Marc Fagel's Blog: Jittery White Guy Music: The Blog, page 166

Ride: Going Blank Again (1992)

Struggling through a somewhat bleak indie rock landscape at the end of the 80s, British shoegaze was one thing that helped get me through. And Ride's early single "Taste" was a key song of the era, a wake-up call to an exciting new sound, pop buried beneath a wall of buzz (kinda like the Jesus and Mary Chain), but with strains of psychedelia and ethereal dislocation. And while 1990's full-length debut Nowhere was pretty great, driven largely on the strength of that single, it was the...

2020: The Running List (A Playlist)

Hard to believe we're now 1/3 through 2020... seems like it's only... well, actually, it seems like it's gotta be 2022 already.  Screw 2020.

Anyway, here's what I've checked out in the first third of the year. Some pretty great stuff. Already more than enough to fill a year-end mix. I'm going with Kiwi Jr. as holding onto the slot as my favorite release to date (technically, it was released in Canada last year, but I'm going with 2020 for present purposes). I love the Replacements-like...

Flying Color: S/T (1987)

Here's a great lost one-off of 80s college radio jangle pop. Flying Color were based out of my adoptive hometown of San Francisco, mining the same guitar sound as southern and northeastern bands like R.E.M. and Winter Hours, melodic with a hint of melancholy.  They debuted (and opened the album) with the single "Dear Friend," and it's one of the finest songs of the era, one of those tracks whose chorus hook will be permanently lodged in your brain from first listen. (I'd compare it to...

Nancy Priddy: You've Come This Way Before (1968)

From the stranger corners of my collection, here's one that's... odd. Is it psychedelia? Sort of. Pop? Lounge Music? Folk? Sunshine pop?

I can't say. Just that it's... odd. And really rather charming, in an off-kilter, what-the-fuck way that made the late 60s such an interesting time for music.

Nancy Priddy is an actress, and, on top of that, the mother of actress Christina Applegate. (Hey, have you watched Dead To Me on Netflix? Damn, that's a great show... go watch it if you haven't...

Myracle Brah: Life On Planet Eartsnop (1998)

Do you like power pop? Then you're gonna love this.

Do you like mid-60s Beatles? Matthew Sweet? Teenage Fanclub? Other purveyors of modern guitar rock drawn from the likes of Big Star, the Raspberries, and Badfinger? Then you're gonna love this.

How do I know this? 'Cuz it's a great freakin' power pop record. Just freakin' great.

Songwriter Andy Bopp has played with a number of bands and as a solo artist, across a number of genres, but he really hit his stride with Myracle Brah, who released a...

The Sundays: Reading, Writing & Arithmetic (1990)

This album was such a breath of fresh air when I first picked it up back in 1990. I was in a bit of a musical malaise -- stuck in law school without access to a steady flow of new releases as I'd had back at the college radio station; indie rock seemingly adrift after the high watermark of R.E.M. and the Replacements and Husker Du and all the other bands I'd discovered in the mid-80s. The new shoegaze stuff I was discovering was cool, but dark.  But this was a delightful bit of ethereal...

Marshall Crenshaw: S/T (1982)

Marshall Crenshaw has been releasing such consistently great music for so many years that it's easy to take him for granted. But his 1982 self-titled debut holds up as one of the unsung classics of the new wave era. Nothing flashy here, just jangly power-pop crossed with classic Buddy Holly-tinged old-school rock & roll, hints of bluegrass-tinged Americana and early Elvis Costello, all relentlessly catchy. 

Three songs alone -- "Someday, Someway," "Cynical Girl," and "Mary Anne" --...

Amy Rigby: Til The Wheels Fall Off (2003)

Returning now for a second look at the inimitable Amy Rigby... and while her wonderful debut is the best starting point for newbies, all of her records are packed with lovely tunes, from singer-songwriter-pop to Americana, with lyrics that range from poignant to pointed.  On her fourth, she revisits some of her familiar themes, particularly the challenges of finding and maintaining love as an adult (and life as a parent). And as always, the combination of earnest, mature lyrics and...

Emitt Rhodes: S/T (1970)

While highly regarded in power pop circles, Emitt Rhodes is largely relegated to remaining one of the great lost pop singers of the early 70s.  Rhodes started out fronting the Merry-Go-Round, a great late 60s band best known for their Nuggets-era pop hit "Live" (later well-covered by the Bangles), though they had a wealth of wonderful, underappreciated tunes. But his solo work is particularly great -- pretty, Beatlesque tunes falling somewhere between late 60s sunshine pop and early 70s...

Urgh! A Music War (1982)

I still remember coming across Urgh! A Music War back in high school, sometime around 1982 or 1983. The USA Network had launched Night Flight, an alternative to MTV running overnight on weekends that played music videos from acts a little less mainstream than those on MTV, as well as cult movies and weird clips from old documentaries and educational films. Basically fodder for stoners and insomniacs. At some point Night Flight started showing Urgh!, a movie that compiled a bunch of live clips...