Album: Spoon - Transference

Album: Transference
Merge, 2010
Rating: ******** (8/10)

There a number of indie groups who, over the last decade, have managed to establish themselves as household names, maybe not in most homes, but thanks to the support of NPR and news magazines trying to seem hip, in most upper-middle class, white, college educated ones. Spoon is one of these and their every release is anticipated, then celebrated by their pseudo-indie fans almost by rote.

I've never fully understood the popular reaction to Spoon - I think the band at their best are universally lovable, but their output is certainly not universally great. Their last album, 2007's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, was greeted with high praise and I still can't figure out why. If one hadn't heard Spoon before, maybe it would come across as pretty nifty, but as compared to Girls Can Tell and Gimme Fiction, it seems bland, formulaic and uninspired. Sure, it may step up sonically, showing the telltale signs of a bigger budget - added instruments, more meticulous engineering - but the songs themselves are weak.

Not so with Transference. In an established pattern of making a great stride on every second album (Telephono but not Series of Sneaks, Girls Can Tell but not Kill the Moonlight, Give Me Fiction but not Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga), Spoon was due to put out a good one and they have delivered. Transference takes what few strides the band forced into Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga as well as the more heartfelt progress of Gimme Fiction and carries the sum to yet another level of maturity.

It's clear from the opening of "Before Destruction" that Transference is a step forward. The song begins with warm, intimate layers of sound, breaking over Britt Daniel's naked vocals. Some songs are classic Spoon at their best, like the riff-focused "I Saw the Light" and the piano clunk of "Written in Reverse." But others, like "Who Makes Your Money," indicate bold progress, much as the song "I Turn My Camera On" did a few years back. Circling a slick beat, "Who Makes" is tense and edgy but at the same time, peels away another layer of timidity and announces yet another slew of conventionally un-cool influences. Once again, Spoon proves they can pull off almost anything they try.

Lyrically as well, the band has further let down their guard. The songs are the band's most immediate and personal since 2001's Girls Can Tell. Also, as Spoon's first truly self-produced LP, Transference does away with the almost sterile sonic perfectionism of albums like Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. "Trouble" boasts the sound quality of a 60's garage band's high-end home recording. Even the more sonically complex songs like "Before Destruction" and "Who Makes Your Money" have a raw immediacy and the sincerity the last album so lacked.

Transference is the result of Spoon's broadened sonic vocabulary finally finding space to lock in to the band's more emotional, vulnerable tendencies. It's all of the band's explosive creativity and none of their cerebral overreaching. It's everything Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga wasn't and everything Spoon should be. Finally.

[myspace]

Upcoming Shows: Sonic Youth, the Pixies + more

[Upcoming Shows Playlist]
TONIGHT! Wednesday, November 18

Big Star @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple | Fort Greene, Brooklyn | SOLD OUT!
If you don't already have tickets to this, you're unlikely to find anything. It looks like upwards of 95% of the posts are craigslist are "tickets wanted." So I put this here mostly to cheer you (ok, myself) up - Big Star, though one of the greatest bands of all time, is really just 60-year-old Alex Chilton. Co-leader Chris Bell died over three decades ago and bassist Andy Hummel (who wrote a song or two, I think) is not involved. Jody Stephens is still on drums, but frankly, who has even noticed him back there? On the other hand, if you have tickets, AWESOME. One of the best bands of ever.

Papa M @ Knitting Factory | Williamsburg, Brooklyn | $12
Papa M is David Pajo, who probably has the most impressive resume of anyone from the late 80's/early 90's hardcore/post-hardcore/math-rock/post-rock/experimental scene (tied with former classmate David Grubbs). A member of Slint, Tortoise, the For Carnation and Dead Child (and less impressively, Zwan), Pajo has also played with Stereolab, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Will Oldham (Bonnie "Prince" Billy) and others. I don't think any of that means anything to non-indie-geeks, or even indie geeks who aren't pretty old school. But what it all adds up to is that Pajo is one of the most highly respected and influential guitarists of American indie rock's golden age. His style of playing is eerie, dark and distant, with unsettling rhythmic irregularities. It's experimental and sometimes very minimal, but an educated listener will pick up on the sound's faraway roots in hardcore punk. You know what, forget all that, it's just fucking weird, good music. Go see it. [MySpace]


