Spoon - They Want My Soul (2014)

Due August 5th!

they have added alex fischel from the divine fits on keyboards.

snippet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hocytKSntfE

interview w/ daniel and eno

http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2014/06/05/318445464/after-learning-to-loosen-up-spoon-readies-its-return-the-all-songs-interview

some work with dave fridmann : /

Always excited for new Spoon although the few clips I've heard haven't blown me away.

I wonder why they aren't on Merge anymore.

Somebody made them an offer they couldn't refuse?

YEAH

still probably my favorite band going right now.

Spoon:

06-05 Porto, Portugal - Optimus Primavera Sound
06-07 New York, NY - Governors Ball Music Festival
06-14 Vancouver, British Columbia - CBC Music Festival
06-21 Toronto, Ontario - NXNE Festival
06-22 Minneapolis, MN - Walker Art Center
06-26-28 Las Vegas, NV - Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas
07-12-13 Telluride, CO - The Ride Festival
07-18 Louisville, KY - Forecastle Festival
07-25 Seattle, WA - Capitol Hill Block Party
08-02 Chicago, IL - Lollapalooza
08-08 Los Angeles, CA - The Fairbanks Lawn of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery
08-10 San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands
08-17 Portland, OR - Musicfest NW
08-30-31 Philadelphia, PA - Made in America Festival
09-05 Raleigh, NC - Hopscotch Music Festival
09-07 Boston, MA - Boston Calling Music Festival
10-03-05 Austin, TX - Austin City Limits Music Festival
10-10-12 Austin, TX - Austin City Limits Music Festival

can't tell you how excited i am about this. so going to their concert at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. at a cemetery?

can't find "Knock, Knock, Knock" anywhere, guess i will have to wait.

not sure if this is the cover or not:
http://www.undertheradarmag.com/uploads/article_images/Spoon-They-Want-My-Soul.jpg

Oh, awesome. I finally on impulse bought a physical copy of Transference today. It must have been the universe speaking to me of the impending new one.

http://cdn2.pitchfork.com/albums/20281/homepage_large.1e6df0d9.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/David_Bowie_-_The_Next_Day.png

No Friddmann.

They were just brilliant in London the other night. Only one new song played, as far as I recall.

buying tickets, so damn happy.

Reminds me I need to check out Girls Can Tell; the one album of theirs I haven't heard yet. The last one was a bit of mixed bag for me, so I'm cautiously optimistic about the new one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NOPfmfRVWmk

guh where did all the SPACE go?

they have added alex fischel from the divine fits on keyboards.

yeah i saw they're a 5-piece now. i was wondering what the deal was with that, but including a member of divine fits makes sense if that's what they're feelin' at the moment.

xps Girls is a personal fav + a big step forward for the band (that opening number is a STATEMENT if I've ever heard one), but it also shows them exploring new styles that would take several more albums to fully cohere (and some, like the dinosaur-rock strut of "Fitted Shirt", that they would abandon completely). I'm curious to hear what you make of it; I get the impression that a few of the tracks I originally found refreshing would seem kinda minor or half-baked compared to more recent efforts.

The new single doesn't really do anything for me. Hope there is better to come on the album.

yeah, sounds like recycled Spoon

initially felt the same way about "The Ghost of You Lingers"

this band is sitting on 6 consecutive records that i've really enjoyed so i'm excited about this as always. the last one was a slow grower so i'm not worried about first impressions really

Girls Can Tell is their best.

Girls Can Tell is their worst.

The first five songs are some of their best, the rest of the songs are some of their worst. They're still alright though.

Girls Can Tell is a great album but I've settled on Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga being my favourite closely followed by Kill The Moonlight. Girls Can Tell would be either third or just behind A Series of Sneaks in fourth. They are an extremely consistent band though. Telephono is the closest they have to a dud but it still has its moments.

^ ditto, except i think Kill the Moonlight is my #1, just because of the sound of it. Ga is a better "rock" album but hews more closely, too, to the sound and feel of trad rock.

i always had a soft spot for "gimme fiction" but i haven't listened to this band since...probably the year transference was released

GF is my favorite.

i've listened to transference all the time since 2009, chances are not good that i'll be as down with the new one, but i'm hoping

ciderpress OTM

love the new song. i was thinking they might go into the more Divine Fits sound but they did not.

http://cdn4.pitchfork.com/news/55517/8a851f3a.jpg
They Want My Soul:

1. Rent I Pay
2. Inside Out
3. Rainy Taxi
4. Do You
5. Knock Knock Knock
6. Outlier
7. They Want My Soul
8. I Just Don't Understand
9. Let Me Be Mine
10. New York Kiss

just finished buying tickets, seeing them at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, which is just bizarre to me.

This arrived in the post this morning.. Halfway through. Very direct, rocky, unmistakeably Spoon.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-McmDwzKCsXY/U6EtTot5iaI/AAAAAAAAApU/TX8olzsj-PA/w672-h504-no/spoonlive.jpg

Cover is very Kill The Moonlight.

http://spoon.kungfustore.com/they-want-my-soul/deluxe-they-want-my-soul-bundle.html

http://dgfpkz9520wnr.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Screen-Shot-2014-06-13-at-1.24.13-PM.png

This bundle includes:
- An instant download of the album track, ‘Rent I Pay’ upon checkout
- Limited Edition Translucent Blue They Want My Soul Vinyl LP
- They Want My Soul CD
- Lion T-shirt
- They Want My Soul Beach Ball
- Set of 8 Postcards
- Reproductions of They Want My Soul Handwritten Lyric Sheets.

