Thanks to d. & Jeff, all the bands, and the staff of Union Hall -- the Neon Lights show Saturday was a great time, and we look forward to entertaining you with our weird records again sometime. (We've shared some of the good bits below, but some things we only have on vinyl...)

Neon Lights @ Union Hall 7/7/07

Teresa Stratas -- Yukali // Marlene Dietrich -- Laziest Gal in Town // Edith Piaf -- Milord // Goldfrapp -- Boys Will Be Boys // Sparks -- Ladies // Sparks -- Moustache // Depeche Mode -- Flexible // Siouxsie and the Banshees -- Burn Up

Japan -- Life in Tokyo // Interpol -- The Heinrich Maneuver // Sheila E. -- Glamorous Life // Duran Duran -- Fame // David Bowie -- Let's Dance // Wire -- The Queen of Um and The King of Ur

10,000 Maniacs -- Scorpio Rising // Brian Eno -- King's Lead Hat // Berlin -- No More Words // Kid Creole -- Annie I'm Not Your Daddy // James White and the Blacks -- Contort Yourself // Liquid Liquid -- Optimo // LCD Soundsystem -- Jump Into the Fire // Celebration -- War

The Rubettes -- Sugar Baby Love // Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse -- Valerie // Supremes -- Back In My Arms Again // Chi-Lites -- Are You My Woman? (Tell Me So) // Chiffons -- One Fine Day // Bette Midler -- Chapel of Love // Laura Nyro and Labelle -- Jimmy Mack // Camera Obscura -- If Looks Could Kill // Sandie Shaw -- Jeane // Voxtrot -- Stephen //Orange Juice -- Rip It Up (The Intermediate Mix)

Li'l Mama - Lipgloss // Echo and the Bunnymen -- Bedbugs and Ballyhoo // The Last Night -- Some Sensation // Spoon - The Underdog // Wire -- Serious of Snakes // Ultravox -- Dancing (With Tears In My Eyes) // Sparks -- Angst In My Pants // Cocteau Twins -- Donimo

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Meanwhile, we hear those Interpol guys and some band called ... Spoon, I think, have records out today? (Haha.) Seriously, we'll have reviews up tonight later this week. That being said, we won't be at the free Spoon show at Battery Park on Wednesday (wotcha -- it'll be at Stuyvesant High in case of rain!), nor at the Interpol cd release "party" at Sweet and Vicious either. No, gentle readers, we will be at the very sold-out Mark Ronson show at the Highline Ballroom. His new album Version, full of great guest appearances (Amy Winehouse! Lily Allen! Robbie Williams! Kenna! That guy from Maximo Park!), is out today too.

Stream: Interpol, Our Love to Admire
Stream: Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Stream: Mark Ronson: Version

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I keep forgetting to post about this; now's a good a time as any! The Speigeltent is back for the summer in NYC, and there's a few shows that we're really excited about -- including the Shout Out Louds, Ute Lemper (!!!!), and Weimar New York -- I'm sure none of these selections surprises our regular readers. The rest of the schedule sounds great (except, maybe, the aberrance of our very least favorite band in NYC, O'Death) -- Lady Sov's come and gone, but the Spiegeltent will be around thru August.

7/07: Lady Sovereign
7/16: Shout Out Louds
7/17: Weimar NY: The Spiegel Sessions
7/19: Shout Out Louds
7/24: DeVotchKa
7/25: DeVotchKa
7/31: Ute Lemper: ‘Voyages’
8/07: Lila Downs
8/08: Lila Downs
8/13: Badly Drawn Boy
8/14: Badly Drawn Boy
8/21: José González
8/28: Weimar NY: The Spiegel Sessions
8/26: O’Death
9/05: An Albatross
9/11: Penny Arcade’s “Bitch! Dyke! Faghag! Whore!”
9/18: Weimar NY: The Spiegel Sessions
9/22: Dan Zanes and Friends: Sea Music!

(photo courtesy of Kathryn Yu)

So, understandably, people want to know what we think of "The Ghost of You Lingers" -- the preview track from the new Spoon record, Ga ga ga ga ga.

It seems like a lot of people really hate it.

We think it's really great. And here's why.

The wonderful thing about Spoon records is that they always reveal what's on heavy rotation in Britt's record collection.

Remember when Spoon songs kinda sounded like Replacements songs? And Wire songs? Or John Lennon songs? It's cute, because Spoon songs never ape the influences, but send them through the weird filter of the band's songwriting grammar (uh huh! yeah! all right!), and the result is something charming and rarefied and unpretentious, all at once.

Spoon -- Car Radio
Spoon -- Mountain of Sound
Spoon -- Everything Hits At Once
Spoon -- Stay Don't Go

See? Uh huh -- you know what I'm talking about.

Someone over on Idolator namechecked Steve Reich and Philip Glass in the discussion about "The Ghost of You Lingers." That's sounds about right. There's nothing here but synthy bits pounding out a Glass-y hypertensive rhythm. And Britt's multi-tracked vocals. And the occasional atmospheric electronic crunch or swirly wisp of a marimba or steel drum under that that echoes soundscapes from previous albums. And that's it. No, really. THAT IS ALL. For the whole song. But it's not that different from say, the grammar of "Stay Don't Go," you know? Just without the BrittBeatBox action.

It would appear that maybe this is Spoon's record in the modern classical/experimental mode? I mean, things had been heading that way for a while now -- I mean, most of Kill the Moonlight was ultra-minimal, with a whole lot of low pile noise made by the rhythm section going on in the background and on top of that, spartan melodies with canyons about three miles wide running right through the middle--but Gimme Fiction was a little more, how you say... accessible.

Now, we can't absolutely say for certain what's going on with Ga, etc., and if it's entirely a return to form as promised on Kill the Moonlight because we haven't heard the rest (we have it, we just haven't listened to it quite yet...busy!). But we're hedging our bets that basically, this is the kind of record that says:

"Yeah, we know you loved our hits 'Way We Get By' as heard on the hit television series "The O.C." and 'I Turn My Camera On' from that Verizon commercial, but really, that's not who we are. Oh, um, you thought we wrote catchy indie anthems? Well, you know, not so much. We're actually trying to bring back No Wave. Again. Please enjoy this anti-album full of anti-melodies. LOVE AND KISSES, SPOON."

Spoon -- The Ghost of You Lingers