[Severian]

 

[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by Severian

 

My (apparently) purple Matador LP arrived on Tuesday to my U.S. undercover agent's HQ. You know what happens if the vinyl is actually green? I get tickets to the Spoon show of my choosing! (Dream on: there is —well, was— ONE green copy in the U.S. Matador online store; also just one in the UK store). My megatonic megabundle (CD plus tee plus mug plus postcard set plus enamel pin plus matchbox — I kid you not) hasn't shown up yet, probably due to them silly storms.

Now, I did get the mp3s today. Haven't had a chance to listen to jack squat yet, but I was surprised by the metadata on these files. Wikipedia says everything's written by "Spoon" and I wonder whether that's how the credits appear on the official artwork. The tags indicate something else: five songs written by Daniel alone, one by Fischel/Daniel, and four songs co-written by Daniel and cats who are not bandmembers at all (three in total: Sean Dineen, Laura Pergolizzi and Ted Taforo). Also, that's Sharon Van Etten on "First Caress"!

 

Finally, it was only today that I found out Eric Harvey is no longer in the group.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by The Soup Nazi

My (apparently) purple Matador LP arrived on Tuesday to my U.S. undercover agent's HQ. You know what happens if the vinyl is actually green? I get tickets to the Spoon show of my choosing! (Dream on: there is —well, was— ONE green copy in the U.S. Matador online store; also just one in the UK store). My megatonic megabundle (CD plus tee plus mug plus postcard set plus enamel pin plus matchbox — I kid you not) hasn't shown up yet, probably due to them silly storms.

Now, I did get the mp3s today. Haven't had a chance to listen to jack squat yet, but I was surprised by the metadata on these files. Wikipedia says everything's written by "Spoon" and I wonder whether that's how the credits appear on the official artwork. The tags indicate something else: five songs written by Daniel alone, one by Fischel/Daniel, and four songs co-written by Daniel and cats who are not bandmembers at all (three in total: Sean Dineen, Laura Pergolizzi and Ted Taforo). Also, that's Sharon Van Etten on "First Caress"!

 

Finally, it was only today that I found out Eric Harvey is no longer in the group.

Wow.

I just bought it on iTunes. I've had a bit of a financial setback lately, what with needing to buy a new furnace and all. The iTunes version came with a digital booklet. It's not very exciting, so I didn't look closely, but I will when I get home.

I was honestly a wee bit disappointed by They Want My Soul. It was solid, but lacked some of the weirdness, studio tinkering, and marvelous negative space that makes for the spooniest Spoon. I'm reallly hoping this one is a bit more my speed.

So far I'm liking it, but I haven't even listened to half of it yet. "Whisperilllistentohearit" has the exact kind of weirdness that I like in a Spoon track that was missing from TWMS. So I'm optimistic.

Even if t disappoints, they've earned their stripes at this point man. They're simply one of the best pop bands of the last 40 years, and a lot of people still aren't hip to them.

Hope you get a green vinyl. I've seen them enough myself.

P.s. "Nobody Gets me But You" is their best song. That's peak Spoon. Also "The Ghost of You Lingers," "Metal Detektor," "The Underdog," "I Turn My Camera On" and "Don't Make Me a Target."

Spoon.

[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by Severian

P.s. "Nobody Gets me But You" is their best song.

What a song, man. I'd dedicate it to my hawt shrink, give her a CD or something (hey, the album IS called Transference!) but apparently that'd be rather inappropriate. Hmm. Also, she's married, so...

I have the Anti- edition of that disc, by the way — after "Nobody Gets Me But You" ends, there's a long silence (can't remember how long right now, but shorter than the one before Nevermind's "Endless, Nameless", to give you an idea) and then there's another bitchen song, "Mean Red Spider".

https://www.discogs.com/Spoon-Transf...elease/2120356

[Severian]

Originally Posted by The Soup Nazi

What a song, man. I'd dedicate it to my hawt shrink, give her a CD or something (hey, the album IS called Transference!) but apparently that'd be rather inappropriate. Hmm. Also, she's married, so...

