Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

the combination between Wire and Billy Joel probably

I like "Don't You Evah" the best so far

a new spoon album is always a treat, this is very good

i like the architect comment above, it's very true--spoon are very angular, precise, and symmetrical with their guitar pop

"Don't You Evah" is my favorite too.

I'm liking the album more every time I hear it, but I don't think I'll ever love it like the last three. But it's quite good, definitely one of the better records I've heard in the 2007s.

I saw them live last year and... they need to stop playing guitar solos live. Or hire a lead guitarist.

Dude I love those skronky solos.

They don't even really captivate me or anything but somehow I've seen them like 4 times.

I'm looking forward to this, and as a sub-fan & reviewer of all the albums

the combination between Wire and Billy Joel

is probably the best description of their sound I've ever heard.

I've seen the "wire/billy Joel" thing here before and think it makes no sense, because Billy Joel is unimaginable without Billy Joel. It basically means "uses a piano, voice is high in the mix". Spoon does not have the sub-dylan verbal diarrhea thing going, nor the wtf anger/self-righteousness. You can't imagine them smashing a drum set in Moscow.

Fucking formalists.
Well, yeah, they are formalists, and there's another post in this thread that also emphasizes that--they "show how the song is constructed", that's formalism also. There's a formula to a lot of Spoon songs--find a groove, sing some semi-abstract lyrics, say "uh-huh" and "yeah" a lot, add gratuitous noise/effects, and take it somewhere unexpected (to the extent this can be part of a formula!), either by key change, or often by a long-delayed crescendo. It works for me about 90% of the time.

Yeah, I quite dig the 'form' myself. Even when I can anticipate what's going to happen, it still sounds great when it does.

Digging this new one so far...

I've seen the "wire/billy Joel" thing here before

I gotta take credit for that one, sorry.

Think "Still Rock'n'Roll To Me"

Never really listened to their records, but I was pretty disappointed by their live show. Maybe it's because I had high expectations, or that it was outdoors, or that the audience was full of douchebags, but there was something about the minimalism that didn't work for me. It was very "rock band-y" and the whole set was awfully homogeneous.

x-post on "still rock'n roll"
Yeah, compare that to "You've Gotta Feel It," count the words, note Spoon's absence of weirdly defensive hostility, obvious rhymes, need to "say something" about rock history, etc. Yes, the drums are loud and their voices occupy a similar frequency range and are high in the mix.

I wouldn't expect them to be that good live, as their records are very much studio products... never seen 'em, except on "austin city limits," which was extremely dull.

Yeah, and they didn't marry Christie Brinkley either. It's more that what ISN'T Wire about Spoon is kinda Joel-ish, even if they haven't rapped about world history yet.

Oh yeah, and I would add to the "formula," along with key changes and excessively delayed crescendos/climaxes, throwing in extra beats e.g. moving to 5/4 for a bit. All this differentiates them from standard power pop, in a way that can be a bit contrived, but nonetheless works for me.

How many Spoon songs have real solos? I mean, very few! "Beast and Dragon, Adored" has one, but it's all skronky and rad.

Also, These Robust Cookies -- Spoon are actually quite good live, and what you might be taking as the records being "very much studio products" is actually Eno and Daniel replicating the effect of how they sound in live performance without being super-literal about it.

This album isn't willful obscurity -- it's obscure obscurity. I don't think he's figured out what the hell he's trying to say, or even if he's saying anything at all, and thus the increasingly rococo arrangements.

ok, after several listens i can say this:
very very good, much more poppier than their otehr records,and got also 60's influence on "cherry bomb" and "underdog" (phil spector) and on the last track,"black like me" that sounds like a tribute to "day in the life" by the beatles (the keyboards and especially the bombastic outro),those 3 songs are Spoon trying to combine the minimal with the bombastic, and they do it quite well.
the rest is more or less "gimme fiction" part 2, which is great if you ask me.and it's even more melodic."rhthm and soul" sounds like the single to me.
oh,and theres also "ghost of u linger" with all it's melodic experiment greatness.
"eddie's ragga" and "cigarette case" are kinda weak though.

about the "wire/billy joel" thing:
i've twist it a little from the original which was "nirvana/billy joel" ,if my memory don't betray me.

