Marc Fagel's Blog: Jittery White Guy Music: The Blog, page 134

Neal Casal: Anytime Tomorrow (2001)

I'll admit I came pretty late to the music of Neal Casal, the Americana singer-songwriter (and ridiculously busy hired gun guitarist) who tragically passed away two years ago. And I am kicking myself, because his back catalog is pretty damn stunning. His ten solo albums released 1995-2011 are almost ridiculously consistent, not a bum note in the batch, blending Gram Parsons and the Jayhawks and Ryan Adams; they vary a bit stylistically, their balance between stripped-down country twang and singe...

Let's Active: Afoot EP (1983)

Let's Active were the 80s-era band of production wunderkind Mitch Easter. Easter is probably best known for his work behind the boards on R.E.M.'s jaw-dropping early run (Chronic Town/ Murmur / Reckoning ) as well as a series of Game Theory albums and the Connells' spectacular Boylan Heights . He continues to produce myriad bands (including helping out on Pavement's Brighten The Corners).

His own band was a blend of 80s college radio jangle pop and quirky treble-happy power pop, most closely aligned w...

Phish: Ambient Jams 1997-2000 (A Mix)

I've given up trying to win non-believers over to the Phish cause. I'm the first to recognize that they are a particularly cultish band. Whether it's the eclectic nature of their recorded work (particularly their more prog/Zappa-esque early work, which surprises some who expect more laid-back user-friendly Grateful Dead-ish vibes), or the in-joke weirdness of their live shows (vacuum cleaner solos; trampolines; setlists that range from trippy 30-minute jams to pithy bluegrass standards to unexpe...

Exploding Flowers: Stumbling Blocks (2020)

For some reason, a lot of the newer bands I like tend to remind me of New Zealand indie acts like the Clean and the Chills and, in this case, the Bats in particular. L.A.'s Exploding Flowers mingle that NZ garage-pop sound with the jangly retro-60s-psychedelia of 80s Paisley Underground bands like Rain Parade and the Three O'Clock and the wistful folk-tinged indie rock of the Go-Betweens. The songs tend towards gentle, mostly mid-tempo, skewed yet melodic pop, with some lingering organ strains t...

Danny & Dusty: Cast Iron Soul (2007)

Here's a nice little treat for fans of the 1980s Paisley Underground scene and Americana-tinged indie rock. Danny & Dusty were a side project for Dan Stuart of Green on Red and Steve (Dusty?) Wynn of Dream Syndicate. They first paired up for 1985's The Lost Weekend, which had the joyously tossed-off feel of a couple seasoned rockers setting up in a bar after-hours, knocking back a few brews, and playing a set of rollicking cowpunk. It's a terrific record (among other things adding one of the tru...

John Phillips: The Wolfking Of L.A. (1970)

A beautiful, low-key, folk-pop album recorded and released shortly after the break-up of the Mamas & the Papas--alternatively titled simply John Phillips--it didn't get much attention at the time, but over the years has grown to be recognized as a key document of the early 70s Southern California singer-songwriter scene. Phillips was the erstwhile leader of the Ms & the Ps, who wrote most of their originals, so the songs are reliably solid, sticking largely to the band's folk roots, while downpl...

Genesis: From Genesis To Revelation (1969)

Ah, the perennial question, what to make of "bad" albums we inexplicably love? Are they guilty pleasures? Or is the very concept of a guilty pleasure indicative of rock snobbery, a high-brow insistence that there is some objective truth as to musical quality, because whether an album is truly good or bad simply comes down to whether one particular listener happens to like or dislike the music?

Pitchfork caused a bit of a stir recently when they decided to "re-review" a bunch of records where publ...

The Shazam: Tomorrow The World (2002)

Yes, this is the third Shazam LP I've talked up in this space, but I absolutely adore this band and will not rest until everyone out there has at least given them a shot. As noted earlier, the Nashville-based band blended power pop with 70s-styled hard rock and glam. I talked about Cheap Trick a few days back, and how I've never understood how they're often picked as the go-to name-drop when talking about harder-rocking power pop; it's really The Shazam who should occupy that position.

There's a ...

Pink Floyd/Unknown: Wish You Were Here Trance Remixes (1993)

Back in the 90s, before the internet dramatically changed the nature of finding and acquiring rare music, my buddy Mike and I used to regularly attend record fairs, typically held a few times a year and sponsored by the college radio stations. Professional dealers and amateur collectors would set up tables with boxes of vinyl and CDs at the local convention center or at a community college auditorium. My primary focus was amassing bootlegs; it was around this time I set up a website where I coul...

Ben Lee: Quarter Century Classix (2019)

I don't know if this is enough to qualify as a trend, but there have been a number of covers albums from indie artists over the past few years. Singer-songwriter Pete Yorn had one earlier this year, previously noted in this space; noise-pop band Surfer Blood tried their hand at one a couple years back; and, that same year, singer-songwriter Ben Lee gave it a shot as well.

While some artists use these as a platform to show off the breadth of their taste and influences, Lee opts for a laser-like fo...