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Continuing the list with numbers 11 to 100 in reverse order after the jump 100. Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts - Wolf Parade 99. No Cars Go - Arcade Fire 98. Monheim - Godspeed! You Black Emperor 97. Edit the Sad Parts - Modest Mouse 96. The Only Moment We Were Alone - Explosions in the Sky 95. Vulcan AB - The Rural Alberta Advantage (#1 song 2014) 94. Rip Down the Fences that Fence the Garden - Frog Eyes 93. Waitress - Hop Along (#1 song 2016) 92. Ghost - Neutral Milk Hotel 91. Cadmium - Superchunk The Rural Alberta Advantage have appeared and will continue to appear all over this chart on the strength of four amazing albums released every 3 years since 2008. In 2008, "Four Night Rider" was the #2 song of the year. In 2011, "Barnes Yard" was #1. In 2014, "Vulcan AB" was #1 and "On the Rocks" was #2. And in 2017, "Letting Go" was #3. I just love this band and I love this band live and I couldn't think of a better act to kick off my top 100 of all time. 90. The Wagon - Dinosaur Jr. 89. That Joke isn't Funny Anymore - The Smiths 88. Undone Melody - Plants and Animals 87. Fillmore Jive - Pavement 86. Breakthrough - Modest Mouse 85. I Heard You Looking - Yo La Tengo 84. Octavio Paz - Be Still, Cody 83. Leave Me Alone - New Order 82. Zurich is Stained - Pavement 81. Stop Coming to My House - Mogwai Yo La Tengo are from Hoboken, NJ. I happen to live there. I happen to love Yo La Tengo. I happen to have seen them at least a dozen times and I happen to have seen them in LA, Philly, Brooklyn, and Manhattan, but never in Hoboken because I was too lame to know of the beauty of their annual 12 Nights of Hannukah until the year AFTER Maxwell's of Hoboken closed down and Yo La shifted those shows to New York. Maybe someday we will get Maxwell's back. I miss it so much. But I'm so glad we have this footage of band from 1995 (!) in Santa Monica. 80. Mr. November - The National 79. Chicago - Sufjan Stevens 78. Hoppipolla - Sigur Ros 77. Sweet and Tender Hooligan - The Smiths 76. Bodys - Car Seat Headrest (2018) 75. The Shy Retirer - Arab Strap (#1 song 2003) 74. Intervention - Arcade Fire 73. Texas Never Whispers - Pavement 72. Criticism as Inspiration - Pedro the Lion 71. Black - Okkervil River Car Seat Headrest are my favorite band from the past few years. Just a wealth of music unleashed almost all at once - two amazing albums released within two years (Teens of Style in 2015 followed by their breakout Teens of Denial in 2016) and then a "new" album which re-recorded an early solo release from lead singer Will Toledo, released just last year to much acclaim (from Vague Space), called Twin Fantasy. It's a lot of music in a brief time period and I've been fully on board since first hearing "Something Soon" some three years ago. Will they be able to sustain it? That is the key question and I won't even hazard a guess. Very very few of my favorite bands sustained their brilliance over more than a handful of albums - I'd say Superchunk and The National did but even all-time favorite Pavement faded fast after the thrill of their first three releases (with Brighten the Corners just "good" not "mind-mumblingly great" and Terror Twilight a disappointing end to their decade as a band). But this is the time when a bright future is ahead and I sure hope they can sustain it. For now, here's "Bodys" - the #4 track of 2018 (which means 3 songs from last year made my top 70 all-time, a pretty amazing feat in recent years). 