JohnnyoftheWell
Hugh G. Puddles
Staff

Reviews 368
Soundoffs 76
News Articles 102
Band Edits + Tags 1,289
Album Edits 659

Album Ratings 4407
Objectivity 75%

Last Active 01-01-70 12:00 am
Joined 01-01-70

Review Comments 60,311

 Lists
04.25.24 REC me glitch/downtempo/IDM04.16.24 All Blonde Redhead songs RANKED
03.28.24 OED Japanese imports RANKED (Q1 2024) 03.22.24 Sputnik's Sacred Cows
03.14.24 POP ALIGNMENT03.09.24 Discogs that peak on song #1
03.07.24 new staff + contribs RANKED 03.03.24 MARCH of JAZŽŻ
02.16.24 G L I T C H genre tag02.01.24 FEBRUARY of ambi2ent (REC me)
01.01.24 well_2023: "YES" albums (2/2) 12.31.23 well_2023: "NO" albums (1/2)
12.27.23 (be)rate my LP 'collection'12.03.23 2023 BNM: cringedex
12.01.23 New users :: REVIEWED 11.28.23 Your 5s choices reviewed AGAIN
11.15.23 learn from my WORST REVIEWS 11.13.23 Tory stooge music
More »

Users' 5 choices REVIEWED

by request. comment, be added etc
1After Dinner
Paradise of Replica


cimnele
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=932704

whispery wraithy avantcuddles. shivers. thunder!! i do love. it all makes sense but there will never be a straight answer

VERDICT: 5/5. Very distinct energy + cohesive selection = wouldn't mistake these for any other user (for GUD reason)
2The Wrens
The Meadowlands


Pheromone
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1035674

Tempting as it is to autodisregard this for featuring Brand New, Phero has pulled off the potentially unique feat of channelling that energy into his own distinctive brand. "Distinctive?", you say? Uh, you know that feeling everyone who has ever lived has when they finish school and work their first shitty job and wonder if they've already had it as good as it gets? Distinctive. Phero makes it is own because he elects to represent it with 7 albums as opposed to the conventional 1.

VERDICT: 4/5. Seven picks, all decisive choices. Strong action from our weakest indie prick
3Radiohead
Kid A


Pangea
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1052758

Scientists have debated the role of experimental music in society for many moons, and I'm just shocked that it took them this long to arrive at the conclusion that it only has any value if you can cut it with a butter knife and leave it on your bedside table just in case climate anxiety or the state of your larder keeps you awake a few minutes past your bedtime and you need something Authentic to knock you out. Works best with sugar.

VERDICT: 2.5/5. Guess his favourite band (it's Radio head)

DROP: M83, Yndi Halda, Perfume Genius

BUMP: A.A.L. or Alpe Lusia, Ghosteen, Tomorrow, In a Year, Victorialand
4Fugazi
Repeater


GhandhiLion
https://www.scaruffi.com/music/best100.html

The observations and synaptic contortions that led to these opinions are too idiosyncratic to reward sustained analysis, one day I too will listen to music with my ears.

RATING: 0/5. Ghandhicore peaks in the 3-3.5 range. Read a book.
5Myss Keta
Una vita in capslock


Lordepots
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1042215

From the maker of Sputnik: Hunger Games, Colton-Scented Handcream Pt. 7 and How To Pull A Gracious Hiatus, we have: an oversized grab bag of inflated ratings, dead memes, familiar classics ...and a dizzying number obscure gems that no-one will ever find because this thing is impenetrable as the guy's shoutbox. There are goods to be found, but getting there is like playing Minesweeper insofar as it's a chore disguised as a game and absolutely no-one bothers anymore

VERDICT: n/a. This is an unintelligible flex and not a list
6Agalloch
The Mantle


dedex
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=711403

Yeah, much as I've enjoyed debating what constitutes formulaic sputcore on numerous occasions, it turns out we were better off not knowing

VERDICT: 1.5/5 this site peaked in 2012 etcetc
7A Wilhelm Scream
Career Suicide


Pikazilla
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1151055

yeah if you think these are good, just wait until you've seen his 1s BITCH

VERDICT: 4/5. Loses points for being a bit of a sprawl but hey, can't deny Pika has better taste than you
8Meshuggah
Destroy Erase Improve


Relinquished
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=290499

Damn - for 10k ratings, Mr. Wolfe has a mercifully refined range of 5s, and from a conveniently narrow range of artists at that. The man's favourites are clearly up there for a reason, and he's not shy about letting you know that. Frank and fierce all round: good stuff.

VERDICT: 4/5. Sure, it's a bit hard-object-meets-unbreakable-surface ft. occasional bleep bloop, but these are decisive choices if ever I've seen them
9Bladee
Into Dust


Ryus
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1037980

So Ryus usually has one of the more reliable tastes on Sput, but at the top level this looks... hmm. Mm. Something doesn't sit quite right. Overall it's a cool, succinct mix of concensus and cult classics, and it's definitely the right kind of eclectic insofar as Orchid are next to Kate Bush is next to Bladee is next to Black Tambourine etcetc, BUT I cannot quite feel the overall shape of Ryus. Good taste not enough polygons - and add to that that The Moon and Antarctica is outgunned by the other norm stuff here and mismatched against the eliteszz. Drop that and then we'll talk.

VERDICT: 3/5. Best boi but not his best list. Almost all of these could head up excellent independent lists though, so
10Manchester Orchestra
The Million Masks of God


Sowing
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=276983

Infamous for obvious reasons. Yes there are a few inspiring standouts, yes they are ruthlessly outgunned by insipid faff, and damn, this list is WAY too long for someone with just over 2500 ratings, however...

VERDICT: 3/5. If this assessment were based purely on quality, this would obviously be an entirely different story, but this list does make me appreciate how remarkable it is to have your name synonymous with a brand when said brand is visibly defined by limpness and genericism. Takes quite the list to make that your own
11Underworld
dubnobasswithmyheadman


Trifolium
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1122787

Hahahaha right. There are multiple ways to read this one, and your impression of the REAL Trifolium will vary drastically accordingly. Where do you start? Do you see the mass of Meshuggah and Opeth 5s and assume he's a crusty bonehead? Do you see LCD Soundsystem/Stereolab/Talking Heads/Cocteau Twins and pencil him down as a zany hipster with a redemption arc? Do you see that mix of Linkin Park and Coldplay and laugh? Orrr do you pick up on Portishead's entire discog and follow up with that delicious and alphabetically spangled blend of Monolake/The Field/Underworld/Gas/Pole, throw in his densely concentrated jazz picks and grin because this guy knows what's up? Trif has many angles, and they somehow intersect in a beautiful way that none of us will ever be good enough to entirely understand. I dunno. I just really like looking at it.

VERDICT: 4.5/5. Too perplexingly layered to be a firm 5, but v close
12Brainiac
Bonsai Superstar


Ars
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1034848

My expectations here were Highly Mixed, but all credit to Ars, this does immediately jump out as THE holistic Ars list. Its eclectic and consistent elements balance each other out, and its respective prog, psych, noise rawk, funk and pop ballparks are all in balance and adequate overlap with one another (though I do think a little more electronic is needed for ultimate harmony - at the moment the list dips its toes and shies away). Main flaws include almost the whole thing being stuck in the 20th century and the predictablity of its prog picks, but this is a solid example of how to combine familiar names into a single distinguishable odour

VERDICT: 4/5 kooky kudos etc
13Coldplay
A Rush of Blood to the Head


Icebloom
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1116649

Hmmm so the issue here is less an abundance of *bad* choices (though American Football 1 kicking off the list back to back with Brand New got an instant eyeroll), and more that I feel I've seen this combination of albums posted together hundreds of times without remembering any single instance. There are a couple of minor exceptions, but I hardly learnt anything about Icebloom as an entity by skimming this. Ehh

VERDICT: 2/5. Icebloom's story has not yet hit its main arc, so for now we are stuck in the alt rock atrium waiting to go - - -?
14Kali Masi
Laughs


Slothcoresam
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1137253

So there are two sides to this story - the badass sentimentalist punk side, which dominates the list and maps out the Sloth we all know and love in steadfast form, and the dark side. The DORK side. Strip out the punx and that's what you're left with - sure you know Sloth the radiant heartsnfeels warrior, but do you know him as the R. Kelly slyboy? The smelly Deftones fan? The TOOL STAN? Some secrets should stay buried.

