WXPN Radio

The premier guide for new and significant artists in rock, blues, and folk - including NPR-syndicated World Cafe

XPN2 - XPoNential Radio

24/7 Musical discovery. A unique mix of emerging and heritage blues, rock, world, folk, and alt-country artists.

World Cafe Archives

Join the World Cafe through performances and interviews with celebrated and emerging artists.
Listen
  • font size decrease font size decrease font size increase font size increase font size

Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - Merge

On an album that will please long-time fans and new converts alike, the Texas band Spoon sound comfortable, confident, and on top of their game. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is short and sweet (10 songs, 36 minutes), and its relative brevity only serves to accentuate front man Britt Daniels' and co.'s craftsmanship.

The new album contains plenty of what we've come to expect from Spoon, most notably the lead track "Don't Make Me a Target" and "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb." There are a few very nice surprises, though, including the striking, spare "The Ghost of You Lingers." The album's first single "The Underdog" is dramatic and punchy, like all the best Spoon songs are.

Through thirteen years and six full-length albums, Spoon has survived and thrived despite career interruptions and major label droppings. This is a band that understands what it wants and how to get it, and has come to define "indie rock" as we now know it. Also terrific live, Spoon has given us another album that should age just as good as all their others.

Review written by Dan Reed