Track Reviews: Spoon, Shout Out Louds, Ted Leo

December 1, 2009

MP3 Spoon – Written In Reverse

Spoon’s latest single is the first from their new album Tranference, to be released in January of next year.  In typical Spoon fashion, it’s a jittery, on edge piano jam with jagged guitar and Britt Daniel’s trademark howl. If there’s any difference, it’s that the sound is more raw and gritty and the instrumentation is even more tight. Spoon were perhaps the most consistently great band of the last decade and all signs point to that carrying over into the next decade as well.

MP3 Shout Out Louds – Walls

Another 2010 release that I’m highly anticipating is Shout Out Loud’s third album, Work and were’ just now getting our first taste in the song “Walls”. It’s a bit of a slow burner, beginning with a stripped down piano melody and percussion before adding layers of sound and building momentum to a characteristically grandiose finale. This sounds to me like what a Swedish indie pop version of Coldplay’s album, Vida La Vida may sound like (I mean that in a good way).

MP3 Ted Leo - Even Heroes Have To Die

After Ted Leo’s last album, Living With the Living, which I saw as a slight misstep, he has a new one coming out next year (and a new label to release it on, Matador). “Even Heroes Have To Die” is a punchy guitar tune with helluva great melody and some slick guitar work. It’s an immensely catchy track that I’d say bodes real well for the new album.

Posted by Taylor in Track Review