Search - Heavy Trash :: Going Way Out With Heavy Trash

Twisted rockabilly, blues and rock from Jon Spencer

hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 09/06/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Jon Spencer and Matt Verta-Ray's latest opens with a crazed rockabilly tune that stomps, sputters and echoes like Charlie Feathers caught on a distant late night AM radio skip signal. It's distorted and twisted by the atmosphere, but comes blasting right through. The electric blast of edgy rock lunacy defines a crucial element Heavy Trash vibe, and even when their rockabilly is more straightforward walking bass lines and drumsticks-on-the-rim, they turn psychobilly for the Cramps-meet-fratrock "Way Out" and the Ramones-ish of "I Want Oblivion."



But demented rockabilly isn't this duo's only forte. "Outside Chance" kicks up the mid-60s British invasion riffs of the Pretty Things and Kinks, and the "They Were Kings" rides the nitro-fueled blues of The Gories, Cheater Slicks or less recent antecedents like George Thorogood. Eddie Cochran runs headlong into Buddy Holly and Bobby Fuller on "Crazy Pritty Baby," and the tic-tac guitar and slapback echo of "That Ain't Right" are pure Johnny Cash. "Double Line" is deconstructed swamp blues with acoustic and electric guitars intertwining like '70s Stones, and the sermon of "I Want Refuge" gives way to an energetic 30-seconds of Bo Diddley beat before the downbeat soul ballad "Crying Tramp" emerges from a hail of feedback. The album closes with an impressionistic Tom Waits styled slow blue monologue.



What ties all these sounds and eras together is a certain elementalness; Heavy Trash plays upon the turning points and critical confluences of rock and it's various tributary inputs. Recorded in three studios with three different backing bands (including The Sadies in Boston, a studio full of Danes in London, and a regular New York crew in the Big Apple), the foundational rockabilly of Spencer and Verta-Ray are both indulged and stretched beyond recognition, making these sides even wilder and more adventurous than their 2005 debut. [©2007 hyperbolium dot com]"

Spence just keeps improving with age

mojo_navigator | 09/18/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In general, I'm of the opinion that most musicians shoot their load early on in their lives and then just spend the rest of their time trying to re-capture the magic they once had. Look at Presley and The Stones, the two major influences on this recording. Did they ever match the magic of the Sun Sessions or Have You Seen Your Mother ever again? Yet Spencer seems to buck this seemingly unshifting rule. Fine though JSBX was, there's a greater musicality and truth to Heavy Trash. Approaching middle age now, Spencer and Matt Verta-Ray appear to be moving away from cleverness and concepts and more towards expressing a loose and unrestrained passion for the music that fired them up to begin with.



Although Sun Records and Exile On Main Street tend be the reference points here, Going Way Out.. is not a retro record, at least not to my ears. Too much has happened since those days and it's all reflected in the subtle nuances in this record. It's broader and more ambitious than their first album and really may be the best thing Spencer's ever done. Of course, Rockabilly is the central influence and this record will appeal to fans of such things. A special mention must go to the actual SOUND of this record. Get it on vinyl is all I can say. It really does sound tight and magnificent, guitars screech and bite, rhythms pound with authority, the bass pumps. Best album of the 2000's? I fail to see many other contenders for that role. It's equal parts Garage Rock and tight musicianship.



On a final note, I get increasingly tired of people trashing The Spence for being "ironic" and supposedly a dilettante. I've never understood this particular accusation nor have I've ever figured out why certain critic types seem to think that he mocks the very forms that he experiments with - blues, rockabilly, soul etc. I don't get any sense of inauthenticity at all from his records or performances (twice JSBX, once Heavy Trash). On the contrary, he, together with Verta-Ray and a handful of others, is one of the last genuine Rock 'n' Rollers still around and Going Way Out... is a truly authentic slice of gutbucket Rock 'n' Roll for anyone still left who has the capacity to appreciate such things."

Jon Spencer has left the building

David Tomasello | Buffalo, New York | 09/04/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"These guys are all about fun,games,girls and booze.Things I live by, when I can.Not a band for everybody but a band for me.I like there approach,and the way the music is delivered.kinda like elvis meets john cash alternative rockabilly in 2007. Straight between the ears, ya I said the ears.The words speak for themselvies.Go way out and Check them out."