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February 04, 2005
Drugbees
Spoon - Revenge!
A few disconnected claims:
Jim Eno's drums have never sounded so brutally elemental as they do on this song. Spoon do more with just guitar, vocals, and drums than most bands can do with a whole host of instruments and production techniques. Razor-thin songs that beg to be played over and over again. No other musical act is able to be quite this parsimonious and still be this successful and compelling. Britt Daniel and Jim Eno have constructed a band that sounds like a bully.
This track is from the UK edition of 'A Series of Sneaks', the band's second album. You can order the US version by following the aforeposted link, but it looks like the UK version is woefully out of print. Anyway- one thing to keep in mind: Spoon's new album, Gimme Fiction, is coming out on May 10th. Unstoppable.
And now, a few words from Dan:
Kenya and my personal psychological hang-ups do not mix well. You may or may not know, but I have had alifelong problem with hand-shaking. The barest thought of the remote possibility of shaking someone's hand causes me to break out in a profuse nervous sweat, making the experience of hand-shaking that much more unpleasant (and clammy). Anyway, shortly after landing in Nairobi, I finally got to the page in my travel guide that said in Kenya, people shake hands almost constantly. Every time you see someone, you are expected to shake their hand. Every time you walk in a room, you shake the hand of everyone in that room. Every time you leave a room, you go through the same procedure. During conversations, you often grasp the hand of the person you are speaking with (in what extracontextually appears to be a homoerotic manner), for the duration of the conversation. So basically, Kenyais the worst possible place in the world for someone with my particular psychological peccadillo. For the past month, I have been trying to think of excuses for not shaking hands, such that I don't grievously insult others. For example, saying "Sorry, I just washed them" was determined NOT to be an appropriate option. It got to the point where in my spare time I was running cost-benefit analyses and casual feasibility studies on intentionally breaking one or more of my right fingers. While this still is an option, I have also learned to cope. Now I enter myself into a nearly zen-like state of non-thought whenever I sense the possibility of hand-shaking approaching. This seems to do the trick. Some of the time.
Also on a related note, most Kenyans seem to be really circumspect in regards to hand care. Most all here are really well-manicured and go to great lengths to keep their hands in good shape. This again does not mesh with my personal stylings. In this case, the habit of going at my fingertips like a weevil. More than once I have been told, "umm, what happened to your hand...err...hands?" Which really has no good answer.
Read installments one, two, or three of Dan's correspondence.
Posted by matt at February 4, 2005 08:00 AM
Comments
After reading your friend Dan's emails, I am in love with him. He is smart, funny and has the most random quirks. Actually, he sounds a lot like you. Oh you crazy prep school boys.
Posted by: L at February 5, 2005 10:59 PM