Music - Band of the Week: Spoon

I cannot remember what first got me into Spoon. As far as I recollect it was around 2008 and I was in serious need of refreshing my music collection. 

Thanks to family friends I had gone through my angst-ridden youth phase much earlier than normal.

At my Year 5 talent contest in the Isle of White - it was a school trip there, we didn't go specifically for the talent contest - I lip-synced expertly to Conspiracy of One by The Offspring. Some handstands were involved somewhere as well. I won best music performance (my performing career has been downhill since then). 

But I grew out of the whole pop-punk scene pretty early. American Idiot, rather than being the start, was kind of the swan song for me.

In 2008, aged 16 I was going through my pretentious phase and regarded everything Pitchfork wrote as gospel. As well as I can remember I saw Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga on a "Best of 2007" list and my interest was piqued enough to give it a listen. 

Since then I've been a huge Spoon fan, with their 2002 album Kill The Moonlight a favourite. 

What is perhaps the most astonishing about the five-piece is their consistency. They genuinely haven't made a dud record since their second album, A Series of Sneaks (1998).

2005 saw the funky Gimme Fiction, 2007 the aforementioned Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Transference came out in 2010 and they have just released They Want My Soul (which I have not got round to listening to yet, I must admit. 

For some unknown reason the band simply haven't caught on in the UK at all. Far from household names in their native United States, I still would have expected them to have caught on somewhat on this side of the pond. 

One of my favourite things about Spoon is their diversity despite having a definite "sound". They have a kind of pop-funk sound generally but they roll with it liberally and explore other arenas of noise. 

From the beatbox-based Stay Don't Go, to staccato, haunting The Ghost of You Lingers, to the acoustic I Summon You, to the is-this-funky-enough-for-you I Turn My Camera On they excel. 

Led by charismatic frontman Britt Daniel they were the best overall band of the 00s according to review-aggregating site Metacritic. 

They're not just sonically blessed - they've delivered some lyrical corkers over the years too. Personal favourite is Jonathon Fisk from Kill The Moonlight, written about a bully from Britt Daniel's youth. 

Jonathan Fisk says it's a sin but he don't think twice 'cause to him, religion don't mean a thing, just another way to be right wing.

Then there is You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb from Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga all about breaking up and losing the romantic spark. Britt said of the song: "This song is saying “You need to blow out that flame, we lost it long ago.” It’s actually a really sad song."

So there you go again, out in your dressing gown, get yourself to bed, blow out that cherry bomb.

 Another track from Kill The Moonlight, The Way We Get By, also sounds cheery on first lesson but a darker realisation hides in the chorus. The lyrics speak of getting high and buying pot but just the title of the song suggests it is a sad kind of necessity  It's what they need to do to function. 

Best album: Kill The Moonlight 

Listen to: 

1. I Turn My Camera On
2. The Underdog
3. Jonathon Fisk 
4. Who Makes Your Money
5. 30 Gallon Tank
6. Stay Don't Go
7. The Ghost of You Lingers