Marc Fagel's Blog: Jittery White Guy Music: The Blog, page 34

My Top 1000 Songs #822: Mr. Soul

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

It's just occurring to me that I've now snagged all 3 Neil Young contributions on Buffalo Springfield's 1967 sophomore (and arguably final "real") LP Buffalo Springfield Again . And as a trio, they really do map out the astounding breadth of Young's ambition and abilities even in his formative years. You've got the gorgeous balladry of "Expecting to Fly," th...

My Top 1000 Songs #821: Pat's Trick

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

I remember Helium's 1995 debut The Dirt Of Luck coming out when women-led indie bands were getting a lot of attention, both by the rock press and myself. I dutifully picked it up, but found it a little  too challenging for my ears, a little too angular and abrasive, lacking the more readily digested pop concessions of the Breeders and Belly and Bettie Serve...

My Top 1000 Songs #820: Ohm

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

I'm a sucker for a 3-chord pop song. And, hey, if you can pull off a great song with just two chords (or thereabouts), even better.
But how many songs can ride out a single chord and still be freakin' great? Ok, fine, there's "Tomorrow Never Knows," which appeared here a million years ago. But otherwise?
Yet Yo La Tengo, an absurd quarter-century into their c...

A Few More New Releases!

Entering the final month of 2024, and the great new music just keeps coming--and damn, as we pivot into 2025, god knows we're gonna need a LOT of good music to survive.
Librarians With Hickeys, How To Make Friends...

The awkwardly-titled band is the enterprise of two middle-aged dudes from Akron, Ohio--so, yeah, I can relate. Their second full-lengther, How To Make Friends By Telephone, is a jangle-pop delight for people who keep the treble dial cranked all the way to the right. It's mostly bright...

My Top 1000 Songs #819: Used To Be A Cop

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Patterson Hood takes the Drive-By Truckers deep into the American underbelly...
...on a LOT of songs...
...but this one goes particularly dark. "Used To Be A Cop," off 2001's Go-Go Boots, offers a true-to-life film noir tale of a troubled, violent ex-cop, bemoaning his fall while staking out his ex-wife's home from the shadows. It's not pretty, the addiction ...

My Top 1000 Songs #818: I Need A Face

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

I still remember my excitement when The Muffs' second LP, 1995's Blonder And Blonder , first arrived. It sounded to me like the return of the Go-Go's, or maybe the Primitives, girl-group power-pop updated for the Green Day pop-punk era and supercharged with Kim Shattuck's ferocious growl. "I Need A Face" in particular became a fixture on my mixtapes of the m...

My Top 1000 Songs #817: When It Began

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

The Replacements' final album, 1990's All Shook Down, gets a bit of a bad rap. And, sure, it's more the beginning of Paul Westerberg's solo career than a proper band album, lacking the spark of prior triumphs, and the "break up album" vibe gives it an underlying sadness. Still, I find it underrated, featuring some of Paul's finest songwriting to date. I'm p...

My Top 1000 Songs #816: Pictures Of Success

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

An early track from Rilo Kiley, from their 2001 debut LP Take Offs And Landings. While I'm often partial to the band's poppier, more upbeat tracks (see, e.g., the previously-noted "Portions For Foxes" and "Spectacular Views"), "Pictures Of Success" is cut from an entirely different cloth. It's a quiet, slow-burning ballad, with some lovely intertwining fing...

My Top 1000 Songs #815: From The Beginning

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

My high school journey through prog history, kicked off by a love of Genesis and King Crimson, hit a brick wall when I started diving into Emerson, Lake & Palmer. 'Cuz hoo-boy, there's a lot of dreck in there! But there are a handful of ELP nuggets I enjoy, usually (albeit not exclusively) those that focus more on Greg Lake's vocals & guitars then Keith Eme...

My Top 1000 Songs #814: Half-Man/Half-Mole

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Chris Knox isn't the most accessible of the old-school New Zealand Flying Nun acts--though he occasionally comes up with like-minded catchy, hum-along indie rock, just a little more raw & stripped down. "Half-Man/Half-Mole," off 1995's Songs Of You And Me, is Knox in his most tuneful mode. The song features his trademark lo-fi buzz that's a surefire way to ...