<![CDATA[VAGUE S P A C E - VAGUE SPACE BLOG]]>Wed, 12 Aug 2026 12:30:47 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[#18 (of 365) "Four Night Rider" The Rural Alberta Advantage]]>Sat, 08 Aug 2026 18:37:11 GMThttps://www.billelenbark.com/blog/18-of-365-four-night-rider-the-rural-alberta-advantageMuch like Web in Front, or Slack Motherfucker, this song continues the top 20 with pure energy. Less than 2 minutes long, this just roars with guitars and drums for the entirety of the track, and introduced me to what would become one of my favorite bands, on their debut album, one of the great albums of the past 20 years.

Cold wind whipping through the windows
Freezing each of the lymph nodes
Maybe we gotta try
To get out of town tonight

Well, I love you
You know you love me and it shows
Maybe we gotta try
Let's crash at your place tonight

Grandpa's passed out on the couch
Take the Green Belt to your house
There's a shortcut through the forest that smells
There's a shortcut through the forest that smells

As we hit the front door
All the clothes hit the floor
Maybe we gotta try
To bike outta town tonight

Well, I love you
You know you love me and it shows
Edmonton's just a four night bike ride outta town

​"Four Night Rider" - The Rural Alberta Advantage // Hometowns (2008)
]]><![CDATA[#19 (of 365) "Slack Motherfucker" Superchunk]]>Sat, 08 Aug 2026 18:30:57 GMThttps://www.billelenbark.com/blog/19-of-365-slack-motherfucker-superchunkYeah, so of course, this song is about a lazy coworker of Mac's in his youth, but has been misinterpreted and claimed as an anthem of youth rebellion against "the man," and to be honest, I think Mac doesn't mind that at all. The song that launched my favorite band of all time's career, way back when I was in high school, which is a long fucking time ago. I saw them this spring at an impromptu appearance for Rough Trade Records and I'll tell, it still gets me going. One of the best songs ever written.

Well I'm working
But I'm not working for you
Slack motherfucker!
You motherfucker!
You motherfucker

"Slack Motherfucker" - Superchunk // Superchunk  (1990)
]]><![CDATA[#20 (0f 365) "Web in Front" Archers of Loaf]]>Sat, 08 Aug 2026 18:16:35 GMThttps://www.billelenbark.com/blog/20-0f-365-web-in-front-archers-of-loafStuck a pin in your backbone
Spoke it down from there
All I ever wanted was to be your spine
Lost your friction and you slid for a mile
Overdone, overdrive, Over-live, override

You're not the one who let me down!
But thanks for offering
It's not a voice and I'm not around
But thanks for picking it up,
On the radio

I got a magnet in my head, magnet in my head
Extra thick, extra long the weight it was wasted!
​
And there's a chance that things will get weird
Yeah that's a possibility
Although I didn't do anything, no I didn't do anything

In a mouth kept shut and a tongue twist tied
You're the web in front of my favorite lie

This song is pure energy, from the start to the finish, and I have loved it from the first moment I heard it, 30+ years ago, the way it burrows in my soul and makes me want to scream. Every word, every emotion. 

"Web in Front" - Archers of Loaf // Icky Mettle  (1993)
]]><![CDATA[#21 (of 365) "Summer Babe" Pavement]]>Sat, 08 Aug 2026 18:09:22 GMThttps://www.billelenbark.com/blog/21-of-365-summer-babe-pavementThis is, quite shockingly, the highest ranking Pavement song on this list. Since the late 90s (I came a little late to the party) Pavement have been one of my favorite bands of all time. Like in my Top 2. Sometimes number 1, but usually number 2 at worse, and for like two decades, as indie rock bands came and went, Pavement sat behind Superchunk as the two great indie legends who started it all and perfected a sound - a Perfect Sound Forever. I still love them. They might still be close to Top 5 all time. But... it's been quite a long time since they recorded anything new (almost 30 years now) and memories fade and feelings fade and my love for Summer Babe, while still strong, has dipped a bit. No longer in the top 20, this is still an incredible song, and Pavement will always been an all time great. But to never change your tastes over 30 years is probably something worse, I think. So this is where it lands.

"Summer Babe" - Pavement // Slanted & Enchanted  (1992)
]]><![CDATA[#22 (of 365) "For Real" Okkervil River]]>Sat, 08 Aug 2026 17:58:31 GMThttps://www.billelenbark.com/blog/22-of-365-for-real-okkervil-riverSome nights I thirst for real blood
For real knives
For real cries
And then the flash of steel from real guns
In real life
Really fills my mind

And I really miss what did exist
When I held your throat so tight
And I miss the bus when it swerved from us 
Almost came crashing to its side

This is a dark song, from a very dark album, about bad people doing bad things, or imagining doing bad things, and in this time where really bad people are doing really bad things (which has been throughout history, to be honest) I can't say any of these thoughts should be celebrated, even as Will Sheff himself seems like a fine man, writing in the voice of terrible men doing terrible things, but I also have to admit that this is one of the greatest songs ever written in the history of people writing music, and also, I don't think I've heard something as shocking and fresh as Black Sheep Boy, one of the greatest dark albums ever written. 

"For Real" - Okkervil River // Black Sheep Boy  (2005)
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