The three-year stretch between Gimme Fiction and Spoon's previous album, Kill the Moonlight, was the longest gap between the band's releases since the end of its disastrous relationship with Elektra Records helped put two and a half years between A Series of Sneaks and Girls Can Tell. Though the circumstances behind this hiatus probably weren't as dire as those behind the band's previous one, the anticipation surrounding Gimme Fiction was nearly as high as it was for Girls Can Tell, and Gimme Fiction feels like as much of a refinement on what came before it as Girls Can Tell did at the time. A dark, theatrical album seething with late-night tension and menace, Gimme Fiction is a bigger-sounding affair than Spoon's previous work, with lots of keyboards, guitars, and strings parts courtesy of the Tosca Strings. But, even with the album's bigger scope, the band keeps its eye for detail. Everything about Gimme Fiction, from its artwork -- which looks like photographer Irving Penn doing a surreal fashion spread on Little Red Riding Hood for Vogue Magazine circa the 1950s -- to the little sound effects that embellish each song, is meticulous. Fortunately, "meticulous" doesn't spill over into "careful" or "precious"; the album's first three tracks show that Spoon makes music that's intricate and rousing at the same time. "The Beast and Dragon, Adored" acts as a slow-building preface and statement of intent, mentioning later song titles and introducing Gimme Fiction's big, brooding sound. "The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine," a string-driven tale of a mysterious gentleman/cad, boasts some of Britt Daniel's cleverest storytelling, while "I Turn My Camera On" turns voyeurism and emotional distance into a subtly irresistible groove that sounds like a tense rewrite of the Stones' "Emotional Rescue" (later on, the intro of "They Never Got You" sounds strangely like Hall & Oates' "Maneater" -- it's nice to hear them reach back to '70s and '80s references that aren't the post-punk and /p>
ew wave influences borrowed by so many other indie rock bands, or even the Elvis Costello nods that shaped so much of Spoon's earlier work). Gimme Fiction's opening trio of songs is so strong that it tends to overpower the rest of the album at first, but other standouts eventually bubble to the surface: "My Mathematical Mind" is one long verse, broken up by instrumental interludes where choruses would normally go; it keeps building and building, and though it's not an immediate song, it is a hypnotic one. On the other hand, the relatively lighthearted "Sister Jack" and pretty but oddly jittery acoustic allad "I Summon You" just emphasize how moody and nocturnal the rest of the album is. Indeed, taut, restrained tracks like "The Delicate Place," "The Infinite Pet," and "Merchants of Soul" seem to be more about supporting Gimme Fiction's nocturnal mood than standing out as great songs. Still the interesting productions and arrangements on songs like these and "Was It You?" make them enjoyable in their own right. "Meticulous," "distant," and "restrained" may not be the most likely adjectives to describe a good ock record, but they fit Gimme Fiction perfectly. With this album, Spoon continues to build one of the most consistent, and distinctive, bodies of work in indie rock -- the band makes changes and takes chances from album to album, but ends up sounding exactly how Spoon should sound each time.
It seems that putting a piece of the 1995 Hum song 'Stars' in a Cadillac commercial could be starting a trend of cool music in car ads. (Although, Grey's Anatomy star Kate Walsh deserves her share of credit for that one's success).Now Acura has a similar sexy, big city style ad featuring the 2005 Spoon song "My Mathematical Mind." Both great bands. It's nice to see artists like these getting pa...
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My MOG family it is with great disappointment that I share with you some impressions of tonights show at Henry Fonda. Now mind you I am not the biggest Spoon fan, which in part had me a bit hopeful for a great show or something, ... i don't know, maybe i was secretly expecting some magic, desperately hanging on to some spark in side me that they would totally win me over. With that said it wasn...
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If i throw this record on, and shut my eyes very tightly, its like its summer again, not the nasty southern summer that makes your brain water for the very sight of a swimming pool, but the sexy southern summer that's all long legs and sun dresses, smoking secret cigarettes on the back porch, smiling against the heat as good goes to better. there's a phrase my friends and i throw around a lot, ...
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I need (yes, need...not want) to see Spoon live. There are no words to express how much I love this band.Here's a clip of Spoon "I Summon You" live. I wanna just reach into my screen. Excuse me, while I go try that. ;)And if you want to dance around your room for a few minutes, here is the video for "I Turn My Camera On". (You're welcome.)
