The only given at a Jon Spencer show is excess: you can always count on the guy to go too far. His '80s noise act Pussy Galore anti-rocked the mic so hard, it crossed the line from experimental to unlistenable. The Blues Explosion, by contrast, wantonly rides the way-back machine to the days of race records and chitlin' circuits, giving props to rock's roots with a cacophonous combination of oversexed rhythm method, mush-mouthed jive talking (think Strom Thurmond with amphetamine psychosis) and the over-the-top stamina of a band working for tips in a smoky juke joint.

Touring behind the recent Matador release "Now I Got Worry," the group's 90-minute blues-abusin' set belied critics who consider vocalist-guitarist Spencer an indie-rock Al Jolson. This was no minstrel show, though, and the Explosion is not your average white band. After too-tight, almost perfunctory run-throughs of "Bellbottoms" (a stand-out track from 1994's "Orange") and "Rocketship" ("Worry"'s disposable attempt at catchy-chorused pop), the trio loosened up and proceeded to do what it does best: fuck shit up.

That's the title of one of the band's most abrasive -- and effective -- new live numbers. The song spotlighted guitarist Judah Bauer, who barked commands like "Hit the sauce!" and "Waste your boss!" over a fuzzed-out groove and finished off the piece by actually scratching his guitar with both hands. What better way to mock the guitar solo than equate it with jock itch? Another unruly highlight, "Chicken Dog," veered from wheezing, fat-back-soaked riffs to Hendrix-style virtuosity, with Spencer handling vocals that were performed by Stax soul giant Rufus Thomas on "Worry."

Throughout the evening, amidst all the dissed harmonies and shredded tempos, Spencer managed to hold together the often wildly fragmented song structures with the force of his outsized stage persona. Looking like a Sassy pin-up boy possessed, the band leader strutted, testified and, of course, howled "Blues Explosion" at random intervals. Even more far out, he occasionally ditched his guitar to play some old-school electronica on a theremin. Used to great effect on the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations," the other-wordly instrument is worked by waving your hands near a pair of antenna-like rods.

During the show's finale, a 10-minute-plus work-out of "Flavor," Spencer moved to the theremin and began flailing his arms as if he were conjuring up some bad hoodoo. For a moment, he looked like a mad conductor, controlling the maelstrom of opposing sounds that swirled around him