The first 100 bundle orders will receive an autographed set.

think I still love sneaks best; utilitarian, car radio, advance cassette (and agony of laffitte if that counts) are all-time and the rest are swell

oh fantastic a beach ball

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-yAjwnz6aU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF9aY2nsfHE

that is the first time i have heard "Rainy Taxi" and it is classic Spoon. this album is going to be so good, they sound like they still have that spark.

I thought that Ticketfly photo was the (very cool) album cover.

no idea how i'll like the album, but i think those performances were tight as fuck.

well, i guess i expect i'll like it.

Now this is how a hiatus is supposed to work. Crank 'em out, hit maximum consistency/visibility, take a full break from the band to do something else, then return like you never left, only refreshed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZNyg6Qc_os

Much prefer this to Rent I Pay. Hope the album is more of this quality.

thanks for this, so looking forward to this album.

http://www.spoontheband.com/vinylgratification/#storefinder

A few weeks ago as we were figuring out how to roll out the new Spoon album I kept coming back to this: why do we incentivize people to buy our music from big outlets but we don’t extend the same courtesy to actual record stores? Case in point: why do we encourage listeners to buy early by offering “instant gratification” tracks for pre-orders of the digital album, yet there’s no special motivation for buying music from Waterloo or Reckless Records?? And there’s no incentive to buy the format that so many of those listeners prefer—an actual physical item they can hold and read and play on a turntable.

So today I’m pretty ecstatic to be able introduce Vinyl Gratification. It’s a program that encourages pre-ordering a vinyl copy of our new album They Want My Soul at independent record stores all over the US (and soon, internationally) by providing its own sort of instant gratification: a limited edition 10″ vinyl featuring three pre-release songs from the album that you can take home with you and put on your record player immediately. The great people at Record Store Day have generously offered to spread the word about the program and we’re launching with 150 stores on board, well beyond our wildest dreams.

The way it works is:

1. Starting July 15, find a participating record store near you by going to the store finder below.

2. Pre-order your copy of the album and hold on to your receipt as proof of purchase.

3. Take home your 10″ and listen on great-sounding 45RPM vinyl to three songs from the album before the album is released.

4. On or after August 5 when They Want My Soul comes out, bring your receipt back to the store where you pre-ordered, get your 180g white vinyl copy of the LP, take it home or to a friend’s house, and listen to your new album.

To rush this program into existence, we’re releasing the 10″ in a plain white sleeve, but we’ve cut no corners regarding the audio. We think the 45RPM 10″s sound unbelievable, and we’re pretty sure you will too.

If like me, you’ve ever rushed home with a brand new record that you couldn’t wait to play—and couldn’t actually play until you slapped it onto your turntable—I hope the Vinyl Gratification program will bring back some magic for you. And I hope you’ll join us in supporting the independent record shops that have supported us for so long.

Britt Daniel
Austin, TX

record store day creating a simple database of small, independent record stores is the best argument i've heard for its existence. at their height pearl jam would actually release stuff on vinyl a week before it came out in other formts so you'd have something like vitalogy debut at like #124 on the billboard chart and then shoot up to #1 in week "two". maybe the logistics for this would be difficult (though i don't see why they would have to be inherently so) but seems like independent labels, bands that care and have the power, etc could do a staggered rollout, similar to how art films etc were distributed. first week or two release hard product to independent record stores w/ code for mp3s from yr site. then chains and mp3 sites. then some duration later you release to streaming sites. you wouldn't cut yrself off from any market or audience but you'd have the type of ppl most likely to become regular record store customers funneled into indie stores.

Great idea. Too bad it all stops at the 49th parallel.

"Do You" is better but sounds like a less fussy New Pornos song.

so far i like "Rainy Taxi" best.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd6aXM8WHGw

they have shared yet another song, this one with a strange video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpT5SBg1Mmk

Really love both the video and song.

fucking loving everything so far.

now streaming on itunes radio (which you have to have os x 10.7 to use argh), or available… elsewhere

it has a harp on it

new spoon: more of the same.

nice, but the formula is too predictable.

I bet a lot of reviewers are going to quote the lyric "I remember when you walked out of Garden State / You had taste, you had no time to waste."

I remember when you walked out of Jedi/your patience was in short supply, Ewoks made you ask "why?"

i find the chorus of "dooooo you, dooooo you" a little annoying but i approve of "someone get popsicles"

Really liking this on first listen; really good on headphones. Not sure how it rates in the larger discography yet, of course, but so far, diggin' it. One of the last indieTM bands whose new releases I actually look forward to.

love this album so far

One of the last indieTM bands whose new releases I actually look forward to
same

I was not excited for this. I didn't pay any attention to the last album, and I thought the late night appearances were boring. But I'm really enjoying the singles up on spotify so far.

Feels like it has the glossy sheen of Ga Ga with the mostly-melancholic vibe of Girls Can Tell. I approve.

Yes! Only song I'm not feeling right now is "Outliers."

Also, I know some folks on another thread were shitting on Stereogum's review, but I thought the stuff about Transcendence was otm:

When was the last time you listened to Transference? Because you should listen to Transference again. When Spoon released their last album, early in 2010, the world responded with a resounding shrug. That can be a problem when a band is too good for too long: The world can learn to take them for granted.

I always thought it was unfortunate that album never really got much love (relatively speaking, of course). Truth be told, it's probably as good as this one.

the track that came out early reminded me of fridmann's production job on the last sleater-kinney record

will i listen to this before it is on spotify. who knows.

the initial rip that is out there has kind of fucked up production, assembled from different sources i think, some quiet, some loud. so.

It's another solid Spoon album and I feel like it's time for another solid Spoon album. They should win some sort of award for consistency in not sucking in rock music.