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How Spoon's 'Gimme Fiction' gets catchier and more emotional each listen is beyond me. At first, the songs seemed to run together like different colors in a tie-dye t-shirt with the standout track being "I Turn My Camera On". But each subsequent listen peels a veil off the songs as they come up on the playlist and I find myself stopping here and there to admire a lyric, a certain steady drumb...
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Not a lot to say, today. Wrapping up after the holiday - the girl is back in school and the boy and I are heading out to run errands. Been too busy for music, sadly. I have a mix-list (like a mix-tape) I'm supposed to be checking out, but I keep getting caught up in other stuff and not having the time or opportunity to listen to it. Things will settle soon, I bet. I hope.
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I downloaded Spoon's "Gimme Fiction" today, and am definitely digging it. I don't really have much more to say about it than that, maybe in a few hours/days/whenever.
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I've really enjoyed reading everyone's biographical posts lately, they've really been fascinating. Hopefully mine will be at least a little interesting too, although I admit, it's more of a therapeutic thing for me. Here goes nothing...- I am 18 years old. My first name is Julia, and my last name is very Italian. I have been mistaken as Hispanic, Native American, and Jewish, but never Italia...
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I recently received this email from pandora.com, a free internet radio site.Hi, it's Tim from Pandora,I'm writing today to ask for your help. The survival of Pandora and all of Internet radio is in jeopardy because of a recent decision by the Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, DC to almost triple the licensing fees for Internet radio sites like Pandora. The new royalty rates are irrationa...
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My MOG family it is with great disappointment that I share with you some impressions of tonights show at Henry Fonda. Now mind you I am not the biggest Spoon fan, which in part had me a bit hopeful for a great show or something, ... i don't know, maybe i was secretly expecting some magic, desperately hanging on to some spark in side me that they would totally win me over. With that said it wasn...
More >
Spoon is another band I feel I should like but I haven't really put forth enough effort. I heard all the praise for their album, Gimme Fiction, so I aquired a few songs. However they just didn't quite gel with me. But somehow this seemed like my fault, not the music's. Hence Spoon's presence on my iPod. I still don't recognize their songs when they pop up on shuffle, but I can't seem to de...
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If i throw this record on, and shut my eyes very tightly, its like its summer again, not the nasty southern summer that makes your brain water for the very sight of a swimming pool, but the sexy southern summer that's all long legs and sun dresses, smoking secret cigarettes on the back porch, smiling against the heat as good goes to better. there's a phrase my friends and i throw around a lot, ...
More >
I need (yes, need...not want) to see Spoon live. There are no words to express how much I love this band.Here's a clip of Spoon "I Summon You" live. I wanna just reach into my screen. Excuse me, while I go try that. ;)And if you want to dance around your room for a few minutes, here is the video for "I Turn My Camera On". (You're welcome.)
More >
How Spoon's 'Gimme Fiction' gets catchier and more emotional each listen is beyond me. At first, the songs seemed to run together like different colors in a tie-dye t-shirt with the standout track being "I Turn My Camera On". But each subsequent listen peels a veil off the songs as they come up on the playlist and I find myself stopping here and there to admire a lyric, a certain steady drumb...
More >
Not a lot to say, today. Wrapping up after the holiday - the girl is back in school and the boy and I are heading out to run errands. Been too busy for music, sadly. I have a mix-list (like a mix-tape) I'm supposed to be checking out, but I keep getting caught up in other stuff and not having the time or opportunity to listen to it. Things will settle soon, I bet. I hope.
More >
It seems that putting a piece of the 1995 Hum song 'Stars' in a Cadillac commercial could be starting a trend of cool music in car ads. (Although, Grey's Anatomy star Kate Walsh deserves her share of credit for that one's success).Now Acura has a similar sexy, big city style ad featuring the 2005 Spoon song "My Mathematical Mind." Both great bands. It's nice to see artists like these getting pa...
More >
I didn't realize how much of a necessity electricity was until I woke up this morning burning hot. When I got out of bed and called the electric company to figure out what the eff, my representative had clearly not made it past the 8th grade. (A sentence contains both a subject AND a verb, right? She must have been out sick that day from school..) Anyway, she wound up telling me that I woul...
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I downloaded Spoon's "Gimme Fiction" today, and am definitely digging it. I don't really have much more to say about it than that, maybe in a few hours/days/whenever.
More >
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 "Gimme Fiction")
