania), Tuesday, 17 August 2004 21:17 (nineteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 17 August 2004 21:27 (nineteen years ago) link
― Bruce S. Urquhart (BanjoMania), Tuesday, 17 August 2004 21:39 (nineteen years ago) link
― Vic Funk, Tuesday, 17 August 2004 21:54 (nineteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 17 August 2004 21:56 (nineteen years ago) link
I think Jon Spencer just decided to switch things up, because he switched Japanese labels, as well, and 2 solo-ish albums initially schedueled for In the Red are now coming out on Yep Roc.
― Vic Funk, Tuesday, 17 August 2004 22:03 (nineteen years ago) link
anyone know why they dropped "jon spencer" from the name¿
xpost - oh.
― dyson (dyson), Tuesday, 17 August 2004 22:06 (nineteen years ago) link
As I wrote in the other thread on this subject, it's because they are a band, not a solo act (according to the one-sheet for the new record).
― Vic Funk, Tuesday, 17 August 2004 22:10 (nineteen years ago) link
I'll probably get it.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 17 August 2004 22:12 (nineteen years ago) link
― Vic Funk, Tuesday, 17 August 2004 22:13 (nineteen years ago) link
― stevie (stevie), Tuesday, 17 August 2004 22:36 (nineteen years ago) link
For those who still care:
THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSIONDIRTY SHIRT ROCK N’ ROLL: THE FIRST TEN YEARSAlbum released 24th May 2010 on SHOVE RECORDSFull back catalogue reissue plans throughout 2010On stage and in the studio, Jon Spencer has destroyed and rebuilt American roots music with such ferocity and wild abandon that it’s hard to believe there is anything left. The trail of musical destruction Spencer created with his legendary group Pussy Galore still smoulders in the avant punk blues and nasty garage grind of The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, whose incredible, innovative output remains an indelible totem to his enormous mojo spirit and red-hot power of deliverance.It’s been eighteen years since The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion first pressed ‘record’, eighteen years since Spencer and his A-Team of sonic terrorists (Judah Bauer, guitar, and Russel Simmins, drums) tore up the indie-rock landscape with fever and a visceral, untouchable vision of rock’n’roll that did for a new wave of blues-punk primitivists what Helen of Troy’s face did for the armada.But make no mistake: Jon Spencer was there first. He is the original. It was his sanctified outbursts and blues-bending riffs that began the new-fanlged roots rock revolution and spawned countless imitators. With Pussy Galore he gargled with the Stones and Stooges and wrestled with industrial noise and fuzzed-out fucked-up sixties garage crud… with Blues Explosion he drove furiously into the future with incendiary spirit built from courage, audacity, and revolt. Nothing has been the same since.SHOVE is proud to celebrate the legacy and legend of The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion with a stellar set of seven new-and-expanded, spectacularly remastered, and all-together mind-expanding, deluxe, CDs, beginning with the much-anticipated compilation DIRTY SHIRT ROCK N’ ROLL: THE FIRST TEN YEARS, a handpicked selection of prime cuts and barbed-wire excess from the first decade of JSBX, beginning with their first gutter-born scuzzabilly assaults, and traversing through studio masterpieces like Orange, Acme, and Now I Got Worry.Indeed, the first Blues Explosion outings were lo-fi and raw; gutter rock’n’roll steeped in Sun Studio exorcisms, New York street-punk and no-wave pranksterism, with Spencer playing his famous $17 guitar throughout. But The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion refused to make the same record twice, as this compilation attests. From untamed, sleazy hi-jinks and brain-teasing sonic alchemy, to rock’n’roll fundamentalism, and depth-defyin, ass-shaking grooves, this is the no-holds-barred story of a band who grew through increasing commercial and critical success, studio craft, innovation, and dazzling artistry, but without sacrificing the filth and blunt-force assault from which they sprang.Each of these new releases feature the original albums in astonishing sonic splendor and include rare and unreleased bonus tracks, copious liner notes, and eye-popping photos. All titles will also be available digitally.These shall be released two reissues at a time in late June, late August then late October. In the following order:Now I Got Worry, Controversial NegroThe Jon Spencer Blues Explosion (First Year), Extra Width + Mo WidthOrange + Remixes (2-disc) Acme + Xtra Acme (2-disc)
On stage and in the studio, Jon Spencer has destroyed and rebuilt American roots music with such ferocity and wild abandon that it’s hard to believe there is anything left. The trail of musical destruction Spencer created with his legendary group Pussy Galore still smoulders in the avant punk blues and nasty garage grind of The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, whose incredible, innovative output remains an indelible totem to his enormous mojo spirit and red-hot power of deliverance.