VERDICT: 3.5/5. Some dirty balls here, but you almost got away with them
15Erra
Augment


Steakbyrnes
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1071596

Okay yikes um Steaky breaky may have just won March madness, but you can bet he didn't win it with *this* list ho ho. Mallcore progcore normcore MUSE, we've got it all here. And video game soundtracks because of course that is how balance works. I think the two good things we can say for this list are: it does not pretend to be any other list, and: it is just a small part of the bigger picture of Steak the unyielding unphasing unaging high schooler of all our hearts

VERDICT: 2/5. Cannot imagine what this list will look like once it can drink legally. Terrifying thought.
16Devin Townsend
Ziltoid Live at the Royal Albert Hall


bgillesp
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1068507

My hopes were actually quite high for this list, which is good because I got to enjoy being very, very wrong as the endless heckin PLOT TWISTS of this boi wrought their justice. Welcome to a world where a lone David Bowie record sits powerlessly besides a fatarsed armada of Devin Townsends, where logic dictates that two Periphery records are better than one Periphery record, where Bjork's Debut deserves equal status with her following three, where The Suburbs is the best Arcade Fire album and perfect, where TPAB and Hamilton are equally accredited, where where where. Um. I'm being mean because there are a lot of respectable picks here, but this thing's feng shui is positively evil.

VERDICT: 1/5. Exactly the kind of diabolical scene I signed up for, well played
17The Pax Cecilia
Blessed Are The Bonds


hesperus
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=437715

Fuck me sideways, what year is this? This looks like every 2012 sputlist ever preserved through the ages, but hesp makes it their thing because they were the one to preserve it. They get extra credit from me, because this kind of skramzy post-rock/metal was exactly what got me into Sput to begin with, and I appreciate someone making such a coherent greatest hits for it and implying that it's aged well. Every time I'm tempted to disagree, I'll look at this list and be transported. Aah

VERDICT: 4/5 why have history when you can have HESP
18Taylor Swift
Folklore


tyman
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1117412

In my head, tyman is a hard slamming sweet natured part-time prog very much coreboi, and so it is enjoyable and baffling to see his 5s distilled from the blank stares of ponderous sadgirls and the incessant fucking tears of insufferable boydisasters. This list saps so hard I couldn't even see the Rowan/neek/colton evolutionary tree touching it - like, being entirely serious, I think the album with the most chutzpah here might actually be The Black Parade (discounting that endurance test of a final ETID record because jfc of course). And fuck me up, how many of these came out in the last 2 yrs? A lot of the absolute worst ones, that's for sure. I could go on - but! this list does have a clear shape and that shape does have an endearing bearing on tyman's character arc, and so

VERDICT: 2.5/5. This list is not a good list, but I am kinda jealous of anyone who can be their own little sister this way
19Manu Chao
Clandestino


rabidfish
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1032618

I think this one might be beyond me. I rate rabidfish: agree and disagree with roughly equal proportions of their takes, never have any idea which way these are gonna skew from album to album, and am content with being able to follow some of their vibes without ultimately understanding their wavelength much at all. Anyway, I do not get this list at all - partially because I only recognise about 2/3rds of it, kind-of because I could only see myself 5ing a small proportion of that quantity (though I do respect all choices), but mainly because the logic or taste or sensibility behind these straight up evades me. I want to call it a mature selection, but then you have your PUPs and your Melt-Bananas next to your John Coltranes and Coils - which I v much love to see, but uh? Gonna bookmark this and listen to a few hopefully and then understand it maybe not

VERDICT: tentative 3.5. rabidfish = the wonder of the universe
20The Microphones
The Glow Pt. 2


deathschool
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=922961

Absolutely no fucking about on this one: deathschool is on a mission to 1) do online music 2) do it right 3) grab the best bits and 4) get the hell out of there. Do we get many hints as to what tempted them here to begin with? Shit no! Clean getaway.

VERDICT: 4/5. I will star this list in a VR thriller
21Cult of Luna
A Dawn to Fear


Demon
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1097747

Uhh this is a SERIOUS list. Way too serious to be a plausible list of 5s. It has too much low bpm atmoneckbeard sludge, too much noirtronica, too much cookie monster and too many crescendoes to be anything else. Like, I'll take any of those seriously on their own terms, but not on a list that upholds Opeth and Cult of Luna as the peak of music - sorry, oversold. Redeemed somewhat because most of these albums are very good. Remove the bird's nest from the chin and this list has big potential.

VERDICT: 2.5/5. something something gonna steal Yowi's sternstare-core line

DROP: Still Life, A Dawn to Fear, The Eye of Every Storm

BUMP: Low, At Action Park, one of Blue Lines and Daydream Nation
22Butthole Surfers
Locust Abortion Technician


SharkTooth
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1030884

This just reads like the imprint of someone who really loves music and doesn't think too hard about it, and WE CANNOT HAVE THAT NOW, CAN WE? Minus 1.5 points for still having xSPONGEXCOREx up there, but then again this list is above the scope of curation

VERDICT: 3.5/5. Rock on
23Mudvayne
L.D. 50


DavidYowi
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1195191

This is a long list and its words are: pain, fantasy, deodorant, introspection, introversion, volume, pain, volume, pain, life. The gods have abandoned us and we are left with Maynard Jan Keevan, Geddy Lee and a load of despair thrash riffs. I have questions: does Yowi's highly substantiated belief in this grotty pantheon offer vicarious hope for humankind? Were the 90s reaaaaally that strong a decade for mainstream heavyshit? Is there any hope for this wretched permapubescent universe? Having read this selection of music albums multiple times, I am none the wiser, but I do think I know Yowi as an online presence a distinct increment better now. It works!

VERDICT: 3.5/5. Not an experience I aim to repeat soon, but it has a centre of unhappy gravity so that is something
24Nirvana
Nevermind


ReturnToRock
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=135125

Should carry a trigger warning to deter anyone questioning their faith in guitar music from blinding themselves and hitting an irreversible timeout. There is no return to rock after this list.

VERDICT: 2.5/5. I appreciate a well-crafted fucking DEATH TRAP
25Kanye West
Donda


Drifter
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1078406

Uh yeah this is about as broken as I'd have expected from a hardcore Donda apologist. Is it full of bad albums or albums that I think would be bad if I ever bothered to listen to them, which I likely will not? Absolutely not. Does it scream IDENTITY CRISIS with its whackass triangulation of probably-canonical hip-hop picks, sketch af rock choices and surprising but solid overlap with Doofcore sophistipop/singer-songwriter bragghcore? Absolutely. This list gains points because no-one else would ever have made it but loses them all because it desperately needs help.

2/5. Drifter is growing into ~something, but we don't know what yet.
26Xanopticon
Psicicite


Avagantamos
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=447207

Fuck me right, I accidentally opened Drifter's page again and got the shock of my life. No fucking thank you. Far less surprisingly, this is a really solid list of stuff I either like or now want to listen to with a lot of inner cohesion. Avagantamos has a distinctive but v much inviting taste in electronic, juggles atmospheric and chaotic content like a master, and backs it up with refined but non-obsessive roots in metal+skramz and a solid attention span. I want to make a joke about subtracting one point per Autechre 5, but I think this just about transcends that.

VERDICT: 4.5/5. Exemplary stuff.
27Wipers
Youth of America


z00sh
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1287953

Hello picky Elmodisplayname user whose page I've accidentally stalked on numerous occasions because boi do you rate a load of random shit. Love to see it. These 5s are almost suspiciously close to Ryus', and the bulk of my take on his page is equally applicable here. HOWEVER, your list is somewhat longer and I think the extra skin on them bones give this a character and presence that Ryus' list only hinted at. Good job filling in them blanks (and picking the superior Modest Mouse album ofc)! I can't give you full marks for this because it's half convinced me you're a Ryus alt, but otherwise GUD online musicing

VERDICT: 4.5/5. Excellent choices beautiful shape hug plz

DROP: MBV - Only Shallow EP or Sweet Trip - YWNKW. And Bladee lol.

BUMP: Black Tambourine if you want to threaten Ryus any further, Julia Holter - Aviary if you want that kind of edge, Red Transistor and Shizuka if you want the better kind of edge
28Thank You Scientist
Terraformer


Zac124
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1201143

Who are you, Zac124? What are these 5s? They tell me that you are someone who likes their heavynerd shit, their heart on sleeve catharsisshit and their selectively uplifting atmospheric mopeshit. And, like, so do I! So does everyone on this website! You are one of us! But where is the real you? I dunno, pal - this familiar combination of familiar albums doesn't tell me first thing about what you've got over Zacs 123 and 125. Power on, and we'll get there. We're at the point where you have a Thank You Scientist album 5'd and I'd say it's a good idea to keep it purely because it implies the highest degree of personal choice of any of your picks. Yikes.

VERDICT: 2/5. Decent list, weak identity.

DROP: Diamond Eyes, One Of Us Is The Killer and the Mantle

BUMP: Uhh if we're developing a brand here, Cursetheknife, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, maybe PUP and definitely the Levellers (who tf are they? I want to know now!)
29Kero Kero Bonito
Bonito Generation


grumbledwerm
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1127536

Jesus fucking Christ, what a short, sweet and absolutely fucking CURSED selection of albums. I think a little poeve of my soul died seeing these four side-by-side. What a list. I absolutely love it. And you used your only comment in four years as a user to request this? Fuck me to pieces, I am not worthy. Please rearrange my entire ratings page for me.

