Marc Fagel's Blog: Jittery White Guy Music: The Blog, page 159

The Posies: Dear 23 (1990)

The Posies have been recording on and off since the late 80s, a flurry of good-to-great indie pop music that drinks deep from the Big Star legend (wunderkind maestros Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow, who share songwriting, guitar, and vocal duties for the Posies, joined Alex Chilton and drummer Jody Stephens as the reconstituted Big Star in the 90s for multiple "reunion" tours as well as the 2006 album In Space, which was basically a Big Star/Posies hybrid record); but theirs is a more cerebral, b...

Close Lobsters: Foxheads Stalk This Land (1987)

Dipping back into that deep, deep well of jangly guitar bands from the mid-80s college radio scene... Scottish indie rockers Close Lobsters managed a 1987 debut which, despite a terrible band name and an even worse album title, was surprisingly cool and endearing. And yeah, it's got those jangly guitars, but also a more melodic, artsy vibe which brings to mind bands like Australia's Go-Betweens, as well as a garage band-infused jagged pop in line with New Zealand bands like the Bats and the Clea...

Camera Obscura: Let's Get Out Of This Country (2006)

Well, sure, another week in Trump's America makes the title of this album feel all that much more enticing... but, no, nothing political here, just a joyously lovely little record soaked in summertime sunshine and early evening sunsets.

Scottish band Camera Obscura released a few albums in the aughts (their most recent coming in 2013), and they're all perfectly sweet. Somewhat twee European pop, akin to Belle & Sebastian (whose leader produced their debut) or maybe a far more chipper Smiths, all ...

The Beths: Jump Rope Gazers (2020)

The Beths' full-length debut, Future Me Hates Me , was my favorite release of 2018, if not one of my favorite albums of recent years, a non-stop barrage of smile-inducing noise-pop, relentlessly infectious hooks belted out with giddy girlish charm by singer/guitarist/songwriter Elizabeth Stokes. Hell, I've played the wickedly inventive title track dozens of times, and every time I play it I just want to hit rewind and play it again. Definitely the best thing to come from New Zealand since the ear...

Hole: Live Through This (1994)

I loved this album back in 1994. As a feminist manifesto of sorts, it served as a complement to Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville from the prior year; Phair offered introspective, quirky, personalized indie rock, while Courtney Love offered more polemical, commercially-shiny punk rock catharsis. Yet though Phair's music has never really left my side, Hole fell out of rotation after a bit. Frankly, I don't think I've played this album in a quarter century. Maybe it was due to all the cultural baggage...

The Beatles: Revolver (Revolved) [1966]

So -- been doing this for about 450 straight days. Skipped yesterday because everything was blowing up at home (just small stuff, but a surprising amount of simultaneously-exploding small stuff). One of those days where, if I did post something, my foul mood meant that, instead of a "hey, check out this obscure '70s record, it's awesome and you'll love it" post, it would end up more like a "hey, you know who really annoys me? Steely fucking Dan" post. So I took a break.

I'm back today, but I have...

The Only Ones: S/T (1978)

The Only Ones' 1978 self-titled debut, which didn't get a lot of attention at the time (at least here in the States) but which has grown in stature over the decades, is a tough one to pigeonhole. A little British new wave power pop; a little Television-styled New York punk; a lot of love for Lou Reed. Which can make it a sometimes schizophrenic stumble between darkness and light, but it's definitely one of those records that grows on you the more you listen.

If they have any pop culture cachet, i...

The Yum Yums: Blame It On The Boogie (2002)

Hot, sunny summer days, long weekend... yeah, definitely power pop weather. Norway's Yum Yums, sounding a lot more California than Norway, are on the power side of the power pop equation, emphasis on the upbeat, frenetic guitar blasts, though with the bubblegum hooks still shining through.

They've been at it for more than two decades--their latest release is coming out later this month (and already available on Spotify)--and their work is ridiculously consistent. I may have a slight preference fo...

Laura Nyro: Eli & The Thirteenth Confession (1968)

It's funny how some music has a weird trajectory in your life. Laura Nyro was one of those singer-songwriters I long associated with the schlock I grew up with -- the Carpenters, Carole King, all the kitschy adult pop my decidedly non-rocking parents used to play when I was a little kid. I don't think they had any Laura Nyro, though for some reason I have memories of hearing "Stoned Soul Picnic" pretty early on. I probably associate the whole vibe most closely with Todd Rundgren's "Hello, It's M...

Love: Forever Changes (1967)

Dipping back into the 60s psyche today, of the (relatively) non-obscure variety. Though while Love's third album is these days considered one of the true greats of the psychedelic era, you still don't see Love getting a ton of... well, love... outside the rock snob crowd. Which is a shame, because it's a simply... damn, gonna say it... lovely album.

Like a lot of US music from the Summer of Love era, this one's much more folk-oriented than the deliberately trippy post-Sgt. Pepper/Piper at the Gat...