I think it's better than solid. Great, maybe their best even. The songwriting feels a little surprising - it just touches melodies and ideas (instrumental flourishes and bursts of noise) I didn't expect. The production is incredible, as we've come to expect.

The production sounds like they've pulled out whatever speaker / mic / filter combo they used on The Ghost of You Lingers and gone to town.

Daniels' paranoia is more entertaining than last time out.

maybe it's all the sound-clouds

"I Just Don't Understand" is the most conventionally arranged song he's ever sung: not crazy about it.

Yeah, not sure how I feel about that one yet, either. It's a cover though, right?

Yup.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDagZECOhJc

I remember walking out of King Kong / I missed my bong, why are films today so long??

knock knock knock knocks

thinking this might be rob pope's album, and maybe that's the first thing they have fridmann to thank for

8.6, Best New Music

the first paragraph of that review is hilarious

the whole review is insane

New York Times Magazine section feature/interview too:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/03/magazine/spoon-the-molecular-gastronomists-of-rock.html

omg no

for molecular gastronomists everywhere:

http://www.spooncereals.co.uk/

Spoon, the pea foam of rock

From the NY Times article:

Two nights later, “Jimmy Kimmel Live” aired “Rent I Pay,” the first song on their new album. The Buzzfeed music writer Matthew Perpetua tweeted that the song “slays” and added, “I’ve been trying to figure out what classic-rock song it reminds me of but can’t quite place it.”

The answer to Perpetua’s question is “I Love Rock ‘n Roll” as recorded by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. But “Rent I Pay” didn’t always sound like that, and its development epitomizes the way Daniel and Spoon approach the universe of pop music as magpies, plucking bright and shiny guitar riffs, bass lines, drum sounds and emotional effects and using them to build something weird and new. (And not just classic rock; the sound of one track, “Inside Out,” was modeled, Daniel told me, after Dr. Dre’s album “2001,” and the song sounds exactly like a delicate ballad set to a lush hip-hop beat.)

“Rent I Pay” was originally born from the bass line in Toots and the Maytals’ “I Shall Be Free.”

Gee, pitchfork, they're a rock band. They have a pretty normal line up of instruments and play this chord and then that chord and the song ends after a normal amount of time. Then another song starts. They are almost completely human people.

good old dimwit big perp doesn't know joan jett of course

Not trying to be grammar nazi but "the band themselves" always drives me up the fuckin' wall

As guitar rock continues its slow and inevitable transition into a bygone art

inevitable

the relaxation time of rock

rock becomes a bygone art. entropy increases. we all listen to children of men music.

i thought about posting about how i get annoyed when ppl call something hilarious mainly to display their spite, but that pfork thing is also actually p hilarious.

and vhs, i shouldn't have assumed spite. i'll just agree with you then!

Famous last words.

"Guitar groups are on the way out"

Hmm maybe a bit of a biased perspective there.

what a bizarre thing to say

the guitarist shall become ab outcast, forced to wander these hills alone while seeking shelter at the nearest abandoned Guitar Center.

yes, the guitarist shall be an outcast due to his rock hard abs. that is what I meant.

Still lotsa guitar rock bands in Pitchfork's best 2014 albums list

still lotsa guitar rock bands fucking everywhere!

i mean i get the point but to say guitar rock is inevitably transitioning into a bygone art is the dumbest thing ever, and i am *not* clinging to my guitar as button-pushing tank-topped kids in funny haircuts close in around me, i promise

It's inevitable in the sense that the eventual extinction of the human race is inevitable.

spoon do some great things with guitar and obviously they are a 'rock band' but i don't know how much i would think of them first as a guitar rock band, everything is so uptight and constructed on their records that it's more like, in places, they make use of guitars and the overall product of that is rock songs

wait so does that mean that the inevitable transition is over and there are in fact no more guitar rock bands?!

iirc at least three of the songs on this new record feature little to no guitar AT ALL wtf

so who's this other Spoon on Spotify?

that's an actual lowercase-s spoon that does this interesting synth-didge tribal EDM thing

Spewn

Transference is pretty great. Whoever said that was otm. Gimme Fiction is the only album I don't really care for, I think.

Think again. I'm sure you care for it deeply! Give it another shot.

ha, I plan to give it another shot. I think I was damaged by the PMF they headlined around that time.

this actually fits spoon pretty well

http://www.invisibleoranges.com/2014/08/critic-proof-bands/

except that their lyrics are (cryptically) 'emotional', which is what makes them serviceable as lifestyle music for the educated indie set

they've kind of got a thing for putting momentum-killing numbers up front in their tracklists huh

Inside Out is my favorite track of the album, so I don't know if I agree.

I agree insofar as "Rent I Pay" is by some distance my least favorite thing on it

well, kill was the wrong term, but for as uptempo a band as they are, the 2/3 slots on their last few tend to slow things down strikingly early

when are they covering 'ege bamyasi'?

Wow this gets pretty boring after the first few songs

ya the end of 'they want my soul' with the hard panned guitars is cool but nothing else really stuck with me

"New York Kiss" is my favorite tune besides "Outlier" but yeah

aw go back to yr national records yall ungrateful so and sos

haha the national are fucking boring. i love spoon, i'm sure i'll come around. i really liked 'transference'.

"I Just Don't Understand" is the only track that's actually bad, most of it just seems like generic late-period Spoon.

and that's the cover song, right?

They've fallen into this rut of midtempo tunes with a heavy plodding basic 4/4 beat which sometimes works but they could stand to try something different imo

"I Just Don't Understand" is the only track that's actually bad, most of it just seems like generic late-period Spoon.

― Immediate Follower (NA),

It was so bad on first listen that I was relieved to learn it was a cover.