I'm on their email list and got the impression that they write a lot of their stuff in the studio, but I have no idea what the relationship between live/studio is--I just think the sound of the albums, with all the junk they throw in, is pretty integral to what makes it work for me (even though the mastering of the last album was dreadful--like most stuff these days--still the drum sound was great).

Looking forward to the new one.

Yes, they do "breaks," not solos. For which I am most grateful.

The melody of Cherry Bomb reminds me favorably of "Dreaming" by Blondie

I dig the horns.

OK, yeah, so I just listened to this again while driving around on a beautiful spring night with the windows down, and I've decided that I love this record. I didn't buy the last few, but I'll be buying this one. It's the most subtly psychedelic indie rock record I've heard in a long time. You get to the end of side one and you're all 'wow,' but then side two is even better. Right now I'm obsessed with "Eddie's Ragga" - how every once in a while the staccato chords change from all reverb-ed out to totally dry, but just for one slash on the guitar, before going back to being all Phil Spector and shit. Very stoney. Those crying 'Billy Joel' have a good case with "The Underdog," which also happens to be one of the best songs on the record. My wife (a longtime Spoon fan) says it reminds her of The Zombies in places, and at first I was all "bitch you crazy" but then I kinda heard what she was talking about. Also, the drum sound is outstanding. Anyway enough rambling, just my two cents. Great record!

about the "wire/billy joel" thing:
i've twist it a little from the original which was "nirvana/billy joel" ,if my memory don't betray me.

not like it's the most amazing comparison, but here's the first time on ILX this analogy came up: spoon: C/D and S/D

to drive that B. Joel thing into the ground: in my recurring fantasy in which young bands write songs for old people who forgot how to write songs, Spoon gave "Sister Jack" to Billy Joel which he then used as a fantastically successful "comeback" single. I think about this often. I have a video concept as well.

That is all.

the thing is,Billy Joel probably think he still can write good songs.
(and his shows are still "sold out")

"WOEFUL SINGLES
Spoon's "The Ghost of You Lingers."
Well at least you picked a great Pulp song to write a half-assed, demo-sounding rip off of."

(quote from "Village Voice")
wtf?!?! what pulp song?

Just at a guess I'd say the writer might have been thinking of 'F.E.E.L.I.N.G C.A.L.L.E.D L.O.V.E' from Different Class.

Which isn't to say that I find the comment just!

So, just to make sure here, when he keeps talking about the "the man I saw in Kazaam!" on Rhythm and Soul, we're talking about Shaq, right?

The riff in Rhthm and Soul reminds me of Elastica - Connection

This album is a one-song wonder in my opinion (Finer Feelings).

The riff in Rhthm and Soul reminds me of Elastica - Connection

you mean Wire.

The whole album is now streaming:

http://www.mergerecords.com/gagagajuke/

I'm really enjoying the first song, "Don't Make Me A Target."

Their most straight-ahead, laid back record yet? Sounds ok, I expect it to grow on me as the last few have. "Rhthm & Soul" sounds a bit like "Monsieur Valentine," no? Ok ok, "Underdog" does sound like "only teh good die young," but I'm willing to bet it has less than 1/2 the word count and I continue to insist that Billy Joel does not have a sound that can be separated from his persona.

And you could just as easily say that song sounds like Boz Scaggs, or part two of "I Summon You" from the last album.

You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb is great. There's an echo-y vocal bit in the track that reminds me of the chorus of an old Blondie song (Dreaming, maybe?)

Yeah, someone mentioned that upthread.