VERDICT: 5/5. This kind of disparate concentrated heartattack is exactly what the 5s tab was made for. mx is happy. Don't change a thing.
30Ad Nauseam
Imperative Imperceptible Impulse


brainmelter
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1025659

I'm ignorant of too many of these to give it the take it deserves, but from the chunk I'm familiar with all is as all should be: bmelt has one of the best eclectic tastes on Sput and this list confirms it in fine form, with a highly specific mix of artist/album choices that I doubt anyone else could string together with the same energy. Great blend of high/lowbrow, loud/quiet, classic/cult classic/deep cuts, very strong very arthouse very excellent.

VERDICT: 4.5/5 because I'm a bit shit

DROP: Suis la Lune

BUMP: Maybe Keiji Haino. Your 5s have pretty much everything covered - I think The Weakerthsns would be the most surprising addition from your 4.5s, so maybe them.
31Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Tender Prey


porcupinetheater
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=450335

porc you are such a porc. A porc is on the point, every point, and is not a fussy eater. This, you porc, shows you know your dispositions but are moreover disposed towards indulging the living porky hell out of each and everyone of them. Scratchystory bluestales yes, misanthropic fuckrock both with and without lube check, fuzzywuzzy porcupop, mopey atmoprog from other dimensions check, prettyfloat and incision penspersonship check check. This list is too long, and this is because it is the product of a porc whose death and life instincts are both rampantly overactive and adequately fuelled as such. It cannot be domestic!


VERDICT: 3.5/5. Most individual picks say not that much, but the fact that you chose all of them says a lot.

DROP: Have You In My Wilderness. Choose real porcshit not frosty fakeshit

BUMP: You know that Stray belongs with those 5s. Failing that, Emotion for life or Krystallnacht for death
32Ampere
All Our Tomorrows End Today


deathofasalesman
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=446819

Damn, this is the hard rocking big vibing mark of someone who likes to feel things to the full and somehow feel good about them nine times out of ten. Congratulations. There's enough positive energy on this list that it makes most of the Sputcore choices its own, but I feel that this is the kind of unpretentious generously sized rock list that anyone on or off this site could find something to like about. I don't know what many of these choices say about you specifically and I don't have much personal investment in most of them, but the way you tied them all together sparks joy all the same well done. They don't make em this way anymore.

VERDICT: 3.5/5. More of an extended Vibe than a list of albums you could tell someone to listen to, but said vibe takes a lot of what's positive and particular about this site and grounds it in fine form

DROP: Bleach

BUMP: Analphabetapolothology
33Phoebe Bridgers
Punisher


neekafat
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1077377

Pretty much a 50/50 split between oldtime [read: childhood] semi-classics and How Do I Become An Adult milk-scented alternative bullshit. There are several safe picks, and they are so, so safe that they immediately make me deconstruct the very idea of safety and imagine some godawful fucking disaster destroying everything on this page sorry back on track there is a lot of Phoebe Bridgers because of course there fucking is. Yeah. This is not a good list, but I will give neek credit for holding onto it for so long. This highly conceivable combination of albums would signify nothing at all (other than a couple of awful decisions) for most users, but they have come to represent neekafat as an entity. How do you forge a brand out of combinations of albums that have no identity? Idk, kudos u are cute

VERDICT: 1/5 as a list, 3/5 as a neekafat list.

DROP: Lateralus

BUMP: As Days Get Dark, When The Pawn... and Holy Vacants. And then all the albums I have 5'd. Good 4.5s tbh
347 Angels 7 Plagues
Jhazmyne's Lullaby


Senetrix666
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1234318

Nice comprehensive charting of this site's favourite hard-hitting sludge/post/death/core/etc. heavyshit bands. Pretty good list tbh - Cocteau Twins and Portishead stand out like sore thumbs here, but this hardly an issue. However, if you redacted the name and forced me the guess whose 5s these were, I would literally read out the entirety of the site's metal users who aren't esoteric weirdos or thrash boomers in alphabetical order. I would need more insight. Where is Cooking At Home With Senetrix666? Further content please

VERDICT: 3/5. It's easy enough to draw up a list like this but hard to make it your own.

DROP: Tough call. Maybe Young Team or Sunbather

BUMP: One of Apokalypsis and Pain Is Beauty, one KEN Mode or Gaza album, and Lula fuckin Divinia
35Fleetwood Mac
Rumours


Koris
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1061284

I wasn't sure what to expect here, but it was an extra big surprise to find a repeat/expansion of neek's list if it were 5 years older and twice as nerdy. Is that reflective of the actual age gap between these two? I don't think it's far off. More importantly, is this the future neek should reach for, or one to avoid? Mmmhm. There's a *strong* whiff of [post]grunge and alt-metal cringe here and too much prog for a healthy imagination to deal with. There are genuine thrash metal albums ha ha. These are all quite big weighty deliberate picks, which is nice and fine in moderation, but where is the no-frills fun? Where's the pop? Is the implication here that Shouso Strip is the only 5able fun album that isn't also angsty as hell (ed. oh fuck and also Emotion)? I can abide by that, but this list is all KERLASSICS and no mojo. Watch out neek!

VERDICT: 2.5/5. Many good picks some eh picks, rated lower than neek's as a deeply v serious deterrent

DROP: Morning View, Misplaced Childhood and that Katatonia album

BUMP: Daft Punk, Deerhoof, Melt-Banana, maybe Gorillaz/Naked City/The Armed, and - what the fuck - Kacey fucking Musgraves. That should take the strain off this heavily taut beerbelly T-shirt.
36Miles Davis
Bitches Brew


Wines
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=527643

Brightest and best of Sputnik's celestial bodies [chomp], Winesborgio is here and his list is defined in large inescapable part by its gravitational relation to user:havey's list. This is the best version of that list, not necessarily because the music is any better or worse than its counterpart, but because it has the hipster specs and will likely talk back to you when you make forced conversation at a cramped club bar because neither of you are getting served for some stupid reason.

Topics of conversation include: it isn't my fault that all indie music has done to shit but I will deny that it has adamantly enough that it might as well be, it isn't your fault that you missed the boat on music not made by guitars or compassionate humans (but it might be your fault if you didn't waste those formative years on something better), and let's get naked and take a moonshower in waves of blaring distortion that will restore us with its timeless babymelodies. Ah. This list makes me want to have fun without changing my facial expression, and this makes me jealous of Wines because he is better at this than me.

VERDICT: 3.5. It is the best rating.

DROP: Pet Sounds. Who the fuck is Havey

BUMP: Get Goat up there! Maybe Amnesia and Cosmogramma to complement ur specs
37The Beach Boys
Pet Sounds


Havy
https://www.amazon.co.jp/Serene-Ambience-for-Separation-Anxiety/dp/B093LQQR5R

Celestial Body the Second. While Wines is a dapper gentleman of misfortune, Harvey is your gammon uncle who envelopes the entire surface area of any given armchair and outlines in lancing parlance how much fun it used to be for young people to simultaneously dance with their best limbs successfully copulate with or without the aid of ol' Lucy. You will never surpass him and you can never become him. Good luck with all that. In terms of 5s, the main deals here is the number of albums (low) and the number of extant humans not named Haavy who have heard a slim majority thereof (lower still). This list is the north star, our guide to the zenith of unclely elitism and probably the only reason this stupid website still holds any value. It's the core tenet of its own sect, but unfortunately I am a flake too disorganised to hold meaningful beliefs of any kind, and therefore declare it tentatively useless because I am terrified of aging and think Wines' list was sexier. Will update upon my next epiphany.

VERDICT: 3.0. It is the worst rating.

DROP: Pet Sounds

BUMP: Spiritual Unity (the only reason you haven't done this already is that Ghandhi has it on his topshelf), Fremde Zeit Addendum 4, Twin Infinitives (get that one back over Wines plz, you wear it better), '77 Live, Raditude
38Cynic
Traced in Air


CottonSalad
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1284546

My goodness, plot twist, a new celestiabody hath formed! CottonSalad bears such proximity to Hadey that it's difficult to ascertain whether he commands his own orbit! However, some things are certain. First, this is a strange list. Second, it does not pretend to have good taste, or any taste at all, but it navigates arbitrary oddball existence so successfully that I can just about visualise Paul Masvidal strumming a headless lute and crooning at Joni while that competent bloke from Ulcerdate slams hip-hop bumshakers into his kit which is in a tree, along with him. That is nice. Is it real? Is any of this shit? You tel

VERDICT: 4/5. An important check on the pulse of reality. Surpasses the other two celestibois insofar as it lives and floats by its own logic. Fails to surpass them insofar as I still don't accept it as real.

DROP: Stare Into Death and Be Still

BUMP: Manafon
39Tenniscoats
Papa's Ear


BaselineOOO
https://www.last.fm/user/I0000days

Fourth and final of sputnik's celestite users, BaselineOOO is a tender darkmoon and a massive glass canon. There can be no beginnings without ends and no deaths without lifes. I too enjoy sweet things - who is the sweetest? I await your answer.

VERDICT: 1.5/5. France 2050s.

