Spoon Message Board » Spoon News

TRANSFERENCE....A Year Later

(19 posts)
  • Started 13 years ago by Tyler Darling
  • Latest reply from Tyler Darling

  1. Tyler Darling
    Tyler Darling
    (706 Posts)

    On this day last year, January 19th, Spoon released Transference. It does NOT seem that long ago. Looking back, what do you think of the album now? What are your favorite album memories? Etc. etc.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  2. kickingeapoe
    kickingeapoe
    (33 Posts)

    I was very surprised that they decided to pick "Before Destruction" as a first song. It really threw me through a loop. They usually save that sort of song for the end of an album. When I got the album in the mail, I took it with me to work and listened to it as I did the dishes. I found the transition from "Before Destruction" to "Is Love Forever?" to be super strange. I actually hated that song the first time I listened to it--such an abrasive follow-up to one of Spoon's most mellow songs. Looking back, it's the little shocks like that that allowed for me to fall in love with Transference. And as for "Is Love Forever?", it's one of my favorites now, thanks to that wonky video by Max Goldblatt...
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pONZKVpr_E8

    Posted 13 years ago #
  3. q_pid
    q_pid
    (33 Posts)

    I remember holding out from downloading any leaks and went to purchase the CD at Target the day it came out. Rushed home to play it, liked it. Played it again. Really liked it. Played it again. Fucking loved it!!

    To this day I still regularly listen to the album, it's probably one of the only ones from 2010 I still listen to without getting sick of.

    Who Makes Your Money was my theme song.
    Written In Reverse was my song to play when I felt shitty, always makes me feel better.
    Out Go The Lights was my song to cry to.

    I'd also have to agree that Is Love Forever? is probably my favorite one right now.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  4. q_pid
    q_pid
    (33 Posts)

    I also think it's a shame Transference didn't get more recognition on year end lists... just because it was released first quarter, people forgot about it?? I sure didn't.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  5. captain_arz
    captain_arz
    (120 Posts)

    I cant believe its been a year already! I remember, last year, January 19th couldn't come fast enough. I bought the CD at Target (It was on sale there) then I made the Journey to my Favorite record store to get my hands on the vinyl. My most vivid memory of that day is the drive to the record store, listening to the CD in my car and thinking it sounded so different from anything they'd done up to that point, and that Who makes your money was crazy/awesome/funky. I love this record as much right now as I did the day it came out. I think my favorite song from the album is either Out Go The Lights or Who Makes Your Money, but I think I've listened to Written In Reverse on an almost daily basis since it came out. I cant wait to hear what their next album brings to the table, my brain might explode thinking about it!

    Posted 13 years ago #
  6. Tyler Darling
    Tyler Darling
    (706 Posts)

    I remember the day vividly. I got my vinyl copy on January 16th. My favorite record store in town (The Exclusive Company) usually got new releases the weekend before the slated Tuesday release in the U.S. It's a couple blocks form my house so I walked there. It was cold.

    I just went to check if they had it, and to my surprise they did. I remember talking to the clerk there, and he wasn't too familiar with Spoon. I remember he said "Oh, Spoon, I heard they are the next WIlco". "WIlco?", I said, "No, they are better. They are rock 'n' roll. WIlco doesn't do it for me." Now I do like Wilco ok. And maybe the clerk meant both band's success story is similar, which is somewhat true, but I prefer Spoon any day.

    So....

    I walked home put it on. Immediately loved it. Listened to it all the way through with a cup of coffee.

    I had band practice that night, which is about a half hour drive. So I got the mp3s from the download code right away, and burned "a car copy". On the way to practice I stopped at the gas station. After leaving the gas station I got into a bad car accident. "Who Makes Your Money?" was playing at the time of the crash. It was pretty traumatic. Not any SERIOUS injuries, but a little banged up, cuts and bruises.

    My wife was out of town for the night with her mom and some of her aunts for a girls night. This was the first night in our 15 months of marriage that we were apart. She felt so bad she wasn't there for me. But I assured her I'm glad she wasn't. If anyone had been riding in the passenger side of my car, they probably would not have survived, that's how bad the collision was on that side of the vehicle.

