LxL’s Top 10 Radiohead Songs

There are only a few acts in rock history that have been able to shape-shift and stay both relevant and innovative over a 20 year span. American chameleon Beck is certainly one, with his incredible new summer jam “Wow” certainly being an example of that, but Radiohead is the most notable from across the pond. Radiohead’s new album A Moon Shaped Pool is an extension of that continued innovation, building out beautiful and dissonant orchestration into the band’s sound, influenced by the experimental film scores done by guitarist Jonny Greenwood (There Will Be Blood, The Master, Inherent Vice). All three of us were at the perfect ages for Radiohead to really take hold (though it only took hold with two of us), with Kid A, Amnesiac, and Hail to the Thief releasing during our high school years and In Rainbows releasing in our college years. So without further ado, our 10 favorite songs for a band we hold dear.

10. “Give Up the Ghost”

Radiohead has built its reputation on being weird, electronic, and experimental, but the band does beautiful ballads as well as anyone. The hypnotic looping of “Give Up the Ghost” is the perfect example of Radiohead at their most emotionally resonant. The first time I saw this live a year before the release of King of Limbs, there wasn’t a single person not transfixed to the stage during it.

9. “Burn the Witch”

The lead track off of the Radiohead’s latest, “Burn the Witch” combines beautiful yet jarring orchestration with piercing political commentary. Thom Yorke often speaks caustically to the political climate of our time, but he has never done so more poetically than “Burn the Witch”

8. “There There”

In the beginning of the George W. Bush’s presidency, Radiohead released Hail to the Thief, calling out our world’s leaders years before the reality of all the corruption, greed, and unjust war became clear. “There There” comes off as snappy and playful as Radiohead gets, but its soaked with the impending doom right around the corner.

7. “Pyramid Song”

Like I said before with “Give up the Ghost”, Radiohead does piano ballads in a way that just makes you float off your feet. “Pyramid Song” feels like floating into another dimension.

6. “Reckoner”

The crash of percussion and the still, harp-like guitar riff announces “Reckoner”, one of Radiohead’s most arresting songs off of their most colorful album, In Rainbows. The way “Reckoner” grows and shifts is just picture perfect: every piece of instrumentation in just the right place.

5. “Electioneering”

“Electioneering” is Radiohead at their most manic and chaotic. Early in their years of writing politically, the band sounds as urgent as ever on “Electioneering”.

4. “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi”

One look at the alien-like individual that is Thom Yorke, and you wouldn’t think of him as a hopeless romantic. And certainly he’s not, but Yorke writes some of the most moving love songs around. “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” is a simply gorgeous love song that is hard not to get wrapped into.

“Paranoid Android”

Inspired by The Beatles “Happiness is a Warm Gun”, “Paranoid Android” is really three different songs fused into one blazingly epic song cycle.

“Idioteque”

As much as Radiohead breaks ground on every album, Kid A may be the only one that truly transformed music, ushering in an era where electronics, experimentation, and rock all belonged together. “Idioteque” is a disco for the apocalypse.

“Everything In It’s Right Place”

“Everything In Its Right Place” is really a perfect song. It’s beautiful, alarming, and creepy all at once. It combines all of Radiohead’s best elements: bold experimentation, arresting vocals, and abstract yet expressive lyrics.

Just Missed:

Austin – “Codex”

Austin is the only one of us that isn’t a Radiohead nut, but he does find enjoyment in King of Limbs. “Codex” sort of hearkens back to the best piano ballads from Pink Floyd, a band that Austin certainly cherishes.

Todd – “Life in a Glass House”

Todd loves his jazz and “Life in a Glass House” is a swinging, messy jazz tune and an interesting genre departure for Radiohead.

Wes – “Street Spirit…Fade Out”

The Bends may have been Radiohead’s second album in 1995, but it was really their first as the bold, experimental band we know today. “Street Spirit…Fade Out” is one of my favorite album closers period: its pacing, restless and just doesn’t want you to leave or stop listening.