DROP: Berserk

BUMP: TOMBI
40Seiko Oomori
Sennou


[courtesy of Kompys2000]

JohnnyoftheWell
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=538903

We all know and love johnny's traversals of post-alternative japanese hipster memes, and yes this list IS more than one-quarter weeb, but do not for a SECOND forget this charming devil's comprehensive fluency in western record store chatter! From longtime critical darlings like Björk and Sonic Youth to unsung gems like Oceansize, this list reflects a seasoned and discerning veteran of the indiesphere. Option Paralysis is merely serviceable as the requisite metal pick but all told JOTW makes this list his own reasonably well. Artisan vanilla ice cream with candy chunkz.

VERDICT: uhh 4/5 I guess, could maybe use a curveball or two but these are mostly very good albums.

DROP: Artist in the Ambulance- being into Thrice in 2022 is like being into the Eagles in 2003 sorry

BUMP: Ziggy Stardust since johnnycore's biggest blind spot is music that predates MTV.
41Lambchop
Is a Woman


Boney
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1061036

For a user so dedicated to the same niches (country/slowcore/all varients of either) for so long, I expected contour and class from Boney. What I got was an early learning centre indie starter pack mixed in with disparate country records I know nothing about and will assume are highly elite garden gnome classics. Am a little disappointed; Boney recs are not to be taken lightly, but you'd never know it from this semi randomly generated collection of household names currently and the centre of the same arguments from the same people for the 7000th fuckin time. Don't sell yourself short.

VERDICT: 2/5. Almost pushed me into declaring country a primary saving grace. Too far.

DROP: Constructive: any two Nationals, BCNR, WYWH
Deserved punishment: every Radiohead album other than the Bends

BUMP: Ugly But Honest, Chrome, Kaputt, Wrens, You Forgot It, Perfect From Now On, Mics. If you're gonna basic indie, do it right
42Peste Noire
Ballade cuntre lo Anemi francor


Pon
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=687851

There is Pon. Pon is good. Are Pon's 5s good?

I won't dignify that with an answer, Bridget.

But, like, if these 5s were people and some loon invited them to a dinner party and they were sat around that table, shuffling on their earnest undernourished arses and awkwardly making eye contact in a self-conscious "no-one can see my full talent in this environment but for how long - can I hide my power level" way, you would need a Titanic's worth of icebreakers to get that groove on. This list is not that, but it does foster a cracking enigmatic silence. Why?

VERDICT: get me the fuck out of here, I am not going to be the first one to speak in this horrible social experiment

DROP: Any of them. Probably especially Peste Noire. Just drop one, I can't handle the tension.

BUMP: Gris, purely so that I turn that awkward laughter into belly laughter
43Built to Spill
Perfect From Now On


Sunnyvale
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1065651

I don't know what the deal is with doing one underwhelming list and then having, like, the next one offering a redemption arc, but Boney should probably take notes here. Swap country for classic rock and, um, Rush (we love our zero-sum games on this volunteer site), and this is otherwise exactly the same but a step up. Probably something in the region of Gastly to Haunter. We're in borderland viable territory, but Sunny spoilers it slightly by having too many niceguy vibes. These picks have a character, but the metals are all crowd pleasing boxticks and everything else just screams of someone who loves life and grills for his whole nakama. 5s are for dominating music as a concept, and you choose to be approachable? Guess we know how the promotion process works now AWWW DAMN

VERDICT: 3.5/5. I cannot find deep faults here, this list is cogent within itself and full of albums that too many everyones including me can enjoy with a big rictus

DROP: A Farewell to Kings, Alligator, Punisher, American Football, There Will Be Fireworks

BUMP: Ummm these 4.5s are just more of the same. I guess Downward is Heavenward, any Darkthrone/Immortal album, RHP Rollercoaster album and maybe Twilight
44Mo*Te
Life in a Peaceful New World


Cyg
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=790810

I always knew this day would come. True to his chaotic good qualities, Cyg's list is a mix of records he thinks are the peak of music, number-resistant records that make him uncritically warm and fuzzy, a couple of pop/Kanye meme choices and that redneck gay porn simulator album because of course. As such, it's somewhat comparable to Lordepots' list, except this one actually works because Cyg has the presence of mind and lack of feigned indifference to configure it as a concentrated baffling burst. Cyg's taste is deep and mercurial enough to produce many configurations of said burst, but this one does a fair job of asserting his own unmistakable imprint.

VERDICT:3.5/5 because I refuse to support practical jokes any further, but this gets big points for stealth.

DROP: Maybe the two Sweet Trips from last year, just to spotlight those soundoffs more.

BUMP: Anything I've never heard of from your 4.5s
45Isis
Oceanic


MiloRuggles
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1154035

The bedrock of boi Milo's list is similar dense/dynamic/cryptic/paranoid(?) heavyfare to what we've seen in several lists so far, but I think this one edges them out: the post-metal picks are from bona fide beer-in-hand chinstrokers (Isis, Kayo Dayo) rather than boneheaded crushingimmersion acts, and while these are do come with tech disso leavemealone-core picks so that Milo can jive with the crusty elites incapable of forming sentences about anything other than metal, there's also a certain amount of joie de vivre here.

Milo's post-rock is the kind of thing you dream worlds to (ft. GYBE), his hip-hop is the kind of thing that pushes boundaries on the side, but mainly brings people together, and his oldtimer picks by bands other than Pink Floyd are alphabetically spaced to great effect! Huzzah. I'm not as convinced by the angsty sliver of the list (NIN/Manc Orch/Tool/Deftones), but overall this stands out from the mass of similar enjugglements of, like, 66% of the albums here because it gives me the sense that its creator actually enjoys music for reasons not restricted to intense solitary brooding or the gym. Yikes!

VERDICT: 4/5. Milo successfully took a load of anyone's 5s and made them his own. Party party.

DROP: Unnecessary shavings: Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada, In the Absence of Truth, Wish You Were Here
Self-improvement: The Downward Spiral, White Pony

BUMP: Unquestionable Presence (perf 50/50 fun/tech), Absolutego, Oblivion Access, From Here We Go Sublime
46Pelt
Ayahuasca


Kompys2000
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1068436

Whew, I almost made the fatal error of writing up this one based purely on the (majority) albums within my awareness. A close call - I now want to know much more about Kompys' respective tastes in punk and drone. Overall, this is a probably unique combo of albums from someone with strong, refined tastes who loves a little ill-fated self-aware nostalgia, occasional roughery, and cheap burgers (or whatever metaphor you consider appropriate from that "uhhh" opening pairing of the Suburbs and Yellow & Green). It balances this with a firm investment in abstract spaces and suggests someone who started out as your standard daydreaming indie bellend but found their place in the universe questioning whether humanity as an institution is a) real or b) properly suited to maintaining a place in the universe. We are here.

Bonus Points: Usually, I immediately roll my eyes when someone 5s three Floyd/Rush/Opeth/National albums or whatever, but Kompys' Flaming Lips trio says a lot both as a cluster on this list and on each album's own terms.

VERDICT: 4.5/5. Smashing stuff, equal parts as an accessible self-imprint and as a shiny-murky source of fresh intrigue

DROP: Ween. No-one is unique enough to make that level of fart-art cringe their own (especially Ween).

BUMP: Bowery Electric, Keep It Like a Secret, one of death's dynamic shroud.wmv and Default Genders, and as a doubtless historically informed snipe at album history as a concept, The Beatles - 1
47Candlemass
Epicus Doomicus Metallicus


Dedes
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1063911

Oh fuck the majority of these come with soundoffs, which either makes it harder to ridicule my presumed reasons for their inclusion, or saves me a lot of work. Phew - turned out to be the latter.

"Furthermore it's all done so in a way that's not truly describable" - hun, The Mantle is as describable as albums come ("have you ever been DEPRESSED in WINTER and thought about NATURE? this album was made four you!"). alb seems either a little scrappier or a little more pretentious or both whenever someone does this.

"This is probably the most experimental release [August Burns Red] has put forth" 5/5 classic

No soundoff citing your reasons for 5'ing Avenged Sevenfold? COWARD

"More bands need to blend post-rock structures with emo" wow i had never before heard of this phenom

"This is the world's best album ever and don't you dare dispute it." Now we're fuckin talking

In other news, the story of this list is that Dedes is a happy eater and metal is a gigantic all-age buffet.

Anything heavy here that attempts to get emotional (Katatonia, Counterparts, NIN etc) is a flop - honestly respect the Riot! 5 more, but at least we've got Disintegration to anchor things where they need to be anchored. Overall, It's a slapdash mix of brvtals that accommodates all facial hair preferences, ft. occasional glimmers of sunshine. Nothing criminally bad but somewhat shapeless. The contrast between the lack of concern for how these albums would look side by side with the individual soundoff efforts is the most evocative part. Most of it is pretty light on the ol' attention span - sorry Dedes, I hope this unnecessarily long write-up was gratifying enough for you to make it this far.