It’s been eighteen years since The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion first pressed ‘record’, eighteen years since Spencer and his A-Team of sonic terrorists (Judah Bauer, guitar, and Russel Simmins, drums) tore up the indie-rock landscape with fever and a visceral, untouchable vision of rock’n’roll that did for a new wave of blues-punk primitivists what Helen of Troy’s face did for the armada.
But make no mistake: Jon Spencer was there first. He is the original. It was his sanctified outbursts and blues-bending riffs that began the new-fanlged roots rock revolution and spawned countless imitators. With Pussy Galore he gargled with the Stones and Stooges and wrestled with industrial noise and fuzzed-out fucked-up sixties garage crud… with Blues Explosion he drove furiously into the future with incendiary spirit built from courage, audacity, and revolt. Nothing has been the same since.
SHOVE is proud to celebrate the legacy and legend of The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion with a stellar set of seven new-and-expanded, spectacularly remastered, and all-together mind-expanding, deluxe, CDs, beginning with the much-anticipated compilation DIRTY SHIRT ROCK N’ ROLL: THE FIRST TEN YEARS, a handpicked selection of prime cuts and barbed-wire excess from the first decade of JSBX, beginning with their first gutter-born scuzzabilly assaults, and traversing through studio masterpieces like Orange, Acme, and Now I Got Worry.
Indeed, the first Blues Explosion outings were lo-fi and raw; gutter rock’n’roll steeped in Sun Studio exorcisms, New York street-punk and no-wave pranksterism, with Spencer playing his famous $17 guitar throughout. But The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion refused to make the same record twice, as this compilation attests. From untamed, sleazy hi-jinks and brain-teasing sonic alchemy, to rock’n’roll fundamentalism, and depth-defyin, ass-shaking grooves, this is the no-holds-barred story of a band who grew through increasing commercial and critical success, studio craft, innovation, and dazzling artistry, but without sacrificing the filth and blunt-force assault from which they sprang.
Each of these new releases feature the original albums in astonishing sonic splendor and include rare and unreleased bonus tracks, copious liner notes, and eye-popping photos. All titles will also be available digitally.
These shall be released two reissues at a time in late June, late August then late October. In the following order:Now I Got Worry, Controversial NegroThe Jon Spencer Blues Explosion (First Year), Extra Width + Mo WidthOrange + Remixes (2-disc) Acme + Xtra Acme (2-disc)
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 15 March 2010 19:00 (fourteen years ago) link
my father was sister ray
― Mr. Que, Monday, 15 March 2010 19:04 (fourteen years ago) link
lol at non-chronological reissue pairings wtf is up with that
― Get the Flaps Out (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 15 March 2010 19:54 (fourteen years ago) link
this band was fun as hell live when I saw them in the mid-90s, but I never thought their records were all that great.
― tylerw, Monday, 15 March 2010 20:06 (fourteen years ago) link
they were a blast live, at least for awhile. Orange seems like the peak of their recorded output
― Get the Flaps Out (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 15 March 2010 20:07 (fourteen years ago) link
i remember i signed up to win a "controversial negro" promo shirt at oak folkjokeapus, it was a picture of mick jagger that said controversial negro but i didn't win it : (
― Deuce Bigalow: Male Juggalo (M@tt He1ges0n), Monday, 15 March 2010 20:13 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah, is Controversial Negro a live thing? i remember my college radio station had it on LP -- was it ever on CD?