    My car was un-drivable, so I called my friends in the band. They picked me up. Took me out to dinner. We just talked and then that night we hung out, drank old grand-dad 100 proof whiskey, and yes, listened to Transference.

    It's weird, but I don't ever listen to "Who Makes Your Money?" if I can help it. On vinyl, I just let it play through, but on CD or on my ipod I usually skip it. It's just a weird memory. Maybe I will conquer that fear? Is it a fear? It's just a weird feeling.

    I love the album though. So raw and emotional. Spoon never disappoints. Such a great band, and album I'm proud to own, and they should be proud they made.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  7. captain_arz
    captain_arz
    (120 Posts)

    Glad your okay from the accident Tyler. I'm sorry to hear that it kinda ruined "Who Makes Your Money" for you though. Maybe in time that weird feeling will go away and you can truly enjoy the trippy/funky feeling that song brings to the table, without going back to that night. I hope so, its such a great song!

    Posted 13 years ago #
  8. Gabriel
    Gabriel
    (193 Posts)

    Tyler, that is quite the story - Transference seems like the kind of album to go along with a night that knocks you off-balance like that.
    {dissertation: go} More than any other album I've heard, Transference hands you a ton of unresolved ideas and refuses to resolve them. There's all the voices that get clipped off and never finish. There's the jarringly lo-fi recordings mixed in with the usual fidelity, a pattern that never makes up its mind. There's the songs that feel like they never reach where they're headed (Is Love Forever?, Nobody Gets Me But You), the songs that intentionally go nowhere but make it home (Before Destruction, Written in Reverse), and the songs that circle around the same ideas over and over but refuse to do any of them the same way twice (Mystery Zone, Got Nuffin, I Saw The Light, Out Go The Lights). It's an album that forces you to accept that there are no answers to these problems. Even "Goodnight Laura" has Britt trying to convince somebody that the way to fall asleep is by forcing herself to.

    So what's funny to me is that "Who Makes Your Money" is the only song on the album that feels content to me, the only one that doesn't feel like it's forcing you to accept the lack of resolution - and it's also the one that you fear you will never be comfortable hearing. So, for you, the whole album is laced with this kind of passive menace.
    It's my favorite song on the album though. I hope you can enjoy it again some day.

    So glad to hear you're okay though; I'm sorry you had to go through that. Glad you had your friends and your wife for emotional support.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  9. Tyler Darling
    Tyler Darling
    (706 Posts)

    It is weird....it's not necessarily that it reminds me of the accident per se. It's just a weird feeling. I don't know how to describe it?? It might be actual Transference. One definition is "the redirection of feelings and desires and especially of those unconsciously retained from childhood toward a new object." Maybe it's something like that? Ok not repressed childhood memories, but something I repressed subconciously in the accident, and the song stimulates that?

    I don't know...I'd like to fully enjoy that song someday.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  10. Gabriel
    Gabriel
    (193 Posts)

    I've found that if I'm reading something and I'm interrupted by the phone ringing, the part I was reading right when the phone rang makes me think about my phone (but usually only for one time). You could be experiencing something similar, especially because the accident was a pretty big deal for you psychologically. It's like Pavlov's dog - your brain expects something because of previous experience, or at least makes an association.

    This could be total BS, but I'm just guessing.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  11. Tyler Darling
    Tyler Darling
    (706 Posts)

    No you're right. Psychology has always fascinated me. Dreams, memories, how are mind works is amazing. One of my favorite movies Memento (by one of my favorite director's Christopher Nolan) has a quote like this "memory can change the shape of a room; it can change the color of a car. And memories can be distorted. They’re just an interpretation, they’re not a record."

    It's so true. Our memories come from associations with the world. Would I have a significant memory of this event, or is it just because I have a photograph of it? Trauma can associate, even burn things in our memory. Other things that aren't significant, like what color of socks I had on last Tuesday I cannot remember. How we interact consciously and subconsciously is just so amazing. We play tricks on ourselves all the time, and we don't know it.

    Like taste tests. I know it's coke because of the label, blind fold me, and I have no clue. Things like that.....