VERDICT: 2.5/5. Not a fan of buffets tbqh

DROP: Daughters, Viva Emptiness, Precambrian

BUMP: I'm honestly not sure what this list needs *more* of in its current messy form, so let's just make it even messier. AJJ, Uneven Compromise, Inspiration is Dead, The Holy Bible, Wovenhand, The Glow pt.2
48Arab Strap
As Days Get Dark


anat
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1067819

Heh, this one is a real connoisseur's pick: anat is unassumingly famous for his intimate familiarity with dour, windswept, rained on indie/folk/postpunk/savoury pop/whatever and keen ear for good fireplace songwriters and sophisticated-sordid humour. All this is expertly charted here, from Messers Moffat to Cave to Howard to yeah you get it - in terms of anatcore, it's on the money. However, this list really shines in the way it subverts that foundation - Jeff Rosenstock and Fuck Buttons in particular are hard double takes, but strangely at home in this indie gent's portrait gallery. Throw in the likes of Kate Bush and Haruomi Hosomo to satiate anat's apparent love of highly grounded eccentricsm and you've got a full house. Exemplary list.

VERDICT: 5/5. Soft 5, but this is a perfect affirmation-expansion of everything presently known about sputnik's own only anat

DROP: Maybe a Frightened Rabbit alb

BUMP: Jaar or Rubies
49Sweet Trip
You Will Never Know Why


Colton
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1187284

If you told me in advance that the 1266 music albums Colton has subjected to his cloddish ears had a total of six classics in them, I'd have laughed in the face your optimism. In reality, this list is too small to represent anything more that a feint at critical powers: half of it is Sweet Trip (you all know the story about the tryhard kid who catches wind of everyone else's worst-kept-secret favourite fair ride, hops on and sticks to it like glue until he's the only one left), 1/6th is everyone and their scatty uncle (37)'s favourite geriatric safe bet Pet Sounds, 1/6th is some hurtyyowly indie folk shite with real life arpeggios, 1/6th appropriates Young Thug's inimitable ego into a limp grasp at personal edge.

I know I've criticised 99% of lists so far for failing to live up to or even suggest a personal brand, but this is perhaps the only one so far that commits the unforgiveable error of actively trying too fuckin hard to even get to that point in the first place. Colton has actually removed albums from this list in the past for reasons of relative unworthiness that I'm not even going to try to get my head round. Are any of these albums actually bad? I dunno - but this transparent powerplay of a list sure as fuck makes me like them less.

VERDICT: 1.5/5. Weak attempt at pearl-clutching from sput's #1 whitebread bunk.

DROP: You're not qualified to make a judgement about which records are worse than these, and I'm too cruel to offer a second-hand one

BUMP: Ummm, if we're looking for a less conceited showcase of the Colton brand, restore MPP and Vespertine, bump whichever Beach House you like most and Love's Easy Tears, and then probably Pinegrove/The Radio Dept/Slowdive s/t. Then we can end this stupid game and call a simp a simp
50Coheed and Cambria
Neverender


Storm
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=190767

Storm claims to have axed TRIPLE FIGURES for this, but it is still miles too long so either I don't buy it or it doesn't matter. Or is it too long?! I dunno - this list is the polar opposite of Colton's insofar as it demystifies the cranky elitist aura of 5ness in a warm beery sweatybum hug of 5s. Storm's own particular style of slapdash excess, love of dorky feelsy loudguitarwhinge, and - most importantly! - glory days as Sputnik's COHEED AND CAMBRIA CHAMPION are all over this, and I'd be lying if I said it did anything less than sweep me away and make me smile. Peace out brother.

VERDICT: 4/5. The living loving working reality of a happy go lucky 5slist

DROP: This list is above criticism, but I'm still peeved you set Young Machetes as the best Blood Brothers (though it has grown on me a little)

BUMP: fuck me I cannot make it through those 4.5s there are too many. Never Take Friendship Personal and like 3 or 4 Blackpink albums idk you do you lol
51Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
The Tyranny of Distance


Fogza
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=662315

I feel I've seen this list before. Maybe this is because I was going to 5post you at some point and then either bailed or went for it and forgot. Maybe this is because I took a peep at it after doing Storm's and then put it off and then forgot. Maybe it's because Fogza, o Fogza our Fogza, irreplaceable though he be, is full of interchangeable indie vibes and, uh, uh, uh, yeah that's about it. This someone who very heavily lived through the 90s, struggles to believe in the transformexperimental transcendimental value of music except when it's extremely direct and obvious and/or sounds like Slint, and likes his profound sentiments served in overdrive graded anything from vaguely-existent to mild-sandpaper.

To his credit, he stands more firmly than most behind certain post-cult classic pre-household name artists who (probably) deserve it, and as such I shall conclude with the happy note that he is neither a basic bitch nor a poser. He is merely Indie Fogza.

VERDICT: 3.0/5. I am the road and Fogza is in the middle.

DROP: TM&A (too much wanky verse to be a true Fogza classic), Diamanda Galas (the double take I x2took here hurt my neck)

BUMP: Things We Lost in the Fire, Fire In The City Of Automatons, Over the Edge
52Emma Ruth Rundle
Marked For Death


JesperL
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1072663

So it's long been established that the user known as JesperL is zoomer trash, but I was still taken aback by just how much of a formative influence the sappiest parts of the 00s/early 10s had on the poor kid. Green Day/Brand New/Yellowcard/even The Hotelier fuckin ruined him. The rest of the list is basically a desperate attempt to upvote the NME's favourite 90s classics in attempt to mask layer upon layer of emogaze emo gaze gazemo swillpiss. And Counterparts. Fuckin great. I do, however, deeply enjoy someone who can't stomach the Beatles having a Queen 5. I also enjoy that Jesper is still like 14 years old and has a million years' worth of redemptive character progressions available to him.

VERDICT: 3.5/5. It's unique but, like, you can tell it needed stricter parenting.

DROP: Ten, OK Computer, Superunknown. You ain't fooling me that easily!!

BUMP: This list is flaccid enough that it needs Blushing. Eww.
53Strawberry Switchblade
Strawberry Switchblade


Cyclotron
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1057313

Are black holes celestial bodies? Or are they antibodies? You'd better hope the latter, because we all need all the antibodies we can get to fight off the cancerous database-blighting bullshit that is Cyclotron's ratings page. Truly the ajcollins15 of their time (when?), but without the decency to confine things to RYM frontpage records - pick anything vaguely niche, influential and Sput-obscure and you'll find its discog page pockmarked with Cyclo2s *or worse!!!!(!)* and literally nothing else. With great power comes at least some measure of responsibility, but Cyclotron won't justify their trash with so much as a single soundoff. Are their 5s okay? Yeah. Do they deserve access to 5s as an institution? Fuck right off.

VERDICT: obligatory 1/5. Cringe. Delete all this shit.

DROP: your marbles

BUMP: don't get me fucking started
54Bjork
Vespertine


Gyro
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=420199

Joined 03-25-09 hmmm yeah, first thought on this long, looooong list is that, together with Sput and Music, is clearly something that has meant different things to Gyro at various points in time. Which, like, is relatable but also the sprawl is confusing and I'm not sure how to approach/actually hold on

"haven't updated it in years and would prob remove like 10 of these but overall I'd keep most"

okay there we go (thx!). Gyro stands by his convictions and this list tells the full story. It's a pretty great showing - I knew this already because I've tried to 5post it on numerous occasions but quickly backed down each time on double checking the contents heh. Certainly a few albums I'd personally nuke from orbit, but there's such a generous showing of good shit across such a range of genres that I can't see anyone taking serious issue here. My main criticism is that it reads more like Gyro's observations of Sputnik through the ages than an easily followable mapping of the development of his specific tastes/interests over that time, but all told he's Sputniked pretty well.

VERDICT: 4/5. Solid sputlist.

DROP: We Will Always Love You, Meddle, Garden of Delete

BUMP: eyy Linear Cryptics! Depression Cherry is a Gyro classic in my head, also Sound of Silver, maybe Mezz, and one of those Weakerthans classics
55Big Black
Atomizer


kkarron
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1139370

Yoo kkarron is an amp-addicted cool cruising tire shredding noiseboi! Knew this love this. This list maps out a relatively select group of noise rock grails in short order, and then follows through with a load of (mostly) late '80s/early '90s metal from glorydays thrash/black/tech that was a minor surprise to me, but syncs easily enough and actually piqued my interest - I'm too used to seeing the likes of Coroner and Mercyful Fate repped by heavy breathing witless arses, but this list successfully made them cool. Congrats (fuck me, the leads on "Evil" do be stunners). kkarron is a good user and more metalheads should be kkarron. List is good.

VERDICT: 4/5. Would go higher but I feel you could use a couple of haymakers

DROP: Uhhh you can do without Burzum and maybe Sodom

BUMP: Sunset Mission, Midori or Otoboke Beaver, Music For the Jilted Generation, Leaves Turn or Disintegration
56Moondog
Moondog


someone
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1211569

Hello loving someone fans, we're basically looking at the real-deal post punk encyclopedia ft. whichsoever ethereal and/or oddball dreamz here. It is not what I expected, but also unsurprising! It is occasionally niche, but rarely obscure! It is excellent! Like, damn I like the someone school of post-punk a lot, and it makes me feel bad for casually enjoying Entertainment and Rag n Bone Geezer that one time and forgetting to go back to them at any point ever. But this is not about me, it's about someone's 5s. They all have soundoffs, ain't that wicked?

