The Chandelier Swing's top 20 (90s Indie Rock songs)

After nearly 7 years on the air, it's time for The Chandelier Swing to move on to greater things. The last broadcast for The Chandelier Swing (was/will be) September 28, 2018.

These top 20 were broadcast on air as one of the final Chandelier Swing broadcasts on August 17, 2018.

These are my top 20 songs of 90s indie rock. Not necessarily bands or albums. One song per band. Release date has to be between 1990 and 1999.

My complaint with this list is, in coming up with the best-of-the-best-of-the-best, it smoothed out a lot of the eclecticism that made the 90s so interesting. So, to make this list complete, maybe play some Stereolab, and Sonic Youth, and Dub Narcotic, and Low, and Wesley Willis, and....

20. Jimmy Eat World - Christmas Card / Untitled

Source: Jimmy Eat World / Blueprint split 7", Abridged Records 1996.
Also available on Singles CD, Big Wheel Recreation, 2000

Jimmy were always better on 7" than on their full-lengths, and this is long before they jumped the shark. These two songs (always together. always) show why this band used to matter, if only for a brief period of time.

19. Texas Is the Reason - Nickel Wound

Source: Do You Know Who You Are?, Revelation Records, 1996

One of my faves. Just good rock music. Always picks me up when I'm down.

18. Radiohead - Climbing Up the Walls

Source: OK Computer. Capitol Records, 1997

The only Major Label entry in here. What a great, creepy song.

17. Hum - Diffuse

Source: Feast of the Sybarites comp, Lotuspool records, 1993 as well as reissues of the Electra 2000 album (Cargo Records, etc., 1997 onwards)

Such an epic song.

16. The Stella Brass - Fine Day for the Lake

Source: Figure Eights and Heart Shapes 7", Culvert Records 1997

From a posthumous 7" from this amazing SLC band. (this video is a pretty poor audio quality rip). I love everything about this song except for the 2 minute flanged drum solo opening.

15. Mineral - February (March Version)

Source: February 7", Caulfield Records, 1997
Also available on  1994-1998: The Complete Collection, Arena Rock Recording Co., 2014

Hard to pick a favorite Mineral song, but I think this one wins. "I think I finally know what they mean when they talk about joy"

14. Braid - Killing a Camera

Source: Frame and Canvas LP, Polyvinyl Records, 1998

Also hard to pick a Braid song, but this one is certainly catchy enough. Love the last verse.

13. Seven Storey Mountain - Incomplete

Source: A Million Miles Away: The Emo Diaries Vol.2, Deep Elm Records, 1998
Also available on Conservatory compilation online.

Also available for purchase here:
https://sevenstoreymountain.bandcamp.com/album/conservatory

7SM's Lance Lammers is a genuinely nice guy, but I think he's taken a prince-like stance towards digital music, so it's tough for me to link you this awesome song. It's got a chorus that's about 14 stories tall.

12. Secret Stars: Whisper:Eye

Source: TSS LP, Shrimper Records, 1995

Delicate as an eylash. Pulling on the heartstrings with just the basics: vocals, guitar.

11. Rodan - The Everyday World of Bodies

Source: Rusty LP, Quarterstick Records, 1994

Sometimes less isn't more. Sometimes More is More. Jeff Mueller, Tara Jane O'Neil, Jason Noble, Kevin Coultas, and 12 minutes of tension and release.

10. Pohgoh - Friend X

Source: What's Mine Is Yours: The Emo Diairies Vol. 1, Deep Elm Records, 1997
Also available on "All Along" Discography LP, New Granada Records, 2014

Sad song, powerful vocals, timeless feels.

9. Juno - All Your Friends Are Comedians

Source: This Is the Way it Goes and Goes and Goes... CD, DeSoto Records, 1999

A criminally underrated, powerful band. Plus, these guys helped me break into my car when I locked my keys in it after a show.

8. Slint - Good Morning, Captain

Source: Spiderland LP, Touch and Go Records, 1991

I MISS YOU!