    Anyway I started listening to the song again since I wrote the first post and I'm starting to enjoy it again. It has a very great beat, and I love the production of it. All the empty space on that song. It's as important as the music. I'm enjoying it!

    Posted 13 years ago #
  12. nefarious
    nefarious
    (129 Posts)

    gah, a year?! what the hell...
    so yeah. I did not know any of that Tyler. what the crap, I'm sorry!!

    I have the most respect for Got Nuffin, cuz when it came out as the single, I didn't really like it that much (which is a HUGE rarity for me when it comes to Spoon) but now...I really understand and love it.
    Early favorites (Who makes yr money, written in reverse) are always still awesome, and I second whoever said Out go the lights is the crying song...but my current fave has to be Nobody Gets Me But You...when the other drums/instruments come in (1:46)...oh, Spoon. you are so amazing :)

    Posted 13 years ago #
  13. Tyler Darling
    Tyler Darling
    (706 Posts)

    I was just readin this. And I saw you didn't like Got Nuffin?? I saw them live the night before the single came out. Or the night of??? I can't remember exactly. They palyed it so well live. Such a cool rock song. I remember he next day I got home I bought the single and love that song. It still might be my favorie single. It was the first one I bought that was current. all the other ones I wnet back and searched for.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  14. papavb
    papavb
    (30 Posts)

    I Saw the light is the fucking shit, took me a couple of listens to get into Transference, I love it to bits though, the mystery zone was the first one that caught my ear.

    Posted 12 years ago #
  15. User has not uploaded an avatar
    jp
    (106 Posts)

    Its weird. I think Transference seems more like a "Spoon" album than any since KTM. Kinda lo-fi production and a live feel. I also think I must be the only guy who thinks "Trouble comes running" is the album highlight. I really expected that to be the new "Jonathan Fisk" or "Math" ... The big show closer. I like some songs better than others (I expected to like "Goodnight Laura" in a Beatle-ish way, but I usually just skip it now) but that aside, I think it stacks up very well with anything they've done. Amazing what consistency this band has.

    Jp

    Posted 12 years ago #
  16. User has not uploaded an avatar
    mbagely
    (2 Posts)

    The problem I had with Transference is that it's clearly a Spoon album, but isn't particularly unique like the other albums are - kind of felt like a lot of (albeit great) b-sides from Gagagagaga or something. Saying that, a Spoon album is a great album no matter what - but this was probably my least favourite of theirs (even Telephono)

    Posted 12 years ago #
  17. q_pid
    q_pid
    (33 Posts)

    So now that time has passed and I've had enough to let the album sink in.. I think this and Girls Can Tell are the only albums that really hit me personally on a level that I can relate with. KTM, GF, GaGa, I love the music and everything, but lyrically I couldn't really connect with. Transference on the other hand, I really feel what Britt is talking about.

    Posted 12 years ago #
  18. Gabriel
    Gabriel
    (193 Posts)

    My main emotion putting this album on is still a vague sense of disappointment that potentially great songs didn't necessarily turn into great recordings, so it's interesting to see it did really connect with some people.

    I can see why you would connect with those two albums in particular; on the rest of their albums, Spoon seems like they're trying to be "cool" (not really, but they end up being cool anyway). Those two albums are the ones with the most vulnerability.

    That said, Girls Can Tell is an album I've just never really connected with, musically or lyrically. Ga and Sneaks are the winners for me.

    Posted 12 years ago #
  19. Tyler Darling
    Tyler Darling
    (706 Posts)

    I think that depends on your opinion. 90% of a song is the words, melody, maybe an instrument, like guitar or piano. I mean you can make anything sound really really good, and the song might suck ya know? What's the point of producing a terrible band that has terrible songs? Opinion. Those bands think they are coming out with incredible music? I think Trasnference is so great, with so much variety.....my opinion.

    However I cannot understand why someone, especially a guy, who has ever loved, or longed for someone, to not connect with Girls Can Tell? It is the most vulnerable, and personal lyrically of Spoon albums. I think anyone can connect with the music and especially lyrics.....my opinion.

    Posted 12 years ago #

RSS feed for this topic

Reply

You must log in to post.