Marc Fagel's Blog: Jittery White Guy Music: The Blog, page 40

My Top 1000 Songs #766: I Love John, She Loves Paul

[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.]

San Francisco-based 90s/00s indie rockers Beulah were a peripheral part of the era-defining retro-pop Elephant 6 scene; and while their later work became increasingly baroque and sophisticated, their earlier recordings perfectly encapsulate that jubilant lo-fi recreated 60s vibe. "I Love John, She Loves Paul," from 1997 debut Handsome Western States (produc...

My Top 1000 Songs #765: Shot Shot

[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.]

Eclectic UK indie rockers Gomez open 2002's In Our Gun with this wild ride that always feels viscerally exciting. Like, it actually raises my heartbeat. The tune starts out innocently enough, with their over-the-pond spin on jam-band Americana... before they ramp up the electricity and throw in a creepy blast of sci-fi Moog. And then they take it up another...

My Top 1000 Songs #764: Big City

My second pick from neo-psychedelic stoner rockers Spacemen 3's final LP, 1991's Recurring . And like the other selection, it's an elongated, electronic groove specially designed to accompany you on your chemically-enhanced headphone-based vacation in inner space. Because variety is the (other) spice of life.

Short version, for microdoses:

Full dose:And, believe it or not, as seen in The Simpsons!LCD Soundsystem cover!

My Top 1000 Songs #763: Your Gold Dress

[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.]

Over the spread of a 1985 EP and a 1987 full-length follow-up, post-punk alt.pop legends XTC cosplayed as imaginary late 60s psychedelic troubadours The Dukes of Stratosphear. The music is uniformly wonderful, fun and exuberant, blending the influences of the Beatles, Barrett-era Pink Floyd, the Beach Boys, Zombies, Tomorrow, and others but rising well abo...

My Top 1000 Songs #762: Rock 'n' Roll Love Letter

Look, I'd very much love to salvage some credibility and assure you that I'm talking about the version of this songs by perfectly respectable power pop legends The Records (of "Starry Eyes" fame). But I'd be lying. Nope, we're going all in on the Bay City Rollers here.
As a child of 9, first discovering AM Top 40 radio, spending every afternoon glued to my handheld transistor radio, absorbing whatever WLS Chicago had deemed popular, the Bay City Rollers--alongside Sweet--were the bubblegum pop tr...

My Top 1000 Songs #761: Outtasite (Outta Mind)

[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.]

Wilco have covered so much ground in their 30 years that an old-school, chunky party rocker sounds downright quaint. But "Outtasite (Outta Mind)," another one from their 1996 sophomore LP Being There, was a dynamite intro to the band for those who skipped the debut as just some album by the other guy in Uncle Tupelo, early evidence that this was gonna be n...

My Top 1000 Songs #760: Piss Diary

[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.]

Sure, the song title suggests you're about to hear some noisy UK punk track circa 1978... and instead you find an absolutely gorgeous, pastoral ballad, ideal for drifting off to sleep or at least heading for an herbally-abetted trip sprawled out on the couch.

The Chapel Hill, NC indie band's marvelous self-titled 2000 debut is a beautiful delight from start...

My Top 1000 Songs #759: Kodachrome

[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.] 

Sorry, not much to say about "Kodachrome," the single and lead-off track from Paul Simon's second solo LP, 1973's There Goes Rhymin' Simon. It's one of hundreds of perfectly fine songs I used to hear on classic rock radio, neither spectacular nor bothersome, just a solid old-school classic rock song... yet for some reason I can't quite put my finger on, th...

My Top 1000 Songs #758: Fazon

[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.] 

Sopwith Camel were a lesser-known act from San Francisco's Summer of Love, albeit perhaps the first to score a Top 40 hit, with "Hello, Hello," an old-timey Vaudeville-like ditty that captures the eclectic vibe of the 1967 scene. (Even if you're like most people and have never heard of Sopwith Camel, you've almost certainly heard that tune if you grew up o...

My Top 1000 Songs #757: That's When I Reach For My Revolver

[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.] 

As noted previously, Boston's early post-punk pioneers Mission of Burma are one of those bands whose importance in shaping 80s indie rock can't be denied... yet I rarely play them. But they still managed two of the most incredibly impactful anthems of the era. This track (from 1981's Signals, Calls, And Marches EP) is the other one.

"Mother taught us patien...