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Published: Jan 27, 2010

Spoon!

Spoon Transference (Merge)

You know: Spoon might just be the most reliable franchise in indie rock. Transference is just like the previous seven albums: clean-cut but ballsy, uptempo but not even a little bit aggro. Guitar, bass, drums, keys, singer Britt Daniel's fine rasp — everybody's on the same page, synched up, interlocking. Wait: Am I saying they're in a rut? More like a groove. This is a rare thing, a band getting in the zone and staying there. Which: Is not to say there are no weird moments. "The Mystery Zone" is so catchy, simple and vague, it could be the theme song to some cancelled thriller TV show. And "Who Makes Your Money" is a little silly. Except: Silly for Spoon is still all business.

- Patrick Rapa

Friends to the NZ

Various Artists Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox (Merge)

Behold: A two-disc, 36-artist comp covering work from New Zealand's impish national treasure Chris Knox (Tall Dwarfs), who was felled by a stroke in June. It's: Jam-packed with names familiar (Yo La Tengo, The Mountain Goats, The Bats) and less so (The Mint Chicks, The Tokey Tones). Tragically: Jay Reatard's "Pull Down the Shades" casts a somber pale over the celebration. However: En-zed old-head David Kilgour's recasting of "Nothing's Going to Happen" as a hymn of reassurance is the comp's spiritual center. Then again: Boh Runga's torchy take on "Not Given Lightly" intensifies its exquisite yearning. For the win: Stroke concludes with two tracks (dig Tall Dwarfs' endearing "Sunday Song") with wordless vocals from Knox himself. Go to: mergerecords.com/stroke.

- Brian Howard

 

The Longest Weekend

Vampire Weekend Contra (XL)

So yeah: Hail the returning soft-hipster champs, full of grace, with their clean-cut pop and unscuffed Hush Puppies. If: You hated them in '08, The California-themed Contra won't help. It's an amped-up version of VW's Paul Simonized eponymous debut — all the same fruit smoothie vocals, plinky guitars and Africanish beats. OK: There are a couple new tricks — brief auto-tuning, a Postal Service-able electronica thing, perhaps some light Caribbeanisms and flickers of rock ambition. You know: That point where somebody's so damn pleasant you just want to punch them in the face? Well, that's sick and you're sick.

- Patrick Rapa

Exile in Girlville
Lost Controls
Peru!
Bells Bells Bells
Circulasione Totale