Music Blog

If you couldn't slow down and go down to the Heavy Trash low-down throw-down at Water Street Music Hall, then I'm here to rub it in. You missed a mondo killer rockabilly shock transmission from the very heart of primal rock 'n' roll. Direct from New York Cit-ay, Heavy Trash heaped on the sleaze just swimming in grease and reverb.

Like I've said before, Heavy Trash is more about the spark than the flame. Coming on like an Elvis Christ carnival barker, front man Jon Spencer proved to be essentially the same microphone-eating, wild-ass personae as when he fronts the Blues Explosion -- it's just that the Blues explosion is all about the detour and pioneering fresh mayhem. Heavy trash is a lot more rudimentary, drawing from the period when the stitches that held R&B, blues, and hillbilly boogie together still hadn't completely healed. Matt Verta Ray, of Speedball Baby fame, wielded his big guitar like a savage and show opener Bloodshot Bill danced with his upright bass like a drunken prom date. The whole show was sweltering and swinging culminating in Spencer raving and testifying from atop the bar. Have Mercy.