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.

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.