Heavy Trash

Jon Spencer is one enthusiastic mofo. Whatever he’s into for the moment, he always seems to be taking his devotions seriously. From the scuzzery of Pussy Galore and Boss Hogg to the whiteface R&B joke of the JSBX, he gives ironic dilettantism his all. (Jack White should be good and proud of his spiritual forbear, who showed him the way to hop between American musical genres with unfailing conviction.) For his latest trick, Spencer has partnered with bassist/studio operator Matt Verta-Ray, late of Madder Rose and Speedball Baby, for what is essentially an amalgam of several Sun Records styles — slapback reverb rockabilly, raucous countrified rock and roll and twangy balladry, all cut with a playful caricaturization of the people who originally made this music as hapless rubes. Perhaps there are people who can’t enjoy anything they don’t feel superior to, but there’s nothing to this flimsy fun that hasn’t been done better, minus the slathered-on bullshit, by others.