I'm a big fan of this album.

it's a great record.
you can't satisfy the fans:
if the indie act is doing the same thing (let's say Spoon)- they are repetetive,"doing yet the same thing all over again etc"
when they try and do something different (let's say the Pornos) than it's "we miss the old sound etc"
either way, it's very hard to satisfy to the expectations...

"You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb "

i thought of the Shangri-La's and Phil Spector

you can't satisfy the fans:
if the indie act is doing the same thing (let's say Spoon)- they are repetetive,"doing yet the same thing all over again etc"
when they try and do something different (let's say the Pornos) than it's "we miss the old sound etc"
either way, it's very hard to satisfy to the expectations...

OTM. I was going to mention this in connection with Challengers, which -- as you point out -- may run into the second type of criticism.

this is a great record. after a couple of weeks listening i can say that there isn't a thing on hear i don't like, and as much as i love 'em, i can't say that about any previous Spoon album.

As I said, I'll probably like it a lot more after several listens, that's what happened with the last one (which in my reckoning had one dud track). At first blush though I didn't hear anything particularly new, and with Spoon each record has held surprises. On the last one, "I Turn My Camera On," "The Delicate Place," just to name two tracks, didn't sound like anything they'd done before. And the skronky guitar breaks were new. Of course such things are pretty superficial in the end. The surprises may be more subtle on this one.

They should get a Nobel Prize for the drum sound.

They should get a Nobel Prize for the drum sound.

I've been thinking that for years. Not specifically about the Nobel Prize, but, you know. Best-recorded drums EVER. Period.

Curious, Cookies, what was the dud on Fiction, in your opinion? I always think that without "Was It You" and "Infinite Pet", that album would be hands down the best thing they've ever done. But those are a couple of the only Spoon tracks that I really have to hold my nose to get through, for some reason. I say cut those and add "My First Time, v3" in their place, and you've got a winner.

"Was it You" was the dud, for me.

True dat. That song is like 4 mintues too long.

anyone know anything about the bonus EP that's included with pre-orders? i think i'm getting a promo of <I>Ga</i>^5, but I'm still tempted to buy it just for the EP...

Apparently it's like 10 songs/22 minutes!

(but no, I don't know anything else about it)

The bonus disc is totally worth finding. It reminds me of the short, weird songs on "Exile on Main Street" all mashed together.

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/spoon/ga-ga-ga-ga-ga.htm

gr gr gr gr great review.

is "Motown excess" really a valid adjective phrase, though?

zzzzzzzzzzzzz

^ insightful

^zzzzzzzzzzz

also great review in all music 4.5 stars.
it deservs it i think.
but some other reviews aren't so generous..

I had sorta low expectations after being let down by Gimme Fiction, but I bought this anyway because I figured I could always just give it to my mom if it continued in that direction (she really liked Fiction). but I'm not letting her have it, because holy balls, this is so good! after one listen, I may already prefer it to Girls Can Tell. still need to give the bonus disc a listen, too.

"Was It You" and "The Infinite Pet" are both AWESOME.

I'd like to hear a bonus disc for "Ga" because after the album ends I feel the need for 1 or 2 more songs.

I didn't like this band very much before, but this album is really good. "Don't You Evah" is the best song here.

And "Black Like Me" is Hotel fuckin' California!

Icky Thump (vinyl edition) has competition for my Summer 07 rekkid ...

Ga ga ga ga ga has five times the fun, raucous spirit, original songwriting, soul and brass nuts as most releases and stands even or even a little taller than all the Spoon catalog.

Just kinda bummed I'm going to miss 'em at Schubas in Chicago due to the Pitchfork/ATP show (whoa is me, right?) ...

I had never heard this band until yesterday. Now I love this record. I'm going to have to get more, aren't I?

I had never heard this band until yesterday. Now I love this record

i had exactly this type of situation 2 weeks ago.
the album just gets better with each spin.
addictive and very enjoyable.

"Don't You Evah" is the best song here.