Actually, hold the phone can we all glance back at recent thread discourse and counter that someone is henceforth the only user allowed to write soundoffs for whichever albums he so please nice thank you continue.

Yes anyway, critique: someone's 5s are mostly perfect for his niche as Sputnik's favourite husky genial uncle. You always know how a conversation with him will start [vibewise] but the development is anyone's guess - there a load of uncompromising plot twists in this list that correspond to this. It is the Real Deal - but this does make me look at such uberpolished critical darlings as Dead Magic, Lift Yr Skinny Fists and (to a much lesser and ultimately unwarranted degree) Geogaddi with a slightly suspicious eye. These records are resistant to the odour of stale tobacco and stand out as such. Cleanse them or huff and puff a little harder please. Thank you for my lovely Christmas presents dad and I are drunk agai

VERDICT: 4.5/5. It's someone alright

DROP: Dead Magic, maybe Lift Yr Skinny Fists

BUMP: A I A: Alien Observer, Alphaville, In Quiet Moments, Real Life, maybe Sunshower
57Between the Buried and Me
The Parallax II: Future Sequence


Scheumke
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=437008

The fuck is this shit, a prog convention at Disneyland? With, like, musical theatre kids and random fakehigh "stoners" who've once never blazed in their lives but are counting on that first spliff to fill in their lifelong deficiencies of social esteem? Count me the fuck out. OPINIONS!! ok analysis: this is 101% the kind of list that differentiates the kind of person who is very much into heavy music from the kind of person you'd actually call a metalhead (am unsure of this is good or bad, so pretend this it's a compliment). It's got both cheesy sentimentalism and fluffy fantasy aplenty on both sides of the rawr line, so much so that (maybe the influence of that Pooh avi) I get a slightly nursery vibe from it and instinctively want to treat it with kid gloves. I don't trust my instincts, so am gonna go fucking hard instead. When Pearl Jam is a serious contender for the grittiest album on a list, something has gone badly wrong. What can be done? Fuck me, we might be in the kind of territory where a little (shivers) tech death would actually improve this thing. Maybe some DOOM to substantiate the brittle proggy melodrama? I am clutching at straws and give up gg Scheumke.

VERDICT: 1.5/5. Who the shit budgeted these rides.

DROP: Appetite for Destruction

BUMP: Night is the New Day, Paradise Lost, Hybrid Theory, October Rust, Stare Into Death And Be Still
58A Lot Like Birds
No Place


ajcollins15
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1091095

Goodness, there's a lot riding on this one. Let's start with a surprise: despite ajcollins' fiendish soundoff infamy, the majority of these 5s do not in fact include soundoffs - as clear a sign as any that Mr. aj (if that is even his real name!) holds the music he actually likes exempt from the same one half-focused listen musical-tourism bullshit he inflicts on everything else. Who can blame him? But what's the dynamo powering this whole EVIL enterprise? What are the spoils torn from the carcasses of the every-genre-ever that he references so liberally and in such generalised terms? Are we to be treated with an all-encompassing set of grails appropriate to this pan-muso connoisseur par excellence ursavant 目利き bona fide cockwomble?

Uh.

Yeah, this is a fucking hive of prognoodle artfart bollocks with frequently insufferable vocalists, backed up with a handful of electronic/jazz picks that Youtube algorithms said would be equally good for nonspecific background muzik as for megachonk IQ boosting. I have never been so underwhelmed by anything in my whole life. Doubtless a side-effect of being a pretty BIG list, there are a few cool scene-specific picks that aren't here purely because Rym hype (Kasra and ~maybe~ Haru Nemuri and, actually that's it), but I refuse to give them any credit because, ladies and gentlemen, we are dealing with an almighty STOOGE here. Sound the motherfuckin alarm.

VERDICT: Obligatory 1/5. This would have been a cogent list for some innocuous nerdprog user. In the hands of the most slapdash covert in Rym's bootcamp, it's a sick joke.

DROP: Every record not included in the Rolling Stone's top 100.

BUMP: 100 gecs, Billie Eilish, Clairo, Magdalena Bay and every other nu-internet zoomer trash pop artist
59King Crimson
Discipline


LeddSledd
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1210604

Time for Ledd. LeddSledd. Leddinbedd. Leddisdead. That fucking GUY. I was kinda surprised to see that Ledd only has 1100ish ratings - I feel like his journey has been both long and fruitful enough to yield double that, but I guess that's just a side-effect of paying attention to the shit you consume. Anyway, I was far less surprised to see that Ledd, picky yet high-spirited eater that he is, has whittled these albums down to a slender handful of 5s. Their calibre? Purty high. Their flavour? Upper-echelon prog x hevy Sput, lightly adorned with Havey's cosmic blight. Does this confirm the general image of Ledd as someone by and large sputnikking successfully? Absolutely. Does its sliiiightly overly precious grail value mark him out more specifically as someone more than happy to challenge his own tastes (in moderation), but who hasn't found anything he likes quite enough to tempt him into resting on his laurels? I think so. My vibe on Ledd has always been that he's mostly on top of his shit but also in no hurry to reach his final form - this list should add a little extra gravity to that character progression.

VERDICT: 3.5/5. This is a list of very good albums found on the internet. Ledd is building an empire; this might be his capital city, but I don't think it spells out his full potential.

DROP: If I had to pick one, You Fail Me or WYWH

BUMP: Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished, I'm In Your Mind Fuzz, High Visceral Pt. 2, Willpower. Get that big Leddenergy where the kids can see it
60Chelsea Wolfe
Abyss


Dewi
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1090070

Long list, phwoar. This is a big, messy, sincere showing of the Dewi we all know and love, equal parts affirming and unflattering. It comes in intersecting wavelengths - we've got the same 70s totems as anywhere else, we've got 80s diva metal, we've got 90s MTV in its full pubescent glory (dammit Dewi, would have thought you were old enough to keep a steady hand back then), we've got enough devilishdeluxe helpings of anything vaguely gothic to score a hundred thousand B-movies. This is very much the work of a man who can't say no to a little dry ice and eyeliner, who likes powerful full tones from his girls but doesn't mind dropping his standards for guys if they're seedy or sweaty or just plain gruff enough. Curious.

These patterns come with a few licks of individuality here and there, the kind of stuff that would count as borderline contrarian on most other lists but comes as a mostly welcome surprise here: Riot! I guess fits in as the Nevermind of the 00s for this specific universe, Help! and Hard Day's Night as two-thirds of the best three Beatles albums is an enjoyable twist, Pizzicato Five as the greatest J-pop act of all time is a take I ultimately disagree with but would love to see repped more widely. Some of these are cursed - discounting everything made by Bjork and soundtrack material, I am not going to sit idly by while Two People rounds off the trio started by Mezzanine and Dummy as one of the apparent greatest electronic of all time. Bon Iver on this list smacks of a geezer who chose the wrong time to drop his guard, and Loveless as the sole shoegaze pick in a sea of riffs and catharsisisises is always an eyeroller. All in all, it's decent stuff on top of what is fundamentally a melodramatic metal list, but I think the most admirable part of this list is its honesty.

VERDICT: 3/5. Does this list offer a wide-ranging unrefined representation of Dewi? Absolutely. Does it show him at his best? Ehhh

DROP: Any Bon Iver, Mezzanine, Revolver, that cringey Converge record

BUMP: Pink, Elizabeth Colour Wheel, Killing Joke s/t, Eyes of Flesh Eyes of Flame, Romantique
61A Perfect Circle
Thirteenth Step


Flashmobba
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1081426

This list was made in a factory with the aim of satisfying generic music fans of all shapes and sizes with the absolute bare minimum. The Avalanches, Aphex and DJ Shadow fly the lonesome flag of an electronic starter pack unchanged since the 00s. Led Zep are the sole pre-90s band. Coltrane and Davis are the two token jazz picks because this is what the manager instructed. A lot of the indie picks here are of the insufferable hipster strain (Anco/Deerhunter), but that flavour aside, this reads like a specimen list that Flash.mo.bba. was on the verge of personalising before they decided to port over a load of Tool/APC albums and call it a day. I'll accept Hum and Failure as a vaguely defined vibe starting to emerge, but three records does not a good list make.

VERDICT: 2/5. Too drab to be especially offensive, but this is a straightforward mix of basic taste and bad taste, and I do not love it sry

DROP: Either every album that features MJK or every album that doesn't. Pick a side.

