Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
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Free Music Notes for Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Free Music Review: The winter gets cold in ways you always forget.
Hit: 5 Stars
While Spoon's sound has never made large evolutionary leaps, they have consistently tweaked their sound enough from album to album to keep their audience interested. If you listen to neighboring albums you might not notice much of a difference but put Telephono up against Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga and you'll quickly realize that in over ten years they've danced across the indie rock spectrum from The Pixies to The Beach Boys. It's kind of like the sonic equivalent of six-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, their latest and arguably best album, continues this trend and is a fine example of craftsmanship and attention to detail without sacrificing what really matters: the songs.
Oftentimes when I hear an album filled with multiple tracks and noise tucked behind the instruments it causes me to roll my eyes and sarcastically exclaim that, whatever band I happen to be listening to, has "just discovered they were recording in a studio." Here the songs are upfront but Britt Daniel and company have also become interested in painting in the corners. What is amazing is that all of their choices seem like natural extensions of the songwriting. On another album the "studio talk" that appears at the beginning of "Don't You Evah" would be placed before the music begins, but here it's mixed within the drums and bass and seems like a perfect beginning before Daniel breaks into the first verse. Throughout the albums little additions like this enhance the songs in places (especially during the bridges) where most bands would clumsily throw in the kitchen sink just because they could.
The biggest break from past albums is probably "The Ghost of You Lingers." Here simple piano chords ride out the song while stereophonic Britt Daniels coos from all directions accompanied by a series from-a-can noises. "The Ghost of You Lingers" is the closest that Spoon has gotten to avant garde sound and yet feels perfectly natural and it's a reminder that the band has been experimenting from album to album. Although it's a track that mp3 lovers might call filler, in the context of the whole album it evokes tension that's begging to be released.
And that tension is released with "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb," a wonderful pop song we've come to expect from Spoon. This series of tension-release occurs several times throughout the album. The middle songs never quite break into the full voiced choruses they easily could, and it isn't until track seven that "Underdog" delivers us a release with an uninhibited horn section. The platitude "You've got no fear of the underdog/ That's why you will not survive" may not have meaning at face value but when you're screaming it at the top of your lungs driving ninety down the highway you'll believe, oh, you'll believe. "Japanese Cigarette Case" is another fine example of tension/release within the same song, a vein popping chorus manages to break out the tense verses.
Too often Spoon has been called minimalists, and while not wholly inaccurate, it's also not a terribly consistent description. While the band may at times see what simple bass and drums can do, they're not afraid of a full sound, and a full sound is exactly what they revel in on Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. Spoon have proven time and again that minimalism is merely a starting point but what the ending point is I, thankfully, cannot tell.
Free Music Review: A New Taste of Spoon
Hit: 5 Stars
Let me put this out there straight away. Spoon is one of my favorite bands and I enjoy nearly everything that they've put out. Ever since I saw Spoon on Austin City Limits in 2002, I've been hooked on their rock & soul minimalist sound. They are one of the primary reasons that I got into indie music towards the end of my high school tenure, and "Girls Can Tell" has remained one of my favorite albums of all time since I heard it. "Kill the Moonlight" took some time for me to get used to, but I love how they combined an experimental sound with so few elements on each song yet it still retained that blue collar accessibility. I enjoyed the expanding sound and grooves of "Gimme Fiction" immediately, while it still allowed for more subtle songs to grow into favorites.
If I were to compare the latest albums to different varieties of foods, I would say that "Girls Can Tell" would be the original recipe, "Kill the Moonlight" would be the low calorie alternative that is surprisingly filling, "Gimme Fiction" would be the 5-star restaurant interpretation into a 3 course meal, and the newest offering would be the spicy mélange of all three. "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" offers up tasty bites of home grown guitar pop that are instantly savory and easily digestible. The production this time around features more studio wizardry, but the songs would work just as well without the panning accents and quote song breaks. In fact the effects call to mind the spontaneity of their earlier work, where they would start and stop between the 2 minute mark and feature vocals processed backwards through the outro. I find that these little accents make the record feel even more intimate, like sitting in your room listening to your favorite albums with a few friends over rather than in a huge stadium listening to something that gets overplayed on commercial radio.
As for songs, all the tracks are solid. There's not a misstep to be heard. Brit Daniel's vocals are as good as ever, Jim Eno's drumming is, as per usual, hyper rhythmic, and all the grooves and melodies are as funky or as tough as they want to be. Opener, "Don't Make Me a Target" (1), starts off with that familiar heavy "rough day at work" sound, bu then the beat changes, the piano becomes more menacing and the song glides on thoughts of what you would do to your incompetent boss if you could get away with it, before it comes calmly to an end. "The Ghost of You Lingers" (2) is a song composed of urgent piano hammering and panning vocals, which is probably the biggest departure from their traditional sound. The effects and atmosphere add an ominous edge that makes this track the most dramatic on the album. The two tracks I seem to always come back to are the sashaying thump of "Don't You Evah" (4) and the triumphant melodies of "Finer Feelings" (9). To suggest that these songs would be better out of context to the remainder of the album would be a mistake as the feeling and presence of each song is enhanced by the track before and after it. So, a word of advice, you could listen to some tracks now, but for the full effect you need to hear the whole thing from beginning to end. Trust me on this, I am even a guy who enjoys singles immensely, but this album needs to be heard in its entirety. It's just that good.
