Marc Fagel's Blog: Jittery White Guy Music: The Blog, page 86

My Top 1000 Songs #341: Game Of Pricks

[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My current Spotify playlist of Guided by Voices/Robert Pollard highlights--already a few years out of date--has over 90 songs on it, about half of which I'd be perfectly comfortable including on this Top 1000. So it does feel like I'm just randomly plucking a few out and sprinkling them here and there just keep the GbV flow coming.

Still, if one were looking...

My Top 1000 Songs #340: Something To Talk About

[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 gorgeous, piano-driven, old-school pop song from Badly Drawn Boy (British songwriter Damon Gough). While less dense than much of the artist's more intricate baroque pop work, it still feels thoughtful and sophisticated, while hewing to a more traditional 70s pop motif (see also my recent post on Epic Soundtracks). There's something instantly familiar abou...

My Top 1000 Songs #339: Chipper Cherry Daylily

[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 one that I imagine is from way out in left field? Which is a damn shame, because this band slays.

While it's increasingly rare these days, every now and then I belatedly stumble across an artist who's been around a few years and have the joy of diving into a rich back-catalog of great music. Discovering indie power-pop band The Shazam in the mid-00's...

My Top 1000 Songs #338: Glad And Sorry

[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.]

Some songs are just kinda amiable. Nothing flashy; not necessarily top-of-mind, a killer track you crank up for friends and know it's gonna just blow them away. Just a little simple something that makes you feel good, that you find yourself unconsciously humming along with if it randomly pops up on shuffle play.

Which brings me to "Glad And Sorry," from Face...

My Top 1000 Songs #337: Smile

[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 guessing long-time fans of the Jayhawks may blanch at this pick, presumably more wedded to the band's earlier, more rootsy Americana. By the time of 2000's Smile, the band moved in a more baroque pop direction, best exemplified by the album's title track. But as someone who was similarly excited by Wilco's abandonment of their countrified roots on the p...

My Top 1000 Songs #336: The Voice

[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 guilty pleasure? I guess we could revisit the old debate about whether there is such a thing as a guilty pleasure--are there songs we enjoy with some amount of embarrassment, recognizing they are inherently uncool? Or should we be comfortable with our taste and just like what we damn well please? 

Guilt or not, I've always loved this song. 1981's Long Dist...

My Top 1000 Songs #335: Stereo Sanctity

[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.]

This is my second pick from my favorite Sonic Youth LP, 1987's Sister. And I like it for pretty much exactly the same reasons as "Catholic Block"; they're peas in a pod, two drop-dead post-punk tracks that similarly tether the band's noisy alternatively-tuned & distorted guitars to a surprisingly catchy hook. Plus, "Stereo Sanctity" gets some bonus points a...

My Top 1000 Songs #334: Fallen Down

[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.]

Do you have any totally random childhood musical memories that still haunt you for inexplicable reasons?

Me too!

I'm guessing it was around 1976, when I was 10 years old, not long after I had started listening to Top 40 radio and gotten pretty deep into my absolute obsession with music. My dad had taken me to a barbeque one of his work friends was hosting. I ...

My Top 1000 Songs #333: More Songs About Chocolate & Girls

[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.]

At some point around '80 or '81, back when I was a high school freshman, my buddy Jeff shared with me a mixtape someone had put together with a bunch of punk and new wave songs. I don't remember much about the tape, though I'm pretty sure there was some Ramones and Buzzcocks, maybe some Jam. It didn't necessarily send me scurrying out on a record-buying spr...

My Top 1000 Songs #332: Woke Up New

[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 devastating emotional body-blow from The Mountain Goats. 2006's Get Lonely was songwriter John Darnielle's break-up album, and while a number of songs mine similar territory--I also adore "Half Dead," likewise detailing the conflicting feelings of loss and freedom on the morning after the split--"Woke Up New" is just too packed with unforgettable ly...