VAGUE SPACE

19. Driveway to Driveway

Song:  "Driveway to Driveway"
Artist:  Superchunk
Album:  Foolish
Year:  1994
Length:  4:41
Label:  Merge Records

• Download Superchunk - "Driveway to Driveway".mp3

I discussed Superchunk in depth in my post on "Hyper Enough", which was #33 on this list, but what I didn't realize is that after that post, if you type in "I Think I'm Hyper Enough" on Google, the #1 site link that will appear is this site, which I think is my proudest moment in the history of this blog.  I can't begin to tell you how big a fan of Superchunk I was back between 1995 and 2001 or so, and "Hyper Enough" started that, so I'm pretty certain if my future self came back and told my 1995 self that I'd be blogging at the most popular site for the chorus of my favorite song at the time, my past self would be shocked into complete disbelief.  And then ask what the hell a blog or a Google is.  But I digress, because this post is about another Superchunk song, one that actually ranks higher than "Hyper Enough" on my top 40 all-time list.  "Driveway to Driveway" was released on Foolish, the album that preceded Here's Where the Strings Come In, but it is not only equally beautiful, it's one of my top 20 favorite songs ever.  A simple, pleasant tale about -- well, drinking and lust, which are a pair of topics that I know quite a bit about.  And I thought it was you that I chased....

20. Web in Front

Song:  "Web in Front"
Artist:  Archers of Loaf
Album:  Icky Mettle
Year:  1994
Length:  2:05
Label:  Alias Records

• Download Archers of Loaf - "Web in Front".mp3

The shortest song on this list marks the fact that we're halfway through, so those friends of mine who aren't exactly clamoring for the continuation of the Top 40 All-Time countdown, there's only 19 songs to go... For everyone else, Archers of Loaf was a Chapel Hill band (much like the artist in the #19 position - coming soon!) that had moderate college radio success with debut album Icky Mettle and the "hit" single "Web in Front."  While they never really hit it big (even in indie rock circles), and disbanded after 1998's mixed reviewed White Trash Heroes, their debut album is generally considered one of the seminal indie rock masterpieces of the 1990s.  Here is Robert Christgau's review of the album, which garnered an A rating from the venerable music critic.

Guitars screeching every which way, beats speeding and hesitating and slamming chaos back into the box, twentysomething boyvoices whining and arguing and drawling and straining, it's the world according to indie rock: a tantrum set to music as sharp and self-contained as a comedy routine. Aurally, this is now--one now, anyway. If it has zero to say about tomorrow, why don't you just worry about that then?

And I found this article at Stylus in which a reviewer claims that "Web in Front" is the perfect break up song, and he gives it this rave...

This song is properly recognized as a classic indie rock anthem, and in my mind is as near to perfection as rock music gets, but there’s one line that makes “Web in Front” truly extraordinary to me: “All I ever wanted was to be your spine.”

Personally my favorite line is "You're not the one who let me down, but thanks for offering" but the entire song is truly, truly magical.  Otherwise, it probably wouldn't have beaten all these great songs for a spot in the Top 20...

 

Top 40 Vague Space Favorite Songs (so far)

21.  "A Perfect Sonnet" Bright Eyes

22.  "I'll Believe in Anything" Wolf Parade

23.  "Seven" Sunny Day Real Estate

24.  "San Andreas" Portastatic

25.  "Age of Consent" New Order

26. "Summer Here Kids" Grandaddy

27. "There is a Light that Never Goes Out" The Smiths

28. "Bankrupt on Selling" Modest Mouse

29. "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" The Arcade Fire

30. "The Moon" The Microphones

31. "Bad Blood" Bright Eyes & The Album Leaf

32. "Gardenhead - Leave Me Alone" Neutral Milk Hotel

33. "Hyper Enough" Superchunk

34. "For Real" Okkervil River

35. "Samskeyti" Sigur Ros

36. "Gold Soundz" Pavement

37. "The Shy Retirer" Arab Strap

38. "Ceremony" New Order

39. "Cody" Mogwai

40. "Carry the Zero" Built to Spill

 

Bill Conlin, Idiot Blowhard

Jimmy Rollins probably didn't deserve the MVP.  David Wright and Matt Holliday, among others, had better stats, in both traditional and sabermetric measures.  Rollins had the better story, and the better story always wins for the newspaper sportswriters who vote on the award.  I can understand that - the better story is what writers are searching for - and I gave up caring so much about the votes of these writers somewhere around the time Shannon Stewart started receiving 1st place MVP votes for a half season of barely better than average play for the Twins after a mid-season trade coincided with a dramatic improvement in the Twins pitching staff, due mostly to Johan Santana becoming a rotation regular - and not due to anything Stewart provided, obviously - so I'm not really that invested in MVP or Cy Young or whatever voting anymore.  The Phillies have had the NL MVP two years in a row, which is great.  I'm a Phillies fan, I love Rollins, and I truly believe he was the best Phillies player this year, in a year in which we made the playoffs for the first time in over a decade.  So congratulations, Jimmy.  But he didn't deserve the award.  And Ryan Howard was not as good as Albert Pujols last season either.  Doesn't really matter, but he wasn't. 