― tylerw, Monday, 15 March 2010 20:16 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.discogs.com/image/R-150-1287001-1206564872.jpeg
I have the Japanese Controversial Negro CD but the cover is much lamer. Its a pretty good live document. Spencer uses Steve Martin's "I remember when I had my first beer" heckler zing
― Get the Flaps Out (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 15 March 2010 20:16 (fourteen years ago) link
the Jagger image was used on ltd edition LP pressing that preceded the Japanese CD version. I assume there was some copyright issue that made Matador pull the LPs or something
― Get the Flaps Out (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 15 March 2010 20:17 (fourteen years ago) link
The schtick wore thin but they get a worse rep than they deserve. Crypt Style is conspicuously absent in those reissues, and might've been a good one to get out there to get people to give em a chance. Agree Orange is the best though.
― Brio, Monday, 15 March 2010 20:18 (fourteen years ago) link
pre-extra width stuff & extra width & orange are all pretty great. prefer extra width to orange though, orange is the point at which his investment in the schtick starts to feel too forced
they did murder it live for sure
― the most sacred couple in Christendom (J0hn D.), Monday, 15 March 2010 20:19 (fourteen years ago) link
I had a Controversial Negro t-shirt and LP that I got for being one of the first 100 or so people in the door at a NYE show the band played in 1997. At some point I got self-conscious about the t-shirt and stopped wearing it.
― jam master (jaymc), Monday, 15 March 2010 20:23 (fourteen years ago) link
i was 13 or 14 when I saw them for the first time (opening for the Breeders!) and it was one the scarier/more exciting shows I saw during my teenage years.
― tylerw, Monday, 15 March 2010 20:24 (fourteen years ago) link
isn't most of Crypt Style on Mo' Width...? I have a copy around here somewhere. Notable for featuring John Flansberg on free-jazz freakout saxophone on several songs
― Get the Flaps Out (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 15 March 2010 20:25 (fourteen years ago) link
what i learned about John Spencer's Blues Explosion from reading that press release
― iiiijjjj, Monday, 15 March 2010 20:25 (fourteen years ago) link
xpost - i think there a few different permutations of the tracklistings of those record w/ imports and reissues but pretty sure mo' width and crypt style are all different songs
― Brio, Monday, 15 March 2010 20:32 (fourteen years ago) link
I thought Crypt Style was different versions of the songs from the first album, but I could be wrong - haven't heard it in probably 14 years.
― he's always been a bit of an anti-climb Max (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 15 March 2010 20:35 (fourteen years ago) link
I still rate Now I Got Worry, "2 Kinds a Love" is great and the rest of the record holds up too.
― Neil S, Monday, 15 March 2010 21:12 (fourteen years ago) link
I haven't listened to it in a long time but I remember it holding up pretty well. Acme is where things went off the rails (lol Alec Empire REMIX!)
― Get the Flaps Out (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 15 March 2010 21:19 (fourteen years ago) link
Dan the Automator doing some of the production as well, both of those producers really date it to the turn of the millennium. Also, getting Winona Ryder in to appear in a video probably wasn't a great move.
― Neil S, Monday, 15 March 2010 21:21 (fourteen years ago) link
lol 90's
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO3CQy0Fj-Q
― Astronaut Mike Dexter (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Monday, 15 March 2010 21:30 (fourteen years ago) link
videos were terrible by and large.
ugh Automator
― Get the Flaps Out (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 15 March 2010 21:33 (fourteen years ago) link
On the other hand Experimental Remixes, their other flirtation with hip hop, is really good.
― Neil S, Monday, 15 March 2010 21:35 (fourteen years ago) link
true
― Get the Flaps Out (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 15 March 2010 21:37 (fourteen years ago) link
^ this is true of everyone on matador, fwiw. Sugarcube is the only one I can think of that was out n out brilliant
― Astronaut Mike Dexter (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Monday, 15 March 2010 21:39 (fourteen years ago) link
nah the pavement videos were all pretty great
― Mr. Que, Monday, 15 March 2010 21:39 (fourteen years ago) link
this band fuckin ruled my world orange - acme.
