I’ve been hard at work on my top albums of 2010, and it’s finally done! Head over to the article for the complete list, commentary, songs, etc.

In the next few weeks, I’ve got exams and the like, so I probably won’t have more to share until I get home later in December. Until then, I hope you enjoy the list.

-Tom

[see post for embedded player]
‘Got Nuffin’’
[ mp3 ♫ ]

One of my favorite things about this album is the structure. As mentioned above, ‘Got Nuffin” is fantastic, and so all the better that it is reserved as the penultimate song. Leading up to that, the album roughly alternates between faster songs (‘Trouble Comes Running’, ‘Is Love Forever’) and more slowly paced ones (‘The Mystery Zone’, ‘Who Makes Your Money’, ‘Goodnight Laura’).

At first this kinda confused me, because it feels like all of the momentum of the “bigger” songs like ‘Written In Reverse‘ grinds to a halt at the immediate track. In time, however, this seems less stop-and-go, and more like a macroscopic analog of any given Spoon song. There is always a real sense of diligence with these guys: they never go for the cheap thrill at the cost of losing control of a song. This is made even more apparent when juxtaposed with the seemingly under-produced sound of the album (which the listener should know better than to be fooled into thinking this was in any way accidental).

[see post for embedded player]
‘Written In Reverse’
[ mp3 ♫ ]

While perhaps not as instantly lovable as Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Spoon’s Transference has a fascinating number of layers to it, and is as interesting today after six months of listening as it was the first time I put on the album.

Spoon – Transference