September 10, 2004
Your New Favorite Song.
My friend Karen and I have been e-mailing each other back and forth about "near-perfect songs," and it just so happened that they were from the "indie rock" world.
Her first offering: Grant Lee Buffalo's "Mockingbirds."
My response: Neutral Milk Hotel's "Two-Headed Boy." (Well, I had these, too.)
To which she responded: The Strokes' "Hard to Explain."
You'll need to register (if you haven't yet) to read this New York Times Sunday Magazine article -- it's about A.C. Newman -- but here's the opening paragraph:
A new one arrives every three years or so. It comes from somewhere like Chapel Hill, N.C., or Dayton, Ohio, ringing out of a nearby jukebox or college station, alive with static and melody, a three-minute burst of joyful noise you find yourself playing every day because it makes you feel young and unstoppable and you can never quite figure out the words.So without further ado:This would be the Irresistible Indie-Rock Anthem, a prime example of which is ''Letter From an Occupant,'' by the Vancouver-based septet the New Pornographers.
one from Chapel Hill (Superchunk's "The First Part"),
one from Dayton (Guided By Voices' "Motor Away"),
and one from Vancouver (see above).
what about perfect songs? songs that set the standard (that elusive and loathsome word)? i know it's all relative to the listener (the audience)... some songs are perfect for one in a particular moment, a particular mood, a particular era, generation... what constitutes perfection? when a horn weaves through percussion seamlessly and becomes spirit? when lyrics create dissonance in major chords? what?
my perfect song (of all time of all genres)... my perfect music...
love supreme, john coltrane
but what about those who play behind the perfection... behind the notes?
bitches brew, miles davis
perfection.
more near perfects, for swing (that loathsome word):
downtown train, tom waits
(who's ever used the line "outside another yellow moon has punched a hole in the nighttime"? only tom)
next?
Posted by: karen on September 10, 2004 10:49 AMhmm . . . near perfect "indie rock" gems . . . so many to choose from
Built to Spill, "Else" or maybe the Halo Bender's "Your Asterisk" . . .
That damn Rod Stewart killed "Downtown Train" for me. Everything But The Girl helped hammer in the nails too.
not ashamed to list this one...
sweet child o' mine, guns n roses
the opening guitar alone...
Posted by: karen on September 10, 2004 11:36 AM"sweet child o mine" IS, indeed, quite perfect.
and for the synth-y "new wave" genre: ultravox's "vienna." yes, perfect.
Posted by: barb on September 10, 2004 12:39 PMRock the Casbah . . .
Posted by: craig on September 10, 2004 02:01 PMun vestido y un amor, caetano veloso's versions
just like honey, the jesus and mary chain
Firehose's "Understanding"
Posted by: Happy on September 10, 2004 03:40 PMWait wait wait wait -- we need more stringent criteria, people! Are we talking near-perfect, period, or the indie-rock anthem? =)
Hey Karen, you've heard Luna's version of "Sweet Child," right? No opening guitar, I think, but great all the same.
Ah, "Vienna." Barb, you were always the child of the '80s...
Craig: While "Rock the Casbah" may be totally politically incorrect right now (I suppose it always was), it's still a great song.
But it ain't "The Guns of Brixton."
blue sky mine, midnight oil
ahh... yes... we need more stringent criteria to play this game...
this made work go by fast.
Posted by: karen on September 10, 2004 04:29 PMWF: i don't think i've heard that version... what album? now i'm going to listen to luna park and slash someone's tires... goodnight.
Posted by: karen on September 10, 2004 04:44 PMHey Sunny!
Nice list here--throwing in some hip-hop just to mix it up a bit. So many candidates, but here are few of my highlights:
The Light, Common (not the Erykah Badu re-mix)
The Next Movement, The Roots
Work the Angles, Dilated Peoples
uh oh...my head is spinning w/more fun tracks. must stop before I become too obsessed.
hey, I still have these CDs here for you!
Posted by: Luna on September 10, 2004 06:37 PMhm, hey sunny: speaking of cd's, don't you have sumthin for mee? tee hee....
Posted by: barb on September 10, 2004 06:57 PMHey Barb: I'm sorry, but I have no idea where they are. No, really -- this was before I flew off to Manila, and when I came back... well, you kind of know the rest of the story. The CDs are somewhere around here, though.
Luna: I'm not as big a hiphop head as you are, so I have to check them out. (My only Roots album is "Illadelph Halflife.")
I want those CDs!
all good sunny.
so lemme jus throw in one more close-to-perfect song, just cuz: the church, "under the milky way."
Posted by: barb on September 11, 2004 01:11 PM