― ade or nabisco - i get em confused (stevie), Monday, 15 March 2010 21:39 (fourteen years ago) link
controv negro is a great live lp too
I dunno, spot in my heart for this one always:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgkEw4GjtdU
― city worker, Monday, 15 March 2010 21:42 (fourteen years ago) link
re: Crypt Style vs. Mo Width, what I have is this. I guess Crypt Style/Mo Width are revisions of this material, in different forms? I dunno. Can't say I really care really either, most of this stuff wasn't particularly memorable. Hadn't hit their stride as songwriters yet.
― Get the Flaps Out (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 15 March 2010 21:44 (fourteen years ago) link
Mo' Width is probably outtakes from Extra Width. Crypt Style, A Reverse Willie Horton and the s/t album on Caroline all draw from the same pool of songs.
― Mike Dixn, Tuesday, 16 March 2010 04:41 (fourteen years ago) link
DERO/SPENCER beef lives on: http://blogs.vocalo.org/jderogatis/2010/07/jon-spencer-doesnt-like-me/31837
― tylerw, Thursday, 29 July 2010 22:33 (thirteen years ago) link
lol I still love ya Jon. ace interview, all his answers are OTM
― Master of the Manly Ballad (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 29 July 2010 22:52 (thirteen years ago) link
it's interesting in the 90s profile Dero wrote that Spencer mentions Like Flies on Sherbet -- was just listening to that the other day and thinking of JSBX for some reason. anyway, that's sort of how I think of JSBX -- more than being a so-called blues band -- they're more like an unhinged, crazy southern rockabilly kinda thing. at least at times.
― tylerw, Thursday, 29 July 2010 22:56 (thirteen years ago) link
yr halfway there... the white rocker lineage of JSBX goes through Chilton to the Cramps, who are by far their biggest reference point. Which seems really super-fucking-obvious when you think about it. and yet I have never seen a single critic note this. the racism stuff is so completely wrongheaded. lol 90s identity politics.
― Master of the Manly Ballad (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 29 July 2010 23:04 (thirteen years ago) link
the leather pants, the howling, the jokey come-ons, the fuzzed out everything, the minimalism, the emphasis on bonehead simple riffs = the Cramps
― Master of the Manly Ballad (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 29 July 2010 23:06 (thirteen years ago) link
i know simon reynolds didnt like them as he found them ersatz and unoriginal
― well bissogled trotters (Michael B), Tuesday, 8 May 2018 16:25 (five years ago) link
Also I think some of the criticism leveled at the them at the time, which yeah was hot & heavy, stemmed not merely from cultural appropriation of the blues but from I think the sense they weren't taking the blues seriously enough. That the band was somehow a "joke". That they could be funny & overblown wasn't respectful enough.
Part of it was using the word "Blues" in the name, part of it was fall out from the RL Burnside record.
Spencer went to RISD and the word "semiotics" was thrown around, but I think that was a bit overblown.
A great band and up through "Now I Got Worry" at least they could be a legitimately terrifying band live.
― chr1sb3singer, Tuesday, 8 May 2018 17:03 (five years ago) link
Also, the band I was in at one point learned a bunch of JSBX tunes for a thing and would for a while occasionally play some songs live cuz they were fun, but I can attest that if you really wanted to piss off a crowd in say, I dunno Chicago, would be to inform them you were abt to play some "real Chicago blues" and then play "Brenda". Heh.
― chr1sb3singer, Tuesday, 8 May 2018 17:07 (five years ago) link
That the band was somehow a "joke".
yeah definitely. and a bad, ultimately racist joke.
I do think they were often funny, there's a lot of humor in their music, but I don't think the joke was of the "let's laugh at black people" variety
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 8 May 2018 17:09 (five years ago) link
This line of attack started with Pussy Galore, to be fair.
