Video: Spoon – “The Hardest Cut”

From Lucifer on the Sofa, out February 11 on Matador.

It’s fucking weird out there, gang. I mean…when is it not weird anymore? Are we forever stuck in this real-life Chinese curse of “interesting times” where a half-wit gameshow host dictates the ebb and flow of current events in exile at his faux palace in Florida? Is this it now?

It’s good to have something to look forward to and who better to deliver than the most consistently good band of the last 20 years? The press release says, “Spoon’s tenth album, Lucifer on the Sofa, is the band’s purest rock ‘n roll record to date.” And by God, that’s exactly what we need. Returning to their roots in Austin, Texas for recording, the first single is indeed a scorcher.

Here’s how I imagine the video treatment being pitched:

Opening title: Spoon, The Hardest Cut [slasher film type]

Interior 1: Spooky house set with eclectic, Victorian-leaning decor. A cast of odd characters evenly spaced and rhythmically rocking.

Interior 2: A small study (upstairs or downstairs from Interior 1). A female is tied to a chair facing a menacing male holding a knife.

I won’t give away any more spoilers but suffice it to say this is a Lynchian freakout that’s perfect for the song…and the times.

Britt Daniel describes the sound of the album as, “the sound of classic rock as written by a guy who never did get Eric Clapton.” If that isn’t the perfect description of GLONO’s beat, then I don’t know what I’m doing here.

“I spent a lot of 2018 and 2019 listening to ZZ Top.”

Eh…close enough.

Video: Spoon – “Do I Have to Talk You Into It”

From Hot Thoughts, out now on Matador.

A classic Spoon jam with a manic Photoshop tutorial? You can’t say the band doesn’t know their audience. I imagine boutique design studios all over the country cranking this jam during the interview sessions where they whiteboard out desired career paths and sip kombucha from wooden cups.

Spoon: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

Video: Spoon – “I Ain’t The One”

From Hot Thoughts, out now on Matador.

Spoon ain’t the one, the one to get played like a poop butt. See, they’re from the street so they know what’s up.

Wait wait, wrong song. As much as I’d love to hear Spoon cover N.W.A, this is an original and the real star of the show is Alex Fischel’s electric piano. Sometimes you forget that there are other people in the band besides Britt Daniel, but there are and “I Ain’t The One” is a good reminder. When Jim Eno’s drums kick in two solid minutes into the song, you’re like, “Oh yeah, rock and roll!”

Spoon: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

Continue reading New Spoon video: I Ain’t The One →

Video: Spoon – “Hot Thoughts”

They got around to making a video for the title track of their new album, Hot Thoughts, out now on Matador. Lots of footage from SXSW. “If you missed it you may now see it. If you were there you may now relive it.”

Britt Daniel talked to Esquire about the inspiration for the song:

Daniel got the idea from a Japanese kid in Shibuya who hit on his girlfriend. “He was smoking a cigarette, and couldn’t really speak English, but was pointing to her teeth and saying her teeth were so sexy and bright,” Daniel says. “And I thought that was a pretty far out, maybe desperate but funny way of hitting on her.” So, Hot Thoughts are thoughts about sex, which is a topic Spoon has never really overtly covered so overtly in a song before.

“Your teeth shining so white / Light up this side street in Shibuya tonight.”

That interview also reveals that Spoon considered packing it in after “the rare misstep Transference in 2010.” I didn’t realize that album was considered a failure. I dug it.

Spoon: web, twitter, fb, amazon, wiki.

Video: Spoon – “Can I Sit Next To You”

From Hot Thoughts, due March 17 on Matador.

Like a lot of Spoon songs “Can I Sit Next To You” takes a few spins to reveal its mysteries. Simple and supple, groovy and woozy, each sound placed deliberately in the mix, this becomes the soundtrack to walking through crowded streets on a sunny day. “Gonna get kicks every night / no one’s holding me back / no one’s changing my mind.” Let’s go.

Continue reading New Spoon video: Can I Sit Next To You →