Marc Fagel's Blog: Jittery White Guy Music: The Blog, page 45

My Top 1000 Songs #726: I Need Direction

[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.] 

Teenage Fanclub are another one like Guided By Voices (or, hey, the freakin' Beatles) where it's kinda impossible to lock in on particular favorites; it's more like, hey, I think I need a Teenage Fanclub song in this spot and here's one I happen to love, but it coulda been a different one as well, I suppose...
Anyway, "I Need Direction," off 2000's Howdy, i...

New Releases: Quivers

I was a big fan of Australian jangle-pop act Quivers' 2021 debut (not to mention their fun 202 tribute to R.E.M.'s Out Of Time), so I was excited to see a new one after a several-year wait. Oyster Cuts, much like its predecessor, melds the sounds of New Zealand indie bands like the Bats with 80s college radio jangle, highlighted by the shared vocal duties of singers Bella Quinlan and Sam Nicholson. It leans to the melancholy side, mostly mid-tempo and wistful, though there are some fizzy upbeat ...

My Top 1000 Songs #725: You Can't Deliver

[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've had a few visits to the Rain Parade's catalog of 80s retro-psychedelic jangle-pop as we work through this list; this deep cut from The Things falls along the same lines. The band were loosely-affiliated with the Paisley Underground scene, mining similar jangly psych & garage band territory as the Rain Parade and the Three O'Clock, most successfully on...

My Top 1000 Songs #724: Hold Tight

[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.] 

In the wake of my childhood obsession with the Beatles and the Who (and later the Kinks), I went on a British Invasion binge. Yet somehow I never came across the 1966 single "Hold Tight!" (or, for that matter, the awkwardly-named band Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich). Indeed, the first time I remember hearing the song is during Quentin Tarantino's Death...

My Top 1000 Songs #723: Better Than Nothing

[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.] 

You know those songs you listen to all the time when they're new, and then continue to throw them onto mixes for the next few years, and then you kinda stop listening for awhile, but then, months or even years later, they pop up on shuffle play for the first time you can remember and you're like, hey, what a great song, why don't I play that one more often...

My Top 1000 Songs #722: Bow Hitchhiker

 

[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 came across Irish post-punk act Rollerskate Skinny when they opened for Pavement back in '94. Their opening set holds the distinction of being the loudest show I've ever seen (and I've seen a LOT of concerts). Like, the sort of loud that physically hurts your entire body (I remember having to step outside for a couple songs). Still, there was something ...

My Top 1000 Songs #721: Girl With The Black Tights

[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.] 

One of my absolute favorite songs of the past decade, yet also one I'm pretty convinced nobody else has ever heard. Or maybe it's just a well-kept secret? Well, folks, here's our chance to remedy that.

Dylan In The Movies is the alter ego of singer-songwriter Brian Sullivan, a purveyor of sweet, jangly indie pop that reminds me a lot of Matt Pond PA (anothe...

My Top 1000 Songs #720: International Pop Overthrow

[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.] 

So what happens when a Midwestern power pop band tries to sound like the Buzzcocks? You get something a little too heavy for pop, a little too bubblegum for punk... yet nonetheless a basic and just about the perfect anthem for a scene that you instantly wanna hang with. Even if you've never checked out the long-running power-pop compilation series or live ...

New Releases: Good Times For A Change

An online music friend turned me on to SoCal singer-songwriter Tamar Berk just yesterday, and I've been on an absolute non-stop binge of her music for the past 24 hours. Which is a lot--four terrific albums over the past four years, including a new one, Good Times For A Change, due for release next month but available for preview and pre-order over on Bandcamp.

Berk is another admirable entry in the recent crop of indie women who add some maturity and bite to their confessional songwriting--I can...

My Top 1000 Songs #719: We Used To Be Friends

[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.] 

A song becoming too intractably associated with a tv show or movie or commercial can cut either way. Sometimes it totally ruins the song (for the longest time, I hated the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" because it made me think of Sunkist soda, and it took decades to appreciate the song again); other times, it can actually be a plus (I think the only reason...