― grawlix (unperson), Tuesday, 8 May 2018 17:11 (five years ago) link
Yeah the PG rep was def part of it as well.
― chr1sb3singer, Tuesday, 8 May 2018 17:14 (five years ago) link
Pussy Galore definitely had the NY art-school "let's be CONFRONTATIONAL provacateurs" aspect to them, JSBX (and RTX to a different extent) seemed like a continuation of that approach. JSBX were like a combo of that angle and the Cramps imo. They never seemed like they were really into the blues so much as rockabilly and garage rock and contemporary rap music, the latter definitely setting them apart from the Cramps, who had more of a cultural excavator/curation of prior eras role. The Cramps really did have some reverence for their sources, JSBX not so much.
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 8 May 2018 17:18 (five years ago) link
I was lucky enough to see both PG and JSBX live - the former in 1989 in LA, on their final tour (Julie Cafritz had already left; the band was down to Spencer, Neil Hagerty, and Bob Bert), and the latter at Maxwell's in 1993, right after Extra Width came out. Both shows were really good, but honestly I always liked PG better; my favorite JSBX material is all on the Year One CD, and they never did anything as exciting as Dial "M" for Motherfucker.
― grawlix (unperson), Tuesday, 8 May 2018 17:28 (five years ago) link
Pussy Galore stuff was always so hard to find back then! My copy of Dial M does make me really happy tho. can't play that one around the kids lol.
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 8 May 2018 17:34 (five years ago) link
For me at least, JSBX sparked a very honest interest in people like RL and many other long lost Delta-type blues players. The cartoony verbalizations of Spencer were always annoying but the band was never as slack-ass as PG. PG was pure scenester aesthetic and very little else. Exciting in context, but it hasn't aged well at all.
― Joe Gargan (dandydonweiner), Tuesday, 8 May 2018 18:17 (five years ago) link
PG was pure scenester aesthetic and very little else. Exciting in context, but it hasn't aged well at all.
I disagree. Right Now! and Dial "M" stand up very well; I listen to them all the time. And I never liked RL Burnside or T-Model Ford; the only one of the Fat Possum relics who had anything going for him, to my ear, was Junior Kimbrough, who was genuinely great. I got to see him open for Iggy in '96.
― grawlix (unperson), Tuesday, 8 May 2018 18:33 (five years ago) link
Blues Explosion vs. Blues Traveler: aesthetics in blue 85-94
― earlnash, Tuesday, 8 May 2018 18:35 (five years ago) link
I saw RL several times and he was awesome (he has about ten albums that aren't on Fat Possum). I like Kimbrough as well.
Dunno, when I listen to either of those PG albums you mentioned it still reeks more of scene to me (a scene I liked.) I like PG and still listen to even their arcane work and live stuff but it just doesn't have the punch of JSBX.
― Joe Gargan (dandydonweiner), Tuesday, 8 May 2018 19:53 (five years ago) link
Maybe it's timing. I graduated high school in 1990, so I was listening to Pussy Galore in high school and my awareness of who they were, what they were doing relative to other bands of the era, etc. was that of a suburban NJ teenager with no access to NYC clubs. To me it was just music that sounded awesome.
― grawlix (unperson), Tuesday, 8 May 2018 20:08 (five years ago) link
I was in college in 1990 and PG sounded awesome to me, too. It's hard to explain to people not of our era the mystery of a band like PG--I spent a year trying to find someone with the Exile tape, they barely toured the Midwest where I was. So maybe I just associate it more with that nostalgia for me. Ultimately, I just prefer the tightness of JSBX more I guess.
interesting historical tour schedule http://www.pop-catastrophe.co.uk/pussy-galore-tour-dates-2/
― Joe Gargan (dandydonweiner), Tuesday, 8 May 2018 20:42 (five years ago) link
PG fuckin rule, what the hell don
― sleeve, Tuesday, 8 May 2018 20:45 (five years ago) link
PG are great but it's not really arguable that the JSBX stuff *sounds* better, I mean it's just better produced, with actual low end and a heavier rhythm section. PG is p goddamn abrasive a lot of the time. all that high end distortion slathered over everything.
