Melody's Echo Chamber: I Follow You: 2012. Look in the YouTube comments: one person writes "This is literally the best song I've ever heard in my entire life." The comment has 2,300 likes; one of them, mine.
Nouvelle Vague: Marian: 2004. An incredible cover with a surrealistic gloss.
Vampire Weekend: We Worship You. 2013. This has to be one of the greatest, most over-the-top, cathartic rock tracks I've ever heard. It's like the Tornados' Joe Meek-produced "Telstar" on steroids, exponentialized with Ivy League indie-rock hipster cred. Like Paul Revere's galloping horse crossed with Elon Musk's quantum rocket thrust. Elsewhere on the album, VW ventures into winning baroque/chamber pop, such as this and this. Love it.
Pete Yorn: On Your Side: 2001. From the day it came out, this was always my favorite Pete track. And it was just the other day, circa late September 2026, that I noticed something: what makes this track work is the strange combination of rhythm tracks: it sounds like Sumner & Hook from New Order jamming with Bonham from Zeppelin, the chimey notes perfectly blending with that half-time rhythm. It should sound like a train wreck, but instead comes off like some missing Smiths masterpiece.
Beach House: Wishes: 2012. If 2012 could be defined as an era, then this was an era-defining album. "Wishes" and "Myth" are my two favorite tracks from Bloom. What's particularly fascinating here is that these tracks really don't sound like anything I've heard before. These guys were really tapped into the musical ether. I loved this when it came out, and I still love it. And, Victoria Legrand; what an amazing voice.
Hole: Northern Star: 1999. This concert footage of Courtney Love strikes me as 'important' in some kind of way; maybe this video shows, as well as any I've seen, the pure nakedness of making music. It's nothing but pure you, and whether you are divinely inspired, wretched, in the middle, or some combination thereof, everybody knows it. And here, nobody doubts who the universe itself is watching.
Ladytron: High Rise: 2005. Ladytron's overall catalogue is not very strong, with the single exception of their amazing 2005 release Witching Hour; easily one of the best albums of that decade. And, specifically, I'd say that "High Rise" has to be one of the best tracks of the last twenty-five years. Call it synth pop, post-punk, or whatever, the track is both ahead of its time and timeless. Also from that album, "International Dateline," and "Destroy...," a favorite at L.A.'s Club Bang.
Goat: Let it Burn: 2021. Perfect ten.
Stars: In Our Bedroom After The War: 2007. One day in about 2007, I heard this band play this epic track live in the studio at KXLU. I've loved them ever since. Toward the end of the track, past the five-minute mark, I still get goose bumps from the sheer greatness of the orchestration, and as if willed by the song, my arms rise to conduct the invisible orchestra. This is the power of music. Elsewhere in their catalog, they offer up classic indie rock ear candy like "Elevator Love Letter."
British Sea Power: Please Stand Up: 2005. From their majestic and perfect album Open Season. Also from that album, "It Ended on an Oily Stage." This is one of the unknown masterpieces of British indie rock.
The Monkees: Can You Dig It? 1967/68. Would you believe that I actually like the Monkees more than I like the Beatles? For instance, what did the Beatles ever do (minus "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "It's All Too Much") that was as good as "Can You Dig It," or this, or this, or this, or this? Answer: nothing. Furthermore, I think that Mickey has one of the most distinctive and instantly recognizable voices in the history of rock. I actually met Mickey in 1998; he had no idea how honored I was.
Simon & Garfunkel: The Only Living Boy In New York: 1969/70. What's not to love about this track? Songwriter in top form, Hal Blaine on drums, echo chamber, backing vocals, and all.
Velvet Underground: All Tomorrow's Parties (Live): 1966. Some magnetic footage. Also, for those not familiar with the "Unripened" versions, check this out. It's the CD with the green banana on the cover.
Music Machine: Trouble: 1966. Also, "The People in Me." For my money, Sean Bonniwell's Music Machine was by far the most sinister of the psychedelic bands. Their whip-cracking rhythms, bubbling bass lines, satanic Farfisa organ, and deranged fuzz work are still unsurpassed. Here they are on television circa 1967.
The Stranglers: Five Minutes: 1978. High postmodernity, as broadcast from the basement of the Centre Pompidou.
Kasabian: Sixteen Blocks: 2017. It would be impossible to accurately describe how much I love this track. It comes off like some sinister hybrid of Volga boatmen angst and spaghetti western twang. Only Kasabian could pull this off.
The Horrors: Sea Within a Sea: Directed by Douglas Hart. 2009. From Primary Colours, NME's Album of the Year, 2009. Clearly influenced by Can, Mother Sky. The Horrors demonstrate the rule, if you're going to borrow something, then leave it better than you found it. And make a brilliant video while you're at it.
Bauhaus: Stigmata Martyr: 1980. This track still holds up. My special memory of this song comes from Sleepmask rehearsal 2009. Out of the blue, I started playing this song's bass line. Ming, coming alive, comes in on guitar, totally on fire, then, on vocal, even nailing the Latin part. But the other guys didn't know it, so the fire went out. It was dropped. Too bad we didn't play it at Release the Bats.