Jon Spencer “Sick of Being Sick!” 2024. Bronzerat Records, limited edition clear vinyl. It delights me so hard that for 30+ years Spencer still is a bit obsessed with trousers (on Sick of Being Sick! we’ve got “Fancy Pants” but let’s not forget about JSBX era “Bellbottoms” from Orange, “Pant Leg” from Extra Width and “Get Your Pants Off” from Meat + Bone) nor has his healthy ego taken a dive (on “Guitar Champ” he’s still proclaiming he’s Number One! I agree – he is!). Sick of Being Sick! is a short burst of punk blues perfection, with a new, very young backing band: Kendall Wind on bass and Mack Spider Bowman on drums (from the Woodstock NY garage punk band the Bobby Lees – Spencer produced their 2020 album Skin Suit). While Spencer has never lacked for energy, this new gen has him revved up to eleven. We got to catch Spencer with his new band in July down in Chicago – killer show as always! – and I’m fairly certain they played a couple of these new tracks, including the aforementioned “Guitar Champ” and “Fancy Pants.”

Jon Spencer at Fitzgeralds, Chicago 2024

Jon Spencer at Fitzgeralds, Chicago 2024

It’s also possible they performed my top track on the new record, “Disconnected” which is some of the hardest, funkiest, ass-shaking tunes around currently. Also fantastic are the noisy bluesy lead track “Wrong” (the lyric “I’m sick of being sick” appears here), the extra fuzzy “Out of Place,” and the buzzy “Coulda Been.”

I’ve been streaming Sick of Being Sick! pretty much nonstop for the past week or so, waiting for my record guy to get the vinyl in. There’s a little hidden snippet at the end of Side 2 that does not appear digitally, not really a song, more like a show-closer freakout.