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 8 May 2018 20:50 (five years ago) link
1989.07.17 Probe - Los Angeles, CA w/ M.O.B. and Dirt Merchants
This is the show I was at. PG went on at 1 AM on a Monday night. Admission was $5 and the club had a giant cauldron of free chili, which I passed on. I bought a T-shirt from Bob Bert afterward for another $5.
― grawlix (unperson), Tuesday, 8 May 2018 21:02 (five years ago) link
Am jealous! Would have been an awesome show for sure.
At the time--in their scene for sure--abrasive was I guess part of the attraction. That's the part that I don't think has aged well for me. I still like PG a lot, but just prefer JSBX. Have been listening to my PG stuff all afternoon and it hasn't aged that bad, but it hasn't aged well. It still seems pigeonholed to the noise/anti scene of back then. Also my ears are probably fucked.
― Joe Gargan (dandydonweiner), Tuesday, 8 May 2018 21:13 (five years ago) link
I did the sleeve art for Judah Bauer's first 7" as 20 Miles. Those were fun times and good folks. The JSBX in the early '90s and the whole LES / East Village / Matador Records scene were great fun to be around.
― Acid Hose (Capitaine Jay Vee), Tuesday, 8 May 2018 23:39 (five years ago) link
i just played 2 shows with fat possom vet bog log!
― kurt schwitterz, Tuesday, 8 May 2018 23:50 (five years ago) link
Judah's lovely. the first time i interviewed JSBX Jon was virtually mute and russell was a (charismatic) asshole, but Judah was very sweet. I love this band to death.
I saw bob log so many times in the late 90s/early 00s and he was fantastic each time.
― Lou Grant, the Iranian cinema of late '70s TV (stevie), Wednesday, 9 May 2018 06:54 (five years ago) link
Reading through this just made me listen to some of the tracks on Experimental Remixes which I haven't done since I lent the CD to my crush freshman year in college and never saw it again but this was the first comment on one of the songs:
Add a public comment...Ross Fregia2 years ago1996. Dorm room. Smokin weed! Makin friends!
Ross otm.
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Wednesday, 9 May 2018 19:52 (five years ago) link
Also God they were so good.
they were incredible live, and the evolution of the records from Extra Width through Now I Got Worry is pretty impressive, they just got tighter and better and more powerful. ACME is a big drop though.
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 9 May 2018 20:00 (five years ago) link
all i remember about this band is the remix album and that song that declared "we're #1 in new york city, kansas city, jackson, mississippi, seattle..." maybe there was an oklahoma city in there? i can't remember. the blues is #1 -- the BLUES is NUMBER ONNNNNNNNE
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Wednesday, 9 May 2018 22:37 (five years ago) link
man I always wrote this stuff off as sub-PG posing, but y'all are selling me on it, I guess I should check out Now I Got Worry?
― sleeve, Wednesday, 9 May 2018 22:38 (five years ago) link
i don't remember liking it all that much tbh -- i wouldn't say my one memory is an endorsementthey were ok imo
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Wednesday, 9 May 2018 22:39 (five years ago) link
Orange is the best one imo
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 9 May 2018 22:47 (five years ago) link
Yeah - Extra Width and Orange were classics. Haven't listened in years though I did see them live about three years ago and they were still tight as hell but --- I dunno -- either I've moved on orthey felt really dated to me. But I feel that way about most 90s indie bands still out there doing their thing.
― Acid Hose (Capitaine Jay Vee), Wednesday, 9 May 2018 23:17 (five years ago) link
I like their early stuff in this order:
Crypt StyleThe Jon Spencer Blues ExplosionExtra WidthOrange
Steep dropoff after that. Controversial Negro (a live album) is pretty good, though.
