Music: Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion is my favourite musical outfit at the moment. They dropped the "Jon Spencer" from the name for the latest album Damage, and I'll adapt eventually.

Their core style is a perfect meeting of rock 'n' roll and blues. Not the sad blues, but the drivin', jivin', dancin' blues. Guitar sometimes sounds like early Stones; vocals often sound like Elvis; but they're derivative of neither. The best of their music makes movement involuntary. It's about all I've been listening to so that I can wake up enough to plough through another day of uni assignments.

These are the four albums I have, in release order:

• Orange. Many consider this their masterpiece, but I consider it dated. It's raw, playful, energetic, but somehow shallow. Still a great album, mind you, but I don't play it often.
  
• Now I Got Worry. I consider this their masterpiece. The most bluesy by a long shot, with a great cameo from recently retired blues legend R. L. Burnside. Full of drive.
  
• Plastic Fang. Underrated, in my opinion. Not every song is killer, but none stink, and many are killer. What's more, it's their most consistent album in style, that style being full-bodied rock 'n' roll. When you're in the mood for it, it delivers a whole album's worth.
  
• Damage. Only got this recently and I'm still evaluating it. It doesn't grab you straight away, but has been warming on me. This is the "other" side of Blues Explosion, the experimental side. A range of styles on this one, but fortunately it includes some standout rockers.

They've got about nine albums in total, I think, and I gotta get some more.

I first got into this band in a pretty straightforward way: I bought Now I Got Worry simply because I liked the name of the band! The concept of blues exploding was one I could anticipate with relish. They certainly didn't let me down.