Mp3 o’ the Day: Spoon’s “Got Nuffin”
July 1st, 2009 by Cooper Levey-Baker in Arts, Editor's Desk, Music, News
Spoon: \”Got Nuffin\” (Spoon: “Got Nuffin”)
Throughout the band’s career, Spoon has deployed between-album EPs and singles in rewarding and crafty ways. 1997’s Soft Effects signaled that the group had depths beyond those the band explored on its fun-if-generic debut, “Telephono”; the 2000 double-A-side “The Agony of Laffitte” consigned Spoon’s two best songs to date to a quick-hitting single that eviscerated the band’s major label A&R rep, Ron Laffitte; that same year, the five-track Love Ways EP heralded a new back-to-the-indies grooviness from the band, after its horrendous dalliance with the majors.
So when Spoon announced last week that they would drop a new three-track single, “Got Nuffin,” in mere days, fans got excited. After all, it’s the first new music the band has put out since its career-best LP, 2007’sGa Ga Ga Ga Ga. Released yesterday, “Got Nuffin” delivers all your familiar Spoon thrills: drummer Jim Eno’s nearly hip-hop-like obsession with repetitious rhythms, the fuzzy yet pointed guitar string abuse, singer Britt Daniel’s effortless way with a melody.
The track is almost too familiar, less a declaration of a shining new path than just more evidence that Spoon is not running out of nervy four-minute pop songs any time soon. But Daniel’s vocal performance alone elevates the song above most in the group’s catalogue. He desperately croons, “I got nothin’ to lose but darkness and shadows,” and slurs through the next line, “I got nothin’ to lose but emptiness and hang-ups,” drawing out the final “s” sound into a woozy guitar bridge. Worth a listen. Or 20.
July 11th, 2009 at 2:18 am
[...] can go hear the song at Last.fm or Creative Loathing. Or you can go buy the single in any format you’d like over at Spoon’s website. Its [...]