It's been three years, but Spoon (also known as, "You know, they're kind of like Pavement meets Guided by Voices. I mean Pixies meets Sonic Youth. I mean...") finally have a new album out. Gimme Fiction, like all good Spoon records have been known to do, eschews the standard verse/chorus/verse format as a means toward "rocking" us out. Rather, they favor moody, spatial arrangements and meticulous composition to get our motors moving. And though Spoon goes against these standard song structures, they still manage to be a completely melodic band you can clap, tap and sing along to. Who needs three-chord hooks to start a party, anyway? Spoon uses the entire song to steadily, albeit unpredictably, build up towards a melody that's most often kind of awesome. Spoon's also a really good band to see live, thanks in no small part to Britt Daniel and his showy stage swagger.

Britt unquestionably provides Spoon with their bravado. He's a front man if ever there was one, often pulling the audience into the palm of his hand with a few well-timed hip gyrations, a few call-and-response chants, and a whole lot of "I'm a rock star so listen to what I'm saying" charisma. He sings, he spits, he shakes, and the crowd enthusiastically nods along (hey, sometimes an enthusiastic nod is all you can hope for in indie rock). Daniel's engaging persona more than makes up for the absence of Spoon's in-studio musical trickery that either wouldn't translate well to stage or is just impossible to play in a live setting. Drummer/engineer/co-founder Jim Eno doesn't need the knobs to vigorously provide tense, gyrating rhythms from which Daniel can exhibit his sexy struts and saucy strums. These guys play big.

Seeing this well-oiled machine-of-a-band live, it's not hard to see why Spoon attempted to do the major label thing (Elektra) a few years back (Series of Sneaks). Their sound is extremely polished and quite a few of these tunes can be considered "radio friendly jams." Hahaha. (Sorry, the word "jam" always makes me laugh for some reason.) Maybe Spoon didn't take for mass consumption because people just can't live without those well-placed verses and choruses. After all, when you're driving to Krispy Creme, or shooting stick at the local bar, that LAST thing you would want to hear is something different. You worked hard for that jukebox quarter and shouldn't risk musical discovery.

Spoon plays Webster Hall, Wednesday, June 8th, and Thursday, June 9th (get show details).