Jon Spencer “Sick of Being Sick!”

sfilzen — Tue, 24 Sep 2024 20:13:19 +0000

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

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.

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Jon Spencer & the HITmakers “Spencer Gets It Lit”

sfilzen — Tue, 19 Apr 2022 18:10:47 +0000

Jon Spencer & the HITmakers “Spencer Gets It Lit” 2022. In the Red Recordings/Shove! Records/Bronzerat Records. Limited edition pink vinyl. We picked up Spencer’s latest LP at his show this past Friday at the Back Room Colectivo, even though I pre-ordered it a couple of months ago (still waiting for its delivery!). A fabulously funky and weird as hell record, with junkyard beats courtesy of the most excellent Bob Bert (Sonic Youth, Pussy Galore) on trashcans and a gas tank, plus crazy space-age electronic sounds from keyboardist Sam Coomes (Quasi). M. Sord (Boss Hog) plays “regular” drums on Spencer Gets It Lit, though the HITmakers have the other half of Quasi, Janet Weiss, playing drums on their current tour (Quasi is also opening for Spencer).

We arrived pretty early to the show on Friday so I was able to get a good shot of Bob’s rig before the shitty Colectivo lights went on, as well as an ancient Fender Bassman amp from his and Spencer’s Pussy Galore days.

As is my style, I got a spot right at the stage for Spencer’s performance and took a few decent photos (after heavily editing the bad lighting, of course), plus scored Coomes’ copy of the setlist at the end of the night.

The HITmakers played several tracks from Spencer Gets It Lit including some of my top picks: the opener “Junk Man,” “Bruise” (I need to somehow work this into a yoga playlist as one of the main refrains is “inhale/exhale”), “Death Ray,” “Get It Right Now” and the super-sexy “Worm Town” (the name of the song=not so sexy). They also played a couple of songs from Spencer’s last release, Spencer Sings the Hits! like “Beetle Boots,” “Overlord,” “Cape” and “Do the Trash Can” (as one of the encores) plus the super-early Jon Spencer Blues Explosion song “Shirt Jac” (1992).

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Jon Spencer “Sick of Being Sick!”

Jon Spencer & the HITmakers “Spencer Gets It Lit”