They've fallen into this rut of midtempo tunes with a heavy plodding basic 4/4 beat which sometimes works but they could stand to try something different imo

― Immediate Follower (NA), Tuesday, August 5, 2014 11:44 AM (31 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is why I've always hated Beck.

But that doesn't seem like an accurate description of Beck? I mean, like him or not, his past handful of albums have all sounded pretty different from each other, even if they are all reheats of stuff he's done better before.

can I enjoy the national and spoon?

no

yikes "my bad" guys

I love the National and love Spoon, but I think the last National record was one of its best and this one is ... not bad at all, but sort of ... tentative? Both bands have their thing down, though.

But that doesn't seem like an accurate description of Beck? I mean, like him or not, his past handful of albums have all sounded pretty different from each other, even if they are all reheats of stuff he's done better before.

― Bus Sex Teen Busted After Queef Beef (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, August 5, 2014 12:18 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Well, there is a good chance that I'm being unfair and don't have enough info, but I just remember all the songs I've heard fitting that description.

Anyway... back to Spoon. Kill The Moonlight still the favorite for me.

A few listens through, I think I actually prefer Transference? I mean, that record was so weird, and though definitely a grower, I've come to consider it a pretty substantial entry in the catalog. This new one is good - I just don't love it.

I think Transference is my second favorite Spoon album, but my favorite is Series of Sneaks, so I feel well out of the mainstream of Spoon fans.

yeah i don't get this anymore

they've gone from fractured to just pointless. this band meant everything to me when i was younger and i don't think they've written anything that really turned over in about 15 years

lol automotive metaphor

ok i'm not done with this yet but outlier is the goofiest thing they've ever written

to me this record seems to be minor spoon (just like ga x 5), while transference was major spoon, and i'll never understand why the vast majority of ppl seem to think the opposite.

oh lol i just got to the cover

GF is my favorite but it doesn't matter; it could be Ga5 or KTM. I like Transference these days.

Sometimes I want to hear more Spoon songs where Britt allows his guitar chords to ring out a bit more in the fashion of "Sister Jack" but hey they have their sound.

Though maybe they would sound too much like Teenage Fanclub or something huh.

Every time there's a Spoon discussion it ends up with album ranking. I think we've established that they have some of the least amount of consensus of "best album" of any band.

they are obviously accomplished career musicians so i think the more interesting question is always why discussions about them have so little traction

which i think probably has more to do with the way people listen to them than with much about the records

Every time a new Spoon record comes out, I listen to some or all of it once and then go dig out Telephono and A Series of Sneaks and remember that they were once a not-boring-actually-kind-of-great band.

xp they are sorta wallpaper-y, it's true... really pretty, high-end wallpaper tho

I think I saw them live once, touring on the back of Gimme Fiction, with the Clientele opening, but I honestly can't even remember?

Johnny Fever u mad??

Nah dawg, I just know what I like. If I had to hazard a guess, though, I think that experience with Elektra probably affected Britt in a way that made him write songs that idg anymore.

"First they came for the Pixies-wannabe guitar rock bands, & I said nothing, because it was 2000 & I was tired of that shit anyway. Next they came for the Wire & Gang of Four-wannabe guitar rock bands, & I said nothing, because Pitchfork needed to get off their dicks anyway. Then they came for the atmospheric post-rock guitar bands, & I said nothing, because really it was my wife who was the Friday Night Lights fan in our household."

Like, over time I realize the change from what Spoon began as to what Spoon is now was really gradual, but starting with Girls Can Tell it just seems like the moment had passed.

("Metal Detektor" is great tho, I can't front, I just think yer unfairly pigeonholing them... those records don't sound fully-realized AT ALL, they're like a buncha kids playing around in the studio--I miss goofy shit like "Staring at the Board" too, but if the opening seconds of Girls don't knock all that shit far back into the cobwebby corners of your mind, then maybe you need a better system)

I like the singles off this new album. I agree with those that have knock knock knocked the cover song on this album, however.

i don't think they've sounded like girls can tell ever again either tho

Everything Hits at Once is a too-precious piece of crap.

i kind of love how all-over-the-map peoples sense of what qualifies as "good spoon" is. the narcissism of small differences i guess.

i think telephono and transference are the only albums i've yet to see referred to as their best, though now that there's a new Latest Spoon Album it looks like Transference will get more love

telephono is their best

I think 5*Ga is the best

because I'm a too precious motherfucker

croup, it's long been my opinion that Telephono is the best one, and I'm sure I've said so at least once in every Spoon thread ever started on ilm. Opinions, I got 'em.

I'm a big Telephono/Series of Sneaks fan but Gimme Fiction might be their best? Girls Can Tell is the worst.

Ithink I'd go

GCT > GF > SoS > TWMS > GAx5 > KtM > Transference > Telephono

well shut my mouth! though that just goes to reaffirm that this isn't a band with an obv canonical pick

5Ga and KTM are my least fave (a challop i treasure) and I usually say Gimme Fiction's my fave though I could make arguments for any of their first 3 too

i guess Kill the Moonlight was their first album to get pazz'n'jop style ass smooches from day one, though that was cuz enough people'd got on board with GCT

I can't imagine what someone who finds "Everything Hits At Once" too precious must think of, like, "Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine"

I will take "Two Sides..." over "Everything..."

they both rule obv

i really enjoy series of sneaks, never even really play telephono, but even though sneaks is certainly a full-fledged album it seems kind of undeveloped in comparison with the ones that follow. i never really even listen to 'girls' since they still seem like they're not fully themselves yet. people who pick the earlier ones seem to me to want to place the band in some other context than the one they earned by developing a consistent sound of their own.

would probably go transference > fiction > kill = ga > soul > sneaks > girls > telephono at present.

i didn't mean before that the music is kind of wallpapery, or that people use it that way, but that they seem to develop a really intensely personal but obscure and quotidian affection for the records that does seem like it correlates in some way with the cryptic and guarded emotiveness of the songs and the stylishness of the sounds, like the records are destined to be these things from the listeners' lives that move them deeply 10 or 20 years from now without their understanding why at all

people who pick the earlier ones seem to me to want to place the band in some other context than the one they earned by developing a consistent sound of their own.