― grawlix (unperson), Wednesday, 9 May 2018 23:35 (five years ago) link
one of the many issues I have with the book by the woman who's pleased with her access to the Strokes/Interpol/etc is the suggestion that New York weren't shit until those bands became prominent. JSBX was the best rock and roll band in town for a decade, truly dependable to be a firestorm every time they hit the stage, and which were an interstice of many of the going concerns around town. There are several other '90s acts and movements that the book is oddly dismissive of, but to relegate the significance of that band to an interview with Spencer re: touring with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs seems particularly galling.
― veronica moser, Thursday, 10 May 2018 02:35 (five years ago) link
otm. jsbx, sonic youth, yo la tengo, and girls against boys all blow the strokes etc out of the water. i liked that book overall but she really shouldn't have messed with history so much to fortify her narrative frame
― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, 10 May 2018 02:59 (five years ago) link
Haven't read the book but c'mon... Zinner among many others who popped up in bands later were going to see JSBX, Chrome Cranks, SY et al before they formed bands. Hell- a friend of mine who ran tightly with the whole JSBX/Grand Royal crew ( yeah it was small but existed.) gave Nick Z guitar lessons!
― Acid Hose (Capitaine Jay Vee), Thursday, 10 May 2018 04:25 (five years ago) link
Zinner was a nice guy but YYY were sort of Second Wave of that whole 90s NYC rock scene
― Acid Hose (Capitaine Jay Vee), Thursday, 10 May 2018 04:27 (five years ago) link
Zinner has never been quiet about his influences - for my SY book he told me about following Lee Ranaldo into a hardware store to see what tools he bought to fuck w his guitar
― Lou Grant, the Iranian cinema of late '70s TV (stevie), Thursday, 10 May 2018 13:39 (five years ago) link
I love that. :)
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Thursday, 10 May 2018 13:45 (five years ago) link
I listened to Experimental Remixes the other day too, it still holds up, particularly the Killah Priest remix. Agree that Acme was a big drop-off, no need to get Dan the Automator (and others) involved on production when JS did such a good job with the earlier albums
― Thomas NAGL (Neil S), Thursday, 10 May 2018 13:51 (five years ago) link
lol at 90s much? Acme producers list:
Producer Calvin Johnson, Steve Albini, Dan the Automator, Suzanne Dyer, Jim Dickinson, Alec Empire
― Thomas NAGL (Neil S), Thursday, 10 May 2018 13:52 (five years ago) link
I was buried on the battlefieldLocated near Israel
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Thursday, 10 May 2018 17:06 (five years ago) link
Megabombs, firearms and war alarms
― my dreams in the hell-pits (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Thursday, 10 May 2018 19:35 (five years ago) link
Enjoying the singles from his new solo album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll_RNl_WO4s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZwgKKc9AbA
― louise ck (milo z), Wednesday, 14 November 2018 23:36 (five years ago) link
the whole album is really fun! sam coomes from quasi backs him with some nice thick distorted organ sounds (nice, thick distorted organ)
― na (NA), Friday, 16 November 2018 19:45 (five years ago) link
ok this rips
― na (NA), Friday, 16 November 2018 19:51 (five years ago) link
wish i'd seen the tour - bob bert on carburettor!
― Jacob Lohl (stevie), Friday, 16 November 2018 22:56 (five years ago) link
i haven't listened to it yet but "do the trash can" sounds like a parody of a JSBX song title
― gbx, Friday, 16 November 2018 22:58 (five years ago) link
the fuzz bass on that is so good
― louise ck (milo z), Saturday, 17 November 2018 01:27 (five years ago) link
the new jon spencer and the hitmakers album is also pretty good. no one is talking about these albums but they rip pretty hard.
― na (NA), Wednesday, 13 April 2022 20:15 (one year ago) link
yeah i agree, i really like the sound of these hitmakers records. saw them live earlier in the week and it ruled. spencer was only slightly less of a live wire than the last time i saw him 20 years ago - he doesnt seem to age.
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Wednesday, 13 April 2022 20:34 (one year ago) link
Spencer positive for covid, that was fast. Glad I caught the hitmakers when I did, but also, uh, guess I’ll go get tested tomorrow.
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Sunday, 17 April 2022 04:03 (one year ago) link