Feighan's top 10 instrumentals

By Jim Feighan
Collegian Reporter
April 26, 2006

Instrumentals: those lyric-less songs that tend to get skipped because they bore music-lovers. Well, I’m here to stick up for them and prove that instrumentals can be brilliant. Here are 10 great songs that don’t need words to get their meanings across:

10) Air’s “Le Voyage de Penelope” — full of choppy pianos and synths, the French electronic duo never ceases to amaze.

9) Nick Drake’s “Sunday” — “Sunday” is held together by rhythmic fluting and finger-picking; a great closer to an even greater album.

8) Caribou’s “Drumheller” — DJ Daniel Snaith toys with sampling to produce a two-minute long fugue full of reversed violins.

7) Elliott Smith’s “Bye” — Even without trademark lyrics, “Bye” is able to describe the battle with drug addictions that Smith had been fighting throughout the last years of his life.

6) The Go! Team’s “Everyone’s a V.I.P. to Someone” — The Go! Team creates this light-hearted melody by mixing banjo loops, pianos and French Horns.

5) Mogwai’s “Friend of the Night” — Mogwai, the Scottish rockers, make an anthem out of piano, ethereal guitars and distorted drums, which is something they’ve mastered over the years.

4) Debussy’s “Claire De Lune” — an instant classical favorite, Debussy’s piano ballad can bring anyone to tears.

3) Miles Davis’ “Freddie Freeloader” — This 10-minute improvised piece is a great start for anyone trying to get into jazz.

2) Jonny Greenwood’s “Tehellet” — Composed for the 2003 documentary Bodysong, the Radiohead guitarist goes solo, tackles classical music and comes out on top.

1) Neutral Milk Hotel’s “The Fool” — From the 1998 masterpiece, In an Aeroplane over the Sea, The Fool is reminiscent to the background music of a funeral march.

feighanj1@lasalle.edu