That Great Motown Sound...

Transference
(2010)
Spoon

Spoon have always been about the sound.

Calm down. I'm not saying that's all they have going for them. Far from it. We're talking about one of my favourite bands of the last decade; I assure you, it doesn't boil down purely to their sound. They have airtight songs from Britt Daniels. They have Britt Daniels' uncanny ability to emote anything with a few choice words. They have Britt Daniels' voice. Mostly, they have Britt Daniels. But they also have Jim Eno, a drummer who's understatement is by far his greatest attribute. And the two of them together are remarkable as an engineering team. After Eno's production of "The Underdog" on their last offering, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Spoon decided to break off from the rest of the world, and recorded this one on their own. The results are very good, and very Spoon.

To start off with, Transference is not Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. But this isn't surprising; no two Spoon albums are the same, nor do any of them try to be. Series of Sneaks was a hungry, young band. Girls Can Tell was a suave, new-wave influenced band playing around with a less toothy sound. Kill the Moonlight was a band, finally convinced of their sound, stripping everything down to the support beams. Gimme Fiction was darker, and more full-sounding. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga was a culmination of all that; it featured the tightest songs, the best lyrics, the best arrangements. It was, simply put, the best Spoon have offered, and will likely remain so. I'm okay with that.

The first half of Transference is sloppy and aggressive. "Written in Reverse" has been on the radio for a few weeks now, and you may well be familiar with its clumsy, gripping piano riff. The second half of the record (it's easy for me to do this; I've only listened to it on vinyl so far, and what's nice is that it is really divided to work that way, much like Gimme Fiction) is much more gentle, with "Goodnight Laura" being perhaps the loveliest thing Spoon have ever offered. Most of the record, however, goes by without a strong sense of form. Or, at least, with as little a sense of form as these guys will allow. The songs start to bleed together around the edges, resulting in an album that probably wouldn't work well divided up.

But this is not such a bad thing, and Spoon have always been about the album. Sure, they write impeccable singles too, but they've never focused on that so much as the broader tapestry. This is best exemplified when "Got Nuffin," the albums most ferocious track, comes roaring out of the gentle wreckage of the second side of the record. It reminds us where we've been in the last thirty or so minutes, before giving away to "Nobody Gets Me But You," a great Spoon closer as they always are. The song rides a groove with a melancholy progression while Daniels espouses the title in a way I've come to believe only he is capable of doing.

So, this is not Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. Consider yourself warned. This is not about the songs. Spoon have always been about the sound, and that's what this is.

Dearth My Ass

January is typically known for being the fallow period, across the cultural spectrum; there are no crops to harvest, and there are few new albums worth your time. From the holiday and awards seasons, everything is drained. This goes for books and movies as well. Nothing classic comes out during January. Everyone knows that's the case. Most good things don't even come out now. This is the fallow period.

So far, for 2010, if this is the fallow month, it's going to be an amazing harvest season. So far, in the first four weeks of 2010, I've already got eleven (eleven!!!) albums on my to-do list. I've manged to read absolutely nothing since Jared Diamond's magnificent Guns, Germs and Steel, which I finished back at the beginning of the month (4 January, for those keeping track at home), because I picked up the unabridged version of Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, and it's just not doing it for me. But I'm stubborn, and refuse to put it down. I'd take a break, but it's intricate, and I feel like I'd forget what's happening. Too many characters, not enough going on. I just don't care.

Back to those eleven albums. Six of them are by bona fide quantities; Charlotte Gainsborough, Corinne Bailey Rae, Eels, The Magnetic Fields, Spoon, and Vampire Weekend. Three are by relatively low-radar figures, but ones with (I'm told) good past records; Beach House, Four Tet, and Los Campesinos!. Two are from newbies; Delphic and Surfer Blood. All but two are carrying eighties or above on Metacritic. This is setting up to be a good year. A very, very good one. I already reviewd Vampire Weekend's Contra. Spoon's Transference should follow within the hour.

