This cast iron skillet-seared cod with mushrooms and cipolline onions recipe is delicious, hearty and satisfying. It is earthy and flavorful, but also pretty simple. Today’s pairing, Spoon‘s 1998 sophomore album Series of Sneaks is similar in that it is hearty and satisfying. Flexed, sharp, jangly guitar riffs are joined with a booming, grooving rhythm section. Lead singer and guitarist Britt Daniel’s throaty vocal licks are earthy and raw. But if Series of Sneaks deceptively sounds like a simple album, it is decidedly not so. Although it may lack the studio polish and shine found on some Spoon’s other albums, a great number of the songs on Series of Sneaks still standout as some of the band’s very best.
Series of Sneaks opens with the terse rocker “Utilitarian.” The cut features fantastic, muscular guitar and a rigidly pulsing bass line, but the song’s real highlight is Daniels’ rasp when he sings words like “Utilitarian,” “C’Mon” and “Aww, yeah!” The album’s third track “Car Radio” is a fist-pumping, adrenaline fueled rock song that booms across the interstate at 90 mph, which is only out-rocked by the roughly-hewn punk-like “Qunicy Punk Episode” – a track about a ridiculous punk-rock themed episode of a show called “Quincy” about a coroner who investigates suspicious murders. The more restrained song “Metal Detektor” is an example of a trick that Spoon has long-since perfected where they take a relatively straight-forward pop song and “weird it up” by filling in the gaps with stuttery synths, reverb, or other studio tweaking. The most straight-forward track on the album, and one of the album’s best tunes, is the catchy album closer “Advanced Cassette” a melodious track that is highlighted by Daniel’s lamented lyrics: “Don’t tell me / I’ve lost you / advanced cassette / I just can’t believe it.” You can pick it up at Insound.
Spoon – Quincy Punk Episode
Spoon – Advanced Cassette (Britt Daniel solo, live)
Head back to eating/sf to read the recipe for the cast iron skillet-seared cod with mushrooms recipe.