70. This Heart's on Fire - Wolf Parade 69. Threads - This Will Destroy You 68. Car - Built to Spill 67. Untilted 3 (Samskeyti) - Sigur Ros 66. Dragon's Lair - Sunset Rubdown 65. No Surprises - Radiohead 64. The Freed Pig - Sebadoh 63. We're Not Done (End Title) - Mogwai (2018) 62. Whenever You See Fit - Modest Mouse / 764-Hero 61. There is a Light that Never Goes Out - The Smiths This heart's on fire, this heart's on fire, this heart's on fire, this heart's ... on fire. The closing track on their debut album is probably the most simplistic in terms of lyrics but for fuck's sake is it a pulsing, guitar-heavy, propelling announcement of the arrival of Dan Boeckner and Spencer Krug into my life, back in 2005, which seems like such a long time ago now but still feels so close to my heart. Apologies to the Queen Mary lands 4 tracks on this countdown, a number that is oddly repeated by several other bands' albums on this chart, but it also has one in the honorable mentions you'll see before I release the top 10 so perhaps it is in fact the most decorated album in history (at least in Vague Space countdown terms). The old blog probably spent a third of its posts talking about Spencer and Dan. I'm so glad they are back to recording and touring together again. Sometimes we rock and roll, I'd rather stay at home... in real life. This heart's on fire this heart's on fire this heart's on fire this heart's on fire this heart's on fire... 60. Yasmin the Light - Explosions in the Sky 59. Take Me Somewhere Nice - Mogwai 58. Let Down - Radiohead 57. Slack Motherfucker - Superchunk 56. The Kidnapper Bell - Mono 55. No Children - The Mountain Goats 54. He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot - Grandaddy 53. Old Dead Young - Broken Social Scene (2018) 52. Ceremony - New Order 51. Cody - Mogwai We are quite clearly at the "post-rock" portion of the countdown (is that still a thing that people call it?) with four songs from three bands in this grouping fitting comfortably in that non-lyrics driven space of music. Interestingly though, the two Mogwai songs actually feature singing - a rarity for their music. But what wonderful lyrics they are. Take me somewhere nice please. Ghosts in the photograph. Never lied to me. I'd be all of that. I'd be all of that. A false memory. Would be everything. A denial. my eliminant, What was that for? What was that for? What would you do If you saw spaceships over glasgow? Would you fear them? Every aircraft. Every camera. Is a wish that wasn't granted. 50. Atmosphere - Joy Division 49. Barnes' Yard - The Rural Alberta Advantage (#1 song 2011) 48. Mouth Guards of the Apocalypse - Broken Social Scene (#1 song 2017) 47. Glosoli - Sigur Ros 46. A Flower in a Glove - Frog Eyes (#1 song 2010) 45. Bastards of Young - The Replacements 44. The Triumph of Our Tired Eyes - A Silver Mt. Zion 43. Night on the Sun - Modest Mouse 42. All My Friends - LCD Soundsystem 41. The Story of Yo La Tango - Yo La Tengo The original Vague Space took a definitive political stance in its latter years, particularly following the hard-right racist lurch of voters with the Tea party racist bullshit backlash against a black president in 2010 and the backlash of Occupy Wall Street that attempted to follow and the backlash to that backlash, which in retrospect is so dizzyingly and stupefyingly angering but also... sadly, fucking American. The decade that has followed has not been kind to democracy. Or to hope. Or to my sanity. This song is about not giving up the fight, for eventually - somehow, some way - goodness and kindness and rightness will prevail over hate and bigotry and fear. Just not anytime soon it seems. Sisters and Brothers, We have surely lost our way. In strip malls full of cancer, And a pathetic rain. Mother, sweet mother, Please don't discipline your hands. Just kiss me in the morning, In your dirtiest pants. We will find our way. There is beauty in this land, But I don't often see it. There is beauty in this land, But I don't often feel it. People send flowers, Musicians are Cowards! Let's argue in the kitchen, For hours and hours. Tomorrow is a travesty, Tomorrow should be ours. Musicians are Cowards! Musicians are Cowards! The soldiers with their specialists, And the pigs with their guns cannot stop, The lost ones and the desperate ones and the driven ones. The soldiers with their cigarettes, And the pigs with their guns cannot stop, The lonesome ones and the desparate ones and the smart ones. So come on friends, To the barricades again. So come on friends, To the barricades