NUMBER 5: SPOON - “TROUBLE COMES RUNNING” - FROM THE TRANSFERENCE LP ON MERGE RECORDS

In which Spoon reminds us that lo-fi is best as an aesthetic choice, not as a budgetary necessity. After working with producer Mike McCarthy for nearly a decade, Spoon self-produced Transference and after a few initial spins, it was easy to question whether the in-studio perfectionism that the group is known for was a result of their long-standing producer and not Britt Daniel and Jim Eno’s attention to craft as previously thought. Could it be that McCarthy was the fifth… er… Spoon?

Nah. Repeated listens, whether through a good pair of headphones or busted car speakers, show that songs like “Trouble Comes Running” just work better when incorporating some rough, off the cuff recordings. The attention to detail that made albums like Kill the Moonlight and Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga so rewarding to return to is still there – check the piano slide leading into the last chorus or the reverb-y shout at the top of the track – but the simultaneous feelings of urgency and nostalgia would have been impossible to capture with glossier production. I’m sure that Britt Daniel couldn’t recreate some of those last yelps and howls if he wanted to and so they were saved and incorporated alongside other takes that sounded just right. It’s more than hitting record on a four-track, it’s a manicured take on spontaneity.

BONUS: The lo-fi aesthetic extended farther than the record for Transference. For the music video for album-closer “Nobody Gets Me But You”, Spoon set up shop in the tiny Brooklyn venue Cake Shop and recorded the song on what looks like security cameras. The result is a video as unsettling and claustrophobic as its song. Watch it here.

2010 TOP 10:

5) “Trouble Comes Running” - Spoon

6) “Odessa” - Caribou

7) “Blame Game” - Kanye West ft. John Legend

8) “Tightrope” - Janelle Monae ft. Big Boi

9) “Desire Lines” - Deerhunter

10) “Your Sweet Boom” - Jamie Lidell