7. Jeremy Enigk - Carnival

Source: Return of the Frog Queen LP, Sub Pop Records, 1996

Sunny Day Real Estate implodes at the height of their mystique and popularity, and singer Jeremy Enigk constructs a strange masterpiece out of acoustic guitar and orchestra. Unexpected, unprecedented, unparalleled, unequaled.

6. Halo Benders - Virginia Reel Around the Fountain

Source: The Rebels Not In CD, K Records, 1998

For some reason, this song stands taller than anything Doug Martsch or Calvin Johnson ever did with their respective 90s bands, and is better than the sum of all of them. Throw in an obscure Smith's reference, and whatever Calvin's doing, and it's the epitome of cool.

5. Modest Mouse - Cowboy Dan

Source: The Lonesome Crowded West LP, Up Records, 1997

A soundscape as lush and stirring as anything Built to Spill ever created, but twisted. Cowboy Dan inhabits a world of exurban existential angst that taps a nerve, at least with me.

4. June of 44 - Of Information and Belief

Source: Four Great Points LP, Quarterstick Records, 1998

A hypnotic 7/8 groove. This is the greatest place on earth.

3. The Van Pelt - The Speeding Train

Source: The Van Pelt EP, Gern Blandsten Records, 1997.
Also available on Imaginary Third LP, La Castanya Records, 2014

This song feels... like the aspirations of a generation. "Do not be afraid to let it take you."

2. Shellac - Copper

Source: Terraform LP, Touch and Go Records, 1997

One Minute and Forty-Eight Seconds of purity.

1.Sunny Day Real Estate - Song About an Angel

Source: Diary LP, Sub Pop Records, 1994

More powerful than words.

Top 5 New Albums 2017

5. Tender Age - Disappear Here EP

[Sinis Recordings, 2017]

A cool band from portland that played at Possum House this year. 6 tasty shoegazy treats. 3 of them are covers you might recognize.

(Vinyl appears to be sold out. Get it on Cassette or digital on Bandcamp)



4. Brides - For Charles EP

[Hex Tapes, 2017]

Local Salem goodness (they played that show with Tender Age). Sounds like the start of something good.

(buy the download on bandcamp or pick up a physical copy at a show.)


3. Eyelids - Or

 

[Jealous Butcher Records, 2017]

Eyelids are from Portland, and they've played in, or played with folks who played in every great band in the world. This album was recorded by Peter Buck of REM, who seems underwhelmed in the above video. It's great, perfect power pop. Check out their other releases, too.

(Pick it up on Bandcamp).


2. Rainer Maria - S/T

[Polyvinyl Records, 2017]

After more than 10 years broken up, 90s darlings-turned-00s stalwarts release another great album. I saw them on tour and they looked happier than I've ever seen them. I take that as a good sign.

Buy it from Polyvinyl's website.


1. Jeremy Enigk - Ghosts

[Lewis Hollow Recordings, 2017]

With a song title like "The Long Wait Is Over", Jeremy Enigk is right. It's been a long time since his last album ('09? Can't remember) Anyways, This is Jeremy's best solo record this century. Although nothing can top the orchestra-meets-primitivism of Return of the Frog Queen or his stuff with Sunny Day Real Estate, this is still great stuff. He kickstarted this on PledgeMusic, and it seemed as if it would never be completed, but like the song says, "It's worth it." Shoutout to playing a song live in 1997 and not recording or releasing it until 2017.

Looks like he's selling the extra LPs through Bandcamp.

Top 5 New Discoveries 2017

5. Helium - Pirate Prude

[Matador Records, 1994]

Finally acquired Helium's debut EP. Mary Timony's songwriting is spot on and idiosyncratic as always, if a little unrefined from her later stuff. Still golden.

(buy the compilation LP that contains this at Matador, or pick it the original EP up cheap on Amazon)



4. Autopilot Is for Lovers - To the Wolves

[Bladen County Records, 2009]

Saw these guys with Builders and the Butchers (their drummer plays in that band also) and really enjoyed them. Was pleasantly surprised by their album, which is twelve slabs of auditory goodness.

(buy the download on bandcamp or pick up a physical copy at a show.)


