5.11.2005
Freak-tastic, perhaps?
OK, the new one from Spoon is growing on me. A second full listen is beginning to reveal the hooks, and while it seems like a step back for the band in terms of where it seemed to be headed and where it has been, there is little wrong with that given how good the past has been for this band. In that view, I find company in the likes of Pitchfork, whose review made similar points. We diverge, however, on this one: "I Turn My Camera On" is a Prince-tastic masterpiece hearkening back to the Stones' "Emotional Rescue", but with a show-stopping grandeur that beats them both at their own game." Say what? With all due respect to Britt Daniel, this sounds like a Beck demo circa Midnight Vultures, and while I like the phrase "Prince-tastic," this ain't it. Daniel has said he had hoped this would be a dance record and that, obviously, it isn't. At times, as on "I Turn My Camera On" or "Was it You?" (which is little more than drummer Jim Eno replicating a drum machine-like beat over which Daniel sings a handful of effects-laden lines), the band does seem to nod toward dance, with results that are satisfying on the former and disappointingly mundane on the latter.
When not listening to Spoon, I have been reading Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. The book is the Blink of the spring, a fascinating collection of linked essays that offer a different way to look at the world. Where Malcolm Gladwell wrote about "thin slicing" and decisions made in the blink of an eye, economist Levitt and journalist Dubner share stories about how economic theory can be used to explain odd circumstances and situations. That may sound dry, but the chapters that propose that abortion, and not the many other oft-cited factors, accounts for the rapid drop in the crime rate in the 1990s, or that teachers cheat on behalf of their students to keep standardized test scores high, will offer much conversation fodder and help you to view the world a bit differently. The book is short and surprisingly easy to read. Levitt's theories are controversial but never boring.
When not listening to Spoon, I have been reading Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. The book is the Blink of the spring, a fascinating collection of linked essays that offer a different way to look at the world. Where Malcolm Gladwell wrote about "thin slicing" and decisions made in the blink of an eye, economist Levitt and journalist Dubner share stories about how economic theory can be used to explain odd circumstances and situations. That may sound dry, but the chapters that propose that abortion, and not the many other oft-cited factors, accounts for the rapid drop in the crime rate in the 1990s, or that teachers cheat on behalf of their students to keep standardized test scores high, will offer much conversation fodder and help you to view the world a bit differently. The book is short and surprisingly easy to read. Levitt's theories are controversial but never boring.
