It's only January, and probably one of the biggest musical surprises I've had is from a band I've known about for twelve years: Spoon. Yup, their latest, Transference, is really rocking my mind. And I'm quite sure to say the record will be on my year-end favorite list.
In no way do I claim bias because of a certain lineup change that happened when their previous record, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, was recorded. Rather, something about the band started really click for me then, and Transference is a logical payoff.
Maybe it's just my ears, but what has often eluded me about Spoon's music is the lack of a big chorus. I have yet to hear a song that just ripped into a distortion-filled chorus while Britt Daniel plays an open-G chord that's backed by angelic harmonies. Nope, the sparseness of the band's sound has always been front and center. You have to listen closely to hear the nuances, which is the beauty of the band's catalog.
I can recall standing outside of Jason's first party at our house almost six years ago, hearing "Me and the Bean" and quickly wondering who sang this song. But I can also remember going through Girls Can Tell, A Series of Sneaks, and Kill the Moonlight and waited for a song to really grab me as hard. Yes, I know that's sacrilege to say to a hardcore Spoon fan, but that's been my story.
Now it looks like the story has a nice post-script.
In no way do I claim bias because of a certain lineup change that happened when their previous record, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, was recorded. Rather, something about the band started really click for me then, and Transference is a logical payoff.
Maybe it's just my ears, but what has often eluded me about Spoon's music is the lack of a big chorus. I have yet to hear a song that just ripped into a distortion-filled chorus while Britt Daniel plays an open-G chord that's backed by angelic harmonies. Nope, the sparseness of the band's sound has always been front and center. You have to listen closely to hear the nuances, which is the beauty of the band's catalog.
I can recall standing outside of Jason's first party at our house almost six years ago, hearing "Me and the Bean" and quickly wondering who sang this song. But I can also remember going through Girls Can Tell, A Series of Sneaks, and Kill the Moonlight and waited for a song to really grab me as hard. Yes, I know that's sacrilege to say to a hardcore Spoon fan, but that's been my story.
Now it looks like the story has a nice post-script.
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Hi Eric,
On behalf of Merge Records and Spoon, many thanks for plugging "Transference" on your site (street date 18th Jan UK / 19th Jan US) ... .. thanks, also, on behalf of the label and artist for not posting any pirate links to newly released (studio) material and, if you / your readers want good quality, non-pirated, preview tracks, then a full length version of "Written in Reverse" is available for fans and bloggers to post / host / share etc at www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120830261&ps=bb2 ... .. for further details of the new album, on-line promotions, videos and 2010 shows, check-out the band's official site at www.spoontheband.com and keep an eye on official sources for details of further Spoon news, preview material and on-line promotions.
As a special, goodwill gesture to fans and bloggers, an exclusive preview stream of the full album is now available via the band's site and as part of NPR Music's Exclusive First Listen series at
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122279793 ... .. this is for hyper-linking ONLY and for streaming by fans directly off the band's official site and NPR, so please reciprocate this goodwill gesture by NOT ripping or embedding these files.
Thanks again for your plug.
Regards,
WEB SHERIFF