Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Heavy Hand, and stuff related

October of 2012 has already worn me out. I missed (DID NOT MAKE IT) seeing the John Spencer Blues Explosion not once (Chicago show) but twice (Milwaukee too, dammit) because I was simply out of gas (ninguna energía y’all, not even enough in the tank to write this blog type thang last week) and it’s a shame and a drag because the new JSBX elpee “Meat And Bone” is rather hot stuff. To sum it up: Full-grown, high-energy dirty blues tracks, accentuated by electronic weirdness (much like, but not as much as their awesome Acme elpee) and punctuated with bad ass attitude. “Meat And Bone” is their first record in years, since, what, the mid nineties? Maybe you thought they were dead. They very much ain’t.

This week, Heavy Hand got my attention with their debut eepee that they have out on my favorite record label, Milwaukee’s totally reliable and bullet-proof Latest Flame Records. If you live in MKE and you like rock music and you haven’t checked out anything on their roster, you really need to get yer shit together and get on that, like, right now. Go ahead and get started with “Confusion Is Body Parts” by Heavy Hand, and get caught up its frenetic, kinetic energy. It’s a trio featuring Anthony Weber on guitar and vocals, his lovely bride Isa Carini on bass and drummer Chris Roberts. Weber also plays and sings in Milwaukee’s excellent Like Like The The The Death. Earlier this year, I likened Weber’s singing style in that band to that of a velociraptor in a cage match, or something to that effect. Now I’m thinking he sounds more like a 170 lb agitated parrot. Weber’s vocal styling takes some getting used to, but his sense of timing in the way he inserts his squawk between the notes of the disfigured-by-noise pop gems he and Heavy Hand create is enviable. Check ‘em out and go see them play.