Ok, so maybe I shouldn't have waited until today, four days after Britt Daniel's solo show @ The Parish Thursday night to write up little reviews of the new songs. Why? Well, I could have sworn there were four songs, that Britt said there were four new songs -- but between Pinkie and I, in a furious flutter of email just now, could only remember three of them. So, um, if there were four, that doesn't really bode well for the health of that one we can't remember. So. If anyone was there and can correct our unforgivably spotty coverage here, we'd really appreciate it. Please confirm or deny our accounting.

What I can tell you is that the three songs we do remember are still in the Gimme Fiction vein -- not that much of a stylistic departure from that sound. Though, honestly, I saw Britt perform the Gimme Fiction songs in their nacent form at solo shows a few times before the record came out, and they all sounded like Kill the Moonlight retreads to me, so take that with a grain of salt.

So, there was "Rhythm and Soul," which kind of sounded like a sequel to "Merchants of Soul," but not a complete photocopy of those sentiments. "Cherry Bomb" was the most classically Spoon-y of the new offerings, with lots of "uh-huh!" and "all right!" action and seems to perhaps be an anti-war number, but trying to read meaning into a Spoon song is sometimes like trying to read meaning into dadaist poetry or something. Don't try it, it will drive you crazy -- unless you have a symbol glossary, like for "Sister Jack." The one of the bunch that's stuck with us most, though, may either be called "Target" or "(Don't Wanna Be A) Target," -- which I think may not be another potential anti-war number (despite the continued theme of bomb/target imagery), but about a relationship gone sour. Anyway, over the course of the weekend it kind of morphed into us singing it as "(Don't Wanna Go To) Target," and if we didn't know better, we'd say that the boys of Spoon are totally cribbing from Interweb-celeb Merlin Mann's famous rendition of The Mountain Goats song that never existed, "Going To Target." Which of course isn't really possible, but...

[Sidebar: I'm sorry, that's a horribly obtuse and inside-jokey reference, which pretty much only makes sense if a) you are intimately familiar with the massive Mountain Goats back catalog and its various song-cycles and themes, b) actually have seen Merlin perform said song, and c) are convinced there must be some kind of conspiracy because Merlin knows John Vanderslice and John Darnielle, and John Vanderslice is friends with Britt, and sometimes in the world of indie rock, the universe does have a tendency to collapse in on itself because there's only .75 degrees of seperation between any two major players. Woah, damn! Look at that serious dinosaur of a Klosterman-esque sentence! I clearly need to like, wash out my brain as I spent most of yesterday reading Killing Yrself To Live. However, this might be a great opportunity for any propective employers whom I've bombarded with applications over the past week to see that I have a very flexible writing style. So flexible, in fact, I apparently seem to be a master of literary ventriloquism! But I digress.]

So, rest assured, Spoon fans, the next album is most certainly going to rock in a most satisfying fashion.

In HIGH DEMAND today:

Jenny Lewis and Jonanthan Rice -- Little Boxes. (alternate link) EXTREMELY LIMITED AVAILABILITY. The much-coveted cover of the Weeds theme, penned by Malvina Reynolds. One in yet another series of you-did-not-get-this-from-me moments. (more "Little Boxes" covers)

Hanne Hukkelberg -- The Pirate. Dirgey murder ballad that manages to be neither ultra-goth (see: Nick Cave) nor ultra-twee (see: The Decemberists). From her new album Rykestraße 68, which is an interesting collision of cabaret and the most au courant musique concrete. Please don't smack me for being too pretentious, okay? (MySpace)

Archie Bronson Outfit -- Funnel of Love. I promised you this last week, sorry for the delay! Not the best cover, you know -- but still fun. (MySpace) (Wanda Jackson)

Dragonette -- Shock Box. I command you to dance around and have a good time. Even though it's a Monday night (or possibly Tuesday morning), and I bet like, 25% of you readers out there haven't recovered from CMJ yet. I first heard Dragonette thanks to Fluxblog about a kajabillion years ago, I was very happy to randomly come across their self-titled EP this weekend. RIYL electronica or pop, dancable or not, made by married (or similarly seriously committed) couples. (MySpace)

Tiga -- 3 Weeks (Jesper Dahlback Mix). Keep dancing, because the ominous claps on this one totally compel you to. That's kind of one of my favorite things about Tiga tracks, remixed or not -- there always seems to be kind of a scary disco clap involved. I know, I know -- Tiga is like, so last year -- but this is still really great. So there! (MySpace) (jesper dahlback)