Neon Musical Insight

Saturday, August 7

Saturday morning, the sound of the Pixies’ “Where is my Mind” echoed through the trees, beckoning fans toward the PlayStation stage, where the Kissaway Trail were acing a cover of the song. It was their second-to-last, and they made me regret not showing up earlier to catch their whole performance. After their set ended, people gathered in preparation for the Wild Beasts. The group’s two vocalists, Tom Fleming and Hayden Thorpe, performed a free in-store at Chicago’s downtown Apple store, and the semi-acoustic set put the pair’s vocals front and center. At the Lolla performance, the vocals blended more in the sea of keys, guitars and drums. Thorpe’s unique countertenor is incredible to hear in person; its high pitch soars through the air and gives the Beasts’ songs an otherworldly flair. However, the scene-stealer was Fleming on “All the King’s Men” from the group’s sophomore album. He hits the opening “Watch me!” on-pitch, and then his voice dives down, coming out like rich, smooth chocolate. Both at the in-store and at Lolla, a few crowd members let loose howls and applause after Fleming hit his “Watch me!”’s for the second time. The Beasts excel in live settings, and unquestionably had a breakout Lolla performance.

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This latest video for Spoon’s “Written in Reverse,” off of their highly-celebrated latest album Transference, gives an insiders look at some behind-the-scenes shooting, and finds the band confronting their own reflections.

In support of CoCo, Spoon brought their first single — “Written in Reverse — off of their latest, Transference with them to his Tonight show, for what may be one of Conan’s final shows on NBC (rumor has it). Check out a recent review from Neon of Spoon’s latest here.

Many have been describing Spoon’s latest effort, Transference, as being the bands “Spooniest” record to date, including lead singer Britt Daniels, who caught up for a recent chat with the NY Times. While I can’t quite explain what it means to be “Spoony”, I think it’s easy enough to understand what Daniels meant by this statement. It’s Spoon at their rawest, finest, and most eloquent, all rolled up into a tightly packed ball that trails down a path of curiously addictive musicality, unafraid to span the entire universe. Follow? Well let me divulge.

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As announced yesterday, Spoon’s latest LP Transference can be streamed now over at NPR’s website and is set to release a week from today, so its only fitting that they would release killer info regarding an upcoming tour with an impressive bunch to support, right? Well that’s exactly what Spoon has done, grabbing Bradford Cox’s Deerhunter and Micachu and the Shapes for a good chunk of tour dates to support, including a sure-to-be memorable night at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.  Tour Dates below:

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With Spoon’s new album Transference set to release in a little over a week, NPR’s offering an exclusive first listen, where you can stream the entire album beginning today. Check here to listen to it now. Transference will be out on January 19 via Merge.

DOWNLOAD MP3: Spoon – “Got Nuffin”

With Spoon’s latest album Transference set to drop January 19 via Merge, Itunes is now offering 30 second previews of each track, and the option to pre-order the album now, by following this link. A special “pre-order only” video entitled “The Actualization of Written in Reverse” is also available to those who reserve, documenting the band behind the recording process of Transference. From the previews, most of the tracks seem like classic Spoon, upbeat and good old fashioned Rock ‘N Roll.  Enhance excitement level a whole 25%.

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Spoon’s new album Transference – set to drop now on January 19th – is easily the most anticipated album of 2010, and has been self-described by NPR as possibly being the bands strongest album to date. Now, the artwork has been exposed, and NPR is streaming the first studio single off of the album entitled “Written in Reverse”. Check it over at their blog.

The album artwork was shot by famed photographer William Eggleston, who has built the name for himself through his vintage style of photography, and as being one of the first artists to provide a tightly held grip on color photography. The original shot, that is titled as “Sumner, Mississippi, c. 1970″, went for a whopping $86,500 at an auction last year.

The new single “You in Reverse” will be released digitally tomorrow and will be physically released on 7″ on January 5th.

In what most likely is an extra precautionary to thwart advanced leaks of Spoon’s highly anticipated forthcoming album Transference, the band has just broke news that they plan to bump up the album to a release of January 19th as opposed to the originally intended 26th via Merge Records. In addition, the band also have revealed that the albums first single – entitled “Written in Reverse” – will be released digitally on December 1st and on 7″ on January 5th, with a b-side entitled “Mean Red Spider” receiving inyl-only treament. An increased salivation rate is only natural.