I'm placing them in the context by which I was introduced to them. At some point, we decided to split up and go different directions. It's cool. Every once in a while I check in to see what they're doing now, and I'll always remember the good times we had early on, but Spoon really isn't a part of my life now.

re: cryptic / guarded nature of their stuff, I think for me a big part of that is the unique mix of generalities and specifics in Daniel's lyrics, like the distinct use of proper names and locations, real or imagined, vs. the occasional plainspoken pronouncement (eg "I'm in need of someone to take care of me tonight"). He's got a good sense of balance, such that I don't think they've ever had an embarrassing set of lyrics. xp

i didn't listen to them early on because i got sick of indie rock around then and they were fashionable, so when i did get around to them it was on my terms xp

people who pick the earlier ones seem to me to want to place the band in some other context than the one they earned by developing a consistent sound of their own

people pick the album they enjoy. If Please Please Me floats your boat more than Sgt Peppers it's not like you owe it to the beatles to respect their desire to have mustaches

when i say Slim Shady LP is my favorite Eminem album because it's the least turgid, its not that i want to place him in some other context than the one he earned by being consistently turgid later

There are definitely some bands I'll go the mat in arguments for because I'm really invested in my own feelings about them. Spoon isn't one. I like the first two albums (and the stray tracks from the same era) and I don't have any attachment to the ones after the first two. If anybody else does, that's great. In fact, it seems like most people do favor the rest of the Spoon catalogue over the first two. I just always chime in to make sure early Spoon isn't entirely overlooked.

it's totally fair to prefer when they were more Doolittle than Glass Houses

damn, they do sound super Doolittle on telephono (listening for first time)

haha yeah i love "don't buy the realistic" but they were asking for all the shit they got by putting such a shameless (if awesome) pixies rip at the beginning of their first album in 1996

closer to Voices than Glass Houses, if only because of Daniel's hair.

I'm a latecomer who only started with 5ga (it's still my favourite) and having only just heard of the divine fits (yeah I live in a cave) I'm stoked I have two new albums to discover, albeit one where they have a guest vocalist and britt decides to channel early 80s synth rock (apologies to dan boeckner for downplaying his contribution for the purposes of weak humour).

hi5(ga)

After a couple of listens I think this is about on a par with Transference, in other words a solid 7/10 containing some of their best songs but also some stuff that doesn't work for me at all (e.g. the one with the whistling). My favourites are Girls Can Tell and Ga Ga etc fwiw.

good Spoon: Telephono, Sneaks, GCT, KTM-ish

boring Spoon: KTM-ish, Fiction, Ga x 5

boring Spoon trying to be good Spoon (with surprisingly decent results): Transference

oasis of awesome in the middle of Boring Spoon Desert: Sisters Jack

ain't heard this new one bc I don't exactly run to hear new Spoon albums anymore

nobody does. they just use spotify.

here would be my order and i'm right ;-)

1. Kill the Moonlight
2. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
3. Gimme Fiction
4. Transference
5. Girls Can Tell
6. They Want My Soul
7. A Series of Sneaks
8. Telephono (own but barely played)

i would rank The Divine Fits album forth overall.

btw, any ilxor's going to the Hollywood show on Friday? i will be there, as you probably know by this thread.

Gimmie Fiction
Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
They Want My Soul (It could be three or four, but I'm enjoying it on first listen much more then I did Tranference.)
Transference
Girls Can Tell
Kill the Moonlight
Telephono
A Series of Snakes

Since everyone's doing it, Kill the Moonlight and Transference are my favorites. I think I like studio fuckery Spoon. Then I think I like Series of Sneaks? I found GGGGG and Gimme Fiction to be sorta dull

GF has plenty of studio fakery!

and fuckery

Fiction/Moonlight/Girls > GaGa/Sneaks >> Telefono >>> Transference

Love this band. Haven't heard the new one yet, but am hopeful!

GGGGG > Girls > Moonlight > Transference > GF > Series of Sneaks

I'm listening to the new one right now and there are a lot of classic Spoon-y tracks, not sure how it ranks yet.

Oh excellent we've devolved into ranking Spoon albums again.

Eat is definitely the best thing they've ever done. I'm totally loving "Love Laboratory." Thought this band would never really hit on a new sound, but I was wrong.

Just realized: 8 albums in, & this is the first time they've done a title track!

Xp lol

when i say Slim Shady LP is my favorite Eminem album because it's the least turgid, its not that i want to place him in some other context than the one he earned by being consistently turgid later

― da croupier

this is the first time they've done a title track!

and it's my favorite on this lp

I'm in love with "Inside Out"—the rippling synth harp reminds of Final Fantasy*, in the best possible way

* the games, not the old moniker of Owen Pallett

Yeah that's my fave track too.

Reminds me of "Who Makes Your Money" but that's their best song from the last few albums so fair enough.

yeah some vibe in those two songs but who makes your money is maybe my fave spoon song ever

They do "trippy" sonics v.well, when they want to.

Is there anything on the Divine Fits album in that same vein?