I have the Anti- edition of that disc, by the way — after "Nobody Gets Me But You" ends, there's a long silence (can't remember how long right now, but shorter than the one before Nevermind's "Endless, Nameless", to give you an idea) and then there's another bitchen song, "Mean Red Spider".

https://www.discogs.com/Spoon-Transf...elease/2120356

Oh man, I didn't know about this. Which surprises me, and makes me a bit ashamed.

There was a time when Spoon was, like, *my* band. Y'know when Modest Mouse started to eat shit for a living? It was around then. When Kill The Moonlight was still relatively new, but had already wormed its way into near-classic status. I won't say they ever took Sonic Youth's place, but they came close, just as Modest Mouse did before they turned into a bad joke.

I'd been aware of them since A Series of Seaks, and I loved that album to death because I could hear bits and pieces of the Pixies and Pavement and even Slint in that record. So that blew my mind. I wasn't immediately thrilled with the sound they went to after that, but it grew on me, and when it did, it hit me hard. In fact, I guess you could say everything hit at once ... AH-HAHAHA-TUT-TUT!!!

Eventually I'd Associated virtually all of my favorite Spoon songs with one heartbreak or another, and I had to kind of take a break. I don't listen to them a ton anymore, but when I do, I'm still just shocked at how totally on-point they've been at virtually every stage of their career. They're also one of the best live bands I've seen.

Something strange about seeing them on Kimmel with people screaming and shit. Remember when those guys couldn't get the mainstream music press to give them the time of day? Even after KTM, I'd go see them in a club and the floor would be about ⅓ full in some cases.

[betweenthebars]

Remarkably consistent band. Britt Daniels' songwriting has finally gotten the recognition and respect it deserves this past decade and he continues to be backed by one of the strongest rhythm sections working today.

Hot Thoughts is excellent and I like it better than TWMS. I put it on level with Transference happens to be one of my favorites of theirs.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by betweenthebars

Remarkably consistent band. Britt Daniels' songwriting has finally gotten the recognition and respect it deserves this past decade and he continues to be backed by one of the strongest rhythm sections working today.

Hot Thoughts is excellent and I like it better than TWMS. I put it on level with Transference happens to be one of my favorites of theirs.

Oh man, I couldn't agree more.

I really couldn't get that into TWMS. I waited for that album with this frenzied anticipation; the kind that I honestly don't experience much with rock music anymore. I think many of us worried that Spoon was done during that uncharacteristically lengthy period of inactivity after Transference (which is definitely one of my favorites as well, though it wasn't at first), and in the months leading up to TWMS, I thought something fucking critical was going to happen. Something major. Another milestone hard left of an album in the tradition of Girls Can Tell and Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga.

But when it did come out, it sounded Spoony and stuff, but something was missing. More than anything, I think that album lacked the "negative space" element I mentioned earlier. That remarkable use of silence in the space between notes... the reverb... the organized clutter that makes the intro of "Paper Tiger," or the piano squall in "Nobody Gets Me..." or all of "The Ghost of You Lingers" so goddamn great. TWMS didn't have any moments like those that just tickle your senses in the best possible way. Very little of it stood out to me at all. It's not bad... but I haven't felt compelled to revisit it much in the past 3 years.

Hot Thoughts is Spoon, returning, triumphant, in full form.
I finally got a chance to listen to it all yesterday while I was working, and it made me stop what I was doing several times just to savor the moments. It closes with a freaking subdued free jazz/rags hybrid thing. Lovely! And "I Ain't the One" has all the markings of Britt's incredible ear for strange hooks and elegant storytelling.

It's way better than TWMS and it has me excited about listening to it more and uncovering its depths and stumbling into its weird, dark corners.

Good fuckin' shit.

