Transference - Spoon
  • Band Name: Spoon
  • Record Label: Merge
  • Release Date: Jan 19, 2010
User Score
8.0 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 67 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 63 out of 67
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 67
  3. Negative: 2 out of 67

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  1. GrooveSandwich
    Jul 29, 2011
    3
    Just like many Spoon albums, Transference has great lyrics. Is Transference a good album? Not really. In the true spirit of Spoon, Transference has great beats. Is Transference a commanding addition to their repertoire? Far from it. Does Transference have the skinny white guy swagger that we've come to love from Spoon? Yes. Is it at least a decent release? Barely.

    It's just a boring album    . The songs do a good job of establishing a mood but beyond that, they just kind of hang there, constantly hammering on the same idea and oftentimes without enough melody to make a complete song. Take "Who Makes Your Money" as an example. It's got a cool new wave kind of vibe with some neat little sounds blipping and beeping in the background, but at no time does it do anything new melodically, rhythmically or harmonically. This is the sort of approach that we get from far too much of the album.

    It's not all bad. I'll fully admit that "The Mystery Zone" is wonderful.This is the kind of tune that we expect to hear from Spoon. Mmmmm, yeah. That's some funky **** I like it. BUT THEN IT JUST **** ENDS. JUST LIKE THAT. IN THE MIDDLE OF A CHORUS. Who's the jackass that thought that was a good idea? It's like sitting down to a delicious lunch and then when you're halfway through your veggie burger (I'm a vegan. This is my blog. In my blog, you're vegan too. Get used to it.) and you're loving every single bite of it and BOOM. IT'S GONE. SOME ASS BASKET TOOK IT AWAY. I'm not totally sure why they ended the song like that. Were they unable to come up with a decent ending and just gave up? Did they think that was a good way to end an otherwise knock out of a song? I don't know. I am left befuddled and without the other half of my veggie burger.

    One might think that my previous paragraph was a bit superfluous. After all, it's just the way one song ended that made me mad. No. No it's not. This is what you can expect from most of this album. It constantly struggles to achieve the kind of brutal awesomenicity (This is MY blog and I use MY words. Get used to it.) that's commonly found on albums like Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga and Gimme Fiction. When it begins to achieve awesomenicity, they just pull the rug out from under you. Transference is one of the best reviewed albums of 2010, much to my surprise. It really makes me wonder why all of the other critics out there have give it such fantastic reviews. Perhaps it's because Spoon has wowed us time and time again with a seemingly never ending run of great albums and people are in denial about the sudden lack of impact that this one delivers.

    Whatever the case may be, I'm calling Spoon out on this one. Spoon, you guys are fantastic. You write fun, witty, funky grooves that make hipster girls boogie in their Converse All Stars. For that, we love you. Just don't put out another album like this. groovesandwich.typepad.com    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
80 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 37 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 33 out of 37
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 37
  3. Negative: 0 out of 37
  1. MSN Consumer Guide (Robert Christgau)
    91
    Ratcheting his reticence up half a turn, he opens with his bleakest new song, and only if you follow his chronically noncommittal lyrics will you notice his emotions opening up along with his tunes, his attitudes along with his structures.
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  2. Alternative Press
    80
    As usual, the production is raw with traces of the recording process still evident. Although Transference lacks the overwhelming variety of "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga," there are notable moments of exploration. [Feb 2010, p.96]
  3. Drowned In Sound
    80
    Spoon are equally as enjoyable, and perhaps that bit more intriguing, when they are a little bit harder to fathom. Plus, to put it simply, there ain't a duff track to be found here.
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