(Go ahead & "Paper Tiger", the 'original' lightly-psychedelic Spoon groove)

"The Salton Sea" is on the groovier end of that axis.

Bought this yesterday & haven't properly listened to it (sober, that is) but first impressions are excellent. "I Just Don't Understand" seems very much of a piece with their (Britt's? I can't remember) cover of "Bring It On Home To Me".

i'm (irrationally) annoyed that after laffitte etc. they still left merge for a pseudo-major

sounds cool on initial listening, tho, if busier than i'd have expected. i guess more band members does generally imply more space filled in

lovvveee this album. especially tracks 2,3,4,6,7,10.
TWMS> KtM >etc etc etc they're all good.
they're the only cool indie rock band

listening to 'do you' and man this band still makes me so happy 10 years later

yeah this album is great

Wish I liked it as much as you guys. I like it fine, but after six or seven spins I'm starting to think this isn't the "grower" Transference was. I think this is the first Spoon album where I don't love a single song. The songs are fine, but not really inspiring a lot of repeat plays for me. "Inside Out" comes closest, but then, it's also the sort of song I could imagine fitting p comfortably on a latter-day Black Keys album.

yet another fine Spoon record.

no more no less.

phew, guess we can stop talking about it now then

I think this is the first Spoon album where I don't love a single song. The songs are fine, but not really inspiring a lot of repeat plays for me. "Inside Out" comes closest

This is generally my perspective too. Lots of pretty good songs, one very good song (Inside Out), no excellent songs.

i came to like Rent I pay

I like pretty much all of it, particularly keyboard-heavy numbers like "Inside Out" & "New York Kiss" (reminds me somewhat of "Chicago At Night" as a closer)

really liking 'knock knock knock' today, it's like a masterclass in building & releasing tension in the music to match your lyrics

yeah, the production and arrangements are awesome, but the melody is kinda generic-spoon.

(that goes for most of the album i think)

Hollywood Forever Cemetery Friday 08/08/2014:

Knock Knock Knock
Rent I Pay
Don't You Evah
Small Stakes
Who Makes Your Money
Rhthm & Soul
The Ghost of You Lingers
Do You
I Turn My Camera On
The Beast and Dragon, Adored
Outlier
Anything You Want
Don't Make Me a Target
I Summon You
You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb
Rainy Taxi
Black Like Me

Encore:
Inside Out
I Just Don't Understand
(with Dale Watson)
The Underdog
Got Nuffin

Note: 'Trouble Comes Running', 'Everything Hits at Once', 'The Way We Get By', 'My Mathematical Mind', 'Jonathon Fisk', and 'Metal Detektor' were all on the setlist as part of a 2nd encore, but they ran out of time

that setlist is a nice reminder of how many great songs this band has

that second encore is killer, wow

"Anything You Want", "Everything Hits At Once", and "Metal Detektor" are probably my three favorite pre-KtM Spoon songs so it's cool to see that they're still playing them all

Everything Hits At Once is such an amazing song.

http://www.spin.com/reviews/spoon-they-want-my-soul/

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-spoon-20140807-story.html

I had no idea Britt Daniel now lives in Los Angeles and there is also this:

With the album completed, Daniel felt determined to present his latest effort in a fresh way. Spoon's partnership with Merge, he acknowledged, was working; "Transference" entered the Billboard chart at No. 4, a huge accomplishment for an indie label.

"But maybe it wasn't working well enough," Daniel added.

Loma Vista promised the possibility of something more — without the show-biz phoniness that once inspired Daniel to write two songs about an Elektra Records executive whom he felt had neglected the band.

Headed by Tom Whalley, a music-industry veteran who tried to sign Spoon to Interscope in 1995, the label bills itself as a boutique shop with the reach and wherewithal of a major. (It's distributed by Universal Music Group, the world's largest record company.)

"I'm someone who can help Britt maintain his strength of independence while providing opportunities to expand his audience," said Whalley.

^ Spoon is "band most likely to break," and has been for a long time. Problem with this is, if Girls Can Tell, Kill the Moonlight, Gimme Fiction, and Ga didn't do it, they're not going to do it now no matter how much promo they get. While Transference and the new one are killer records, especially as sonic works of art, the songs just aren't quite as strong as they were during that run. I can get behind "sonic texture" Spoon as much as or more than anyone but what bigger audiences are going to respond to are big hooks, and I just don't really hear them here.

Although my 13-year-old daughter is obsessed with "Do Ya", and it predates me playing the shit out of this record, so maybe I'm up myself.

yeah I think this is a lot more immediate than Transference, it's exuberant and extroverted in a way matched only by Ga Ga Ga, which likewise was a "fun" follow up/reaction to a kind of drearier counterpart

Very much into this album.

honestly, with album sales cratering, if a band like spoon gets an opportunity for a big advance from a boutique major label trying to prove itself, it's kinda certain to put more cash in pocket than sticking with even the biggest indie (even if the indie wouldn't send you scary "you're now x hundreds of thousands in the hole" letters for years after). Plus said boutique might actually get you radioplay on a level the indie never could

of course, any band who wouldn't be guaranteed a big advance due to proven success should probably stay the fuck away from the majors

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6221499/spoon-godsmack-rock-charts

Spoon bows at No. 3 on Top Rock Albums with They Want My Soul, selling 39,000. Over on the Billboard 200, the set enters at No. 4 -- their eighth studio release -- equaling the debut and peak of their last release, 2010's Transference.

The new title also tops the Vinyl Albums chart with 7,000 copies, the group's biggest week for vinyl sales (accounting for 18 percent of They Want My Soul's first week). Transference previously held Spoon's one-week vinyl sales high, when it sold 3,000 LPs in its first week (of its 53,000 start).

