Now I Got Worry

by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

Overview

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion were one of the most viscerally exciting indie rock acts of the 1990s, but making their blast of frantic energy work in the studio was sometimes a challenge if you were going for anything more than sheer gutbucket stomp. On Orange and Acme, JSBX used strings, hip-hop beats, and various production niceties to add texture to the two-guitar-and-drums onslaught, but with Now I Got Worry, they moved forward into the past with the fiercest and most elemental set they'd released since Crypt Style. Now I Got Worry kicks off with Spencer screaming his head off while Russell Simins lays down a funky, muscular backbeat, and that sets the tone for what follows; the album plays at full-blast from beginning to end, even when the tempo shifts and the band eases back a bit in the name of dynamics. The blast-furnace tone is consistent, but the approach jumps from cut to cut, as JSBX tackle proto-hardcore on "Identify," shift into country-blues mode on "Rocketship," party with Rufus Thomas on "Chicken Dog," lay into a punishingly funky groove on "R.L. Got Soul," and wander through a pool of drug-addled dub on "Fuck Shit Up." But, ultimately, extremity is the point on Now I Got Worry, and even when it seems relatively gentle, it's never subtle; the production (mostly by Jim Waters) isn't afraid to push the music into the red zone, and Spencer's fearsome vocal wail, the attack of Spencer and Judah Bauer's guitars, and Simins' relentless drumming connect with the force of a fist into the solar plexus. Now I Got Worry may not be JSBX's best album, but it does capture their taut, blazing, live sound and their eccentric studio approach with a better balance than anything else in their catalog; if you want to get slapped upside the head while you boogie all night long, this is the album for you. ~ Mark Deming

Product Details

Release Date:	08/16/2011
Label:	Shove
UPC:	0881626942413
Rank:	30483

Tracks

1. Skunk
2. Identify
3. Wail
4. Fuck Shit Up
5. 2kindsa Love
6. Love All of Me
7. Chicken Dog
8. Rocketship
9. Dynamite Lover
10. Hot Shot
11. Can't Stop
12. Firefly Child
13. Eyeballin¿¿¿
14. R.L. Got Soul
15. Get Over Here
16. Sticky

Album Credits

Performance Credits

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion   Primary Artist
Money Mark   Guest Artist
Rufus Thomas   Guest Artist,Vocals
Beck   Keyboards
Jon Spencer   Guitar,Vocals
Mark "Money Mark" Ramos-Nishita   Organ,Piano,Clavinet,Keyboards,Fender Rhodes
Judah Bauer   Guitar,Vocals
Ad-Rock   Scratching
Russell Simins   Drums
Jon Wahl   Saxophone
Cristina Martinez   Vocals
Justin Berry   Saxophone

Technical Credits

Doug Easley   Engineer
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion   Composer,Performer
Jon Spencer   Composer,Producer
Mark "Money Mark" Ramos-Nishita   Composer
Danny Clinch   Cover Photo,Photography
Davis McCain   Engineer
Mario Caldato, Jr.   Engineer
Howie Weinberg   Mastering
Jim Waters   Engineer,Producer
Roger Lian   Mastering
Darren Clark   Photography
Jeanne Greco   Lettering,Logo Design
Dubnarcotic   Composer
Saylor Breckenridge   Engineer
Cliff Taylor   Composer