Signifiers

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

So recently I've been listening to the new album by Spoon, or more accurately one song on the album: You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb (streaming & d/l). All the reviews cite this as Spoon's "Motown" song, and my first reaction was "Why?" It was certainly immediately accessible, but I don't know if I would've made the specific Motown connection myself. I started listening, trying to understand why so many people were coming up with the same analysis.

Cynic that I am, I thought (and still believe, to some degree) that it probably had something to do with a press pack out there somewhere. But after a few listens, sure enough, I heard a couple of sonic clues -- vibraphone touches, driving on-the-beat (?) snare drum and tambourines. (Check for yourself, listen to "It's the Same Old Song.") It seemed immediately recognizable once I was listening for it, although I really don't hear much else about a reedy indie-rock song that suggests classic soul.

Then I started to ask myself, "Geez, was that all it took to get me to like this -- a driving beat and some vibraphone flourishes?" At the same time, having "unpacked" the song like this, I think I like it more. So I have two questions:
First, when you listen to the song, do you hear anything else that specifically suggests Motown?
Second (and more interesting, perhaps), what are some other examples of little sonic tricks like this, that subtly link a particular song to what, on the surface, would sound like a completely different genre/style of music?

Comments

[koganbot]

Have to do other stuff, so this is a post before listening, but I remember hearing my first Spoon track several years ago and specifically saying to myself, "This is about as white as music ever gets." I think the signifier for this would have been the rhythm and the timbre of the vocals. Then on second listen I suddenly went, "Oh, wait, he's doing soul!"

(Haven't paid much attention to Spoon; the reason I was listening was that Derek Krissoff, the acquisitions editor at University of Georgia Press who first suggested I do a book, listed Spoon as his favorite group.)