Obliterate Me

I love music. I listen to music constantly - for company, for motivation, for relaxation. And sometimes, when my hamster brain is moving at a frenetic pace, I need music to overwhelm me and take over my senses. There is some music that I listen to because I know it will demolish everything in my head and force me to listen listen listen listen dammit listen.

Music like this has a few basic requirements. It has to want to be played loud. It needs to be busy - every beat needs to be filled up with percussion, guitar, blips, samples, background singing, handclaps, something. It should be relentless. Vocals should not be subtle. Quiet is fine, but it should be intense quiet that builds to something larger and more explosive.

This is a short list I turn to when I need to be obliterated by sound. These are my songs. I want to hear about yours. Let me know in the comments.

Wilco -

"Misunderstood"



"Poor Places"


Radiohead -

"The National Anthem"


Radiohead - The National Anthem(live SNL) from amnesiac440 on Vimeo.

"There There"


Temple of the Dog - "Reach Down"
(Note: this song deserves its own blog post, but I'll write that another day.)



The The - "Boiling Point"



Michael Jackson - "Don't Stop ('til You Get Enough)"


Gang of Four - "Anthrax"



Bob Mould - "Black Sheets of Rain"

Neutral Milk Hotel

I'm listening to Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane, Over the Sea for the first time. Ye gods, this is such a strange and remakable album. I've been hearing for years that this is one of the classic albums of the 1990's, and yet it's such an odd, eccentric thing. The horns are mad, the music goes all fuzzy and out-of-focus at times, there's a singing saw, and the lead singer has this braying, barely musical voice.  

It's fantastic.

It's an addictive album. It's such a guileless, unapologetic work. There's a very clear line of influence between this album and bands like Arcade Fire, Okkervil River, Beirut, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, the Decemberists, maybe even Wilco.  That much is obvious.  This is a touchstone of so much of today's indie rock.    

What a great album. It's a shame it took me a decade to give it a try.  

Hi Jeff Tweedy, if you're reading this...

So if you know anything at all about me, you know I'm a huge Wilco fan. My very first post on the original TMBS, in fact, included a link to hear Wilco's album "A Ghost is Born." Huge Wilco fan. Huge.

So guess what?

Wilco has a new album, due May 15th.

And guess what it's called?

"Sky Blue Sky."

Yeah. I'm freaking out just a little bit.

So, Jeff, if you're reading this, um, congrats on the new record! (And if you want to do a liveblog thing or, I don't know, anything at all, let me offer an unequivocal and enthusiastic yes. Just tell me where and when, and how much to grovel.)