JSBX

A dear friend recommended that the Music Cricket tries listening to the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion (JSBX) with the warning, “Not for Purists” ...interesting... As that tends to go, that means I downloaded a whole slew of their albums and started at the beginning. I heard the name before, I think (although it sounds a bit like the Spencer Davis Group) ... but never checked them out... This is “Blues” in as much as it revives Iggy Pop & The Stooges, and toys with clichés of the genre. Other than that, their earliest output is a supercharged, hyperactive explosion of ironic post-modern, alternative punk rock. I guess they’ve influenced The White Stripes and The Von Buddies. Later they drift more toward less incoherent catchy tunes (adding more textures to their bass-less trio, such as strings, horns and organ), like the funky dance territory of Beck, which I find much less appealing, while sometimes shifting toward the Stereolab of Emperor Tomato Ketchup, which I can appreciate better. When I listen to Thrash Metal, I know instantly weather I like a song or not. With this stuff, I really have to make an effort ... and I doubt that repeated listening will pay off. Overall I guess this is not very much my cup o’ tea ... or my cup o’ soup ... but not awful either. If there were room left on my iPod I’d dump it in there, but my 60GBs are stuffed to the gill as it is...