Thursday, November 19

True Womanhood @ Cameo Gallery | Williamsburg, Brooklyn
True Womanhood sound eerie and rhythmically complex like Radiohead. The bass is slammin, the drums are fascinating and the guitar is off in outerspace making noises that could give you bad dreams. [MySpace]


Saturday, November 21

The Beets, She Keeps Bees @ Death By Audio | Williamsburg, Brooklyn
The Beets are a much-beloved garage back band. She Keeps Bees are a blues band disguised as an indie rock band. They both write good songs. You will like both of them. [Beats MySpace] [SKB MySpace]


Sunday, November 22

Talib Kweli @ Brooklyn Bowl | Williamsburg, Brooklyn | $10
Talib Kweli is one of the most universally respected rappers on the planet. His music is smart and thoughtful, but hardhitting. This show costs $10. What's the catch?? [MySpace]


Monday, November 23

The Pixies @ Hammerstein Ballroom | Midtown, Manhattan | $48
The Pixies are performing their classic album Doolittle a bunch of nights in a row. Personally, I wouldn't pay $50 for this, but I've already heard them play all of Doolittle live (except for, by lucky chance, the few songs on the album I don't like), plus at least half of Surfer Rosa and the best from Bossanova and Trompe Le Monde, all on one glorious night at the Pixies birthplace, the University of Massachusetts. What I'm trying to say is, this is a lot of money, Doolittle is a short album, and you'll have other chances to hear the band. However, this is about the experience of hearing Doolittle live, so if you happen to have an extra $50 lying around, it would be well enough spent on this. If not, don't cry, the Pixies don't seem to be ending their reunion any time soon. Oh, if you don't know who the Pixies are, they are one of the most important indie rock bands of the late 80's and early 90's and influenced the hell out of everyone, like Nirvana and Weezer. They basically play the kind of pop songs you'd expect a mental patient to write. Which is pretty much what they are. HOTT.


Tuesday, November 24

Sonic Youth @ Music Hall of Williamsburg | Williamsburg, Broklyn | SOLD OUT!
I'm pretty sure Dino Jr and Cold Cave were on this bill when I bought my ticket, and now it's just Talk Normal, who are weird hyper-experimental stuff that's good but no Dino Jr. Anyway, the point is that it's Sonic Youth, the band that brought art rock and noise to millions. One of the most improbable stories in rock history, Sonic Youth's odd, discordant guitar noise and abrasive, abstract vocals got them signed to a major label for two decades of their three-decade career. After returning to the indie world earlier this year, Sonic Youth are still going strong, still pushing boundaries and rocking out hard on stage, just with grayer hair. Thurston Moore still seems like a lanky, hyperactive kid. Yeahhhh.

The Pixies at Hammerstein Ballroom | Midtown, Manhattan | $48
Same deal. (No pun intended!)

[Upcoming Shows Playlist]
The long view...

November
25
Meat Puppets @ Bowery Ballroom
Screaming Females @ Bellhouse
The Pixies @ Hammerstein Ballroom
Sonic Youth @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
what a night!!!

27
Fuck Buttons + Growing @ Market Hotel


December
2
The Mountain Goats @ Bell House

3
Wye Oak @ Bell House

4
Radio Flyer Review presents Shellshag, Sisters, Big Troubles & the Sundelles @ Monster Island Basement!!!!!!

13
Blank Dogs + Silk Flowers @ Monster Island Basement

14
The Slits + Sisters @ Highline Ballroom

17
The For Carnation @ Knitting Factory

[Upcoming Shows Playlist]

Album: Because Because Because - self-titled

Album: Because Because Because
Sutton, 2009
Recording Date: 1991-1992
Rating: ******* (7/10)

Released under the radar this fall, this collection of six songs by oft-forgot indie band Because Because Because offers a rare taste of unheard songs from one American indie rock's best eras. The songs are cutting indie gems with sweet English pop melodies from frontman and principal songwriter Robert Randall, a British ex-pat. With sharp and aggressive yet lightfooted guitar hooks, Because Because Because displays a perfect balance of pop and punk-influenced rock.