I think that one's a cover.

yeah, it's a cover. "cherry bomb" is my fave, or maybe "black like me." best spoon since sneaks.

Bonus disc just some demos and studio junk, nothing very interesting though I wasn't listening closely. Not as dreadful as the one that accompanied Gimme Fiction.

Basically it exists to reward you for buying the cd, I guess--"added value"--but then they don't really follow through by making it worth listening to.

the thing is,Billy Joel probably think he still can write good songs.

This is oddly RONG because Billy Joel is practically the only classic rocker still around and touring who has completely stopped writing songs and says he just doesn't have it in him anymore at all. The single that was released a few months ago was supposedly the only pop song he'd written in the 15 years since his last album.

All I really know of Spoon is from Matador compilations 10 years ago when I thought they sounded like Beck fronting a grunge band and they seemed pretty terrible, so I've always been mystified by the fact that they're this really beloved, long-running indie institution now. I guess they changed their sound a little?

not reallly.

changed their sound a lot imo.

they've really stripped their sound to the core and built it back up using cool spare parts. i think they're kind of like rock architects, which is a more boring description than what it ends up sounding like.

spare parts, right.

I do really dig Finer Feelings.

Sadness:
http://i18.tinypic.com/4lok2yr.gif

ha, yep.

I knew it'd look like that as soon as I saw Howie Weinberg's name on the credits, and listening to it from the CD on my hi-fi last night confirmed that the bass guitar and kick drum get lost a little bit sometimes, but it's not as hideous as that image might suggest - because the songs are pretty minimal and not overlaid with loads of elements (pretty much just vocal, guitar, drums, bass, piano, occasionally some brass or such), it's not a hideous disaster; none of the instruments are corrupted or unreal sounding particularly, and the studio talk gives everything a nice sense of scale and intimacy. I'd wager that The Ghost of You Lingers and Black Like Me don't look that bad, either. You can't really tell how things sound off a graphic anyway, I trust my ears way more.

It was just noisier at high volume than I would've liked. They're an interesting case of combining excellent engineering and mixing with typically wrongheaded mastering. The last album was similar. It could be better, and they ought to know that, is my point, I guess.

You'd lose that wager, by the way--parts of those songs are quieter but there's still plenty of clipping.
http://i14.tinypic.com/66ac4gg.gif

John Darnielle said something on here a few years ago about how he hoped the popularity of iPods would stimulate people to mix / master records more for headphones, which given my headphone fetish, I agreed with wholeheartedly. Sadly, people didn't start making crazy with the stereopanning, they just upped everything.

is that showing compression of sound?

i'd be interested to see what that would look like for the national album.

right on.

hey robust cookies, what program are those screenshots from?

Oh how TERRIFIC. I'm going to go put Heinz ketchup on my filet mignon now.

So how does that rate in American cuisine? As po-mo cookery or a just plain shitty combo?

;-)

hey robust cookies, what program are those screenshots from?

-- mitya, Saturday, 14 July 2007 13:11 (9 minutes ago) Link

Audacity, which is a free audio editing program

Anybody else having trouble with their Merge serial number that came with the vinyl?

Oh.

Got it, nvm.

The difference between the way I feel about this on headphones vs. speakers is pretty striking (headphones win).

"Bonus disc just some demos and studio junk, nothing very interesting though I wasn't listening closely. Not as dreadful as the one that accompanied Gimme Fiction.

-- These Robust Cookies, 03:59 ) Bookmark Link

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Basically it exists to reward you for buying the cd, I guess--"added value"--but then they don't really follow through by making it worth listening to.

-- These Robust Cookies, 04:00 Bookmark Link

kind of an insult for the fans this "bonus ep" is...they should have thrown this away..
if thats the "added value" - i'd recommend not buying the cd.
lo fi demo junk..

btw,the Pornos "bonus" tracks are suupose yo be good.

