Spoon

Given the critical and increasingly commercial success of Spoon's '00s albums — from 2001's Girls Can Tell to 2007's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga and beyond to 2010's Transference, which debuted at Number 4 on the Billboard 200 — the Austin group has clearly rebounded from being dropped by Elektra Records after their wiry cult favourite from 1998, A Series of Sneaks. Really now, who can resist the soulful shuffle of "I Turn My Camera On," the joyous piano chords and handclaps of "The Way We Get By," the explosive pop classicism of "The Beast and Dragon, Adored," or the beat-boxing percussion of "Stay Don't Go"? Trace the evolution of Spoon, from hints of Pixies to shades of Motown, in Deep Cuts.

They'd eventually find their own distinct, minimal indie-pop sound, but Spoon started like many of the better alternative rock acts of the early to mid-'90s, reflecting the raw rage of the Pixies ("Don't Buy the Realistic"), gliding along simple backbeats like Guided By Voices ("I Could See the Dude," "Jealousy"), and lashing out at a music industry that sees nothing wrong with denying your existence overnight ("The Agony of Laffitte"). More recent releases have found the band experimenting with tones borrowed from Motown (dig the stomp-stomp beat, echoing percussion and stabs of horn on "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb") and crafting leftfield lullabies like "Goodnight Laura."

Like Robert Pollard, Stephen Malkmus, and Frank Black before him, Spoon mastermind Britt Daniel is an indie-rock icon with a back catalogue and voice that's distinctly his own. Oh sure, the surface area of his songs reflects some obvious influences — from Sonic Youth to the Rolling Stones, from Elvis Costello to the Pixies — but it's what Daniel adds to the familiar that makes Spoon sound so splendid. His ever-evolving songwriting has also reached a point where the tables have turned — where Spoon is one of the key acts informing indie rock's future rather than simply rehashing its past. As the band heads deep into the second decade of its existence, their overall picture of A-grade consistency and outstanding quality becomes clearer by the minute.