NW Reviews: Spoon – Transference
It's hard to get it wrong at this point in time with the (legendary?) Spoon. The long-awaited follow up to their last album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga doesn't faulted. How could it? Spoon, a staple in the indie world now, has been doing their own thing for years and hasn't changed much for anyone. Is that a problem though?
The album itself is everything I was hoping for. A care-free shot at making music to be proud of, Spoon spares no artistic creativity to output something very... Spoon-ish. From track to track, it's hard to put a finger on what is coming up next as far as song structure goes. I wouldn't call it progressive or post indie at all, but it has a journey-type feel that some post-rock and prog-rock gives me from time to time. That, again, shouldn't be too surprising. Spoon has built their empire on weird-rock.
Fearless. And not that album by Taylor Swift. Is that what it was called? Anyway, Spoon doesn't try to meet anyone's standard, and with good reason. This album proves that doing something well inside a genre for SO long will get someone's approval. Not like they need it. These guys all are big names in their own rights aside from this band.
If you haven't heard Spoon before, this album could be a bit much. There is definitely some jarring you might endure before you enjoy the somewhat-lo-fi sounds of Spoon. This album shows no mercy as far as dipping you into their world. Why would it? These guys are legendary (right?)
People who would like this: people who hate Starbucks. Most likely, you have one of your friends in a group who REFUSES Starbucks and supporting their corporate, small-business killing ways. They probably have some sort of stereotypical music selection that is way anti-Starbucks. Spoon fits into that "anti-Starbucks" mood I feel. It's definitely not the newest Paul McCartney or Norah Jones. Far from it. Other people who would like this album... people into groove-ish music like Black Kids or people into weird music like Sigur Ros. I'm sure there's something to find from both parties.
Personally, I feel kind of lame for putting this review up so late. The album came out a week ago. Also, it's Spoon. It's not necessarily the most unfounded band I could have reviewed since my week-ish hiatus. But this album does fit the mold of music I review... so bite the bullet I suppose.