The Count of Monte Cristo, Pt. 1

I'm 528 pages into this almost-insufferable book, which, unabridged, suffers from every malady that can possibly befall 19th-Century literature. Having said that, there's a quote on page 526 which I found disproportionately amusing, and wanted to share;

"Well, take a glass of sherry and a biscuit."

Something about the phrasing of that, and the way I read it in my mind, caused me to thoroughly enjoy it.

Christgau

Robert Christgau is a music critic known for writing very short, very concise reviews of albums; typically in the neighbourhood of two or three sentences. And whilst they often don't quite seem to make sense, they still manage to hit the nail on the head, which is a rare quality to have in a critic. For the sake of my own personal enjoyment, from time to time I will attempt to write a review in his style. These will be labeled like so:

Contra (RCReview)
One man's mature is another man's boring, and depending on the flip, the coin could land with either face up. Personally, their Paul Simon shtick still hits the mark, but as they go further down the rabbit hole, they'll likely shake a few early die-hards. Those people never liked the music so much as the ethos anyway, so fuck 'em. B+

Contra

One of my favourite albums is Paul Simon's solo debut, Paul Simon. I've yet to digest most of his subsequent solo work, though it is all assuredly on the To-Do List (It's a playlist I have on iTunes). What I have listened to is Graceland, and I've also listened to Negotiations and Love Songs, a best of. Between those two, I can hear precisely where Vampire Weekend are coming from on Contra, their sophomore album out a few weeks ago.

I'll start this by saying that I haven't listened to their first album yet. It, too, is on the To-Do List. But that may have worked out to their advantage here. Whilst I've read many reviews for this album, the major point of contention seems to be in regards to how it stacks up against their first album. It's either an appropriate artistic evolution, or it's less catchy. These are, I'll point out, often the same coin, viewed from different sides. One man's mature is another man's boring.

Being (mostly) devoid of a sense of their evolution, I find this to be a very pleasant, well, pastiche, really. It's all a bit Simon, but that's not a bad thing. We could use more of his influence in modern music. His song structures were winding and nubile, and, so long as you were paying attention, when he was at his best you could never call him boring. He also had a way with gentle, meandering melodies, which populate this album in all corners. What's crucial is that the boys don't sound like they had to work at it; Simon's melodies are the sort which will only work if you don't force them.

There's nothing here that's as much a shot in the arm as "A-Punk," sure, but "Cousins" is probably more invigorating. It doesn't stay with you for as long, but it's more muscle and sinew, two of my favourite words to apply to this kind of music. The rest of the album is more gentle, but its sound is a unique (if clearly derivative) one, and that's what most of us are looking for. The thing about derivative sounds is while we constantly claim to seek new things, we don't really want anything completely new. We want that recognition and familiarity of the old with a new spin. And that's exactly what you'll get here.

Provided you like Paul Simon. Which, fortunately enough, I do.

*A post-script to this review; As I've listened more, the lyrics have worn at me. Horribly. And I've also found the melodies slightly less involving each time through. I've downgraded this from a B+ to a B.

Stylo

The new Gorillaz single, "Stylo," has been released via Youtube. Those who wish may listen to it, whilst they read, here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SxlD74hvRk

On my first listen, the whole song left me feeling a bit empty; I wasn't discouraged from looking forward to Damon Albarn's next offering (Plastic Beach comes out 9 March), but I lost a bit of nerve. "Stylo" opens with a throwback synth hook that manages to remind me simultaneously of both Night Rider and "West End Girls" by Pet Shop Boys. I mean that to be a good thing. I've listened to it a few times since then, and I've grown rather fond of it. The hook repeats throughout the song, and it takes on a hypnotic quality, particularly when paired with Damon's gently vocodered vocal, espousing "When you know your heart is light, electric is the move." Bobby Womack is superb, throwing his back into a great guest vocal. Mos Def is featured as a character called Sun Moon Stars, and whilst his contribution here is minimal, it's still very effective. This is an excellent song, indicative of yet another new direction for Gorillaz, without betraying their core sound. How Damon Albarn manages to do this so consistently is one of life's great mysteries. But I hope he doesn't stop any time soon. And I look forward to hitting the Plastic Beach come March.