Because Because Because paired Randall with to-be Nada Surf founders Matthew Caws and Daniel Lorca, along with drummer Blake Gomez. Unsurprisingly, the music does sound a lot like early Nada Surf, but with a richer sound and less quirk. "The Slow" builds with tense drumming and glistening guitar to an anthemic chorus. Later in the album, "Her Power" provides an excellent example of 90's indie songwriting - simple and catchy, it rocks hard and never looses focus.

According to a source close to the band*, Randall and Gomez published this album without informing Caws and Lorca, who apparently didn't particularly want this material in distribution. Caws only recently became aware of the release after seeing it for sale online. It remains to be seen whether he and Lorca will take any action against their former bandmates or Sutton Music Group, and there is no evidence that Randall and Gomez were beyond their rights in releasing the record.

This album is not a lost masterpiece, it is not revolutionary in any way. But for fans of this era of music, for those who prefer their pop-punk without all the gloss and certainly for Nada Surf fans curious about the band's roots, the album is well worth getting your hands on. And I recommend doing that as soon as possible, since there's a very real possibility that a potential lawsuit from Caws and Lorca could cause the album to be pulled from circulation, at least temporarily. You can get it on CD Baby, iTunes (I think) and probably some other places.

[MySpace]


*I know I don't delve into real journalism very often so it seems prudent to reassure you that this is not bullshit.

Dust It Off: Big Star - #1 Record/Radio City

Album: #1 Record/Radio City
Fantasy, 1992
Recording Date: 1972-1973

Mention Big Star in a room of musicians and most will probably know exactly who you're talking about - and could even name the band members and more than a few songs. But outside of the world of indie rock and rock criticism, you'll get blank stares far more often than not. And it's not that Big Star's music requires a great spirit of adventure or high level of technical understanding to appreciate - in fact, it's some of the most straightforward pop of its era.

No, Big Star were one of many victims of bad luck and poor marketing, and their albums simply never sold. But those who were in the habit of seeking out under-the-radar music found the album and it changed the course of rock history. A list of bands that include Big Star as a key influence would be too long to attempt, but it would certainly include the likes of R.E.M., Wilco, the Cars, the Smashing Pumpkins, Teenage Fanclub, Cheap Trick -- well, you get the idea.

As one of the first "power pop" bands, Big Star drew songwriting influences from the Beatles, the Byrds and the Beach Boys, but carried out these ideas with a mindset taken directly from arena rock - though Big Star may never have filled an arena, they played as though they were born in one. Even the most subdued, acoustic numbers sound like they were not only meant for the big stage but actually create the illusion of a big stage wherever they're played.

The band's first two albums, #1 Record (1972) and Radio City (1974), were combined into a single release by Stax in 1978, but the version most commonly found is the joint release first issued in 1992 by Fantasy Records. In any case, this double LP offers well over an hour of consistently excellent songs, ranging from the wistful "Ballad of el Goodo" and the simple, finger-picked folk of "Thirteen" to the guitar-rock arena-screamer "Don't Lie to Me" and the pure radio pop of "September Gurls."

Listening to Big Star, it's obvious how they became such an icon in the history of indie rock. Though their melodies were as good (no, better) than any charting band of their time, they also displayed an edgy, noisy experimentalism. "The India Song" has an arrangement that's just plain bizarre, while the unpolished aggression of "O My Soul" is far grittier than most 1974 rock. Warm ringing guitars and sweet tunes are impossible to separate from the album's dark side. The band sounds out of their time, not ahead of it, but they predict indie and alternative rock - a world where the 1960's models of radio pop, large-scale rock and arty psychedelia were reconfigured to accommodate a more versatile, more honest weapon.

It's hard to imagine what indie rock would look like if it hadn't had Big Star as a root. The good news is, we don't have to.

Dust It Off: Walt Mink - El Producto

Album: El Producto (Walt Mink)
Atlantic, 1996

This album's biggest claim to fame is that it is one of fewer than a dozen albums to receive a 10/10 from Pitchfork Media upon its initial release, a rating even the band's own mothers must have known was undeserved. But despite it not being a 10/10 sort of record, it is a great record. And it would have been known as one if it weren't for a serious of crappy twists of fate (mostly caused by the messy internal politics at Atlantic) that kept it under most listeners' radars .

