billy g Wrote:
FT wrote a kickass review of KTM when it first came out about how its the most subtle (while I don't think necessarily his favorite) of Spoon's albums. I wonder if he has it anywhere because he put it much better than I could.
I originally posted this to rateyourmusic.com (remember when we were all on THAT kick, kids?) on 8/15/2002...
Quote:
The line between self-indulgent experimentation and quantum creative development is hardly visible to anything this side of the Hubble Telescope. Neither side of the line subscribes to the “give the people what they want” theory (mockingly espoused by The Kinks’ identically-titled 1981 album), so both are susceptible to a potentially career-ending erosion of fan base. Not that Spoon’s spent the past several years touring filled stadiums on the heels of multi-platinum selling albums, but the very fact that their following is barely large enough to survive the loss of so much as a Telephono booth full of fans makes any such deviation from expectations even riskier.
With last year’s universally acclaimed Girls Can Tell, Spoon finally got a taste of the success that had eluded them while suffering through major label purgatory. Far more focused and polished than any of their previous efforts, GCT seemed to foreshadow an opportunity for Spoon to not only overcome their devastating Electra experience, but to actually end up better off than if they had never been dropped in the first place. But if you know anything about Britt Daniel and Jim Eno, it’s that they aren’t interested in delivering what’s expected simply to enhance their popularity. Ergo, Kill the Moonlight...
On the surface, this album has nothing whatsoever to do with its elder siblings in the Spoon back catalog, yet upon closer inspection, the same DNA is revealed. Daniel and Eno first tinkered with the chemistry of unorthodox sound patterns and rhythms on A Series of Sneaks, but masterfully used a solid backbone of guitar to harness the maelstrom. On KTM, they forgo any such restraint, in favor of a symphonically sparse experience likely to be quite jarring for those in search of GCT 2. Those willing to stay aboard for another ride will soon find the initial shock to their system replaced by a feeling of aural excitement more satisfying than just about anything you’ll find in an amusement park this summer.
The tone is set right from the get-go, with the lead-off track “Small Stakes” and its telling line, “I don’t dig the Stripes, but I go for Har Mar,” which alerts listeners to the fact that there will be no attempt on this album to emulate the in-vogue bombast of Jack & Meg White. In fact, hardly a drumbeat can be heard until nearly a minute into the second track, “The Way We Get By,” which somehow manages to lend appeal to the “van down by the river” lifestyle once preached as a cautionary tale by Chris Farley’s Matt Foley character from Saturday Night Live. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the pot references here are accompanied by rollicking piano, rather than the crash of an obese motivational speaker splintering a coffee table.
By the time an actual, honest-to-God guitar lick surfaces on the third track in, “Something to Look Forward To,” it’s become apparent that Spoon is a guitar band that can actually thrive without one. Even so, as Daniel continues to impress on each successive album with his distinctive chops, what’s become most impressive of all is his innate knack for knowing exactly whether or not a song needs it, where a song needs it, and how loudly a song needs it. Yet even more impressive than that is how he continues to successfully hit upon unconventional components, or even some which might be widely considered passé, such as when he finds his inner Bobby McFerrin in the human beat-box driven “Stay Don’t Go,” which emphatically confirms this isn’t your “Everything Hits at Once” Spoon anymore.
For those who question whether Spoon is still capable of kickin’ out the jams, the full-throttle rocker “Jonathon Fisk” chronicles the universal bully vs. victim story in vivid flashback-quality detail, with such lines as, “Jonathon Fisk / always a risk / tells me he counts my teeth every night.” But without resorting to the eventual Columbinesque denouement of such revenge-based ancestors as Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy,” Daniel’s protagonist simply wants to give the bully a taste of his own medicine (“I wanna turn him around / turn him around.”). The following track, “Paper Tiger,” starts the second half of the record in a similarly sparse manner to “Small Stakes.” Never before have drumsticks played a more vital role in a song.
Spoon’s secret weapon – the piano – returns to the forefront with a vengeance on the relentlessly infectious “Someone Something,” where another telling line crystallizes Daniel and Eno’s 2002 mission statement: “Take some stock in what you are / once you see what you’ve got.” In addition to the lyrical revelations, the last half of KTM features plenty of the studio hijinks and tomfoolery for which Spoon is known, such as the false start to the greatest FM radio hit that will never be broadcast, “Don’t Let It Get You Down,” and the equally disturbing and engaging laughter at the beginning of “Back to the Life,” which uses a loop of Led Zeppelin’s “Boogie with Stu” in lieu of a rhythm section. Both tracks succeed on a grand scale, not in spite of, but because of such inspired goofiness.
If there’s any track on this entire album which could have just as easily fit on GCT, it’s “All the Pretty Girls Go to the City,” which means it will probably be most people’s favorite Spoon song this year. But that’s OK, because it also features some of Eno’s finest moments behind a drum kit. Meanwhile, the heart of the minute-and-a-half adrenaline burst called “You Gotta Feel It” is a horn section that’s both greasy and peppy.
KTM closes in epic fashion, with the tender and poignant pseudo-ballad “Vittorio E.,” which marks Daniel’s crowning achievement as a songwriter. Both lyrically and musically, Daniel hits all the right notes on this beautiful ender. The river that snakes through this song signifies not only the winding journey Spoon has taken to reach this point in their career, but makes it as clear as the spring-fed water that they have no plans to row the boat ashore for the security of greener pastures anytime soon.
