“Play it for the one you love. You cannot lose.” So goes the motto plastered all over the packaging for this new, likely one-off concept record from two of the gloriously twisted minds behind New York’s avant-rock scene, Jon Spencer (he of the Blues Explosion, not to mention Pussy Galore) and Matt Verta-Ray (Madder Rose, Speedball Baby). It’d be hard to imagine a dewy young thing being seduced to the strains of “The Loveless,” which sounds like Jerry Lee Lewis being stalked by a Moog, but if you know anyone like that, send her over. Because Heavy Trash is one of the finer punkabilly experiments out there.

Together, Matt and Jon suck most of the amphetamine wackiness (and all of the feedback) out of their usual m.o., recording the 13 originals here on vintage equipment, keeping the percussion to an absolute minimum, cranking up the reverb, and pickin’ like fools. Although their respective personas (especially Jon’s) are still evident on spooky struts like “Walking Burn” and filthy country honks like “Gatorade,” the near-total lack of irony means that these ’05 songs don’t sound all that different—in concept or execution—from the wilder denizens of Sun Records’ legendary late-Fifties run. Which may be exactly their point.

Of course, this duo is also smart enough to know when to break their own rules, which is why “The Hum” features organ and the echo-drenched “Mr. K.I.A” utilizes weird samples and just a dash of electronic percussion to get whatever its point is across. Still, the illusion remains pretty consistent throughout, which is why you could easily pass off “This Day Is Mine” as some old Charlie Feathers or Billy Lee Riley track were it not sitting next to the more typical “Gatorade.” “I said, ‘Honey, don’t you use that thing to pee?’” goes the beginning of one particularly blue verse. Some things never change, thank God.