I think they place a high value on polish in their work--all those "accidental" bits that have peppered their albums since at least "Series of Sneaks" sort of confirm how polished the whole is, sort of baring the device. So they just wouldn't know how to put together something extra. Though they could've just put some live stuff on there.

Seconded that it sounds better on headphones.
Seconded that the bonus disc is shite, but I woulda bought the cd anyway.

I've listened to it about 3 times now including twice in a row over the weekend. I have to say nothing is as memorable / hummable as "Gimme Fiction". I still like it ("Ghost of You Lingers" is my favorite track) and expect it to grow on me. But that last record was a monster that I'm not sure they'll be able to overcome imo.

Spoon are the classic headphone band - they use the stereo gimmicks and the little nuances and those wonderfull bits and those great drum sound
(as mentioned here before) on their music to perfection.
is still think "ga" is their best record along with "moonlight"
and the highlights songs for me are ghost of you lingers,rhythm and soul and underdog.

See my faves would be Don't You Evah, Finer Feelings and the last track.

A few weeks ago it was Ghost Of You Lingers and The Underdog. Earlier this week it was Don't Make Me a Target and Finer Feeling. Today it's Rhythm and Soul and Cherry Bomb.

It's been awhile since I listened to an album where nearly every song had it's moment in the sun. This bitch is solid!

They sorta owned it at Little Radio tonight. The sound system wasn't up to it but I don't think they knew it. Y'know I never consciously realized that dude's a romantic before tonight?

He's just a big 'ol softie.

The last time I saw them (12/30/06, Webster Hall), Britt was obviously playing for a couple of girls off to the side of the stage by the soundboard. Other than that show, he always seemed to be smiling/winking at girls up front.

("tell me what you know you want...")

That's not what I meant, but good point - in my naivete I was shocked at the Hollywoood fashion model type groupies swaying in the VIP area.

You will all, no doubt, be delighted to know that Spoon just scored its first top ten album.

kind of an insult for the fans this "bonus ep" is...they should have thrown this away..
if thats the "added value" - i'd recommend not buying the cd.
lo fi demo junk..

I don't feel insulted in the slightest. One man's junk, etc. I like the way it's been assembled as kind of a suite of low-fi junk.

Alfred, what charts are you looking at?

US billboard - #10 with 46k

go spoon

I like the way it's been assembled as kind of a suite of low-fi junk.

seconded

This without a hit single right? wow

Is this the highest "indie rock" debut, sales-wise?

arcade fire got #2 with their most recent one, i think? something a little under 100k

Indie rock or indie label? Modest Mouse, Arcade Fire and the Shins all sold close to 100,000 in their first week this year (from memory).

Probably the White Stripes, and perhaps the Kings of Leon did something similar.

Awesome for Spoon, with all the label shit they went through and still sounding pretty damn weird they deserve it.

Whoa, good news. Why hasn't Pitchfork told me this yet?

Oh right, they were busy reading Patrick Wolf's blog

i want to buy this

i love 'kill the moonlight' and still play 'gimme fiction' a lot too.

it's just going to have to play second fiddle to a bunch of other stuff for the meantime, while my cd budget remains fairly tight.

no no no get it

I love this album all out of proportion. Someone check me. I have listened to it all the way through about 10 or 15 times now, and I only like it more and turn it up louder.

It's the beat, stupid.

Oh how TERRIFIC. I'm going to go put Heinz ketchup on my filet mignon now.

-- Ned Raggett, Thursday, May 17, 2007 3:27 PM (2 months ago) Bookmark Link

I wonder why ned called Wire ketchup?

How about that Ringo-tastic drumming on "Black Like Me"? Cute.

Some fucking great tunes on this record. As you were.

I'd love this record approximately twice as much (i.e. fucking loads as opposed to just a lot) if the mastering wasn't as ugly.

this is a great record indeed, but maybe i over-listend to it, and now i got tired of it a bit

"Don't You Ever" is the best track and one of my favorite songs of theirs but I refuse to spell it the way it is on the sleeve.

nick,

do you ever listen to the vinyl of albums like these...i almost bought first impressions of earth by the strokes on vinyl the other day cuz i was wondering if the mastering would be better on the vinyl version...(i don't even know if there is a new spoon on vinyl but maybe)...

