Lesson No. 1 for Electric Guitar (1980). Glenn Branca /surging ambiguous optimism/

Freaky Trigger has a series of posts blogging comments on all the entries in the recently published book The Pitchfork 500. That book lists the 500 essential songs from 1977 to 2006.

Here's the comment re: Glenn Branca's Lesson No. 1 for Electric Guitar:

The Branca records I know (Ascension and another one of the Symphonies) are soupier and scarier than this, which doesn’t just anticipate noise-rock like the write-up says but also 00s big-music trance indie: that moment when the bass and drums come in is pure Arcade Fire – except better, for my money, more universal in its surging ambiguous optimism. 

The Pitchfork 500 has some other good pop selections e.g. Deacon Blues by Steely Dan:

The all-star California session players to which the Dan were accustomed (including Lee Ritenour and Bernard "Pretty" Purdie) bring as lush a gloss to the lyrics, making the song poignant even though you know better.

On the other hand, the entry on the Orb's Little Fluffy Clouds makes no mention of the guitar sample from Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint.

Other entries of note: Radiohead's Idioteque including a mention of composer Paul Lansky and Tortoise's Gamera when that group had the jazz guitarist Jeff Parker.

There's also a selection by Aphex Twin in the book but after being rear-ended on 101 last spring while listening to Aphex Twin, I have in fact developed a strong aversion to that music so I won't even  mention it.

Coincidentally, tonight on the commute home I listened to an electronic cover version by In One Ear Out The Analogue of Idioteque. And the drive was fine if a bit rainy.

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lala: steely dan - deacon blues. in one ear out the analogue - idioteque. radiohead - idioteque. steve reich - electric counterpoint. the orb - little fluffy clouds (live). jeff parker - like-coping. glenn branca - lesson no. 1 for electric guitar.