Musicheads ponder Ryan Adams, Battles, and Spoon

I'm glad I'm not the only disappointed by Spoon's efforts. I've gone back to listen to their earlier works, and i think they jumped the shark *starting* with Gimme Fiction.

Still love those early records like Telophono and Soft Effects--they sounded dangerous and subversive then--now, they've morphed into a mediocre pop band.

Thanks for the tip on Battles, Danny. I think "Math rock" is an unfortunate name, but can be an interesting listen at times. and Ryan Adams... well, still don't care. sorry, Ryan.

Ah, fresh Musicheads!

More melancholy music, man. The new Ryan Adams sounds like something I'm just not ready for right now... Frankly, you guys had some really pretty things to say about his new album - a few comments were more pretty than what I've heard from the actual album itself! (All that and some dismissal of Sheryl Crow?)

Spoon's latest hasn't hit my ears yet.

Nothin' wrong with Math, nothin' wrong with Rock-n-Roll, nothin' wrong with the two getting all mixed up. Not exactly dinner party music, but interesting listening. I think I'll be picking up that Battles album and setting the equalizer to deep-low-stun.

S'up fellas...I believe I heard someone say Ryan Adams puts out too much music. I thought of Robert Pollard when I heard this. I gave up being a diehard Guided by Voices fan because I just could not keep up with his output and I suspect that some people have jumped off the Ryan Adams bandwagon for similar reasons. But I don't have a problem with his being prolific. He's an artist who's working his stuff out and putting it out there for people to digest. Here's the question? Is it good? I like this new disc, Sheryl Crow notwithstanding!

Battles is something that's gonna have to work on me a little more. When is the right time for math- and post-rock? I say early to mid-late afternoon. ;)
I don't know...I think Slint were great. Rodan rocked. I like Tortoise alot. That whole Louisville/Chicago scene in the late 80's - early 90's was huge. BTW, thanks for the math rock clarification, Mark.

I love Spoon, but this record is forcing me to like it, instead of just letting it happen. I want so much to love it because Britt Daniel is fascinating to me and I've enjoyed every previous record, but it's just not happening. Perhaps it will grow on me. Sometimes, you make excuses for your favorite bands.
But, you guys didn't even mention Kill the Moonlight, which continues to be their high-water mark. Tsk tsk!

Battles

well as I just wrote the other day

Battles - Mirrored. I haven't spent a ton of time with this guy, but among a lot of buzz, I have gone back to it a couple of times. Mood music for myself. It does remind me well of 80's Crimson/Fripp/Eno and The Residents for what that's worth. I'm not fully clear on why it's as popular as it is however, but I suppose I could say the same about some "Post Rock."

Thank you all for dropping by! Yes Tony, Ryan has put out too many albums. I remember him releasing Heartbreaker & Gold right out of the gate after his days with Whiskeytown. Then he released several mediocre albums right in a row, then he released the excellent Cold Roses CD followed by several more less than great albums. Now that he has his life back in order I hope he is more consistent. He is one of the GREAT songwriters of today in my humble opinion!

Nobody has chimed in with any positive feedback on Spoon??

Last night's Spoon performance of The Underdog on Letterman (sorry, I don't have an available link) just shows the power of music in a live setting. It was so much more dynamic than it sounds on the record. I mean, it wasn't even close! Live horns will do it all the time!

I'm a BIG Ryan Adams fan, and I'm totally with Bill in that he is one of the best songwriters we have right now, but overall I'm so-so on the new album. There are some great songs on Easy Tiger, such as The Sun Also Sets and I Taught Myself How to Grow Old, but there's just something about it that hasn't quite hit me yet. The thing with Ryan is, a lot of his best stuff is found on his unreleased albums, especially The Suicide Handbook and 48 Hours. I'd encourage those who are "meh" about him to track those down.

As for the new Spoon, I'm really liking it! I've had You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb stuck in my head for the past three days.

Thanks for dropping by Elise! Nice to see Ryan is back w/his old manager. I think that & his band will help him with figuring out which is his best stuff & what should left unreleased.

Here is Spoon's video for "Underdog"

Hey Elise, have you ever heard Adams' fabled mandolin cover of the Strokes' "Is This It" album? Part of me has always wanted to hear it, but then again, I know it's still probably relatively underwhelming and predictable. ("still probably relatively"? How's that for ambiguity??)

I think "Easy Tiger" ranks with Adams' best, "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" is a good example of what 21st-century pure pop should sound like, and that Battles record is overrated.

I like the new Spoon album quite a bit. I've only played it through once, but I'm already a bigger fan of it than Gimme Fiction, which really never clicked with me. It's certainly very similar to past efforts, but I certainly like past efforts. I'll have to have a few more listens before I have any more developed thoughts...

No, I've never heard the Strokes cover. That seems to be the Holy Grail for some Ryan Adams fans. I think I remember reading an interview in which Ryan said he recorded this while he was recovering from a few root canals, so you may be right to be wary of the quality.

For those interested, Ryan and the Cardinals will be on Leno tomorrow night. His voice lately is something to behold, so it should be a great performance!

Busy summer just listen to the show. Good stuff guys and others that came in above. Have been a Ryan Adams fan for awhile but have always found it spotty and yes some of the recent work was dreadful. Look forward to getting more familiar with Easy Tiger. A few of his songs rank in my all time favorites. "Luminol" from Rock and Roll is just that, a rocker and great one for my ipod on a run. And "Hallelujah" on Demolition a great upbeat Alt Country number. Loved Spoon's Gimme Fiction CD and am more curious about the new one. "the underdog" sounds good.

yes! someone else likes "Rock N Roll"!

Is it uncool for someone to have a favorite band? Does it automatically make you ineligible for musichead status, particularly when said favorite band is a contemporary band? I am a rabid Spoon fan, have been since their early days. Which doesn't mean I'm an expert on them, but it does mean I will geek out over them and wax poetically about their merits anytime I'm asked. That said, my favorite Spoon record remains A Series of Sneaks. And I feel that Telefono and Soft Effects were just Spoon warming up, trying to figure out who they wanted to be. Sneaks, to me, was the pinnacle. But albums after that had their merits--they retained that trademark, spare, muscular sound while expanding into different territories. I think of Sneaks as the 0 balance on the scale--in one direction is the poppy, melodious stuff, and in the other are their weirder experiments. And it seems that on each album since Sneaks, we get songs that are on both sides of the scale. There have been high points to all of the albums. And while it may be true that albums like Gimmie Fiction and maybe even Ga Ga Ga (...) weren't solid all the way through, I think of Spoon less like a rock band and more like a visual artist: what's going to matter, ultimately, is the retrospective, the whole body of the band's work. Which I find solid and always surprising. Ga Ga didn't get me immediately, but like all their albums, it got under my skin. That's just Spoon's way of seducing you--slow and sneaky.