Free Music Review: a rhythm and soul workshop
Hit: 5 Stars
Gimme Fiction is such a damn fine album. I knew it was going to be hard to put that one aside and give this the full attention it deserves. It won't take long, though, to appreciate this alongside GF, as opposed to it. They're hard to compare. There was much more of an ominous presence on Gimme Fiction; it's as if Spoon really had to prove a point. Not so much on Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. This may be an oversimplification, but a look at the album covers may shed some light between these albums. On GF, I get the sense that there's a method the band is following. The images of Red Riding Hood are prevalent and induce the feeling of a definite storyline, fiction, fantasy or what have you, the band is conjuring, from first song to last. That is, there's a journey to Gimme Fiction, a definite start and end.
On Ga however, an opposite approach is taken. The cover is taken of a workshop, where one may guess there's going to be a lot of stripping down, stuff wrenched apart, dumped out back, and the remaining material crafted to fit the band's needs. This workshop theme fits well to me because the album comes off as a highly polished, seamless assemblage of high quality songs. Complementing this is the subtle addition of out-takes of the album's production brilliantly inserted within the songs themselves, which gives the listener a feeling of being let in on the crafting of material instead of listening to an official release, or story. It's quite brilliant, really. Spoon have a great knack for involving the listener in their music, no matter what the theme of their release may be.
On to the songs then. All are standouts, it's just that simple. Well, I'll make an exception...I'm not too crazy about `Don't You Evah', it's a song that really doesn't contain valleys or peaks but rather flatlines for me. The rest, though, are really, really strong. Typically, lead guitar takes a backseat to the bass on this album, or at least an equally prominent place, which works well. The addition of the horns is also welcome, though not overused with the keyboards. Overall, there is an ethereal, stripped-down feeling in most of the songs, particularly in `Ghost of You Lingers' and `Japanese Cigarette Case'. `Rhythm and Soul' is my favorite song, along with `Finer Feelings'; everything just clicks perfectly on these. Cherry Bomb, Japanese Cigarette Case, Target, and Ghost of You Lingers are the best of the rest, nearly as good. Spoon really are merchants of soul, this album drips the stuff.
Free Music Review: Spoon cranks out more hits with new album
Hit: 5 Stars
Spoon is on a roll. I've never seen an indie rock band crank out so many unusual albums and still remain on a minor label.
This is Spoon's most unusual album yet, featuring ghost-like vocal effects, flurries of buzzing sounds and even clips from rap songs. However, everything holds together for a brilliant ride.
One could call this Spoon's political album, with some of the most unusual lyrics. Most notable is probably their first single of the album, "Don't Make Me a Target," where singer Britt Daniel sings "Here come my man from the stars/We don't know why he goes so far/And keep on marching along/beating his drum." Yet, even though this is Spoon's political album, Spoon never loses its angular edge. Daniel still retains his trademark scratchy voice. Weird guitar buzzes are still flooding the song. And it sure as hell sounds better than anything that the Counting Crows are doing.
And just because this is a political album, that doesn't mean that their humorous lyrics change either. In fact, Daniels never fails to sound darkly hilarious in "You Got Yr Cherry Bomb," where he sings "Life can be so fair/let it go all along/I could push for good/You got that cherry bomb." And who could forget the weird lyric in "Don't Make Me a Target" about drums and sticks and bats and balls filling nuclear d***s.
But something makes this album more accessible than Gimme Fiction. Maybe it has to do with the fuzzy minor key organ sounds to a rocking beat in "Rhythm & Soul". Maybe it has to do with the cheeky major key chords after the lyrics "That's why you will not survive." Or maybe its the weird rap sample in the opening part of "Finer Feeling". Whatever it is, Spoon tries harder to do things much more differently in this album.
This album is filled with the most unusual gems that are hard to find in rock from major labels. Spoon will someday be remembered as one of the greatest indie rockers of the millenium, and the album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is proof.
Free Music Review: They did it again, but it's different, too!
Hit: 5 Stars
Ok, so I didn't expect a "great" album after Gimme Fiction; it's hard to top something *that* good.
And I don't know if Spoon has topped it, but they're certainly not relaxing and sticking to any formula.
So it's safe to say that I love this album. Even the songs I thought I wouldn't like on first listen have wound their way into my skull. I mean, good lord, these guys use the piano as an experimental percussion instrument, and in the next track channel mid and late-70s power pop from likes of Nick Lowe and George Harrison. Complete with saxophones! Next comes a pop piece with Hammond organ chops (or whatever sampler passes for that sound these days). Really, these guys are musical chameleons...
Except it all sounds like Spoon. Why? Well, is there a power pop band out there now that's as rhythmically interesting as Spoon? If there is, I haven't heard them. They constantly surprise me with timing that, while not new, exactly, is surprising in the context they pull it into.
Heck, there's even a piece in here that sounds vaguely like a party in ska mode (Eddie's Ragga), which is honestly like saying the rhythms and vocals are fluid and interesting and sound like Stewart Copeland jamming with the Clash (though the vocals are more refined).
And honestly I'm not trying to tar Spoon with false comparison (even though, yes, the record is "Beatlesque"); they're way too good for that, honestly.
So, without the comparisons to others or even to other Spoon albums, if you like inventive rhythmic music that pushes your expectations (we won't talk about the Mariachi band--these guys are from Texas, after all)--and is also brilliantly percussive *and* melodic--then you won't be disappointed.
The only thing I have against this album (and I won't knock a star off for it) is that it's too darned short. I don't want to wait a couple more years for the next one...