Svelteness of Boogietude

Brother JT's debut offering for Thrill Jockey is, to coin a phrase, about as subtle as a flying mallet. Given the first single's title, "T Rex Blues," you can tell where his head's at going in, but, as usual, it's not as simple as all that. Opening with a cut named after himself, he mixes latter period Marc Bolan guitar riffs with a sleazy, bluesy, low-end tenor saxophone, the wow and flutter of an oscillating synth, cough syrup vocals, and a completely out to lunch female backing chorus. The listener has no idea whether to laugh with delight, derision, or shake her head and ask "why?" The brief "Elephant's Gerald" walks the line Bolan did toward the end of the hippie-dippie Tyrannosaurus Rex period, which was happening about the same time that Kevin Ayers was charming us with his wonderfully loopy solo material. The single blazes with the same trashy aesthetic that Zinc Alloy & the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow did, but it also feels like Ariel Bender-era Mott the Hoople. In other words, it's raw glam rock deluxe with enough trashy metal thrown in to cause unintentional head wag. Longtime Brother JT fans needn't be too concerned by this flirtation with glam; there's plenty of wacked-out spacy psych here too. Check the narcotic 4/4 plod of "Many Man Smoke," or the skronky tribalism of "Hi Ho." The latter is only held to earth by the soul-ed out female backing chorus. The balance features a drum kit, hand drums, wailing saxophone, thudding bass, and JT's throaty rasp chanting nonsensically in an LSD-inspired muddy party groove. Thankfully, there is excellent songwriting here as well, evidenced by the winding, haunted "Here Comes Spring," a love song that melds early Quicksilver Messenger Service and Dandy in the Underworld-period Bolan. You can't make this stuff up, but JT did. Travesty or genius? You decide. "Flotsam and Jetsam," at nearly seven minutes," melds groove-based jazz, stoned summertime rock, and flip-to-wig-city psych. For longtime fans, The Svelteness of Boogietude will likely reinforce what you already think you know: that despite his use of other periods in pop music history, Brother JT is a true outsider who always remakes things in his own image, with a lyric sensibility that is simultaneously canny and wacky. For those new to his work and persona, this album is among the stranger, messier, and more mercurial recordings you'll likely encounter this year. ~ Thom Jurek