"Don't You Ever" is the best track and one of my favorite songs of theirs but I refuse to spell it the way it is on the sleeve.

-- Preview of the Matrix 12, Tuesday, August 7, 2007 3:49 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

get over yourself.

this is a great record indeed, but maybe i over-listend to it, and now i got tired of it a bit.

Same here. I streamed it so often from the band's website before the disc was released that it's now a bit worn for me. That "played-out" feeling is one of the downsides of having such easy access to music.

I never bother with vinyl cos I don't trust the postman with it and can never find it in Exeter. Maybe I should change this habit.

X-post; That 'played out' feeling is also one of the downsides of- oh, you know by now.

yeah no shit you dudes need to get with it, i'm already listening to the leaked demos of the next spoon record. the song with lil' bow wow and damo suzuki is really cool.

xpost to nick

it might help because you actually have to master it separately to vinyl, so it would at least be a different mastering job.

The vinyl changes everything

Vinyl should be a different master but I have known a couple of recent records to just be the same as the CD, dropped onto vinyl. Which is fucking criminal.

the last song is so good, I could listen to it all day

"Get Ovah Yourself" xpost

the last song is so good, I could listen to it all day

The part toward the end where Britt answers himself with a bunch of "yeah yeahs" is like my favorite 20 seconds of music in 2007.

lol matrix

The "yeah yeahs" are fucking marvellous.

hey nick

i got the vinyl the other day...also came with that coupon for a free download of the 192 kb mp3s from merge.

okay i like this record it's actually really well recorded. nice space and stereo efx listening on vinyl on my home stereo...

but yeah if these mp3s are any indication (although i'm sure they obvious exagerrate the probs. with the mastering), yeah it's pretty damn harsh...i actually have "girls can tell" on my ipod and the difference is pretty noticeable (even though girls can tell was ripped at 128 it sounds better)

so...the vinyl sounds pretty good. it's def. on the louder and harsher side of vinyl but much less so than the mp3 version...i would say it sounds very modern in a good way on vinyl and bad on CD/mp3s....it's at least a listenable album on vinyl and i'm having trouble getting through this on MP3.

yuck i hate that we have to talk about this shit! it's a great pop/rock record and i wish i could just focus on songs w/o all this distracting sound shit.....good songs.

I've only heard the vinyl so far and I love it - dunno if I'll bother with the MP3s.

The vinyl sounds massively better.

yeah i probably undersold how much better it sounds above...but i was listening to a lot of stuff that made it sound sort of harsh in comparison like joni mitchell and miles davis and tim buckley records i got a bit ago, so yeah it's more just the eras clashing...either way i think if the sound bums you out the vinyl would make it an enjoyable record to listen to.

I'm buying this tomorrow. The mp3 I have is Jim O'Rourke-a-licious production wise.

my god. MY GOD. I don't even care about this band. This is goould.

Blow out that cherry bomb for me. for me.

I liked Kill the Moonlight, but this album seemed really really boring.

I always thought Kill the Moonlight was mad overrated.

Much prefer Girls Can Tell.

But that's just hoos.

I always thought Kill the Moonlight was mad overrated.

OTM, side 2 is a dump

wow. I don't even remember typing that.

drunken hyperbole aside, yeah, really digging the new one.

I was kinda confused by "gouuld," thanks for clarifying.

KTM is probably the only Spoon album I like less than this one.

I heard "My Little Japanese Cigarette Case" at Best Buy today.

"Don't You Evah" and "Black Like Me" are two of my favorite songs of the year, but this album should SO have been their Tattoo You.

"black like me" is the under the radar most awesomest song here. ga is probably my 3rd or 4th favorite of their records.

there really should be a spoon albums poll.

