SPOON

'Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga'

After their last release, 2005's 'Gimme Fiction', I didn't know what to expect from Britt Daniel's latest release. While there were definite moments of said album I really enjoyed, that album's foray in to more of soulful sound than some of it's weirder more-angular sounding older siblings never quite hooked me to put it into regular rotation. It was with the taste of that album still in my mouth, that I looked forward to 'Ga * 5' w/ a little bit of trepidation.After listening to it at least twenty times since then, i'm happy to say that is album actually exceeded my expectations and seems to be getting better w/ each listen.

An amalgamation of everything from The Stones to The Clash to The Jam to The Pixies...this disc seemed to take equal parts of elements from all their previous releases and meld them together into one cohesive and enjoyable Spoon album. The band channels a Motown sound complete w/ xylophones and saxes on my favorite track 'You Got Your Cherry Bomb' (sample to the right) and peppers a tasty groove ditty w/ some of those trademark weird Spoon sonic flourishes on the also excellent 'Finer Feelings'.

Like previous albums, a lot the lyrics sometimes border on nonsense (yet sounding so perfect and clever coming from this band), but this one throws in a few political digs at the current administration...the 'nuclear dicks with their dialect drawls' line on 'Don't Make Me a Target' is excellent wordplay.

The album's official release date is July 10th, but you can get a taste via the blogosphere leaks that have been underway for weeks. That said, this is a keeper and worth shilling out $ for once it drops. Much like Voxtrot and The National, I see this one finding a spot somewhere on the list come year's end. SPOOOOOOOON!