BUMP: Chiastic Slide, Hug of Thunder, m b v, Scenery. That's about as much personality as I can squeeze from thost 4.5s
62Neutral Milk Hotel
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea


Asleep
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1064844

This is a minor improvement on Colton's list unwittingly published by an apparent colossal soyboy: I always thought there was a strong overtone of "will this lubricate my highly frictional boysoul" lurking behind each and every one of Asleep's "This ///////album/////// is [i][i][i][i][i][i]heavy[/i][/i][/i][/i][/i][/i] as [u][u][u][u]fuck[/u][/u][/u][/u]"-s. Now we know for sure. Asleep clearly wants-needs us all to take note of this maudlin sophouse he purports as Music Taste, but he's evidently too shy to say it out loud most of the time. You're welcome.

VERDICT: 3.0/5. I'd normally rate this lower, but it gets the sympathy hug it's clearly advertising for.

DROP: Shallow Grave

BUMP: The Black Parade, Terrifyer
63Arghoslent
Incorrigible Bigotry


combustion07
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=251894

"I listen to everything as long as it pleasures my ear pussy, plain and simple," gawd did this intro make *my* insides seize up for a moment. This flower definitely has ragged edges - you can tell it's been the victim of the bigger-is-better mentality and badbois of high questionable intentions (Arghoslent, Dissection, Roger Waters) and should probably undertake its transactions aural and oral with a little more self-preservation instinct, but seeing it lying there reeling from excess stimulation in that spangled reverie, I'm pretty sure it's immune to whatever advice I have to offer. There are a few records that suggest a little restraint or patience, but by the time you've scrolled down enough to see NoMeansNo it's too little, too late.

VERDICT: 2.5/5. Picks no bones about liking it rough, but I'm unconvinced of how much empowerment combustion07 derives from this

DROP: Arghoslent, as if that needed asking. Probably Loveless too - no room for warm blankets on this merciless steel-frame bed

BUMP: A Wilhelm Scream, Anal Cunt, Assuck / Old Lady Drivers, Heavy Breathing, Enlightened With Pain, Fixation on a Coworker... you get the drift
64Limbonic Art
In Abhorrence Dementia


Egarran
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=431699

Egarran is the worst user on Sputnik. One of the best things about Egarran is that it's very seldom necessary to interact with him directly about anything to do with music. This list does contain an admittedly slim proportion of what certain wannabe ESP prodigy basement-dwelling eczema-suffering dungeon arses would describe as "music". Fuck. Yeah, the [Warhammer] lion's share of this list is stinky doom-thrash-stoner-prog whatever that's been slowly circling the drain ever since the millennium. There is some """avant""" metal and it's enough to paint Eg in a cuter light - as is the list's adorably tentative sentimentalist side (Mew/Mazzy Star/Kishi Bashi). This, while somewhat refreshing, is too woefully malnourished in this mire of unwashed hair and belly fluff to be a proper saving grace. Can Egarran be saved? I dunno. Someone bathe the wretch.

VERDICT: 2/5. Clearly the imprint of someone who ran out of hope for either himself or this slowly dying world and tried to compensate with a mix of boomer grails and gawky despairmetal. Dangerous mix.

DROP: Doolittle purely because it's the one faint grasp this list makes in the ultrageneral direction of coolguy territory. No.

BUMP: ABBA, Ayreon, Bo Burnham, Wildhoney
65Prince Daddy and The Hyena
Cosmic Thrill Seekers


Conmaniac
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1052092

Much like its creator, this list is for getting sluggishly introspective on a sunny day, making good memories out of maudlin I-don't-know-mans. It occasionally deals with profound substance in an offhand way and less occasionally confronts it head-on. The upshot of this is deeply morbid, but at least we know that, contrary to the sophouse we saw back on AsleepintheBack's list (62), he can ground his lazydays emo vibes with [an attempt at] a little grit and depth. You can also tell that he ultimately likes to live well because every album that isn't specifically oriented around death carries such nondescript sentimental wavy vibes that he has clearly never heard any of them outside of the blazehaze. He's doing just fine this way.

VERDICT: 5/5 Conlist, but it's too substance-contingent to give a high score in coldfish sober reality. Will settle for 3.5/5

DROP: A Crow Looked At Me. This scans as a "death is real" post-it reminder, and you are a big grown boy now

BUMP: Fevers & Mirrors, maybe WU LYF or Elliott Smith or some other hipster shit you can selectively transcend
66Beach House
Bloom


normaloctagon
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1234487

This one was painful. norma actually has above average and occasionally Good taste in most genres that don't contain guitars, as represented by one of Sputnik's premier pie charts. This list is not above average or even average. It is terrible. It is the centre of the drainpipe and even the most desperate of angel-doves have given up circling it, olive branches clutched in claw. Everything unfortunate about late 90s/early 00s MTV guttermetal whinge bollocks is represented here in spAdEs, the Floyd/Beatles/Radiohead/Opeth spammage is the most unrecovered-from-freshman-yr bullshit I've seen in a hot minute, and there are pluralities of both Beach House and Coldplay albums because norma desperately needs you to know that he's a nice guy the morning after. Can confirm, but, like, it was too deja vu to be gratifying. There are niches and bright spots and intrigues, but this list's many good electronic (or otherwise) picks cannot redeem things because too many of them come from the same very very popular artists and it reads as an extension of the circ-jerk even though I know this isn't necessarily the case. Linkin Park and Children of Bodom are potentially the best metal bands here after ISIS. I give up. Sort your shit out, norma.

VERDICT: 1.5/5. Imagine erasing your entire comment history for a "fresh start" and then leaving this untouched.

DROP: Literally everything that isn't house or ISIS except Destroy Erase Improve, Revolver, The White Birch, Victorialand, Dronevil, Incunabula, 1 Burial, 1 BoC, Starspawn, Mariah Carey, 3 arbitrary hiphop records and Focus. And Hybrid Theory.

BUMP: Deadmau5, Disclosure, Kim Petras, Nujabes, Young Thug
67Joy Division
Closer


toctectac
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=192822

This another one of those beautifully succinct "bespoke" lists put together by someone who puts out as a picking choosing wheeling dealing connoisseur but is ultimately a colossal fake bitch, because it reads like another deja vu rag compiled by an NMEdledropym robot. You can't break my heart tec, I've seen your kind before. Your choices from within that hivemind lucky dip are mostly acceptable, but I just can't accept any of them as the mark of an authentic human being m'bad. I think that if you pared this list back to everything resembling the sound of invisible gaseous movements (This Heat/Spiderland/Laughing Stock etcetc) and threw in the loud NY shit (Swans, Naked City, Branca), it would probably fare quite was as wanna be cimnele (1) material, but instead you cancel these out with eyeroller simpage a la Beach House, American Football, Kid A, Takk, etcetc..

Is that all I've got? Maybe so. I'm trying to be mean here - it would be splendid if we could disagree a little more and butt heads enough to make a spectacle, but you insist so adamantly on being your own worst enemy in this list that I feel inadequate by comparison. Give it a rest and I'll get you next time.

VERDICT: 2.5/5. Average online musicing yada yada

DROP: Everything released from OK Computer chronologically onwards, excluding possibly Vespertine

BUMP: Rembrandt Pussyhorse, Paracletus, Coyote, Aviary, The Book About My Idle Plot on a Vague Anxiety, lol Contra
68Perturbator
The Uncanny Valley


TVC15
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=840110

This is the kind of overlong messy list I can vaguely get behind: it's ugly, frequently tasteless and a little emotionally stunted (that number of Katatonia x Opeth x Porcupine Tree x Deftones x Nine Inch Nails 5s, hot damn kid catch some sunlight) *but* to the discerning reader (hi), there's a ton of good rogue(ish) picks (Mo*te, Aviary, Gridlink, Sadness Will Prevail) alongside a handful of what should be obvious consensus picks but have been strangely absent from this wretched anthology of bad tastes (The Slider, Transient Noise, How To Measure Planet, Dum Spiro). Our boi has mostly sold taste in gamer electronic and nerd pop and I would jam with him and tease him and enjoy it. Based?

VERDICT: Either the best bad list or the worst good one so far. 3.6666/5

DROP: Most of the bad picks suit you. Drop some unremarkable ones! Jupiter and Wolf Alice

BUMP: Druqks, Sham Mirrors, Cosmos, Board Up The House, Miss Anthropoce
69Kate Bush
The Sensual World


ReefaJones
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1136287

Refinement takes many shapes. Sometimes it is like a pencil. Sometimes it is a simple harmony in sophisticated placement. Sometimes it is throwing away all your possessions and finding the one thing you needed all along. In this case, it is sitting in an armchair, stroking your overwaxed handlebar tache, fighting the instinct to ask your long-departed ex for another gin and tonic, staring away from the clock that reads 13:30 Sunday afternoon, and reassuring yourself that your imported 1.3x scale replica of the Venus de Milo does not count as a sex doll because culture. These albums are all tasteful, safe and probably classic. There are some safe but unorthodox inclusions and exclusions that I occasionally agree with (hooray for My Favorite Things), but their combination yields absolutely zero joy in acknowledging any of their individual goodness, so frankly what's the point.