"The Ghost of You Lingers" = fave

but i love it all

^ban

kidding but that song sucks hoos.

^ rong

I think I just like it today cause I listened to "Girls Can Tell" and "Gimme Fiction" back to back. "Ghost" = total burst of fresh air.

it's so easy to skip, esp. since it's in between two of the better songs on the album.

I have it on vinyl.

Skipping is a hassle.

okay you're excused.

is the vinyl really>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>mp3? (even more than usual, obv.)

Though to be fair I have been humming "Cherry Bomb" all day.

xxp

tbh I haven't even listened to the mp3 version yet.

Can't comment.

"cherry bomb" and "underdog" are the best songs. it's boring to say, but true.

i think my prob w/ ga is that if i want to listen to them rock really hard i'll listen to gimme fiction and if i want to hear more 'minimal' stuff i'll listen to KTM. ga is somewhere in between, and thus kind of meh to me.

"rhthm & soul' thru "finer feelings," excepting "the underdog," do nothing for me.

i actually like ga a lot when im at work or something and i'm not really paying attention to it.

i think my prob w/ ga is that if i want to listen to them rock really hard i'll listen to gimme fiction and if i want to hear more 'minimal' stuff i'll listen to KTM. ga is somewhere in between, and thus kind of meh to me.

-- Jordan Sargent, Saturday, 29 September 2007 23:06 (53 minutes ago) Link

no I'm sorry but Gimme Fiction does not rock

my mathematical mind and beast and dragon i turn my camera and the infinite pet all rock.

beast and dragon and i turn my camera*

"Jonathon Fisk" rocks. "Car Radio" rocks. "The Guest List/The Execution" rocks. those songs you listed just sort of plod along and maybe swagger and strut a little bit (although "Take the Fifth" still struts the pants off any of them).

I GUESS WHAT I'M SAYING IS THAT A COUPLE MONTHS AGO I WENT AN ENTIRE WEEKEND LISTENING TO NOTHING BUT SPOON AND THAT'S WHEN I REALIZED THAT I HAD BECOME A SPOON DORK

the outro on 'my math' is killer.

hey wait im having that weekend right now.

did you think they were good not great until you realized that you had been listening to them way too much for you not to be a mega spoon fan?

cuz that's what im at right about now.

yeah, that's exactly how it went for me, too! I was making a playlist to listen to while I cleaned up, and I decided to add some Spoon to it, and before I knew what was happening I had about 25 Spoon songs in a row.

have you had the moment yet where you realize that "Metal Detektor" is easily in the top 5 songs they've ever done? because that was a big breakthrough for me.

not yet but i had the moment earlier today where i realized that 'stay don't go' is easily one of my 3 favorite songs by them.

i like 'metal detektor' a lot tho.

SNL next week. huh.

The Poms squad was dancing to Spoon the other day.

I heard 'Underdog' as bumper music during the Cowboys game.

the talkback jim the talkback

I heard only a little bit of them a few years ago (and I subsequently ignored them) but only recently heard this album. Some terrific songs on it though the faux-English singing accent almost makes me want to describe them as "Third Eye Blind w/ indie cred," just to be outrageous.

I had a friend in HS who absolutely loved them, and imitated the singing voice; his voice was too deep though and he ended up sounding like a drunken Mark Burgess. Good times.

My friend's 55-ish dad who heard this in my car when I took him to the airport says this is good because, "It's not throwing everything in your face. They're just singin' a song, you know?" Sounds about right.

that's an awesome take on Spoon.

almost makes me want to describe them as "Third Eye Blind w/ indie cred,"

the first couple of times I heard them (either something from the major label release or maybe "Me & the Bean" from GCT) I was thinking 'geez this is some vanilla-ass post-alterna boom yawn rock. Nothing to see here.' It took me a little while to come around, and I credit KTM for helping me out with that.

