Sitting Around Collecting Dust

I am fucking clever

Spymob, "2040"

Spymob, "It Gets Me Going"

While we can all agree that time hasn't been too polite to midwestern Generation X power-pop acts (poor, poor Fastball), I'd like to single Spymob out for particular distinction, both because of their off-the-charts coulda-shoulda-woulda factor and because their collective their efforts resulted in at least one very good album (more on this in a minute). They could have easily broken big in the late 90s, back when labels were eagerly hoovering up all the local talent Minnesota had to offer; the only effective difference between Spymob and Semisonic (a band for whom I still unashamedly ride) is that the latter allowed overly-informed dorks to go YUO KNOW THEY USED TO BE TRIP SHAKEASPEAR RIGHT. They really should have broken big after Pharrell Williams somehow heard these guys and hired them to play the "live" instrumentation on the US release of In Search Of... after coming to feel dissatisfied with the UK version's canned, Neptunes-sounding version (and seriously, I'd love to hear the backstory here if only because of the timing - I mean, Pharrell was working on In Search Of... in, what, 2001? 2002? So all that time he's sitting around working on "Grindin" and "Bouncin' Back" and like a thousand other era-definers, he's spending his free time bulldozing through butt-rock demo tapes from the heartland? Did he shed a single tear during The Blueshammer Scene? Was he keeping himself in check while plowing anonymous contemporary groupies by trying to remember the name of every band who'd sent him a shitty cover of "Game of Pricks"? I... I'm sorry.) And they really should have broken big in 2003 back when Pharrell was scrambling to attempt to make a home for Spymob's full-length debut on Star Trak (and the band turned in a lackluster track for the label's compilation Clones, better known today as "Frontin'" And Like A Shit-Ton Of B-Sides). Unfortunately, they never did - label woes kept Sitting Around keeping Score in limbo for almost a year before eventually surfacing on Ruthless Records (...); meanwhile all of their burgeoning momentum was inexplicably sapped by the then-ascendent High Speed Scene, and I think we all remember how well that turned out.

The loss, of course, was entirely ours. If you can ever remember enjoying Spoon's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga for its studied polish or Fountains of Wayne's debut album for its ecstatic conventionality or - hell - even Maroon fuckin' Five for their 70mm pop chops, you need to do yourself a favor and seek out a copy of Sitting Around Keeping Score as soon as you hit the period that I'm putting right here. "2040" and "It Gets Me Going" are the album's two most immediately engaging songs (and, accordingly, tracks one and two respectively - "It Gets Me Going" was also slated to be the album's big single, for reasons which should become glaringly obvious when you listen to it), but there's rewarding stuff to be found no matter how deep you look - every song is a model of efficient arrangement and deleriously refined pop musicianship (q.v. those backing vocals on "2040"). I mean, even the ballads don't drag. I know, I know - I'm as surprised to hear myself saying it as anyone, but it's true.

Anyway, I had a whole bit about how Sitting Around Keeping Score had become, if not a rare CD, at least a royal pain in the sack to track down; unfortunately for me, I decided to actually do my research this time and discovered that it's actually available on iTunes and I probably didn't have to spend all that time and energy sorting through shiesty eBay resellers and GEMM listings and it would have probably been cheaper once you factor in the shipping costs BUT WHATEVER; Sitting Around Keeping Score is an outrageously gratifying album and I'm as thrilled as an abstract simile for exuberance to have it on my shelves. (also you can probably get it directly from them via their MySpace; I'm not sure since my Flash has decided to act like a shitlord w/ Myspace for the last few months no matter how many times I reinstall it, but it's a fair guess. also hard copies aren't too much used from Amazon resellers.) Just throwing that out there. You'll probably be curious.