The Spoon Dilemma

I've bought two tickets to see Spoon at the Aragon Ballroom in three months' time. I'm very excited about this, and, if you've seen Spoon play live before, you're excited for me. They're ferocious live, and put on a show I can best describe as "transcendent."

At any rate, my roommate Stephanie is going to accompany me to the show, and, as she's not very familiar with the Spoon cannon, I've been set with the task of creating a CD that adequately distills their essence down to a mere 12-15 tracks.

At face value, this is not a difficult task. Spoon are a great band, with a great catalogue, but I could easily choose for you a 12-track Best Of. It's the sequencing that's a bitch. We're dealing with a band known for their immaculately sequenced albums. Hell, Gimme Fiction is sequenced so well it even plays brilliantly in reverse order.

I imagine progress would be faster on this if I knew what song to start it with. Spoon albums are unique in that, once you've listened to them a few times, you can't imagine any of them starting with any other song. The heavier and darker tone of Gimme Fiction is slammed in place by "The Beast and Dragon, Adored," while the ragged glories of Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga find no more immediate representative than "Don't Make Me a Target." "Everything Hits at Once," off of Girls Can Tell, sets the emotional tone for everything that follows. You get the idea. This is a band of near-terrifying studio acumen.

I think the best solution is to do it in chronological order. Because this is a band that progresses, and they do it very, very well. Sure, this means Telephono and A Series of Sneaks are going to get relatively overlooked, but, hey, when you keep writing great songs, your best of is inevitably going to ignore more than a few. Just ask John Prine.

Looking over it, let's skip Telephono altogether. They never play material from that anyway. If she wants more, she can find it. Let's open with

1. "Utilitarian"

from A Series of Sneaks. It's as great an opener as any. And it's less, well, "growy" than most Spoon music. You can appreciate the hook right away. Most Spoon music needs to marinate to grow appreciation. That's why this isn't a review of Transference; I need time. Next has to be Girls Can Tell opener

2. "Everything Hits at Once"

Intelligent, cool, sleek, it's the new Spoon, after their more raw beginnings. Which leads into the cover of

3. "Me and the Bean"

Mostly because I appreciate any chorus with a chorus devoid of words. That I've yet to write one myself is besides the point; I don't have a voice as emotive as Britt Daniels. The focused, heavy groove of

4. "The Fitted Shirt"

would be a nice way to round out this album's contributions, but my roommate is from Chicago, and so the next track has to be the home-town shout-out

5. "Chicago at Night"

Kill the Moonlight contributes

6. "The Way We Get By"

I know, I was surprised, too. But we needed the space.

7. "The Beast and Dragon, Adored"

is just a great song. So I'll throw that in there, along with

8. "I Turn My Camera On"

which is necessary for its groove.

9. "Sister Jack"

is a shoe-in, as it's the happiest thing you'll hear from a dour indie band this year, promise. Vampire Weekend get peppier, sure, but they don't normally sound as morose as Britt Daniels.

10. "I Summon You"

is probably the best song ever written about anything at any point. So it's a winner. Which brings us to Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, the masterpiece. We need to save some room for Transference on here, so let's keep it light. Leaves more to discover later, I suppose.

11. "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb"

Why? Because it's Motown filtered through Indie anal-retentive tendencies. Awesome.

12. "Don't You Evah"

rocks the groove. It's as tight and in-the-pocket as music gets, and it knows it, too. Next has to be

13. "The Underdog"

if for no reason other than it's the perfect summation of the Spoon ethos: The little guy is gonna tear you apart one day. He's just biding his time.

14. "Black Like Me"

is a bit of a surprise inclusion, but it's there because it's gorgeous, and everyone forgets about it. It's the perfect closer to a near-perfect album, and I'm a bit partial. This leaves only one song off the new album... hm... I haven't reviewed it yet, I don't have a full sense of what will stand up well on its own. There's a languishing beauty to "Out Go the Lights," but I think I have to go with, one more time, the off-kilter, snapped-in groove of

15. "Written in Reverse."

What a piano figure. Clumsy yet nuanced. Perfect.

Make this CD if you don't know Spoon well. I think it'll convert you to the wonders.