Heavy Trash
“Heavy Trash”
Yep Roc

Jon Spencer (of Blues Explosion) and Matt Verta-Ray unite to take out the trash on this blues/garage rocker. Rather than release a boring old guitar rock record, Spencer and Verta-Ray pick up just about every instrument in their studio (including an assortment of strange noises spattered here and there).

The duo rev into high gear with the rock-a-billy, rough-and-ready number “The Loveless.” This first-person narrative tells the tale of one heartless bastard who owns the road with his badass motorcycle. Other straight-up rockers include “Justine Alright (which tastefully name drops Hoboken, NJ), the electro-fuzzed “Mr. K.I.A.,” and the Iggy Pop-sounding “The Hump.”

“Walking Bum” is a more traditional blues-enriched tune about lonely nights and the long walk home. “Walking all alone, no direction, no way back home/ Gonna sleep in the ditch, got a pillow made of stone,” sings Spencer or Verta-Ray (no way to know for sure).

Verta-Ray and Spencer take everything traditional about blues rock and tosses it into the garbage disposal. What comes out the other end is a melding of blues, noise, and old school rock n’ roll dipped in subtle electronica and dabbed with a whole lot of balls. This is Heavy Trash.

Reviewed by: George Koroneos
Reviewed on: April 20, 2005