Wintry Music Tuesday

I haven't had a lot of time to download any new music lately, since the majority of my time on my computer has been spent just attempting to get it running smoothly, but here's a few tracks to tide you over until - well, Wednesday at least.  And the fact that it's wet and cold outside and there's a wintry mix to the tunes is only a mere coincidence, I assure you.  Yes, I do wish there were still autumns in NJ, instead of a switch directly from summer to winter, but sadly, that is no longer the case. Enjoy.

• Download Wintersleep - "Drunk on Aluminum".mp3
• Download Zookeeper - "Snow in Berlin".mp3
• Download Wax Fang - "Avant Guardian Angel Dust".mp3
• Download Yeasayer - "Wait for Wintertime".mp3
• Download Mum - "Winter (What We Never Were After All)".mp3
• Download The Got to Get Got - "No One Riots in Winter".mp3
• Download Animal Collective - "Winter Wonder Land".mp3

And here's an older track from the brilliant Sung Tongs.

• Download Animal Collective - "Winters Love".mp3

And take a glance over at Hard to Find a Friend's Christmas compilation, with all proceeds from the $7 album going to Toys for Tots.  Nice sentiment.  Go now and buy the album.  Here's one of the tracks.

• Download The Long Winters - "Sometimes You Have to Work on Christmas".mp3

New Computer Woes

I bought a Dell Inspiron desktop to replace my 2-year-old Dell desktop that ceased running properly sometime in the past year, after that model had replaced my 2-year-old Dell desktop that ceased running properly shortly after that warranty expired.  Does it make much sense to continue buying the cheapest model?  Perhaps not.  I mean, my work computer (also a Dell) seems to operate well for several years into its life - necessarily so, since my employers ain't springing for new desktops on a biannual basis.  They've got better things to spend their money on.  Like our new company logo jackets.  I'm sure business will start booming once our clients get a look at them.  A certain former client in the fashion industry that employs a certain LegFu Johnson would be very impressed.  If we didn't buy them from L.L. Bean.  I mean, I have no fashion sense and even I wouldn't be caught dead in something from Tommy these days.  But I digress.

Back to the computer... I went cheap again, spending $500 for a silver, slim-model Dell that has been working great so far -- and by great, of course I mean it's been a huge pain in the ass and it's taken me all week to just set the damn thing up and get all of my settings running.  For all of Friday, for instance, YouTube wasn't working on the machine.  And I finally got my email working about four days after initially setting the thing up.  I've got the new machine and old machine sitting next to each other and I've been switching my monitor between them to make sure I've copied all of my needed files over to the new machine without losing any important porn documents.  I'm still nervous that my novel wasn't completely transferred and made about 7 backup CD copies and mailed several copies to my Yahoo! account.  Buying a new computer is not a step taken easily by someone with a touch of OCD.  And a lack of short term memory.  What was I saying?

21. A Perfect Sonnet

Song:  "A Perfect Sonnet"
Artist:  Bright Eyes
Album:  Every Day and Every Night (EP)
Length:  3:42
Label:  Saddle Creek
Year: 1999

• Download Bright Eyes - "A Perfect Sonnet".mp3

Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst wears his heart on his sleeve, to say the least.  While his sometimes overblown emoting has been toned down in recent efforts, his plaintive caterwauling fills the speakers on most of his early records.  He can go too far of course, but when he hits it, such as in the screaming catharsis of "If Winter Ends" or the triumphant wail of "The Center of the World", you can't help but be moved.  Or at least I can't.  This song, off a 5-song EP released between his debut full length Letting Off the Happiness and the fevered sophomore masterpiece Fevers & Mirrors, is my favorite Bright Eyes single, an amazing piece of music spouting anger at those whose happiness does not always please those without such joy.  According to the wikipedia entry on the song - the only source I could find - "A Perfect Sonnet" was recorded in memory of Oberst's former friend Jason Ikarde, the lyrics being centered around Oberst's jealousy of Ikarde's long term relationship with his girlfriend at the time.  I'm not sure of the accuracy of the entry, but with lines like "I believe that lovers should be chained together, thrown into a fire with their songs and letters, left there to burn, left there to burn in their arrogance," it certainly seems possible.  Take a listen and enjoy.

22. I'll Believe in Anything

Song: "I'll Believe in Anything"
Artist: Wolf Parade
Album: Apologies to the Queen Mary
Year: 2005
Length:  4:37
Label:  Sub Pop Records
Rating: 9.2 (out of 10) for the album via Pitchfork

• Download Wolf Parade - "I'll Believe in Anything".mp3

If you can, block out the baggage of its built-in hype machine and take this stuff for what it is. I still remember the excitement felt when I first heard Modest Mouse more than a decade ago. At the time, my friend and I talked about how it sounded like this or like that or whatever, but beneath the snobbery and geeky influence-detecting, we were excited, and so obviously into what the band was doing. If given the chance, Wolf Parade should engender similar scenarios: In a few years, other folks will still remember where they were when they first heard Apologies to the Queen Mary.