Vinyl sales of the new album were encouraged by a Vinyl Gratification promotion with independent retailers. Customers who pre-ordered the vinyl version of the album received three instant gratification tracks on 10" vinyl. Indie store sales of the LP comprised 66 percent of the vinyl set's first-week sales.

With They Want My Soul, the 20-year-old band originally from Austin, Texas, is back with major distribution since 1998 (A Series of Sneaks on Elektra Records). The album didn't chart and the band was eventually dropped from the label (leading Spoon to write one of the greatest major label disses, a two-song single titled "The Agony of Laffitte"). Spoon went on to great success with indie-distributed Merge Records, notching two top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 in 2007 and 2010.

The band also debuts on the Billboard Artist 100 at No. 24.

Fun interview detailing some of their catalogue. Cute that a bunch of BD's earlier tunes are about Eleanor Friedberger!

yeah i didn't know they dated

When we were mastering [ Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga ], the engineer said, "I don't think this one works as the second song." But I got off on putting "The Ghost of You Lingers" second. I just love it. I was real proud of it. It seemed like a totally inappropriate—yet totally right—place to put the song, because the first couple songs always paint the picture of the album.

ha

This band needs a POX thread.

i'm doing a Spoon poll in the near future, glad it is coming up after this album.

xpost imPOXible.

well maybe not the NEAR future:

71. Pixies - Johnny Fever
72. Metallica - Pleasant Plains
73. Spoon - Bee OK
74. Nirvana - Gavin, Leeds

we are only around 55 or so: ILM Ballot Polls for 2014 and beyond -- order, timing, "I would have voted if I'd known about it," etc

TBH, I kinda want to make a Spoon mixtape, so this is entirely in my self interest.

this album is awesome. hooray for spoon.

singles didn't move me at first, but aside from "outlier" (which gives me unwelcome flashbacks of Zoo TV) everything's really growing on me

can't remember what was on the Spoon mixtape I made ~a year ago but I imagine it would be entirely different today (& not just because new album)

actually, come to think of it, one of my favorite playlists I ever made was just the tracklistings of Kill the Moonlight & YMG's Colossal Youth woven together

have erased most of it except "Knock Knock Knock," "Outlier," and "New York Kiss." After a week of wondering why this one bored me like the others I didn't I just realized I'd like this material if the songs were shorter. Even songs I kept like "Outlier" sound like Pink Flag played at 154 tempos and lengths.

weird, I actually thought the last one was a worse offender in that respect (overly long tracks), SHOWS WHAT I KNOW EH?

Look at the discussion upthread. This band will never have a consensus fave.

transference was an album that just kinda sat on the shelf for a year before random songs poked through on my ipod so i'm not in a rush to go "yay or nay" on this one, beyond "ok do you sounds great on the radio, i'm over how pinched he sounds on the chorus"

i've been skipping tracks 8 and 9 but there's something to like about every other song.

i have no idea how TWMS will rank on the whole, but for a group that's been around for almost 20 years with seven other albums i could play instead, these guys are pretty on top of their shit

the title track is already like p05 spoon for me

so spoon was a band who started off looking super-derivative and easy to dismiss and gradually revealed themselves to have a distinct sound persevering for far longer and more successfully than their peers.

in a sense, Spoon is indie rock's Train.

I can't tell if you just cured me of liking Spoon, or made me a Train convert

well spoon was like the umpteenth post-pixies band who then thrived by bringing in some unexpected '70s pop elements, where train was the umpteenth post-counting crows band who then thrived by bringing in some unexpected '70s pop elements so i don't think you have to love them equally or anything

"Bands that start out starting derivative of their influences before finding their own sound" is not exactly a small category.

why you wanna try and spoil my fun

i make a lighthearted comparison between two late '90s surprise alt-survivors and you gotta play grumpy bear

they want your soul, croup

Hey Soul Croupier...

i just don't understand is ace. no one else seems to like it...but you'll all see...

i'm starting to come around on "I Just Don't Understand."

Is Spoon a band that gets appreciated better as you grow older?

I've always liked them but they've never really had THE album for me, usually I would listen to a couple of songs on repeat for a week, add them to my collection and listen to them every few months... but, somehow this last album has crept its way into my weekly rotation and I still find it very replayable. I don't know if its because this album is the best one they've done yet or because I have finally grown to appreciate their music.

I'm like that with them. On Facebook yesterday I called them the best boring band ever, which I'm sticking by. Gimme Fiction is the closest thing to a single appreciable album for me but really I could make a killer best of.

Wow I always thought of this band as being really prolific and then I checked wiki. Was transference really released 4 years ago?? I feel like I'm still only just getting into it.

Yes, the best boring band ever description is fitting. It's hard to feel excited about their music but at the same time they push all the correct buttons.

Their music might be too calculated and reliant on the studio for its own good.

there are no pyrotechnics in their music but there are gimmicks, they're just cleverly tucked away - like when Sister Jack, an otherwise strait-laced rock song, sneaks into 9/4 at the end. It's glorious and understated, but you'd never hear Spoon break down into a cod-reggae section or break out the moogs or whatever.

Everything they do is interesting and accomplished, at the very least, and while it may not always be inspired or amazing, that consistency is really impressive. More and more I feel like Kill The Moonlight might be their best single piece of work, but I think their albums are amazingly consistent.

That said, I'm not bowled away by the current record, but I seldom am straight away; they're like the definitive slow-burners, although I can always tell pretty much straight away that I'll like their records. But their aesthetic and approach is so familiar (and ingrained in my head/taste) now that it would be mad not to feel that way.