The 10 Best Prince Songs or: The List Formerly Known as Our Favorite Songs by the Artist Prince

Editor’s note: With the shocking and sudden death of Prince, the best way we know how to mourn is share his songs that we loved the most. With that, here is our list from 2014 of our favorite Prince songs of all time. Let all the doves cry out.

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I am sure that if you told Prince that you could order ten of his best all-time songs onto a list of ten, he would make the exact face above and sink it deep into your soul. It is hard to put together a list of such a beloved artist’s songs, especially after releasing thirty-three albums. His thirty-third and thirty-second of which were recently simultaneously released on September 30th. For the occasion (although late), we decided to take on the daunting task of trying to list our favorites anyways. The result is quite a crowd-pleasing list I would say. If you are looking for some serious deep tracks you should probably look elsewhere, but if you can argue the legitimacy of these legendary wonders of pop music, we would love to hear those arguments below. Now onto the list:

Our 10 Favorite Bowie Albums

 

Editor’s Note: Today is a sad, sad day as one of our all-time favorite musicians and a true musical chameleon has passed. David Bowie was truly one-of-a-kind and a true advocate for the outcast. So we wanted to revisit our favorite Bowie albums list, one which if we were to redo this list, his latest and final release Blackstar really probably should land towards the end of this list: his best album in 35 years. It’s the perfect mourning, funeral album. 11So please buy/stream Blackstar today as it it shows an icon still pushing boundaries and making emotionally-resonant music 50 years into his career.

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It’s a freaky deaky kinda Bowie week here at LxL. Yesterday, we brought you the five best Bowies (or Bowie characters), and Tuesday came Bowie’s first release in over a decade. We will bring you a review for that next week, but for now, how about we hit you with our ten favorite Bowie albums? The music and fashion chameleon has wore many hats (and costumes) in his career, and today we bring you the ten best. Without further ado, here are the best albums by David Bowie in our humble opinion.

10.  Scary Monsters

Aaaaahhh…scary monsters! Bowie’s first album in the 80’s was a real return to form, showcasing the sort of glammed-out, spooky, art rock he made a name for himself making in the early 70’s. Scary Monsters also bounces into a little disco with “Fashion” as well as one of the strangest sung Bowie songs in “Ashes to Ashes”, which also makes it one of the best – it’s just so unusual and eerie in the best kinda way.

9. Station to Station

Coming off the irresistible Philly soul and disco of Young Americans, Bowie kept some of those characteristics but made a much more experimental record in Station to Station. Headlined by the evercool “Golden Years”, Station to Station serves as the bridge between the extremely opposite albums that it falls between: the Philly soul of Young Americans and the groundbreaking avant-garde electronic rock of Low.

8. Space Oddity 

Transforming from young Londoner David Jones into the music icon David Bowie started with Space Oddity. Still remaining one of his biggest hits today, “Space Oddity” has Major Tom (David Bowie’s first character) lifting off out into space, and Bowie never really returned –  beside the time he fell to earth in the film The Man Who Fell to Earth, AND on Earthling, AND as Ziggy Stardust on The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust…but who’s counting.

7. Diamond Dogs

A concept album (like so many of Bowie’s albums) based on George Orwell’s 1984, Bowie fell a little without Mick Ronson on lead guitar, but Diamond Dogs still delivers on several levels. Diamond Dogs is what it would sound like if Lou Reed and Mick Jagger kidnapped Bowie and then tried to convince people they were him as to keep down suspicion.

6.  Low

For his most groundbreaking record, Bowie hooked up with the 70’s best producer, Brian Eno, the king of ambient and experimental electronic music. The former Roxy Music member would work his magic on Bowie like he would later do for both the Talking Heads and U2, combining brilliant atmospherics with strong songcraft to make yet another timeless record.