[Severian]

By the way, I think these are my favorite spoon albums (not sure where Hot Thoughts ranks yet):

1. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
2. A Series of Sneaks
3. Transference
4. Gimme Fiction
5. Kill the Moonlight
6. Girls Can Tell
7. Telephono
8. They Want My Soul

ETA: I probably don't actually like Telephono more than TWMS if I'm being 100% honest. As an album, it's probably a stronger release. I just have a soft spot for "The Government Darling," and "Dismember," and a few other cuts. As embryonic albums go, Telephone gets a bit of a bad rap. It's WAAAY better than Pablo Honey. But I probably would put TWMS above it if nostalgia wasn't such a strong factor.

[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by The Soup Nazi

Finally, it was only today that I found out Eric Harvey is no longer in the group.

Eric's 2012 album Lake Disappointment is available for a name-your-price via Bandcamp in lossless quality (also lossy if you're a mook):

http://ericharvey.com/album/lake-disappointment

Don't be a dick; pay! PAY SOMETHING! The CD is freakin' sold out, unfortunately.

[greenlight]

just pre-oredered Aaron Turner and William Fowler Collins collab. Thalassa coming out on Siege Records limited to 300 copies after hearing their new track. dark ambient drone minimalism in its finest.

http://www.self-titledmag.com/2017/0...halassa-album/

[selkcip]

http://www.wandelweiser.de/_e-w-records/_ewr-catalogue/

lengthy samples for each of these, just click on the album cover

just ordered EWR 1701/02. I think the uniform packaging works well, it's better than Tzadik, imo. maybe it's just the typography/fonts

[Bytor Peltor]

The new Smegma / Black Leather Jesus arrived last week:

 

 

 

[Severian]

Jlin - Black Origami (Planet Mu)

It's very, very fucking good. Been waiting a while for this.

 

[Severian]

Before that I bought the new Thurston's Rock N' Roll Consciousness and Actress - AZD

[noisereductions]

hey seriously can any of you guys help me find a pressed silver disc bootleg of Smashing Pumpkin's Machina II/The Friends & Enemies Of Modern Music? I feel like these may have been more common in Europe than in the US maybe.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by noisereductions

hey seriously can any of you guys help me find a pressed silver disc bootleg of Smashing Pumpkin's Machina II/The Friends & Enemies Of Modern Music? I feel like these may have been more common in Europe than in the US maybe.

I used the interwebs.

https://www.discogs.com/Smashing-Pum.../master/199217

If this is worth $50 to you, I'm staging an intervention.

[noisereductions]

Originally Posted by Severian

I used the interwebs.

https://www.discogs.com/Smashing-Pum.../master/199217

If this is worth $50 to you, I'm staging an intervention.

click further

https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?ma...d=199217&ev=mb

none of those are the silver CD. All copies for sale are vinyl or a lone CDR. I've checked Discogs daily for weeks.

Machina II is awesome tho.

[noisereductions]

tell me u don't like this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENRwjnUVSag

[Severian]

Originally Posted by noisereductions

tell me u don't like this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENRwjnUVSag

I don't like that song. Sorry dude. I probably would have liked it at least a little bit when it came out, but I was pretty darn sick of the Pumpkins by this point. It was depressing to see them try to reassert their dominance with a return to RAWK-type stuff!!! I know "Everlasting Gaze" and the tepid, awful "Stand inside your love" did get some airplay at the time, but it still felt like a total death rattle.

I was largely over alt stuff and fully embracing the wonders of Fugazi, Shellac, Braniac, Modest Mouse, etc. by this point.

[noisereductions]

hmm. Weird. When it came out I remember all my snobby indie-only friends giving Machina II a pass. Maybe it was the novelty of a band like SP giving away a free album (which of course sounds like no big deal in 2017). But I always thought Machina II was superior to Machina. And "Dross" was/is my favorite song on there. I always kind of thought it one of those SP songs that anyone/everyone would like. You shot a hole in that 17 year old theory. Oh well.