At this point I’ve spent plenty of time with the latest from Merge darling’s Spoon. It’s an album that flashes by in 36 minutes, but during that brief encounter a lot is said, a lot is felt, and a lot has been improved on since Gimmie Fiction, a record that I truly enjoyed and made my best of 2005 list (#24).

Where its predecessor started out triumphantly before floating off into quasi-mediocrity (comparatively), Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga maintains a cohesive and enduring listen bookended by “Don’t Make Me A Target” and “Black Like Me.” I can already hear the latter ending up on an OC type television show that induces masses of teenagers to open up their iTunes accounts, drop $.99 and discover their new favorite band.

That’s a good thing, and anyone who’s followed Spoon for some time have certainly watched their fan base grow to a sizeable number, and Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga will undoubtedly push that number into household name territory. Each listen rearranges my favorite album track, most recently ‘You Got Yr Cherry Bomb” yielded that designation to the first single, “The Underdog.” As much as the previously mentioned songs are the strong swimmers on the album, none of them get stuck on repeat in my head like “Rhthm & Soul.” While I have not memorized the words, I spent the good part of yesterday morning humming the melody of the chorus silently to myself as I went about my daily activities.

From today until a month from now when the album is released on July 10th you’ll be able to hear and read countless opinions on the album, ours is just a blip on the radar screen. However, we’re excited about seeing them next week at Bonnaroo and again next month on our home turf in Milwaukee for Summerfest on July 5th. If you haven’t grabbed “The Underground” yet, do so below. You can now pre-order the album which includes “a limited edition bonus disc with a 22-minute EP of extra music! The LP contains a coupon for a free MP3 download of the entire album AND, for a limited time, a download of the songs from the bonus disc!”

So internet kids, you looking forward the album? Heard it yet? What are your thoughts? Where does it land in the Spoon catalogue?

Myspace: Spoon
MP3: Spoon – The Underdog