again. We will find our way. 40. You Go On Ahead - Sunset Rubdown 39. I Ain't Around Much - Frog Eyes (#1 song 2015) 38. Beach Life in Death - Car Seat Headrest (#1 song 2018) 37. Another Radio Song - Okkervil River 36. Age of Consent - New Order 35. Friend of the Night - Mogwai (#1 song 2006) 34. Silver Moons - Sunset Rubdown (#1 song 2009) 33. You As You Were - Shearwater (#1 song 2012) 32. Bankrupt on Selling - Modest Mouse 31. It's All Gonna Break - Broken Social Scene The #1 songs comes out fast and furious in this grouping, proving their everlasting charm beyond the year where they amazed me musically. But I wanted to highlight the one from 2012, which has a special place of meaning for me in some significant changes that happened the year it was released, and the thrill of exultation of the final verse gets me every time. You can stand on the back of a shuddering beam with a pistol, firing shots into the air You could run in the blood of the sun’s hard rays, you could drive the mountains down into the bay Or go back to the east where it’s all so civilized, where I was born to the life. But I am leaving the life, I am leaving the life, I am leaving the life, I am leaving.... 30. For Real - Okkervil River 29. Four Night Rider - The Rural Alberta Advantage 28. Gardenhead / Leave Me Alone - Neutral Milk Hotel 27. Getting Sodas - The World is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die (#1 song 2013) 26. Frontwards - Pavement 25. Web in Front - Archers of Loaf 24. The Headmaster Ritual - The Smiths 23. The Moon - The Microphones 22. Holland, 1945 - Neutral Milk Hotel 21. Bye Bye Bye - Plants and Animals (#1 song 2008) "Belligerent ghouls run Manchester schools." "Stuck a pin in your backbone." "Cool wind whipping through the windows." "Some nights I thirst for real blood." These songs are so ingrained in my mind, in my love for these bands and this music, that the opening lines above just spark such pure joy in me, such pure excitement that I'm about to hear one of the greatest songs ever produced by man. I don't know why it does it - why music sparks our senses in this way. And how anyone can hear one of those lines and not freak out with excitement. Anyway... how about an opening line from a recluse who released two proper albums then disappeared into the wilderness and one of those albums was universally praised as one of the greatest albums released by a musician ever and includes a whole brass section and an obsession with Anne Frank and is just... well... if you don't get chills when you here "2,1,2,3,4" you aren't alive. The only girl I've ever loved was born with roses in her eyes but then they buried her alive, one evening, 1945, with just her sister at her side. 20. Gold Sounds - Pavement 19. Driveway to Driveway - Superchunk 18. San Andreas - Portastatic 17. Mogwai Fear Satan - Mogwai 16. Summer Babe (Winter Version) - Pavement 15. The Mending of the Gown - Sunset Rubdown (#1 song 2007) 14. Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) - Arcade Fire (#1 song 2005) 13. Carry the Zero - Built to Spill 12. AT&T - Pavement 11. Hyper Enough - Superchunk The best of the best of indie rock. My favorite all time band (Superchunk) has two songs, three if you count lead singer Mac's side project Portastatic. My 2nd all time favorite band (Pavement) also has 3. And you've got Mogwai and Arcade Fire and Spencer Krug's band Sunset Rubdown. Pretty much the best of the best of the best. And of course included in all those greats is the band spearheaded by Doug Martsch of Twin Falls, ID, one of the greatest songwriters of our time. And you're so occupied with what other people are occupied with And vice versa And you've become what you thought was dumb A fraction of the sum Yeah you've become, a fraction of the sum, the middle and the front And now it's coming back Hasn't it come too far? I was trying to help but I guess I pushed too hard Now we can't even touch it, afraid it will fall apart. Comments are closed.
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