Latest Release
- 13 JUN 2023
- 3 Songs
- Silver Patron Saints · 2024
- Memory Dust EP · 2023
- Memory Dust EP · 2023
- Memory Dust EP · 2023
- I Can't Give Everything Away - Single · 2023
- Lucifer On the Moon · 2022
- Lucifer On the Moon · 2022
- Lucifer On the Moon · 2022
- Lucifer On the Moon · 2022
- Lucifer On the Moon · 2022
Essential Albums
- Everything changed for Spoon after Kill the Moonlight. The Austin, Texas indie-rock legends’ fourth studio album marked a decisive turning point following the major-label fallout that ensnared the release of its predecessor, 2001’s Girls Can Tell. If that record solidified Spoon’s increasingly dependable reputation, then Kill the Moonlight confirmed the group’s status as an undeniably Great Band amidst the already-plentiful early-2000s rock landscape. Spoon’s profile practically rose overnight after Kill the Moonlight’s release in 2002; if you were of a certain age back then, the barroom piano chords that open “The Way We Get By” were practically inescapable on TV shows and in movies (not to mention in actual barrooms). In the years since, the members of Spoon have ascended to indie-rock elder statesmen, as Britt Daniel’s singular vocals and the band’s taut, impossibly precise explosions-as-rock-music have become one of the genre’s most distinctive sonic approaches in this century. And it all began with Kill the Moonlight. For a record that so thoroughly affected the trajectory of Spoon’s career, it’s still shocking how experimental and left-field Kill the Moonlight sounds within the band’s extremely accomplished catalogue. Yes, there are the well-known six-string barn-burners like “You Gotta Feel It” and “Jonathan Fisk”, the latter a triumphant invective against Daniel’s childhood bully (who, incidentally, loved the song so much that he became a devoted fan of the band). But elsewhere, the textures of Kill the Moonlight are also jagged and appealingly eclectic, from the beatbox-laden falsetto’d soul of “Stay Don’t Go” and the rumpled electronic samples of “Paper Tiger” to the gently abrasive lo-fi opener “Small Stakes” and the heaps of piano and keyboard riffs played by Daniel (whose key-pounding contributions are mysteriously credited to “Eggo Johanson”). Kill the Moonlight is the sound of a band building a sound in real time, and the first of many moments in Spoon’s career in which the group’s approach to rock music feels so thrilling and refreshing upon first contact.
- 2017
- 2010
- 2022
- 2022
- 2022
- 2022
Artist Playlists
- Discover the recipe to their continuing success.
- Crunchy indie rock gets expansive and adventurous.
More To Hear
- Frontman Britt Daniel on the album 'Lucifer On The Sofa.'
- Songs from Foals, Arcade Fire, Liam Gallagher, and guest Spoon.
- Spoon’s lead singer on reissuing back catalog and resilience.
- Annie chooses tracks to help an aspiring photographer develop.
About Spoon
Founded in 1993, Spoon is an indie band from Austin, Texas, that takes inspiration from New Wave, power pop, and soul-influenced rock. ∙ Their early 2000s breakthrough came with such personal songs as “The Fitted Shirt,” which frontman Britt Daniel wrote after buying a dress shirt for his grandfather’s funeral. ∙ Praised for its minimalist arrangements, 2002’s Kill the Moonlight was included in Rolling Stone’s 100 Best Albums of the Decade and Pitchfork’s 200 Top Albums of the 2000s. ∙ Britt Daniel and composer Brian Reitzell created the soundtrack for Will Ferrell’s 2006 movie Stranger Than Fiction, which used the band’s “The Way We Get By” in the opening scene. ∙ In 2010, reviews aggregator Metacritic named Spoon the “top overall artist of the decade,” due to the number of positive reviews for the band’s work. ∙ The group has had four albums reach the Top 20 on the Billboard 200, with both 2010’s Transference and 2014’s They Want My Soul peaking at No. 4. ∙ In addition to producing multiple Spoon records, cofounder/drummer Jim Eno has also helmed releases for dance-rock group !!!, indie-pop act Future Islands, and jam band Blues Traveler.
- FORMED
- 1993
- GENRE
- Alternative