Favorite Albums: 2000-200423. Spoon, Girls Can TellOriginal position on my Stylus ballot: n/a While Spoon’s fourth album, Kill The Moonlight, was the official Spoon Are A Big Deal Now album, only their first, Telephono, deemed too derivative of the Pixies for hipsters in 1996, received anything close to negative press. Personally, I’ll take their Wire-meets-Nirvana over Wire-meets-Billy-Joel just on principle, plus KTM collapses into dub effects on the second half. But in general, Britt Daniel’s long-running project has been remarkably consistent in its  metronomic minimalism. Christgau rates them on how much meaning he can make out in the lyrics, but I just go on how many jingles I love and whether the less gripping numbers still continue the groove. Girls Can Tell also stands out as the segue between the guitar-centric early work and the finger-snapping that followed, with indie snarlers like “Fitted Shirt” sharing space with boomer boogies like “Take The Fifth.” Aside from the occasional romantic yearn like “Everything Hits At Once,” Daniel’s words mean less than the instrumental fill (or lack thereof) that follows them. But it’s not like I was happy when REM started printing lyric sheets.

Favorite Albums: 2000-2004
23. Spoon, Girls Can Tell
Original position on my Stylus ballot: n/a

While Spoon’s fourth album, Kill The Moonlight, was the official Spoon Are A Big Deal Now album, only their first, Telephono, deemed too derivative of the Pixies for hipsters in 1996, received anything close to negative press. Personally, I’ll take their Wire-meets-Nirvana over Wire-meets-Billy-Joel just on principle, plus KTM collapses into dub effects on the second half.

But in general, Britt Daniel’s long-running project has been remarkably consistent in its  metronomic minimalism. Christgau rates them on how much meaning he can make out in the lyrics, but I just go on how many jingles I love and whether the less gripping numbers still continue the groove. Girls Can Tell also stands out as the segue between the guitar-centric early work and the finger-snapping that followed, with indie snarlers like “Fitted Shirt” sharing space with boomer boogies like “Take The Fifth.” Aside from the occasional romantic yearn like “Everything Hits At Once,” Daniel’s words mean less than the instrumental fill (or lack thereof) that follows them. But it’s not like I was happy when REM started printing lyric sheets.