6. They Want My Soul / Spoon

Spoon guts full-bodied production (again), leaving behind only thin membranes of guitar, piano, and Britt Daniel's pointy vocals.  The result is minimal, brainy rock'n'roll, consistent with their best work, if not downright subversive in its barebones construction.  The Austin band's post-punk and garage-rock come unadorned, yet, as always, bursts of groove and space give way to seriously funky moments.

In honor of the Buckeyes and their improbable run to college football's inaugural playoff, The D Man presents his seeding for the four best songs on the tight, 38-minute album.

• 1.  "Do You."  Doo do do do do do do!  Kick in the drums.  I was on 45th, I was half out of a bag!  Such a killer vibe, the slinky buzz of guitars, with Daniel's confrontation front and center:  Do you? Do you?  Something this simple is deceptively difficult to make, no doubt.  Dave Fridman's (The Flaming Lips) first-time work with the band as producer pays big dividends on this and other tracks.
• 2. "Inside Out."  Boing.  Boing.  Boing.  I have no clue how guitars make that exact sound, whatever.  Time's gone inside out!  The reverbed backdrop of synth.  I don't got time for holy rollers!  The song just feels spacey and dark, as if the band is performing in a black box, and every time they pluck a key or strum a chord, a light goes off on their instruments.  And then they add some sort of harp arpeggios?  Sheesh.
• 3.  "Outlier."  Indeed.  With its glimmering synth runs emerging from the night, the song is the perfect change of pace on Side Two.  New band member Alex Fischel (keyboardist/guitarist) has his fingerprints all over this track, which pulses with a subtle menace.  Mmm, nah nah nah!  That's all you really need for a good chorus when the fundamentals are this sound.
• 4.  "New York Kiss."  With stiff competition for the fourth seed (see "Rainy Taxi" and "Knock Knock Knock"), The D Man gives the nod to the luminous album closer.  Go buy the album if you want to hear the rest of these tracks, cheapskate.