Marc Fagel's Blog: Jittery White Guy Music: The Blog, page 102

Yo La Tengo: This Stupid World (2023)

Are we all enjoying the spanking-new Yo La Tengo album (released yesterday)? It seems we are!

This Stupid World feels like the return of an old friend. It's arguably the first classically-structured Yo La Tengo album in 10 years, dating back to 2013's excellent Fade. 2018's deceptively-titled There's A Riot Going On was lovely, and has grown on me over time, but was more focused on quiet atmospherics and gentle balladry than exploring the varied rock-centric sounds of the band's more typical long...

My Top 1000 Songs #187: Christine

So, we're talking about the 1988 House of Love song here, not the Siouxsie & The Banshees song (though that one's pretty great as well). This one was a bright spot in the period right after I graduated college and started law school, and was feeling a bit musically adrift without the college radio station (and my DJ friends) to keep me up to date on new music. I had a few resources (MTV's late-night 120 Minutes show was a pretty reliable way to hear alternative singles, though they didn't delve ...

My Top 1000 Songs #186: Jesus, Etc.

Sure, there are Wilco songs I find more personally moving ("Shot In The Arm") or innovative ("I Am Trying To Break Your Heart") or epic ("Misunderstood") or just plain catchy ("Box Full Of Letters"). But when it comes to the Wilco song that's found it's way onto the most mixtapes and playlists, "Jesus, Etc." wins hands-down. It's beautiful, melodic, entrancing; the sort of song you reach for if you meet someone who doesn't (yet) love Wilco and need to quickly win them over.Live on Letterman:And ...

My Top 1000 Songs #185: Pop Zeus

While appearing on a Robert Pollard solo album--1999's Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department, credited to Pollard and guitarist Doug Gillard--"Pop Zeus" may be the most prototypical Guided by Voices tune. Ridiculously infectious hook that instantly sounds like the catchiest tune you've heard up to that point in your life? Check. Rough, lo-fi sound that sounds tossed-off with minimal effort, yet you wouldn't change a note? Check. Profoundly nonsensical lyrics that seem like they must hav...

My Top 1000 Songs #184: In The Street

This is the 5th Big Star song in the top 200--second only to the Beatles, and ahead of other personal favorites like the Clash, Velvets, Stones, etc. Maybe that's too many?

Dunno. 

Anyway, "In The Street" is another definitive power pop song that forms the blueprint for an entire genre. Chiming guitar riff. Perfect 70s lyrical motif about getting high and driving around in a stolen car. Crisp, efficient guitar solo. Chris Bell hitting the high notes, and some lovely harmonies. And lots of cowbell....

My Top 1000 Songs #183: She's Still Bewitching Me

It's hard to write a love song that really captures pure emotion without sounding trite and cliched. But long-running psych-pop band The Green Pajamas made it sound easy on this jangly psychedelia-tinged pop tune from 1999's Seven Fathoms Down And Falling . It's sweet and beguiling and, yeah, it's more about voodoo and the allure of the forbidden than romantic love, but that chorus just pierces your heart. "I'm right here to meet her in a bittersweet fever because she's still bewitching me, after...

My Top 1000 Songs #182: Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys

Back in college, the annual springtime Lawn Parties were a chance for all the social clubs up and down the main drag to host Sunday afternoon events, from quiet brunches to post-Saturday-night-continuous-party bacchanalia. 

One of the clubs regularly invited a long-running East Coast '60s/early '70s cover band called Yasgur's Farm (named for the site of Woodstock) to perform in the front yard. I remember arriving with a bunch of friends and crashing out on the lawn, blissed out on herbal refreshm...

My Top 1000 Songs #181: I Found A Reason

In case my inclusion of "Pale Blue Eyes" way up in the single-digits of this list didn't make it clear, I'm a sucker for the Velvet Underground's gentler side. And this gorgeous ballad, from the band's final proper studio album (ok, well, we can talk about Squeeze ...), is no less stunning (though it arguably recycles a bit of the guitar sound from "Pale"). 

Those cascading bah-bahs! The throwback to Lou Reed's early love of doo-wop music, with the late-night spoken-word poetry reading! And the su...

My Top 1000 Songs #180: Treason

I've written frequently about my love for long-running New Zealand indie pop band The Bats, and especially their absolutely charming 1987 debut Daddy's Highway . And while I could point to half the songs on that album as personal favorites, I think that charm is best captured in "Treason." There's nothing groundbreaking or attention-grabbing about the song; it's just pure, unpretentious sweetness, the warm embrace of that special someone. The disarming vocals, frontman Robert Scott backed by some...

My Top 1000 Songs #179: ...Floating In Space

Full title (of the song and the 1997 album it opens): "Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space." But that's kind of a mouthful to use as the post headline; it's also a spot-on descriptor of the song (and much of the album)--slip on some headphones, ingest the chemical of your choice, and off you go into the farthest reaches of consciousness.

But while the sonic explorations are fascinating--from that intermittent hospital room "ping" to the slowly-building orchestration to the trippy ebb-an...