A Series of Sneaks is the second studio album by the indie band Spoon, released by Elektra Records in April 1998. Despite being overlooked critically and commercially upon its release, the album has since attained cult status. Production After Matador Records released the Soft Effects EP in January 1997, Spoon began work on their second full-length album. The band had the option of releasing another album through the label, but by mid-1997 singer Britt Daniel was contemplating leaving Matador, as he felt the indie label viewed Spoon's sound as too commercial. In the fall of 1997, the band agreed to join the major label Elektra Records, officially signing in February 1998, after the new album had been completed. Josh Zarbo, who joined Spoon as bassist in 1997 during work on the album, later pointed out that nearly everything had been recorded prior to the late-1997 deal with Elektra, saying: "that record was pretty much made with Matador in the rearview mirror and Elektra not yet happening." Release On its initial release in April 1998, the album did not sell as well as the Elektra had hoped, and by January 1999 it was already an out of print, deleted release. Regarding the record's lack of success, Britt Daniel remarked in 2019: "I remember we sold 1,200 copies [of Girls Can Tell] in the first week, which was almost as much as we had sold of all of A Series of Sneaks." Spoon's relationship with Elektra was fraught from its beginnings. Though Elektra VP and A&R rep Ron Laffitte had pursued the band for over a year, they said he became less responsive even before they signed with the label in February 1998, a trend that continued through the release of the album. Britt Daniel described Laffitte as being like a different person before and after the band's signing. Laffitte was fired from Elektra not long after A Series of Sneaks came out, and Spoon was dropped from the label four months after its release. Angry with Laffitte, who had promised to stick with the band, Spoon recorded a vindictive, yet humorously-titled, two-song concept single entitled "The Agony of Laffitte", which was released by Saddle Creek Records in 1999. They lamented their experience with the music business executive and questioned his motivations with the songs "The Agony of Laffitte" and "Laffitte Don't Fail Me Now". When A Series of Sneaks was reissued