I couldn't tell you why, but at some point years ago I developed the opinion that Kill the Moonlight was overrated and not really an album I liked. In fact, it is an excellent album. That is all.
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My Mistake
08 Mar 2008 12:19 pm
Comments (31)
Fred: Even hipsters who have big NYTimes Style section pieces written about them?
Five years from now matt will say the same thing about season 5 of The Wire.
Yes, it is excellent. 'Girls Can Tell' is even better.
speaking of hipster albums that have grown on you, im pimping She & Him to anyone that will listen. its the zooey deschanel - m. ward project out on merge records. Vampire Weekend aint half bad either.
Indeed. Brit Daniel is a good reminder that pop is not a bad word. So many good things out of Austin.
I had the same experience a few months ago. For some reason, Spoon's earlier material always struck me as kind of boring and derivative and I never really gave it much of a chance. But I have now seen the error of my ways and have repented of my sins.
Hello.
Funny, I had the exact same reaction to Led Zeppelin III. Wouldn't listen to it for years, when in fact it is their best work.
Matt's next listening assignment: Girls Can Tell, Talk Talk's Laughing Stock, and Wire's Pink Flag.
A little-noticed mid-career album by Robert Earl Keen called Walking Distance. REK had then recently been adopted by the morning drive - time talk show / frat boy types via 'Merry Christmas from the Family', from the widely praised but otherwise serious 'Gringo Honeymoon'. It led to a weird ghettoization of his fan base and career, to which he (to his credit) appears to have paid no attention whatsoever.
I listened to Walking Distance once, noting only "Feeling Good Again" but otherwise putting it away. When I pulled it out again a couple of years later, I thought I must have been having some type of seizure when I was listening to it, it's just superb, and now a long-time favorite.
All Things Considered, btw, rather frequently uses an instrumental section from 'Road to no return' for story transition.
Kill the Moonlight is indeed awesome, but I'm glad they moved back away from the "let's make music with as little sound as possible" approach in subsequent albums. As RC says, Girls Can Tell is also excellent (not sure I agree it's better) and A Series of Sneaks has some great songs too.
I just wish they'd play something from Telephono in concert. For some reason, Britt's not very proud of that album, but the first five or six songs are terrific, and it closes with two of their best songs, Government Darling and Plastic Mylar. But I've seen them probably four times now, and they never touch it. Even on the last tour, they played three or four songs from every album, but none from Telephono. I mean, sure, it kinda sounded like the Pixies, but newsflash, the Pixies were really good. Sounding like them is not a crime.
Also, a note of trivia, if you ever get hold of the Austin Stories DVDs (which Howard sells on ebay), Chip has a Telephono poster on the wall of his room.
I sort of liked this album, but after Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, I really liked it ... it just made sense more.
Spoon's new disc -- Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga -- is also great.
I will proudly claim the fact that Britt now resides in my hometown, Portland OR.
I think Girls Can Tell is their best, followed closely by Kill The Moonlight. Iglesias = poser! ;)
An album so influential, it even has its own vaguely mimetic Facebook game in homage to it:
http://apps.facebook.com/smallstakes/
It's not really my kind of game—I'm not big on dice—but it's an intriguing attempt to capture that sense of minimalist tension...
It is terrific, but marked the first of three consecutive not-as-good-as-the-last Spoon records following the truly superb Girls Can Tell.
Spoon can do no wrong. That is all.
An apology is not enough. Somebody must be fired.
Is it possible for a perfect album to be overrated? KtM is by a decent measure the best Spoon album. GaX5 is great as well, but doesn't have that pure cohesion of KtM. Girls can tell is worthwhile if for no other reason than Fitted Shirt and Lines in the Suit.
"Fred: Even hipsters who have big NYTimes Style section pieces written about them?"
Let me ask my girlfriend who's sitting next to me on the couch at our local Starbucks reading the other parts of the Sunday Times that we get in the advanced section on Saturdays. She usually grabs the Style section on Sundays before I have a chance to see it...
... Nope, she hasn't heard of them either. Apparently the only parts of that section she reads consistently are the "a night out with" pieces and the "Modern Love" columns.
So you're out of touch Fred eh? Spoon ain't yer average uncovered stone only appreciated by hipsters in the know. They are featured in film soundtracks and being sold in Best Buys and Walmarts around the country. Music interests may be atomized and diversified (a good thing if you ask me!) but Matt talking about Spoon isn't an example of that phenomenon. Even if they haven't scored an Apple ad, and aren't the Arcade Fire (same label though), they are pretty close to that level of recognition.
Also, Kill the Moonlight is an incredible album. Listen on headphones especially.
I've never been able to explain why I like Spoon so much. They make good songs. I suppose there really isn't much else to say.
Gimme Fiction's still my favorite. I can't get tired of it. I've tried.
Absolutely agree about Gimme Fiction with Brent.
The spare sound makes you start to hear the implied instruments. Brilliant.
Walked into the Virgin Superstore here in San Francisco last week, and guess what! They were playing on the big video screens, "The Corrs - Live at the Albert Hall!"
Stayed there watching until the video was finished, as for some cheap reason of poverty I don't own it yet.
That was the show where Mick Fleetwood drummed on several songs with Caroline, particularly on the Fleetwood Mac cover of "Dreams".
That was also the show that got them finally fully noticed in England, after being major hits in Australia and elsewhere.
I've always told people that Kill the Moonlight was Spoon's best album and only gotten weird looks in response. Good to know that somebody else understands.
Jonathon Fisk greatest Spoon song ever?
"Funny, I had the exact same reaction to Led Zeppelin III. Wouldn't listen to it for years, when in fact it is their best work."
How is III better than Physical Graffiti?
"Jonathon Fisk greatest Spoon song ever?"
Have you heard the live version from Barcelona? OMG, it's teh awesome! I don't know how I could have gone this long without hearing the great Spoon. He's like a poor man's Beck.
Kill the Moonlight is the best by far. BY FAR. Everything else has been a let down and watered down and an expression of the same sonic ideals with less of the creative impact. The record breathed a sense of life into my life is was life changing. I can't be any more expressively in favor of an album than I am Kill the Moonlight. Girls can tell is interesting and amateurish and only an upward step in the direction of Kill the Moonlight which is the pinnacle of whatever Austin has accomplished musically.
To Fred: hardly. Beck is a poor man's Britt Daniel.
Since Matt raised the music issue, I will use the opportunity to plug my radio show -- Experiments in Frequency Modulation on KTEC 89.5 fm Klamath Falls
&
available as a stream or download with playlists at
http://klamdemlab.blogspot.com
A weekly adventure in sound charting sonic territory off the maps of consensus perception.
Comments closed March 22, 2008.
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Heads in the Sand
Never heard of it. Music is too atomized these days to expect most folks to have heard of any particular hipster's favorite band or album unless one of its songs is featured in an Apple ad.
Posted by Fred | March 8, 2008 12:24 PM