So for this special edition i wanted to do something a bit different. This blog has been focused entirely on albums, but most casual music listeners rarely if ever listen to music in albumic form- most people listen to music on a song by song basis, so I thought I'd document my (current) top 10 favourite songs.
Number 10: You n me sellin' weed (The Flaming Lips)
So this one might have a little bit of recency bias, but right at this moment I absolutely adore this song. The atmosphere is totally serene, Wayne's vocals perfectly match the gently downstroked guitar, the lyrical content has this perfect mix of innocence and comfort yet longing to be somewhere else, and the imagery of spaceships coming to take us elsewhere is just so perfect. The song makes me feel so warm inside.
Number 9: Never Get To Know (Paul Baribeau)
This song is pretty much the opposite end in terms of emotion. This song pretty much stopped me in my tracks when I first heard it, I'm not going to spoil it because I think the song is worth not spoiling, but the way Paul opens up the whole song with the guitar and vocals is genuinely heart stopping.
Number 8: On and on and on (Wilco)
I knew I'd have a Wilco song on this list, and there were so many good choices but I think It was always this one in the end. It's just such a beautiful lament on death of loved ones, and your own passing, even. Jeff even manages to acknowledge the song's simple but colossal power in the line "go ahead and cry". It's reflective, both internally and externally, and just works as a whole package. A beautiful work of music.
Number 7: Starless (King Crimson)
King Crimson are probably one of the greatest bands ever. I don't think there are many people that would argue that, so choosing just one to call their best was difficult- there are lots of perfectly justifiable picks! But this is mine. The track is such a masterclass in tension and atmosphere and storytelling- the build up section feels like the stars going out one by one, and then all hell just breaks loose when the last one goes out. It just presents such a clear musical vision and ability over 12 and a half minutes. The version that I fell in love with (tho not too different from the studio recording) is this mental, 3 drummer 4 instrument arrangement, filmed 40 whole years after the song was first released in '75- which just further speaks to this songs excellence.
Number 6: The Great Curve (Talking Heads)
Man alive, I fucking love this song. The track is such a pure expression of frenetic energy, the guitar part from the get go is just infectious and it only builds from there. The way this track layers vocals is just incredible, and man the guitar solos are unreal. The tones are just riveting and dirty and the way they're played only adds to the off kilter feeling they bring. It's impossible for me to not sing along or tap my hands or both when listening to the song, and the outro jam keeps the energy going for just the right amount of time. Again, lots of stellar live versions. People say the crown jewel of Remain in Light is Born under Punches or Once in a Lifetime- I'd confidently say it's this.
Number 5: Cocoon (Bjork)
From the grand to the discreet, Cocoon is an excersize in small sounds. The lyrics are incredibly intimate, it almost feels intrusive at points as Bjork describes "He slides inside,
Half awake / half asleep", almost like we're hearing her inner monologue. And the bit where the track drops out and it's just Bjork's incredible voice is, again, heart stopping. I don't really have much more to say than this, the track is just incredible.
Number 4: Nude (Radiohead)
Nude is just utterly beautiful. The song's sonic palette is just perfect for what it's going for and Thom's singing just ties it all up. The song is disarming in the best way possible. And when it climaxes with "You'll go to hell for what your dirty mind is thinking" it just goes to another fucking dimension, man. It's ethereal, it's haunting beautiful and perfect. There's a reason radiohead have such a devout fanbase and this is definitely at least a part of that reason. It's life affirming in the best possible way.
Number 3: (This is) The dream of Evan and Chan (Dntel Ft. Ben Gibbard)
This track is just another one that perfectly tells it's own story from start to end- it starts with this wall of noise that eventually opens up into this serene and dreamy soundscape, narrated by Ben Gibbard's slightly twisted and construed vocal- it doesn't quite take the lines it feels like it should- the lyrics evoke this patchy and hazy and abstract imagery, and it then evolves into something it has no right being- the line "your eyelashes tickle my neck with every nervous blink" move me every single time I hear the song, and as Ben's voice trails off singing "ringing, ringing ringing, ringing off..." the track becomes clear to me- as the name suggests, it's all a dream, with these walls of distortion being the haze of sleep and the ringing of a phone bring him back round. It's beautiful and tragic at the same time, and just an unbelievable song to be released in 2001.
Number 2: New York I love you, but you're bringing me down (LCD soundsystem)
I owe alot to this song. When I was first really getting into music in 2016/17, I heard LCD's Sound of Silver for the first time and despite being a great record, this song at the end just took it to a whole other plane. There's something about the piano chords with that subtle downwards phase shifter sound that evokes something in me. I've watched live performances where just hearing those chords have put tears in my eyes (the end of the "final" show at MSG especially). The writing manages to evoke an incredible sense of loss and makes you feel tiny compared to this huge city of people and things so far away and out of your control, and man, when this track goes off, it fucking just explodes, man it's like dopamine being injected directly into my head with every crash of guitar and piano and I genuinely cannot listen to it without crying, it's just that powerful. I remember having multiple experiences listening to this where all I was left with afterwards "Oh right, this is want I want as much of and as often as possible". I didn't know music could be like that, or make me feel like that. And it's still just an undeniable piece of music.
Number 1: Ball and Biscuit (The White Stripes)
This song is like a fucking religious experience for me. It embodies every single thing that I love and want to hear in not only a rock song, but any song. Every element of this track just sounds gargantuan, The drums in the verses and choruses are authoritative and commanding and Jack's guitar parts actually blow my mind every single time I hear this song. This track 3 guitar solos over it's 7 minute runtime and not a single note is wasted in any of them. The overdriven guitar underneath the solos give the track this absolute weight and they make it feel like the song is tearing itself apart, the song feels like it's on fire with the clattering of the crash cymbals and acidic intensity of the soloing. I remember driving home from band practice in the city one night, this song came on the stereo system so I (of course) turned it up as loud as I could and the mixture of getting as close to 60 as my black box would let me, the street lights flashing by and the blistering music exploding out of the speakers, it just made me realise "I have to do THIS as much as possible. I want to live in this moment forever, this is just living purely within the moment". The pure adrenaline the track caused put that seed into my head and that's why this is my favourite song of all time. It's not even close. This song represents to me what it's like to be truly alive. Not just living, moving day to day thru school and living, but truly, viscerally alive.
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