Opinz

Spoon – Got Nuffin

A “surprise” EP set for official release tomorrow, Got Nuffin is a surprisingly big letdown: the title track is so typically Spoon-ish (driving drums, tapped piano and slapped tambourines, yawn) that it will barely stay in your mind for more than a minute or two, before being replaced by a completely pointless and basically amateurish instrumental stab at grainy dubstep or something (accompanied by a “remix” that’s the same track with someone attempting a “rap” that’s either a sadly terrible idea or a midly offensive joke) and a slight ray of hope, “Stroke Their Brains”, which could maybe pass for a second rate Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga track; that album might’ve been their best, but if this is the kind of thing you’re putting out now Spoon, then please, get your shit together.

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Tags: ep, got nuffin, spoon

Various Artists – Dark Was the Night

An AIDs charity compilation offered by 4AD and Red Hot, Dark Was the Night gathers the most recognizable names in the world of indie music for two discs worth of new recordings, the first folk-centric and the second more electric; as one would expect the results are mixed, with some big highlights – excellent contributions from Grizzly Bear (“Deep Blue Sea”), Arcade Fire (“Lenin”), My Morning Jacket (“El Caporel”), a team up between David Byrne and Dirty Projectors (“Knotty Pine”), and one of Bon Iver’s best songs yet (“Brackett, WI”) – and some disappointments – Spoon seem to phone it in on “Well-Alright” and Sufjan Stevens’ 10-minute epic “You Are the Blood” is not nearly as impressive as it thinks it is – but who cares because it’s for a good cause so you should buy it anyway.

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Tags: aaron dessner, andrew bird, antony hegarty, arcade fire, beirut, ben gibbard, blonde redhead, bon iver, bryce dessner, cat power, compilations, conor oberst, dark was the night, dave sitek, david byrne, devastations, dirty delta blues, dirty projectors, feist, gillian welch, grizzly bear, iron & wine, jose gonzalez, kevin drew, kronos quartet, my brightest diamond, my morning jacket, riceboy sleeps, sharon jones & the dap-kings, spoon, stuart murdoch, sufjan stevens, the books, the decemberists, the national, the new pornographers, yeasayer, yo la tengo