To me, Kill the Moonlight is one of the bench mark albums of the early 00's underground. Literally, from the first SECOND I heard the guitar intro to "Small Stakes," I was sold on Spoon. Every song was so goddamn catchy and strange at the same time. Minimal to their core but poppy and immediate, with Britt Daniel's smoky voice and strange, surreal lyrics setting a mood that can only be described with contradictory adjectives and metaphors. Basically, the perfect album for its time and place: 2002.

Gimme Fiction was supposed to be the band's coming out party, the one that would turn them into minor indie rock celebrities. And even if it didn't do that, it did prove to be a worthy, if slightly inferior follow up that was still good enough to be one of the best albums in a year that saw some incredible releases. This album is Spoon finding its unique sound, mixing much of the sparse minimalism of Kill with the more complex layering and pure pop of Girls Can Tell. The first comparison that comes to mind is John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band, with its somber, ominous story telling and dark mood. However, like Plastic this is also one that sounds full of hope. Britt Daniel's vocals are the real star here, showing off his suddenly expanded range on songs like "Turn my Camera On" and "The Beast and Dragon Adored" where he launches into falsetto at several points. And what about "Turn my Camera On?" Was that one of the greatest songs of 2005 or fucking what? Spoon's M.O. seems to include having at least one unbelievably catchy song per album at least, and with Camera this album was no different.

the combination of better singing (although Daniel was already an amazing vocalist) and a band that seems more confident and comfortable in its own skin than ever before made Gimme Fiction feel like a record by a band in its prime. The album that I bet 10 years from now the band will call its favorite. Although not as immediately gripping as Moonlight, no one has a sound quite like Spoon, and they're doing exactly what the fuck they want without for one second giving in to the industry snakes that know as well as the band does that Spoon could probably write top ten singles in its sleep. Instead, they continue to challenge listeners and make it a pleasure to accept their dare.

1. Centro-Matic (Dan's Silverleaf Denton)
We haven't listened to these guys in a long time, but remember liking them quite a bit back in the diz. Solid alt-country, none of that pretty boy Ryan Adams bullshit.

2. Mile End w/ Dj Laureen (Fallout Lounge)
For the love of Christ if you're gonna go to Expo park on Thursday nights, go listen to some good music instead of some jack ass singing "Paradise City." Won't you?

3. Wild In the Streets: The growing buzz about this night continues in Denton, and tonight it travels down to Dallas. Go see what its all about.

(If anyone knows of anything else going on tonight, drop us a line and let us know: weshotjr@yahoo.com

So we're giving this whole file storage thing a try by posting a couple Mp3s by one of our new favorite local bands, the Undoing of David Wright. If these links don't work for some reason, let us know and we'll try to fix them.

These songs are just a little taste however, my friends. You really need to go see them live, like now. And if the crowds are as big as the one at Double Wide last weekend, the shows will be even more fun... and you can also go to their website for more info about shows and all that goings on.

The Mp3:

Heres one

Heres the other

( I guess these links take you to another page where you can download the file... Well, its a start isn't it? By the way, we just checked and the downloads work fine.)

So to all those people who think that environmental issues and global warming in particular are partisan issues where liberals think this and conservatives think that and blah blah blah "theres not enough science" and "some scientists think global warming doesn't actually exist," take a look at this. Anyone, politician or otherwise, that claims there to be a serious debate over whether global warming is actually occurring and/or whether or not humans are at least partially to blame and can do something about it is either

1) a completely ignorant jackass OR
2) a liar.

Its good to see that responsible Republicans (No its not an oxymoron, but close) are starting to question the way this administration addresses environmental issues (it doesn't), in addition to the way that it (mis)communicates with the American people on the issue. And tell me again, how exactly does the Kyoto protocol affect U.S. competitiveness in the global economy when we are behind the vast majority of industrialized nations in environmental regulations, with the exception of China? Something to think about. More to come tonight...

Its called Gorllia vs Bear (click here). I'm sure most of you have read it before, but we just wanted to say how much we like reading it, and that it is in fact a local blog although it covers mostly national music. Go read, jerks.

ALSO: This blog has some really cool pictures from a really cool idea on it. What kind of secrets do you have? We've got a few.

1. The Party w/ DJ Nature (Rubber Gloves)
This is apparently the first week for this DJ night. We checked out the Myspace page and it sounds like this guy has his shit together... some minimal electronica with a party vibe, and a cool MIA remix. Perhaps the start of something good on the weekdays in Denton...

2. 80's night with DJ G (Cavern)

I guess thats pretty dumb. Anyway, we've got more stuff coming for you today, including some MP3s, another Bestest Album, a review of Bosque Brown, and your mom.



Also the It list, of course.

Man, sometimes I really hate bands like Deerhoof. And until fairly recently, I actually hated Deerhoof. You see, they were one of those bands that I never "got" but always felt like I was supposed to. You know the bands I mean. The ones that friends rave about. The ones that get mostly great reviews in publications that you respect. But no matter how hard you try, you just can't seem to understand why. I mean, I saw them as a couple of avant tard art students and some strange Japanese girl singing off key. Big deal. They reminded me of every annoying K records band from the early 90s that I was also supposed to like but didn't.

Hearing The Runners Four didn't really change my attitude. Ok, more of the same weird for the sake of being weird stuff. Maybe I'm not very "artsy" I thought, maybe I'm "losing my edge." For some reason however, I kept listening to this record. I don't know why: boredom(s) perhaps. Maybe just to give them a fair chance before I wrote them off for good. Whatever it was, something happened after the third listen or so. I started to hear the pop melodies. The abrupt changes started to make sense. The rhythm section started to really impress me. The little hooks started getting stuck in my head. And before I knew it I was telling people about Deerhoof, and even started raving about their singer, which is something that I would have made fun of just a few months before. This is certainly the most poppy record they've ever made, and probably the best introduction for someone that hasn't heard them. But to be sure, they aren't for everyone: the changes are still strange, the vocals are still taxing, and its still an all around difficult record to listen to. However, like me, you might start to hear things differently after a couple of listens. You might start to hear delicate, quite textures and foot tapping rhythms. As you listen to songs like "Wrong Time Capsule," you might start to hear classic rock as fuck guitar parts, and you might start to wonder how you could have classified this band as anything but rock n roll despite their inescapable art school vibe. And listening to "Spirit Ditties Of No Tone" for the 3rd or 4th time, you might start to wonder why you hadn't noticed how catchy Deerhoof could be despite their unconventional approach to song structure. And then you might start to wonder why you didn't like them before even though you've always liked Stereolab and the Slits.

Or maybe you won't. You might just keep making fun of me and people like me for being slaves to the indie hype machine, for liking a band just because Pitchfork does. Thats fine... I used to do the same thing. But just remember, now that I actually like Deerhoof: I'm definitely more hip than you.

JR- Weshotjr@yahoo.com