Walt Mink is quintessentially 90's and quintessentially American indie, equally because of its clear post-Nirvana wussiness and because of its heavy-handed alt-rock production. The band's catchy pop is delivered at lightspeed in ever-changing time signatures and with a healthy sheen of distortion. It sounds like the poppiest of Husker Du or Mudhoney, but about twice as fast.

Though Walt Mink's line-up changed several times, it always featured John Kimbrough, and only John Kimbrough, on guitar. Backed only by a rhythm section, Kimbrough developed a quick half finger-picking, half strumming technique that allowed him to be both lead and rhythm guitarist, churning out quick riffs while holding down a steady chord with a few fingers. It's not that this approach is revolutionary, but it's surprisingly effective and on El Producto, it's at its best.

Kimbrough's high-ish voice can be a bit whiny and annoying at times, and his lyrics are often, well, dumb. But that doesn't stop songs like "Stood Up" and "Overgrown" from being some of the rockin'est moments of the 90's. And in what was often a heavy decade for rock music, Walt Mink's lightness - achieved through sheer speed and an unswerving refusal to hit weighty, low-register chords on the guitar - makes it a fresh voice among its contemporaries.

From punk-inspired underground pop tracks to a handful of sweet acoustic numbers, El Producto shines because of its superb (if simple) songwriting. The complex hooks are irresistible while the veering time signatures hold a more intellectual appeal. This album didn't shake the foundations of rock'n'roll, but it's solid and smart and it doesn't sound like anyone except Walt Mink.

Live: R. Stevie Moore

I apologize if this review is starting to sound like a broken record - I know I keep mentioning the same folks over and over again, but bear with me. I just keep finding about shows when researching album or about albums when I go to shows. But in the case of R. Stevie Moore, I'm just doing my part to make up for all the blog posts he should have received but didn't over the years.

When: 11/11
Where: Cake Shop

So if you've been paying any attention at all, you'll know R. Stevie Moore did a late night set at Cake Shop last night. I braved a nasty migraine and went, and it was so worth it. This was, without a doubt, one of the best concerts of my life.

Moore looks like Santa Claus if there was no Mrs. Claus to nag him about a haircut and if Santa wore a hip-hop style Brooklyn basketball warm-up suit. Unlike a lot of older musicians (he's only in his mid-fifties but has been putting out albums since the late 60's), Moore hasn't lost his edge - undoubtedly because his edge was always based on him just doing whatever the fuck he wanted to.


R. Stevie Moore

Regarding the music, Moore's songs are genre-defying, completely bonkers and excellent gems of American underground pop. There's country there and lo-fi, and punk and powerpop, with spoken word and folk and psychedelic too and a lot of other things you can't quite put your finger on - think Bob Pollard meets Big Star meets the Ramones meets Johnny Cash meets 13th Floor Elevators. OK, never mind, imagining that isn't worth the effort - just listen to the man and you'll see what I mean.

As for the performance, it featured all sorts of antics, some planned, some not. Moore interacted a lot with his lamentably small audience and reminded us all that he's as much a performer as a musician. From bad puns (Proposition 8 = Preparation H?) to trying to eat his lyric sheets (and then tossing the spit-covered page out to the audience), Moore was having fun and making sure everyone else did too. He chided the audience for their youth, heckled back a heckler, ranted incoherently, stopped playing mid-song to take his own picture with the audience and retook it when it didn't come out well enough.

The musicians who joined him on stage were, needless to say, seasoned professionals whose tight playing was all the more impressive because they had to follow Moore's erratic lead and because Moore writes hundreds of songs a year, which doesn't leave them with much time to learn them. Most importantly, they were all clearly having a blast, especially the drummer who looked on the verge of busting a gut the whole time.

If you're in New York and you missed this show, you made a terrible mistake - but you can learn from it, just don't miss your next chances: Maxwell's (Hoboken, NJ) on Nov. 30 and Death By Audio (Brooklyn) on Dec. 4.

On that note, did anyone see the Sea and Cake last night? How was it? I'm guessing this is their last tour.