Is imitation the greatest form of flattery?
I was in the coffee shop on Saturday and I heard a song playing above and was like, “What is this?? Does Spoon have a new album out!?!?” I got all excited b/c I love Spoon (just as much as I love Pavement and that’s a lot!). I asked the Barista who was playing and she mentioned she didn’t know — that she just had KEXP tuned in so the song remained unconfirmed.
Today on my way to work I had KEXP on and John Richards mentioned he was about to play a new song by Robbers on High Street — this is where I promptly turned to my carpool buddy and told him that ROHS sound uncannily like Spoon. And what do you know, the song that I heard at the coffee shop … was the same song I thought was by Spoon. Ironically enough, I think John agrees b/c he played “Everything Hits at Once” from Spoons’ “Girls Can Tell” album right after. Now, I don’t quite know what to think of this. I love Spoon and I like the new song by ROHS but I just feel that it’s so wrong that ROHS can be mistaken for Spoon. Or is that a good thing?
There are so many bands out there that sound just like the other.but Spoon is a band quite unique — they definitely have their own distinguishable sound that sets them apart and their music is always evolving and consistently gets better over time. Wilco is also coming to mind here… I guess I just don’t know what to make of it. Maybe it’s a case where imitation is the greatest form of flattery? I dunno b/c it still bothers me.
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Ha! No way, I feel the same way. I didn’t hear John on that bit this morning, but I have commented on the strange similarity before.
Compare for yourself:
Robbers on High Street
Spoon
It’s not the greatest comparo, but it gives you a sense of how close the singers’ voices are, and that both bands’ music shares the same indie style.
Yeah, John didn’t *say* anything about it but playing the two songs together… it was implied. I read the blog you (matt) wrote about it before and I think that guy is high — the one that said he disliked spoon. whateva~
Ever since I heard RoHS I have though of that if Britt Daniel and the ROHS singer ever met, Britt would say “Quit SOUNDING like ME!”
And move to slap him.
OK, OK, this’ll be a stretch, but as far as sound-alike’s go, I keep thinking that Silversun Pickups’ Brian Aubert’s voice is the same one from the song “Steal My Sunshine” by LEN. That song was a single from the OST for Doug Liman’s “Go” from 1999. Turn on the way-back machine.
I know that’s way off, but I think of it nearly every time SSP plays.
I keep abbreviating them as “SSP” but they should technically be “SP”, right? … just like “Smashing Pumpkins”, which they regularly emulate….