Spoon Review: Go Ga Ga Over "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga"

(Published in Fairfield County Weekly, July 18)
http://www.fairfieldweekly.com/article.cfm?aid=1924
http://www.hartfordadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=1940



A love affair with a band usually goes like this: You hear their first album, love it, then move onto their second, third, fourth and they all start to sound like a sad old man with no remaining original thoughts.

A love affair with Spoon, on the other hand, will bring you nothing but whatever the musical equivalent of obsessively passionate sex is. From the get-go, Spoon has been churning out fantastic stand-alone albums, regardless of label problems and representation issues in the late 90s, each one somehow better than the last. Now with six, the experimental and minimalist Austin, TX rock band is being referred to in some circles as the best rock band on the planet. If they’re right, and you don’t know Spoon, you’ll find out about them soon enough. Like, now.

That’s the joy of this band, you feel like you’ve found a treasure. They have some Kinks, some Stooges and some Rolling Stones and they have the same investigational spirit of Radiohead or a relaxed David Bowie, but they remain their own entity.

I got their new CD, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, a few weeks ago (a big thanks to self-proclaimed zombie, Drew Taylor) and haven’t stopped listening to it since. If I’ve taken it out of my car, it’s only been to show it off. Hey, people, listen to this! Listen to what some of some fellow humans beings are capable of!



Spoon is known for minimalist piano and guitar-driven rock melodies, backed usually by some light and detailed Jim Eno drums. Their danceable, slick vibe never fails to fill a dull moment with elaborate color. On this album, which is a 36-minute stylistic combo of Kill the Moonlight, Gimme Fiction and Girls Can Tell, the lyrics are sneaky and brilliant and the vocal style is crisper and bouncier than ever. After seeing them at a fully-packed Toad’s Place in April to promote Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, I gained some insight into Daniel’s teasing approach to the microphone. He’s got this emotionally charged step-forward, step-back, Mic Jagger-like rock approach that’ll get any crowd worked up.

Daniel’s guitar on this album goes from deep and smooth to spastic and chunky making for an anything-but-dull sound. The thumping piano, perfect backing vocals and other eerie screams and whispers get the job done and make you wonder why other bands aren’t as efficiently weird and experimental as Spoon. The whole album feels like inspiration. Forget the iPhone, go buy Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. If you put it on in the car you might invent something.

Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga comes complete with howling swing trumpets on “Underdog” and “You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb,” which is the best song on the album. Fans of the song “Jonathan Fisk,” off Kill the Moonlight, will love the jogging bass drum on “Cherry Bomb,” never mind the explosively catchy vocals. Flamenco guitar stylings decorate “My little Japanese Cigarette Case,” which seems to be Spoon’s witty version of Clapton’s “Cocaine” and some recorded talk-back on “Don’t You Evah” and “Eddie’s Ragga” help bring you right into their recording studio where all the peculiar decisions were made.

The new single, “Underdog,” was a clever choice, as it spells out an important message about corporate ignorance and the American tendency to overlook music that’s hard to find. If you really think the only power in the music industry lies in the hands of the big four, you’re going to get bit. Bit by bands like Spoon. I can only hope this single won’t be on the Disney’s Underdog soundtrack because that would take some serious steps toward negating every positive I say about them. But they won’t do that.

With Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Spoon brings energetic and self-motivated indie rock to a new level, which, at 36 minutes, nobody but Spoon can accurately do.