3. Cursive - The Difference Between Houses and Homes (lost songs and loose ends 1995-2001)

 

[Saddle Creek Records, 2005]

Cursive made my #3 spot last year with another early album that I missed the first time around. This collection mines the earliest recordings of the Omaha band, and I think they're their best. Folks on the internet complain that the songs from the "Dispenser" 7" are rerecorded (disappointingly) for this compilation, but since I haven't heard the originals, they sound awesome to me.

(Pick it up from Saddle Creek).


2. Lungfish - Rainbows from Atoms

[Dischord Records, 1993]

Nobody writes songs like Lungfish. This is quite a good group of those songs.

Buy it from Dischord through Bandcamp.


1. One Last Wish - 1986

[Dischord Records. Recorded 1986, Released 1996]

Guy Picciotto's band between Rites of Spring and Fugazi (okay, RoS and Happy Go Licky). I discovered this band in 2015, and it took me 2 years to buy the album. It was worth it. Punk energy with an emotional delivery without being weepy. Post-punky soaring guitars. Makes me wonder what the 90s would have sounded like if One Last Wish was the influential band and Rites of Spring the footnote. I think I may like this even more than Rites of Spring.

Buy it from Dischord through Bandcamp.

Top 5 Miscellaneous songs of 2017

Top 5 Miscellaneous songs of 2017

5. Lo Tom - Another Mistake

Another Mistake by Lo Tom

[Barsuk Records, 2017]

David Bazan from Pedro the Lion + members of Pedro the Lion, Starflyer 59, Velour 100 and His Name Is Alive (and countless other bands of that scene) made a surprisingly low-key supergroup album. I wish I could have seen one of the handful of shows Lo Tom played. Instead, I have this song with its BRILLIANT ending.

(buy at Barsuk Records)



4. The Builders and the Butchers - Never Tell

Never Tell by The Builders and the Butchers

[Badman Recording Co, 2017]

I had a conversation with a friend about the new Builders and the Butchers album. He said he liked it fine, but it was a lot like the other Builders and the Butchers records. I said "yeah, they kinda only have one song." He replied, "No, they have TWO songs-- one about fire, and one about rain." Well, that's kinda true, but they're so fun to listen to (and watch live). This one is about fire, and it may be my favorite Builders song. It's certainly representative of their body of work.

(buy this record at Badman Recordings)


3. His Name Shall Breathe - The Kick to Come

 

The Kick to Come by His Name Shall Breathe
[self-released, 2017]

Tim Martin is a master of songcraft. This song has all the punk rock brotherhood and world-weary suffering that you would expect from him. An instant classic.

(buy the 3-song EP on Bandcamp).


2. Radiohead - Lift

  Lift by Radiohead
[Recorded 1996ish. Released by XL Recordings, 2017]

This year marks 20 years of Radiohead's landmark 1997 album OK Computer. As a gift to fans, an expanded edition was released with lots of B-Sides and 4 extra completely unreleased tracks from the sessions. Word on the street is that these songs were too good, and Radiohead wanted them for a future album. They've circulated as live recordings and snippets for years now, but the studio versions have been heretofore missing in fan circles. With every new album (all the way through A Moon Shaped Pool), the rumors circulated as to whether "Lift" would be on the new album. Radiohead teased its release for years, sporadically playing the song live. Well, here we have it. Better late than never, right?

Looks like this is going out of print (or there already), but Amazon still has copies .


1. Mac MacCaughan - Happy New Year (Prince Can't Die Again)

Happy New Year (Prince Can't Die Again)
[leaked 12/26/16, album released January 2017]

This one grew on me all year--partly because it was so prophetic about what the next year would bring. Released on a politically-themed compilation album put out by Quasi in the run-up to the inaguration, and backed by Sam and Janet, this is appropriately vitriolic, pessimistic, hopeful, and cathartic. Just what we need in the era of Alternative Facts. Certainly not a timeless song, but we'll be able to listen to this in 10 years and remember exactly what it was like to be alive in 2017. Assuming the human race is still here 10 years from now.

(Download for pay-what-you-want with an all-star cast compilation from Thee Quasi.)