THE BAND: Spoon
HOMETOWN: Austin, Texas
PLAYERS: Britt Daniel (vocals, guitar), Jim Eno (drums), Rob Pope (bass), Eric Harvey (keyboards, percussion, guitar)
WHAT TO BUY: Since Daniel and Eno formed the band in 1993, Spoon has released six full-length albums (and several EPs) with various lineups. The latest, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (July 2007, Merge Records), just happens to be one of the best. Standout tracks like "The Ghost of You Lingers" and "Finer Feelings" see the band adding punchy Motown horns, soulful grooves, and rolling pianos to its spiky, minimalist indie-rock sound.
Daniel and his nasally voice, meanwhile, have never sounded angrier, batting away the pretty melodies with seething lyrics and distinctly adversarial attitude. Looking for further listening? Check out 2002's Kill The Moonlight, which found the band pushing its raw guitar rock aside to make room for samples and silence. Not that we advocate that sort of behavior.
GUITARS: Gibson ES-335, Ebony SG Standard
SOUNDS LIKE: Pixies, Arcade Fire, Ted Leo, Interpol, Guided By Voices
WHY YOU'VE ALREADY HEARD THEM: If you've watched late night television over the last few years, chances are you've caught Spoon rocking out on more than one occasion. The band has made regular appearances on The Late Show With David Letterman, The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson, and Last Call with Carson Daly. Spoon also returned to Saturday Night Live over the weekend to play a pair of tracks--"The Underdog" and "You Got Yr Cherry Bomb"--from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. Watch here.
WHERE ELSE HAVE I HEARD THEM? Spoon's electrifying "I Turn My Camera On" was used as the soundtrack for a commercial selling the 2007 Jaguar XK. Because most indie rock kids have that kind of money lying around.
WHAT’S WITH THE NAME? Before there was Spoon, there was Can. Paying tribute to the vintage German avant-garde band in more ways than one, Daniel and Eno adopted their band's name from Can's song "Spoon." Unfortunately, the key intervening band Can Opener has had substantially less success.
WHAT’S WITH THE ALBUM TITLE? Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga was named after the chugging sound Daniel was able to squeeze out of his ES-335.
WHY INDIE RULES After launching their career on Matador Records, Spoon briefly signed with Elektra for their 1998 release, A Series of Sneaks.
When it all went wrong, the band struck back at its major label A&R man Ron Laffitte (rhymes with "defeat") with an independently released two-song EP called, The Agony of Laffitte. The songs were later included on the 2002 Merge reissue of A Series of Sneaks.
CRITICAL ENDORSEMENT: "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga might be Spoon's commercial breakthrough, doing for them what Good News did for Modest Mouse, but for certain it's one of the Austin, Texas, trio's finest records." – Rolling Stone
WHERE TO FIND THEM: www.myspace.com/spoon
FREE MP3 DOWNLOAD: "The Underdog"