The Mountain Goats - "Whole Wide World". John Darnielle from the old days, when his music was something simpler, more familiar to those of us who don't get to hang around in studios or with electric bassists. I too could learn the acoustic guitar, scrawl some lines, then hit 'play' on a tape-deck and by the open window sing the smells, the feels, the sounds and the thump-thump-thump of my heart. But maybe I wouldn't be able to record something that stays rich so long, so far: a warm evening pressed into magnetic tape and humming even as it plays, softly, years after that June night.
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The 1990s - "You're Supposed To Be My Friend". The (modest) success of this Glasgow band has little to do with their songs - mostly so-so, sometimes lame, better packed onto a CD than played live to a big room, - and a lot to do with its members' origins in Yummy Fur. Be that as it may, this song is a brilliant mix of coos and burrs, passive-aggressive and aggressive-aggressive, puppydog Glasgow smiles and slick skinny-jeans moves. It's more pre- than post-Franz Ferdinand, but as scientists have long known: there's magic in disco-beat, overdriven guitars, and untrained voices united in sneer.
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