Auditor - Britt Daniel/Brian Reitzell - Stranger Than Fiction(OST) - 2006

We ate lobster rolls on the water at a place called The Chart House, which I gather was at one time John Hancock's counting house. The history nerd in me couldn't help but be amused by this fact. We sat outside, next to a family gathering of sorts. There were two older parents, with their adult son and his girlfriend/wife/fiancee and an additional man who I think was the other son, but who said very little. In fact most of them said very little, save for the daugher in law (or whatever) who did not shut up through the entire meal. Her father in law, clearly detested her and would occassionally attempt to talk to the men about the Red Sox, only for her to dominate the conversation the whole time.

The thing that always baffles me about people who talk loudly and constantly in public, is that they seem completely unaware that they are broadcasting information about themselves to everyone around them. They are giving everyone ample opportunity to judge them...and generally with this type of person, there is plenty to judge. This woman was clearly shallow and materialistic, petty and amused by awful things. She told a story about how as a child they'd take vacations where her family would drive an RV to a destination only to sleep in the hotel. It never seemed to occur to her that this might make her appear pampered and awful. She never thought of these things, all she could think of was how wonderful it was to have people listening to her, to be the center of attention...regardless of whether that attention was meritted. The arrival of her food did not stop her verbal diaherria.

Following our meal, we went to the Aquarium, standing in line for nearly 1/2 an hour to get tickets. Nearly a decade in NYC has made me forget a truth about museums of any type in American places that are not NYC, a lesson I should have remembered from my trip to DC. NYC, due to it's booming tourism industry and self appointed need to be seen as a cultural epicenter, regards its museums with a sort of European air. Museums are places where adults go to be edified about culture or educated about science. Museums in any other American city are places you take your kids so you can pretend you are doing something "educational"

The Aquarium itself was impressive, with it's central cone of water with a descending ramp wrapped around it and individual exhibits on the oppossing wall. The problem is, you couldn't get anywhere near these exhibits due to the sheer mass of children between you and what you'd want to see. Being polite, I'd stand aside and wait for a group of kids to clear...as soon as they did I'd step up and look at what I wanted to see...only for another group of kids to decide that the space between me and the glass was a place they could stand to get a better view...never mind that someone else was there first and viewing the fish. After about 45 minutes we gave up...there was just no way the kids were going to be polite, and no way that we were going to get to see what we want. With a few exceptions, it was $21 down the drain. If I had wanted to be annoyed by children, I could have just gone to Park Slope for the day.

Listening to these songs in alphabetical order means that I have heard this brief instrumental, performed by Britt Daniel of Spoon on the Stranger Than Fiction soundtrack, several times immediately following "Audience with the Pope"...the problem is that for the first few listens, I assumed that this was just an outro to the previous song. It actually works really well, in fact I think they are even in the same key and the same basic tempo. What is ultimately a coincidence of the alphabet and my particular tastes makes sure that "Audience..." well always sound a bit too brief without it's "Outro".

Anything You Want - Spoon - Girls Can Tell - 2000

Ok, so I have a category for perfect songs, and I can hardly think of a better entry for it than this little gem from Spoon. At a spry 2:17 it is unbelievably short, but still seems to pack the same punch as a longer song all the while managing to be both remarkably laid back and heartbreakingly romantic.

In terms of sound, this song prefigures the musical choices that would become more quintessentially Spoon on later albums, primarily in the use of sonic vacuums to suggest the space in which other instruments would later appear. Take the piano riff that serves as the songs primary bass line (There is a bass part, but it's pretty innocuous). The first measure is played at regular volume whereas the second measure is played in hushed and subdued manner...once you are somewhat familiar with the song this space in the second measure is identifiable as the place in which the guitar will appear in the second pass through. Spoon want you to see how their songs are put together, so they show you the place in between the instruments.

Beyond that...the lyrics are...that wonderful mix of nonchalant and lovelorn. Somehow, the line "I'll be in the back room drinking my half of the beer" ends up sounding like the sexiest come on line ever, and the amazing one-breath delivery of "You know you're the one and that that hasn't changed since you were 19 and still in school waiting on the light at the corner by Sound Exchange" becomes a pledge of eternal devotion.

Like I said, perfect song.

All The Negatives Have Been Destroyed - Spoon - Telephono - 1996

So this new ice cream place opened up on my block this weekend. Okay, you're thinking...ice cream memorial day weekend, nice weather, ice cream...what could be better? But the issue is a touch more complicated than all that. My once predominately west indian block is facing the ever present Brooklynite threat of "Gentrification"...and to make matters worse, the ice cream shop was marketed explicitly to children, including providing a "play space" for children in the back room. All day long on Saturday (literally all day long...) there were lines of strollers coming out the store.

For those that haven't followed such items as this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/fashion/18slope.html?ex=1368676800&en=2d86b649d544b327&ei=5124&partner=facebook&exprod=facebook
...the stroller is something of a symbol for everything a certain contingent of us do not want to see Brooklyn become. So seeing this line of strollers, all day long, ignoring the countless chicken wing-bones and broken glass on the sidewalk...just to access a glorified McDonald land park did not sit well with me.

I do have to say though...the ice cream was pretty decent.

Anyway, this is from Spoon's first album, before they had really figured out their own identity and were still trying to be a Texan Pixies clone. This is one of the better songs off of Telephono though.

The Agony of Laffitte - A Series of Sneaks - 1998

This is pretty much where the legend of Spoon begins, like the most delicate version of NIN's Broken EP, this is Spoon railing against their mistreatment by a major label. Of course, in hindsight it's pretty hard to feel bad for them. In the interim they signed with artist friendly Merge records, had each record grow in both commercial appeal and critical respect, have had their songs used in car commercials, movie trailers, and tv shows. Britt even got a cameo on Veronica Mars.

Still Ron Laffitte (the A&R rep railed about in this song) was clearly an asshole.

The Agony of Laffitte - Britt Daniel - 2001 NYU

So, when I think of the studio version of this song in my head I tend to think of it as just Britt and a guitar, but this live version, in which it actually is just that, is actually fairly useful in demonstrating how much atmosphere there is to the studio version. Not that this is a bad version, Daniel has an amazingly persuasive voice, but I find myself missing the multi-tracked vocals, the little bits of ambient noise (the ocean? traffic?), the subtle drums, the xylophone.

Bet you didn't even know all that stuff was there, did you?

Advance Cassette - Spoon - A Series of Sneaks - 1998

So, I gave new meaning to the term douchebaggery last night. In the span of one evening, I managed to crash a corporate party of a company I haven't worked for in almost a year, insult a pregnant woman, aggressively hit on an engaged woman in front of her fiance, not pay for a single drink, eat two plates of calamari, neither of which I ordered or payed for, bum two cigarettes and somehow came home with a fifth of JD in messenger bag...and on the plus side the calamari was quite tasty. Good times, good times.

Anyway, A Series of Sneaks is either the first Spoon album on which they sound like themselves, or the last one in which they were a traditional guitar band...depending on your point of view. I like that ten years later this song is already obsolete. I can see school children right now saying "what the hell is a cassette?" But I remember when you'd get that sneaky cassette copy of a bands new album before the official release...and I'd be pissed if I lost it too.