Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

by

Spoon

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Life might be full of disappointments but, quite on the contrary, through the years Spoon have proved a reliable source of enjoyment for me.

You might ask: what separates this band from thousands of other samey so-called indie bands? Lo-fi sound & look? checked. Praise from Pitchfork? Checked. Casual name-dropping by other indie acts/scenesters? Checked. Still, despite all evidence of the contrary, Spoon really manage to be one of a kind.

What makes them stand apart is what I used to call their trademark "coitus interruptus" sound, meaning infectious hooks that never really takes off and turn into a full-fledged chorus, remaining instead a hint, a tease to the ear.

This was especially apparent on one of their previous LPs, "Kill the moonlight", also a favourite of mine (not to say, the album through which I convinced most of my friends that this was truly a great band).

Beware, it is true that this album makes a few concessions to the classic song structure, thus slightly deviating from the aforementioned c.t. sound but, in the end, it's still there. Melodies that all sudden swerve to a different direction, riffs that instead of exploding into the boombastic apex you'd expext, implode or morph into something else.

I love this band and I think that this album will easily prove to be one of my favourite of the year (along with Blitzen Trapper's 'Wild Mountain Nation', for those interested).

I have to say this is maybe my least favorite Spoon album so far. Weird as it is, that's not really a bad thing. I feel Spoon is typically so good that anything lesser by comparison, is most likely still pretty good...Does that read as stupid as I think?

Anyway, I won't go over the songs individualy, since several people already have. However, I will list it with the other Spoon albums in order from favorite to least favorite to give an idea of how I categorized it.

1. Girls Can Tell - the first Spoon album for me, and still the strongest all the way through.

2. A Series of Sneaks - This album, to me, is almost as good as GCT, but it doesn't flow quite as well.

3. Gimme Fiction - I think this album would be my favorite if it stayed as strong as it started. The last few songs feel repetitive, and not in the good Spoon way.

4. Kill The Moonlight - Great songs, but it feels more like a singles collection than a proper album. Very brief too.

5. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - This one has a bit of the issue that Gimme Fiction has. Fairly strong start with a weak finish. Except the last song picks it back up. With more time, I may feel differently.

6. Telephono - I like it alot, but they hadn't quite gotten their own style yet. Good songs, though.

If I was to throw any EP's in there, I would probably put Soft Effects between 5 & 6 and I would place Love Ways between 1 & 2.