Put every Spoon moment, every song, every riff, every Britt Daniels howl and whisper into a blender and you have Hot Thoughts. This may sound like a middling comment, a back door way to say average. But any long-term Spoon fan will know, Spoon means quality and consistency, and this record serves as a recap, or introduction, or best of. Or maybe, Hot Thoughts is another top tier indie rock record from the most consistent band in the game.
What band has had as many 4-star records in a row as Spoon? Most would say that Girls Can Tell, Kill the Moonlight, and Gimme Fiction are four or more star records. Transference, their dark horse record is also at that level, as is 2014’s They Want My Soul and 2007’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. As is their label debut A Series of Sneaks which is the true underrated record of their catalog where Transference is usually cited. Hot Thoughts sits nicely with those records quality-wise. What other band has that many 4 or more star records in a row? Spoon has
Pink Floyd has 3-4. Blur has 4-5. Guided by Voices has 3. Smashing Pumpkins had 3-4. The Replacements had 4. Beach House has 4. Elliott Smith had 5. Sigur Ros, Kraftwerk, My Bloody Valentine, Beach Boys, Boards of Canada all had 2-3. The Beatles had 7. Depending on your feelings about Hail to the Thief and The King of Limbs Radiohead has 8. Am I saying that Spoon is on the same level as Radiohead and the Beatles? No.
