Blues Explosion

Photo Gallery

• Genre: Garage Rock Revival
• Hometown: New York
• Blues Explosion Website

About

Not your typical blues outfit -- in fact, not a blues outfit at all -- the Blues Explosion, aka Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, concoct a postmodern sound that's heavily reliant on tricky backbeats and N.Y.C. references. The Explosion foster a party atmosphere ("Lemme hear ya say yeah!!"), and you get the feeling that they're hell-bent on convincing you that the calendar reads 1972 forever: Funk-embellished interludes, mental portraits of big afros and bigger cars, and an overall mood of decadence. Spencer is credited (or blamed) for fathering indie pimp rock, and his trio does nothing to dispel the notion of the singer/guitarist's self-preoccupation ("You listenin' to the Bloooooooz Explosion, baby!"). Those in search of humble singer-songwriters should look elsewhere; party-hipster-funk lovers need apply.

- Charles Hodgkins