Spoon

While some bands spend an entire career trying to reach the peaks of their early material, Spoon continues to outdo themselves. With previous LPs on Matador and Elektra, this is their second for Merge, and is certainly their best. Since 1992, the band's nucleus of songwriter Britt Daniel (guitar, vocals) and engineer Jim Eno (drums) have expanded their sonic vocabulary to the point that Kill The Moonlight only contains subtle shades of their raw indie rock beginnings. Not only has Daniel's songwriting developed exponentially, but their instrumentation has reached a new level of mastery without ever changing the ingredients. The band limit themselves to, but are never confined by, guitar, bass, drums, piano and vocals, creating a very pure album packed full of inventive arrangements and clever pop hooks. From angular art rock to disco-inspired grooves to high-strung punk energy, almost no genre or era goes untouched as potential sonic fodder. What makes this recording even more impressive is its stripped down and almost minimal texture. This isn't some otherworldly epic, Spoon still sound like the guys next door; they just happen to be incredibly talented and inspired ones. Kill The Moonlight is a rare find that comes off as both vanguard and classic - a contemporary album we'll all be listening to for a long time.