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Spoon
Like them or not (and judging from the peanut gallery on a mailing list or two, many a vocal Austinite most certainly wish Britt Daniel and Co. would take a long walk off a short cliff), you can't really discuss the independent music scene in Austin without the subject of Spoon coming up.
With over a decade of experience under their belts, Spoon have traversed musical territory ranging from Pixies-esque rock throwaways on Telephono to the absolutely pure pop perfection visited time and time again on Girls Can Tell. They manage to jam in memorable melodies, killer instrumentation, Britt Daniel's urgent, compelling, rasp, and Jim Eno's excellently dark, spooky rythmns into tiny, individually-wrapped, bite-sized packages. Spoon make three minute creatures that squirm and widdle, straddling the edges of convention, expanding and contracting spaces within ramshackle song structures. The result? An assload of miniature sonic masterpieces that feel nearly three-dimensional. And all this while still retaining the essence of great pop songs.
I finally "got" Spoon when I realized the method this unique three piece approach music: in terms of empty rooms, open landscapes, and echoing spaces. It's what they leave in and what they choose to leave out that matters. Spoon are masters of restraint, holding back and diving in only when the moment is right, and then coming back up for air. Maybe it's a tambourine here, a whoosh there, a riff left hanging, an extra beat or an extra breath. Spoon albums are always short, usually clocking in at less than forty minutes, but there's always that singular gem that showcases a band that has nailed exactly what they were trying to accomplish.
And I must confess that I can't listen to any of my Spoon albums in the day time; it just feels wrong. It's entirely night-time music: gritty, sweaty, jagged at times, frayed around the edges, maybe a little distant, maybe a little too close for comfort.....And then the song's over, and you're left with a memory of a great hook and chills down your back, and the scent of something foreboding in the air.
Spoon - Car Radio
Spoon - I Turn My Camera On
Spoon - Everything Hits At Once
Spoon - The Way We Get By
Spoon - All The Pretty Girls Go To The City
Spoon - Nefarious
Spoon's official web site. Spoon's newest album, Gimme Fiction, comes out on May 10 on Merge Records.
Posted by Queen of the Front Row at 03.04.05 at 6:29 PM
Comments
I have found that Spoon are WAY more well-regarded all over the country than they are here in Austin. I guess it's just the old home-town curse. Whenever I leave Austin, I seem to find droves of people with really varied musical tastes who all appreciate them, from Gainesville punks to Des Moines shoegazers.
One thing I would add for people considering checking them out at the festival--as nice as the recordings are, I feel Spoon really find their raison d'etre as a live band. The bigger and more enthusiastic the audience, the better their performance is. It's nice when it feels like a band is really making an effort, and aren't afraid to show it (unlike the too-hip-to-break-a-sweat crowd). Spoon makes you feel like they give a shit.
Posted by: susan at 03.06.05 at 6:37 PM
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