Disco de Spoon: “Soft Effects”

If this had been a full album with 5 other songs of equal caliber, it would easily be one of the greatest indie rock albums of all time. As an EP, it's great anyway, but at 15 minutes in duration it really leaves you wanting more (why did that last part sound like my girlfriend talking?). Anyway, well worth getting--definitely my favorite Spoon release, with Girls Can Tell a close second.

While most aficionados would certainly choose "Girls Can Tell" as the best Spoon album, this one certainly merits more than a perfunctory listen. It begins with the jagged, guitar shards of "Mountain to Sound" and ends it all with the power pop melody of "Loss Leader", which only hinted at the greatness that was to bloom in full flower in the aforementioned "Girls Can Tell." In between are a great pop song ("Waiting for the Kid to Come Out"), electronic sounding but aggressive noise rock ("Get Out the State") and a distorted guitar tune a la Greg Sage and the Wipers ("I Could See the Dude"). Its only drawback is its tiny length--fifteen minutes or so is certainly not long enough to place it in the pantheon of all time great indie-rock albums of all time...but don't let that stop from experiencing this piece of unfettered magic.

You can look at this as 5 simple pop songs...you CAN. But you won't. This is without a doubt one of the most inspired and strangest takes on rock music I've personally heard since Black Francis&Co. DO ya own it??? No!??! What the **** are you doing, then? If hooky melodies (Loss Leaders), noise-anthems (Get Out The State), beautiful pop (I Can See The Dude) just aren't yer thing, then really kids, get a life.