One of the most impressive debut albums to appear in recent years, this track comes from the deservedly praised combination of Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner, with name-checking influences from Arcade Fire, Frog Eyes, and Mr. Modest Mouse himself, Isaac Brock, who produced the album.  In the two short years since the release, Spencer has come out with two spectacularly brilliant Sunset Rubdown albums.  Dan has released his own stellar Handsome Furs album.  And both have appeared on numerous side projects.  A Wolf Parade follow-up might be the most anticipated album of all-time (at least for me), but at this point we have to be satisfied with the brilliance on record here.  And my favorite song on the album has become my favorite Spencer song, the truly wonderful "I'll Believe in Anything."  From the Pitchfork review...

Krug's key tracks also come toward the album's end: the regal swagger of the Frog-Eyed "Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts"-- note its absolutely sublime vocal cadences and group hug-- and "I'll Believe in Anything", one of my favorite tunes of the year. (Diehards can scope out an eviscerated take on Krug's Sunset Rubdown album, but in either hip-shaking form it's unexpectedly moving.) Tangy video-game synth, half-Moon drums, and pretty guitar reps embrace a maniacally charming Krug come-on: "Give me your eyes, I need sunshine/ Your blood, your bones/ Your voice, and your ghost." Boeckner's guitar distorts, the keys trill, Krug somehow finds even more energy in his pocket, and the fucker continues for another two-and-a-half blissful minutes with a shopping list of promises of escape and hope that culminates with: "I'd take you where nobody knows you/ And nobody gives a damn either way."

The song explodes around the 1:50 mark, at which point I defy anyone and everyone not to crank up their speakers and be lost in the music.  Truly, truly magical.  A ragged anthem for the new millennium.
 

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving for me means remembering all the people that have provided me with joy in my life throughout the past year.  Fortunately, the list of people who qualify consists of only my niece and nephews, Dwight Shrute, Sunset Rubdown, my USA Today newspaper carrier, and Jim Boeheim.  So thanking them won't take too long, especially since I don't personally know many of them.  And some are fictional.  Especially Spencer.  No one with that much musical talent can exist in this reality.  And speaking of fictional Spencers, there's another one who has brought me much joy this year, but mostly because I can't stop laughing when he fills my television screen.  And if you don't know who I'm referring to, you're either over 16, male, or don't know whose fake boobs are in my Thanksgiving picture to the right.  Not that I watch the show every week.  Or DVR it.  Religiously.  Because that would just be sad.  So let's just move on.  Enjoy your turkey.  Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers.  I'm taking tomorrow off from the blog.  F Lenny.

• Download The Microphones - "Thanksgiving".mp3
• Download Eef Barzelay - "Thanksgiving Waves".mp3
• Download Bright Eyes & The Album Leaf - "Hungry for a Holiday".mp3
• Download The New Pornographers - "The Spirit of Giving".mp3

New Music Tuesday

Short post for a short week as we all prepare to eat some turkey and I prepare to watch the incredible freshmen duo Donte Green and Jonny Flynn light up the Syracuse sky like dueling Carmelos tomorrow night at the Garden against Ohio State.  But what this post is lacking in words, it's making up in music.  Because there's a shitload to download.  Enjoy. 

• Okkervil River's Daytrotter sessions - check them out here.  This is my favorite song from the set, and one of Okkervil's better songs ever.
  • Download Okkervil River - "April Anne".mp3

• Radiohead covers Bjork.  I'm sure you've all heard it by now, but just in case you haven't, here's a copy.  Along with their cover of a song that made it to #38 on my ongoing list of the greatest songs of all time.  Sadly, no Radiohead song made that list, although "True Love Waits" and "Let Down" were on the cusp.
  
  • Download Radiohead - "Unravel".mp3
  • Download Radiohead - "Ceremony (New Order cover)".mp3

1234 How i Love the Apple Store

I love Feist.  I kind of love The Reminder.  I love the iPod and think it's been the technological purchase that has most improved my life in recent years, more than my DVR, my Sirius, my HDTV (if I had one), Poland Spring's new 30% less packaging water bottles, and even more than the dubious invention of software that allows any idiot to waste his time posting random unrelated thoughts about his favorite music, TV shows, and idiot friends for all the world to waste their time reading.  But I digress.  And despite my love for all things iPod and the fact that I think Apple is the greatest company in the history of the world for inventing it (besides of course, whatever genius thought aged barley, malt, and hops might make a decent combination), I  ended up buying a new computer from Dell instead of an iMac, mostly because I wasn't really willing to pay more than twice the price since I don't really need video editing software so much.  And even though I still love "1234", I can't help but be amused by this MadTV clip making fun of it and Apple.  Pretty heady stuff.  And to think, I didn't even realize MadTV was still on the air.  Enjoy.

And thanks to Culture Bully for the following mp3s from Feist's recent appearance on that other late night sketch show that I don't actually watch anymore.

• Download Feist - "I Feel it All (live on SNL)".mp3
• Download Feist - "1234 (live on SNL)".mp3
• Download Feist - "The Park".mp3