I feel like I could describe verbally what it is that I like about them so much, but I find it hard in type. If that doesn't sound idiotic.

Spoon is not really boring. The National is the best boring band.

they're the worst boring band

things that are boring but good

this album is a grower.and it's quite good.

still, they did better before.

The National are incredibly boring. Consistent but boring.

I would also like to nominate the last Horrors album as boring but good

every good band that repeat it's sound again and again are boring but good.

I'd say there's a good deal more variety in the Spoon sound then say a band like AC/DC. That's not even taking into account their early Pixies sounding albums.

i didn't say spoon are boring...

(though Britt do tend to repeat the formula of his songwriting)

on repeated listens i'm upgrading this LP from a 'really good' to a 'fucking excellent'

No one talks about Let Me Be Mine.
It's a great song and a reminder of the good old Spoon sound..

i would not call Spoon boring either especially after seeing them live this month. i like the National but the best boring band for me would be Okkervil River.

To me "boring" is the opposite of "compelling." Spoon are predictable and consistent--but they are almost always compelling. I couldn't imagine calling them boring. The National are boring.

ha you people it's called ARTISTRY, or if you wanna throw shade, CRAFTSMANSHIP. is there a songwriter who gets less credit for actually being good at being a songwriter than b daniel

Feel like they're basically today's Stereolab, and just need to get around to recording Dots & Loops to divide their audience a bit.

the actual thing that he doesn't get enough credit for is being an unbelievable vocalist.

truth

transference is especially good for that, fewer places to let the band cover him up

yeah that is the definitive britt daniel vocals album

I really liked Transference.

This one is shaping up to be a real favourite too.

I've been trying to work out what 'Inside Out' reminds me of, and I've worked out it's part 'Huey Newton' by St Vincent and part the Easy Star Allstars' version of Pink Floyd's 'Us & Them'

this thing is hella singable

love the punchiness of the drums on this albums.

Ha, I've see people moaning Hagar they hate the drum sound on this record compared to earlier Spoon because the drums are flat and don't snap. Horses, courses.

Hagar? wtf, iPhone.

Hodor!

They Want My Three Lock Box

Just listened to an interview with these guys on the Nerdist. Jesus was that uncomfortable for Britt. He seems like a pretty quiet guy who just wants to talk about music. Few good tidbits though. "Outlier" was written without at least the music without Britt's involvement and another track on the record (they didn't say which one) had been around since Gimmie Fiction.

my friend told me Knock X 3 sounds like Pink Flyod's Pigs.

and he is right, in a way

melody on the chorus of "Do You" is definitely not something I expected from Spoon. s'good though. that's what we say we want right? good and surprising?

had either Outlier or Do You stuck in my head the last three days. this might turn out to be my fave spoon record, which i never would have expected on first listen

it really is right up there imo

one of the highlights for me on this album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3pLsdBI6QE

ok, i had some summer listens, now for some fall listens

weekend snow listens

'Inside Out' is just dandy, innit?

break out of character for me

Jeez, this album!

Why did I wait so long?!

I faded on this quite quickly but it has come back with a vengeance. Probably their best after Gax5. Rent I pay is so-so, They Want My Soul is slightly annoying (mostly the chorus lyrics that put me off I think, a shame as the verse sounds so warm and inviting), and IJDU is worthless - but the rest is silver to gold. Walking round the house singing the falsetto 'do-do-doos' from Do You is immensely enjoyable. Sometimes I think it's the best track but then New York Kiss comes along.

Yeah, "Do You" is a weapons-grade earworm

I'm doing my top Spoon songs for the imminent Spoon artist poll and was surprised how many off this album made the final 20

i did not know that was going on!!!

Yeah I need to start gearing up for that as well.

i asked this in the poll thread. going to open the Spoon poll tonight and need help with side-poll idea's. so what kind of side-polls should we have for our Spoon poll?

what kind of spoon is Spoon?

http://www.chicagosilver.com/utensils_files/image001.jpg

Runcible obv.

Have always been lukewarm on this album and I’m realizing tonight that it might be entirely due to “Outlier” (the “you walked out of Garden State” one). The rest of the album is pretty solid

I really like this one. probably the last one I really gave a fair shake. braking my brain that it’s 8 years old now. spent a lot of time listening to this when I lived in Nashville and walked everywhere

They Want My Soul (Deluxe More Soul Edition) out digitally now, LP and 2xCD in November.

https://spoontheband.bandcamp.com/album/they-want-my-soul-deluxe-more-soul-edition

1. Rent I Pay 03:09
2. Inside Out 05:03
3. Rainy Taxi 03:58
4. Do You 03:33
5. Knock Knock Knock 04:39
6. Outlier 04:21
7. They Want My Soul 03:21
8. I Just Don't Understand 02:37
9. Let Me Be Mine 03:25
10. New York Kiss 03:26
11. Rent I Pay (Home Demo) 02:16
12. One More Shot (Home Demo) 02:56
13. The Way Love Comes (Home Demo) 03:15
14. Inside Out (Home Demo) 01:49
15. They Want My Soul (Home Demo) 03:12
16. Outlier (Band Demo) 03:04
17. Let Me Be Mine (Night Version Dub) 04:47
18. Knock Knock Knock (Band Demo) 05:38
19. Do You (Band Demo) 02:42
20. New York Kiss (Home Demo) 03:01
21. Inside Out (Reduction Mix) 02:53

damn I feel ancient

will buy this though

What? This only just came out!

https://www.stereogum.com/2273727/spoon-they-want-my-soul-turns-10/reviews/the-anniversary/

Still my favorite Spoon album and looking forward to hearing the extra stuff.

Idk what it is about them but their demos are always so good, i’m always interested to hear them