I think this record has their best songs.

it's good. quite short. i'd like to see a Spoon best of.

my favorite may actually be Girls Can Tell, but i've been following these guys locally since 1996 or so. this record is pretty good though, another strong batch of songs, great production, etc.

they haven't disappointed yet, second or third best band going right now.

i really love how this is produced

nick's probably right, but GF is still my fav by them i think

I just don't feel that this deserved to be on so many of last years 'Best Albums of 2007' blog lists. It was alright but...pfft.

The rapper Black Nasty opening for Spoon? What an odd pairing.

NEW SPOON!

http://spoon.shop.musictoday.com/Dept.aspx?cp=691_21425

Got Nuffin is Spoon's first newly recorded material since 2007's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga.

This three-song single features:

Got Nuffin
Tweakers
Stroke Their Brains

OUT TUESDAY, 6/30!

"Tract houses
Square couches
Short legs and square shoulders
Pot holders
Egg and soldiers
Y'tank rollers
You aaaall know this"

Best pure rock album of the 00s?

no

lol. Spoon's very good, tho.

they made four albums prior to this one that are better.

idk i feel like they're all diff from each other that u can't really compare

I feel like they are all pretty awesome and they can all be equally great

i basically agree and ga was the first one that felt to me like they were repeating themselves. i should also say i loathe jon brion and he ruined one of the album's better songs.

they made four albums prior to this one that are better.

Yes.

gimme fiction > this one

this is a killer album but lol @ the idea of it being a "pure rock" record

Best pure rock album of the 00s?

haha I actually think this too. LET THE BRICKBATS FLY

This is the first spoon record I heard and it remains my favourite. Don't you just hate it when that happens? "Hey a whole new rich seam of great music for me to discover! Oh it's all not quite as good as what I heard first."

^ sorry for stupid display name crap that i hate

This albums okay just like all their albums are okay...

album's

In a world where Merriweather Post Pavilion has become arguably the default for indie rock (the current centre of its universe), Spoon is about as close to an original concept or loci for 'rock music' as you can get. Who honestly rises above Spoon in the 00s straight rock stakes? They have a terrific sense of songcraft, they're in tune with music history past and present (say rhythm and blues, dub, new wave, electronic music at a stretch) like a lot of the best straight rock bands down the years, and they have a proper back catalogue with something for everyone.

I know all these Pitchfork/blogosphere sacred cows are pretty unfashionable around here...just thought I should contribute more to the discussion than a verse from 'Rhthm and Soul'.

And yeah for the Matos agreement!

i dont get what is minimalist abt this?

nothing really. "minimal" was the big talking point for spoon in the past but this is the album to which it least applies imo

the combination between Wire and Billy Joel

is probably the best description of their sound I've ever heard.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, May 18, 2007 8:00 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark

dunno about the wire part so much but i came here to post a 'billy joel' comparison and am glad to be vindicated

the talkback jim the talkback

― three handclaps, Saturday, November 24, 2007 1:26 PM

truly proud of myself 4 having contributed this post

"three handclaps" is the jonathon fire*eater of ilx

Jonathan Fire*Eater was called "most hyped young group that nobody has ever heard of,"

looool

i didn't have many posts back then tbrr, but it's pretty funny to go through them and see what i said and how ppl responded

the only time i posted on ilx during college iirc

i think j0rdan meant it more in the sense that jonathon fire*eater was the short-lived early incarnation of a group that went on to a longer and more successful run under a different name fyi

ah okay, i had no idea who they were so just skimmed the wikipedia page and that's the sentence that popped out to me

makes sense

some dude otm

:D

So, just to make sure here, when he keeps talking about the "the man I saw in Kazaam!" on Rhythm and Soul, we're talking about Shaq, right?

― cavendish, Sunday, June 10, 2007 7:24 PM (7 years ago)

i still think of this every single time i hear it

shit, 7 years!!

oh god let's not talk about that

please. but this album is good.