Should auld acquaintance be forgot…
I’m getting antsy for the new year. Real antsy. And not January 1. No, that’s usually pretty overrated. But there is no way that the new year could be worse than 2009. It’s been a stinky year for both Pat and I, but I see things looking up in 2010!
In part because Spoon’s new album, Transference, is supposed to come out January 19. How long have I been waiting for this!? Two years. That’s how long! In the new world order of flavour of the month ridiculousness, that is forever.
If you don’t know who Spoon is, maybe you should educate yourself. Because I’m going to lay down a little truth sauce here. I would say that about 75 percent of the music I hear, all the “hot new music” MP3 blogs are trying to get you to listen to, is garbage. I can’t keep up with it all. I think to myself at least once a week “Aren’t there enough songs?” Oh, I’m so old! When I was a girl, music came on wax cylinders!
Maybe I’m being too harsh. It’s not, like, offensive garbage. I just don’t listen to most of it and think: “This right here is the sound of the aughts.” Maybe that’s why I don’t post quite as often as I should. I can’t stand to think that I’m just feeding the machine. What I write about is usually carefully considered. Life is too short to listen to shitty music. But I seriously digress.
Getting down to it: Spoon is hands down my pick for band of the decade. They were fashioning bold sounds before this new millennium rang in and I hope they continue to do so with Transference.
Stereogum revealed the album cover last month and the first single, “Written in Reverse” followed soon after. I’ve been listening to it non-stop ever since.
Britt Daniel somehow manages to write songs that sound exactly like Spoon songs should without becoming incredibly repetitive.
Their back catalogue is filled with the best pop rock this side of The Pixies. I swear, I could (and do) open up my Spoon playlist and never get bored. I love all their albums, but their last one, the ridiculously titled Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, was especially fantastic.
It says something that in the two years since that album was released, nothing has even come close to unseating “The Underdog” as the top played song on my iTunes. And there are five other songs from that album in the top ten.
“Written In Reverse” is a fantastic example of Spoon’s best work: Daniel’s nasal, hopped-up-on-cold-medication drawl, a building hooky chorus, angry guitar, a false ending and on this track, a piano pounding away in the background.
In short, I love it. Can’t wait for more. And I don’t want to spoil it too much by talking about it right now, especially since this is the first I’ve heard of the album. I just want to lay back, turn it up, nod along and wait for Transference to make its debut.
You can buy pretty much all of Spoon’s back catalogue at their web store. On vinyl, even! Go get it!
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