Everything's (Not) Magic

My Top Five Angels & Airwaves Songs

In podcastland, we finished the blink-182 trilogy this past Monday. More on that later.

Over here, on my supplemental Substack series, I covered both the self-titled Box Car Racer album and When Your Heart Stops Beating by +44. One of those things is not like the other, and I leave it up to you to brush up on your blink-182 lore to see which is which.

It’d be remiss of me to not acknowledge Box Car Racer’s final form, Tom DeLonge’s Angels & Airwaves (AVA). As of the time of this publication, AVA have released six albums and four EPs. For this list, I will be drawing from the LPs.¹

Do You Believe in Hallucinations?

To engender the most suspense, below are my top five AVA songs, culminating in my number one pick. Don’t scroll ahead! We hate spoilers over here.

5) “Sirens”

Upon both first and repeated listenings of the Star Wars-coded I-Empire, I loved the first half of the record and couldn’t tell you about anything after “Secret Crowds.” Of those first six songs, “Sirens” stands out with its awesome bass line, perfectly mixed synths, and hype-building pre-choruses. What knocks it to fifth is its lackluster, but serviceable chorus. Tom could’ve made it explode more, could’ve done more than the typical blink move to overlay vocal lines in the final chorus. It’s great, but I still want more.

I-Empire (2007)

4) “Anomaly”

AVA doesn’t really play acoustic songs on albums. Color me surprised when I heard “Anomaly” at the end of The Dream Walker! Although a good ol’ love song, the double-tracked guitars and lead vocal melody are a delight to listen to on headphones. Buried electronic drums offer the rhythm, and a simple low note is maintained for the majority of the song on a synthesized cello (or viola?). It’s simple, but it works, and challenges the expectations of what people anticipate when pressing play on an AVA album.

The Dream Walker (2014)

3) “Do It For Me Now”

The third Angels & Airwaves song ever! And it continues to hold up. Tom sounds young but hungry here. To me, this is the platonic ideal of AVA: huge drums, delay and reverb washing both Tom’s developing voice and a picked guitar, a driving bass and synths filling out the space. The minute-long outro is a bit repetitive, but it sounds like Tom’s in space, reinforcing the yearning. Ultimately, it’s catchy as hell. Both U2 and David Bowie would be proud.

We Don’t Need to Whisper (2006)

2) “Timebomb”

Trust me, I’m as surprised as you are to pick something as recent as “Timebomb.” I’m unmoved if somewhat sour on the vocoder intro, but it pays off well enough that I sit through it every time with a smile on my face. Tom sings, “You seem like you’re having fun” to his romantic audience here, but I actually think he’s singing to himself. He sounds better than ever, and the melodies are endless hooks. I still get chills when the background vocals kick in with “tell me.” His musicianship and songwriting improve more and more with every album, which is why I’ll always give a new AVA album a shot.

Lifeforms (2021)

1) “A Little’s Enough”

“A Little’s Enough” is utterly melodramatic. The title lyric refers to love; that’s all you need to fix the world’s problems, or just improve your crush’s melancholy. Granted, this is a product of its time, but the sentiment remains sweet if cheesy. Tom is exploring his depth here, branching out beyond the sophomoric jokes of blink-182.

The song edges listeners for two and a half minutes before opening up into a chorus so good, he repeats it four more times after the laziest “bridge” known to man. Even though it’s been almost 20 years old, “A Little’s Enough” remains my most played song in my library. I’m not even embarrassed about it.

Man, I wish Max Bemis was less problematic.

Wow, I Can Get Personal Too

With the end of "The blink Files” on Filler, Steve and I have wrapped our first major project on the podcast. I’m proud of us both for being so consistent and disciplined in getting these past seven episodes out week after week while we move through our lives with our families and jobs and other commitments.

I have learned how to use a podcast hosting platform as well as continued to hone my recording, editing, and mixing skills. With the podcast creation process, I feel more invigorated than ever to write here, too.

As each episode goes by, I can hear the both of us growing as critical thinkers who can articulate nuanced thoughts. Even if we debate and disagree, conversations remain insightful and fun, which has always been the goal of Filler for me. Let’s hope we can maintain this respect when we get into our Bruce Springsteen miniseries (no promises…on my end).

Our next episode will have our first guest, and it’s a great conversation about creating within the modern, chaotic world. I look forward to having more friends, family, and peers on the show.

If it moves you, please leave a review and rating on your preferred platform to support us in our reach to new listeners. Subscriptions, likes, and tips go a long way as well. I appreciate your support.

Thank you for your eyes, those things you read with.

1. You’ll notice that none of the songs I choose are from the LOVE albums. Hmm…