Marc Fagel's Blog: Jittery White Guy Music: The Blog, page 73

My Top 1000 Songs #463: Empty Ships

[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 90s indie act Creeper Lagoon never got the alt.rock traction they deserved, and are on the more obscure side of this list's entries; but "Empty Ships" (like the rest of 1998's I Become Small And Go) captures where my head was at in the late 90s. It's edgy indie rock for those who like Pavement, Built To Spill, etc., but the production gives it...

My Top 1000 Songs #462: Venus

[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.]

Yeah, "Venus" is my third pick from Television's 1977 landmark Marquee Moon, and by now it's just getting silly.

Still, "I fell right into the arms of Venus de Milo" is an all-time lyric. And that dual-guitar riff sounds like nothing else ever. So that's just the way it's gonna be.

Live 2017:

My Top 1000 Songs #461: Why Couldn't I See

[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 late Saturday night. The edible is kicking in, you're crashed out on the sofa in the darkened room, you've got your headphones firmly in place. What are you listening to?

"Why Couldn't I See," a stray track included on the CD version Spacemen 3's trippy final record, 1991's Recurring. It's a blissed-out tapestry of drones and reverb and hoo-boy it's wha...

If 20s Were 90s: New Music Mix

Picked up another great new release recently, Bananasugarfire, from Philadelphia indie rockers Golden Apples. It's a great set of noise-pop-ish tunes, shades of 90s indie rock like Pavement with flashes of shoegaze. (I also snagged 2022's self-titled album, equally awesome.) You can find them on Bandcamp.
But it got me thinking about how many of the bands I've gotten into in recent years are unafraid to show the influence of 90s indie rock in their music. Much like a lot of the 80s bands I grew u...

My Top 1000 Songs #460: Can't Hardly Wait

[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 break out the pop! Killer single from 1987's Pleased To Meet Me--with horns no less! Since then we've been treated to some earlier iterations--demos, and a mostly complete earlier version written for Tim but held back. Which was probably smart, as the lyrics in the PTMM polished final cut are much better, but if you want to hear it as a mes...

My Top 1000 Songs #459: Revolution (In The Summertime)

[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.]

Scottish jangly guitar band Cosmic Rough Riders (primarily musician Daniel Wylie, who after having the band name taken over by the other musicians he gathered started recording under his own name and, later, Daniel Wylie's Cosmic Rough Riders)) build from the Teenage Fanclub and Brian Wilson songbook, lovely harmony-drenched pop songs that may not rock the ...

My Top 1000 Songs #458: Gepetto

[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.]

Another remarkable (and underappreciated) cut from Belly's 1993 debut, Star. And while I give a slight edge to "Feed The Tree," "Gepetto" is comparably catchy, another demonstration of Tanya Donelly's sublime pop chops that she never had a chance to flex with Throwing Muses or the Breeders. Like "Tree," it's got that 90s alt.rock skew to it, a tricky off-be...

My Top 1000 Songs #457: Every Word Means No

[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.]

"Every Word Means No," off Let's Active's 1983 debut EP Afoot, is another track that unfailingly transports me back to my college radio days. Akin to the like-minded dB's, the song is a nice midway point between 60s-styled power pop and the emerging R.E.M.-championed jangle pop of the day, with just a touch of new wave sheen. (See also, e.g., the Hoodoo Gur...

My Top 1000 Songs #456: I Fought The Law

[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 heard the Clash's 1979 version long before discovering the 1965 Bobby Fuller Four iteration (released shortly before Fuller's apparently suspicious death). And it would be even longer before I figured out that Fuller's version was also a cover, the song originally recorded by his fellow Texans the Crickets (the remnants of Buddy Holly's band after his own...

My Top 1000 Songs #455: When The Tigers Broke Free

[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 hate to spill a lot of ink on Pink Floyd's Roger Waters right now, because f*ck that guy. Still, "When The Tigers Broke Free" is a simply tremendous piece of work, one of the most emotionally affecting anti-war songs I know, something that leaves a real mark.

The song itself has a convoluted history--written for 1979's double LP The Wall, but not recorded ...