1. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (2007)

Lean but not minimal, catchy but never inane, the brilliant Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga deservedly sold well over 300,000 copies in the US. 10 tracks and 36 minutes, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga represents the peak of Spoon’s perverted formalism, and is as much an auditory tour of the making of an album as an album itself. “The Ghost Of You Lingers” begins where “Small Stakes” left off, with frantic piano stabs and several vocal parts chasing each other in a game of freeze tag across the stereo spectrum. Much has been made of the Billy Joel-sounding “The Underdog,” but the handclaps and horns are merely tools implemented in service of a great song, and not the least bit garish or gratuitous in context. Other, hipper classic rock references abound: “You Got Yr Cherry Bomb” nicks the vocal melody from Blondie’s “Dreaming” to great effect; the Beatles-esque “Don’t Make Me A Target” unfurls with descending minor chords and chugging guitars, which occasionally short out in the right channel while wide-open piano chords cascade like a slow-motion fireworks display in the left. Beyond the songs, the most endearing quality of Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is its intimacy. Throughout the album, ambient studio sounds vie for attention: the dribbling of talkback mic chatter, the fog of distant click-tracks, the settling of drumsticks on the snare at a song’s conclusion, murmured comments about the studio temperature. This is not done in a conspicuously indie verite way, but mischievously and demonstratively, like sonic renderings of the exploded drawings of appliances in old Sears Roebuck catalogs. The whole album seems to whisper “Here’s how we did it” — call it meta-core. The deeper and more attentively you listen, the more the record reveals. Notice how, for example, on “Eddie’s Ragga,” the staccato guitar chords seem to randomly change from being basked in plate reverb to being totally dry, for one single guitar slash, before returning to the bath of echo. It’s just one of many instances on a record that rewards the sort of respect usually reserved for sidelong prog rock suites and classic era bebop. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is functional rock and roll that stimulates discussion, debate, and hallucinations. It’s marvelous music.