Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

As its title implies, Xtra Acme USA is a collection of unused leftovers and remixes of selections culled from Acme's recording sessions. However, unlike 1995's Experimental Remixes EP, this is more than a visitation of older songs via celebrity remixes. Rather, Xtra Acme holds its own as a complete album of new material that tastes great and is very filling. There's no doubt about it: Jon Spencer's certainly got the flava he raves about. Xtra Acme is a furious storm of energy, a quality that characterizes the Blues Explosion's Extra Width and Orange, but one that doesn't readily rear its head on 1996's Now I Got Worry or 1998's Acme. Xtra Acme finds Spencer and company returning to a structureless pattern, mixing tempos and beats, using theremins and modulation boxes, and tossing humor up against lustful sexuality. Hip-hop beats and scratches and samples are part of the cocktail, but the record's strongest segments find Spencer, Judah Bauer, and Russell Simins digging for adrenaline, strutting across an imaginary stage with zesty blues-boogie riffs, and stopping for occasional pauses, thus allowing Spencer the time he needs to vent to the audience and scream instructions to his bandmates. For the first time since Orange, Spencer sounds like a man with unlimited confidence and possessed by a fervent desire to belt out momentous melodies. On a remix of "Blue Green Olga," Spencer's voice is so suave, he could fill Ben E. King's shoes and sing at a 1950s prom. Conversely, the full-throttle "Get Down Lover" has an ending that packs such a wallop, it punctures the skin. There are a few stale moments here and there, but Xtra Acme has such a wealth of pops, eruptions, reversals, and hard-earned sweat that the listener won't notice. Those searching for definitive Blues Explosion, look no further than "Leave Me Alone So I Can Rock Again." Spencer's voice is plain and tight, and fights all temptations to scream. All the while, the band keeps kicking the music's pace up a notch, until it reaches a breaking point where a greasy harmonica wails like a car's radiator on a sultry day and Spencer unleashes his consummate screams -- somehow, it urges you to shake, dance, boogie, go crazy. In other words, it screams "rock & roll!" ~ Bob Gendron, All Music Guide