5. Young Americans

Whoa that boy can groove. I would imagine when Young Americans came out, there was a handful of rock music fans just furious that Bowie was steeping into the deeply divisive genre of disco, but man did he knock it out of the park with Young Americans. Not only did the album produce three huge disco singles in “Young Americans”, “Fame”, and “Fascination”, but the album as a whole just swings and grooves like John Travolta on some funky acid.

4. The Man Who Sold The World

The Man Who Sold The World was Bowie’s first with guitarist Mick Ronson and its the most riff-heavy, guitar rock album of his career. Oddly enough, “The Man Who Sold The World” is probably best known not as a Bowie song, but as one of the last songs that Kurt Cobain played at MTV Unplugged: Live in New York months before he took his own life – a fitting song for an artist who felt tortured by his own success.

3. Aladdin Sane

Following the one-two punch of Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust will leave you knocked out 99% of the time, but Bowie managed to stay on his feet and deliver with Aladdin Sane. Aladdin Sane is the sound of David Bowie taking the glam-rock of Ziggy Stardust to a high-end New York jazz lounge at 2 in the morning.

2. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

Our top two literally ended in a scoring tie (we occasionally rank and score albums with difficult lists), but just missed out with our tie breaker. Why is Ziggy Stardust so great you ask? Bowie combines his freaky vibe with the second best slew of songs of his career to make more than just a great album but a statement. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust documents an androgynous alien rock star trip to Earth to tell people of its extinction in five years, only to meet his own at the hands of his own destructive behavior. The album stands as an anthem and rallying point for the oddballs, the weirdos, and those who just don’t quite fit in, rest assuring those that feel oh so lonely that “you’re not alone.”

1. Hunky Dory

The crown jewel of Bowie’s catalog is Hunky Dory. Mixing glam-rock with cabaret and pop, David Bowie released 11 songs of pure songwriting gold. My favorites remain the endearing weirdo’s love song “Kooks” , the freak stomp of “Oh! You Pretty Things”, the heartwarming, showtuney shuffle of “Fill Your Heart”.  You also get some mega classics in “Changes”, “Queen Bitch”, and “Life On Mars”. Not to mention, Bowie had time to write “Song for Bob Dylan” and “Andy Warhol” as tributes to two of his artistic heroes. What does this album not have?

Just Missed

Wes – Heroes

Like Low, Heroes splits about 50/50 in terms of instrumental and vocal songs, but when Bowie and company sing, they shine. Guitarist Robert Fripp of King Crimson fame helps the songs rock and Bowie’s singing, especially on his career-centerpiece and arguably greatest song “Heroes”, helps these songs soar.

Todd – Let’s Dance

Anyone who knows Todd knows he likes to get on a good gawky giraffe dance once and a while. Let’s Dance allows him to do this, and for this, Todd is forever grateful to the Thin White Duke.

Austin – Heathen

Heathen is one of Bowie’s late career gems, and with this album resulting from a collaboration and tour with Trent Reznor made this a surefire just miss for Austin, whom adores the both of them.

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The Best Live Acts of 2015

When it comes to end of year lists, you tend to just see half of the music world covered: recorded music. But many more people are interested in live music, and in turn want to know who are the acts I should be spending my hard-earned dollars to go see. That’s what we try to accomplish each year with our favorite live acts list. While certainly not comprehensive, these are the 10 acts we saw that we would say are definitely worth it.

The 10 Best New Artists of 2015

Every year when December comes around, we get excited like all other music fans about putting together our end-of-year lists. Of course we get excited about best songs and albums, but maybe the most exciting list is the best new artists. These were fresh and exciting new faces that surprised us with their debuts, and we can’t wait to see where they go next. For example, the members of our favorite new artists of 2012 list are now giants in their own right and will likely top our 2015 albums list (Kendrick Lamar, Alabama Shakes, Father John Misty, and who knows, maybe Frank Ocean will surprise us with an album release before 2016). So without further ado, our favorite new aritsts of 2015.