Alternatively emoting Bootsy Collins, Jimi Hendrix, and Sly Stone, the front man for the bassless trio called the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion warbles his way into your heart on spunk and gumption alone with the group's latest 13 cut delivery, Acme. "I do not play no blues," Spencer exclaims on "Talk About The Blues, "I play rock and roll!" With gritty chords and pseudo trip hop beats backing slurred and smoky vocals, this album hums, shimmies, rocks, rolls, and pumps all the way to the bank.

Much has been said in the press about Jon Spencer's roots -- suburban, well-off white kid grows up and stars in punk group Pu**y Galore, gains some experience and ideas, then forms what's possibly the world's funkiest collection of caucasians (Jamiroquai, 3rd Bass, and the Solsonics notwithstanding), affectionately called JSBX. Many critics have questioned the authenticity of these milquetoast blues -- no suffering should equal no blues, right? -- but the simple fact is that JSBX does it and does it well, if a little much in the high range. One scary day, they'll hire a bass player and take over the world.

There are many, many gems on this album -- the vocal bassline and country-sounding litany of uncles' names in "Do You Wanna Get Heavy" is simple and rough in that way that denotes quality. The single, "Talk About The Blues," rocks more coherently than anything on the charts and is the standout uptempo cut on the album. "Magical Colors" is a twangy make out song, "High Gear" borders on country music (but not in that "quick, turn off the radio!" way, in that "hey, swang it, big daddy" way) and succeeds nonetheless. The use of samples is very subtle and difficult to recognize if you're not well versed in them. Basically, Spencer and his compadres Judah Bauer and Russell Simins took every musical ingredient they'd ever found, threw it in the kitchen sink, added some seasoning salt and barbecue sauce and stirred it at a soulful pace until it got funky, a sonic gumbo well worth sitting down with. Who knew?