VERDICT: 2.5/5. Not good not bad average
70Lambchop
Damaged


Dylan620
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=431149

Dylan is a sweet kid who occasionally has Not Good takes but generally just vivas that vida
My expectations for this list were dire! Shock horror, it ain't bad! Well, much of it kinda is, but only in the sense that this is a colossally sputty endearingly nerdy relatably sentimental anthology of records half of us have grown out of and the other half are lying through their teeth about having been too cool for. All hail Dylan, for he has had the best time on Sput! Kudos for keeping up that blog with a couple of contemp picks that will almost certainly not stand the test of time, but do look lovely next to everything else here. There's a lot of Lampchop and I could not tell you whether or not this is a good thing. Tentative strong pass!!

VERDICT: 3.5/5. Heartful and greater than the sum of its parts

DROP: You've got a cosy full house here. Pet Sounds if you want to look less tryhard or The Bends if the opposite

BUMP: Streethawk, Yerself Is Steam
71Devin Townsend
Ocean Machine: Biomech


parksungjoon
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1034220

Ah. park. Where have I seen that name before? Where haven't I? park holds the answers (or none) and his inscrutablity hints at a thousand locked doors. When the guy isn't resurrecting the deadest lists in all of history or exorcising Nazism from commonplace geriatric shitchat, he's applying his recently found discovery that most music is boring and sucks to all of his nostalgic once-classics, armed with a ruthlessness both admirable and highly fucking depressing. Surely, we'd think, this is the prelude to the 5slist to end all 5slists aaaand ah. It is the boringest basicest bitchest Music Fan starter pack I have ever laid eyes upon (ft. Real Metal Fans Only DLC). Wow. I would slate this list to hell if it were from a normal user, but from park I feel outright betrayed. There is truly no redemption for man.

VERDICT: 1/5. No use killing your idols if you're not gonna kill the MAN's too.

DROP: Everything except Aphex, Coroner, one of ISIS and Slint, Nattens Madrigal, Underworld and I guess Dummy

BUMP: A.A.L., one Crimson, Schulze, New Forms
72Charli XCX
How I'm Feeling Now


Sint
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1054524

Not gonna lie, I was dreading this one. Sint's ratings page has shrunk in the last year or so, but this is still an absolute marathon - HOWEVER, unlike most previous entries of this nature, the standard of content here is consistently good-to-very-good! So much so that the *generous* handful of actual classics interspersed here don't even feel glaringly out of place among your (approx) entire Charli XCX/Brand New/Modest Mouse/Marina/Los Campesinos! discogs. Sint's inimitably earnest dual wielding of sour-summer emo and tooth-disintegrating sweet poptimism is less a poisoned chalice and more an arbitrary font of Content that finds itself course-corrected by rich irrigation system of good times, good beats and good(ish) taste. The boi's got an inner basic bitch hipster-in-denial that he'd do well to kill off sometime (see: Big Thief, Beach House, BCNR, the other ones), but otherwise I'd say

VERDICT: unequivocal license to shit_band-post 4/5

DROP: Teen Dream, Good News for People Who Love Bad News, Reunion Tour (but actually don't), *deep breath* TWO Regina albums, Charli

BUMP: We, Burning Giraffes, Split with Maggat for that full set, Weatherglow, World Eater, some Bright Eyes album, this list is too long I quit
73Porcupine Tree
In Absentia


Masochist
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=248968

Phwoar baby, this is some proper sputnikkin right here: 12 whole 5s, all instantly recognisable to even the most casual sputter's eye, (almost) all soundoff'd to the hilt. They come in pairs, and the pairs come in true sput style: Dylan and Cash, Biggie and Kendrick, Floyd and Crimson, Devin Townsend and Steven Wilson. Fuckssakes. On the one hand, I do not think I'd be able to rec Masochist anything at all based purely off these 5s; on the other hand, this ain't awful as far as solid-but-safe goes.

VERDICT: am enjoying the very vague impression I have of this list for the very fleeting moment that it seems likely to last. 2.5

DROP: In Absentia, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

BUMP: Relationship of Command, You're Dead!, maybe Third Eye Blind
74Glassjaw
Coloring Book


tyler.
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=437339

i am stressed i am tipsy i fuckin love tyler.. tyler. gives no fucks and fucks all. good for tyler.! tyler. as an institution represents the best parts of old skramzy guitary two-steps-away-from-the-scene-y sputnik minus the infantility and toxicity plus so much sarcasm that you won't know the difference. that is basically what this list is. tyler. has better taste than you by probably a lot, but he is too cool to pretend he has good taste. he is probably aware that the birthing years of his taste peaked long ago, yet he ages gracefully and actively enough that aging as a concept is aging well. you may have questions. is glassjaw's discography really that 5.0 classic? through the tint of tyler., yes actually it kind of is. i like this list. it is true to tyler.. it is good. it includes pinkerton yet is somehow still mid-20s cool. on we fuck. none of us will be younger.

VERDICT: exactly the kind of adult angst vintage bullshit you should sign up to this site for. 4.5

DROP: probably Interpol on the sole basis of normcore rationale

BUMP: Number 1 Angel, Drive Like Jehu s/t, Cryonics, Lava Land, maybe End on End. But only bump 2 of them bc this list is a good length
75Haste the Day
Attack of the Wolf King


sr388
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1112597

"favorite bands
ethel cain, imogen heap, oklou, emmure, stars of the lid,"

Who are you and do you do meet and greets? This list is a beautiful collage of three *strong* tastes that do not - should not!? - belong to one person (slow droney shit, brvtal core shit, frequently obnoxious loudartsy pop/hopshit). I love it. It looks so natural. It looks so WRONG. It is not perfect and my excitement is already wearing off, but I love you dearly already. Great work if this is an alt

VERDICT: Fascinatingly weird combination of things great and terrible and somewhere in between that should not sit together and could only exist on this site. 4.5/5

DROP: Jane Doe or Homogenic. They look good next to anything, and I don't like this for your list

BUMP: lol Iowa
76Seefeel
Seefeel


AnimalsAsSummit
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=713097

Now *this* is what I log onto sputnikmusic.com for. AAS' brand of future-lounge ambient atmocyber sophistigaze is easily one of the most distinctive and enjoyable brands of any user here, with depth and versatility to boot. This is a deservedly long list from someone who obviously believes in every facet of this [cluster of] sound[s] with complete conviction, obvious picks and deep cuts side by side every step of the way. It's versatile enough to appeal to anyone with even the slightest interest in any of shoegaze, IDM, DnB, indie or pop, and it's not shy about its disposition towards keynote artists or the kind of whimsical-fantastical shit you need a healthy imagination, a little suspension of disbelief, and a cynicism-free metabolism to enjoy. An example to us all.

VERDICT: Beautiful list. I want to hear pretty much every album I haven't already. 5/5

DROP: maybe Wake/Lift

BUMP: Whitenoise Superstar, Hex, Flood, Music For Airports, Nadja, Miki Furukawa's solo thing, Pan Sonic, Popol Vuh, Hi-Fi Anatomia, Xanopticon, Wildhoney
77Fear Before
The Always Open Mouth


Mort.
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1034844

And now, this time, on this occasion, at last, as many(?) have asked many(!!!!!!) times, we turn to Mort.. Ah, Mort.. The posterling of yesteryear Sput's axle grease, scene-surfing and metalcoring rosy-raging adolescent times, now grown wiser, more existential, more confrontational and many many times less sure of what is up or down. Mort. can legitimately tell you the good tunes from the no-gooders (just so long as they weren't made by anyone even a day younger than him), but can he tell you where old Mort. ends and nu-Mort. begins? He's painfully aware of the divide, but fumbles when it comes to pinpointing it.

No matter - this list is an excellent compendium of heyday post-hardcore/noise rock classics (see: everything that isn't TFOT, or DGD-adjacent ), mixed in with a couple of choice vintage gems (Prefab Sprout, XTC) and the odd zanyspacey cut to prove a boi can dream (Pygmalion, Duster, Baths). Would I listen to and enjoy and probably immediately relisten to the majority of this list, and have I literally done that at various points in the past? Absolutely. Could it be stripped of a little awkward kidbaggage that Mort. doesn't need to make a show of carrying around (American Football, and...er). Bet. But above all, does it actually maybe need a healthy top-up of the seething moshing cringing metalcore cronge that our good lad has done almost too good a job of almost suppressing? I think so! Stay true, you colossal sillybilly - you don't need to be this clean!

VERDICT: good'un from a real one. 4.3/5

DROP: Obsidian, Doppelganger, American Football

BUMP: Bear vs. Shark, Cannibal Ox, Couch Slut, Cutting Pink With Knives, Take to the Skies, HORSE the band, Johnny Truant, Knut, KEN Mode, The Heat Death of the Universe, Terrifyer, Seizures, Async, Youth of America
78Timeghoul
1992-1994 Discography


evilford
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/user/evilford

"""evil""" ford is an all-round top guy and a salve on the many [sick!!] burns peppered around Sputnik metal threads - he is a worthy March Madness champ and has altogether far too much personality for the Intermediate Bird Skull Collection chronically dnd-prone dumb alien scifi mausoleum-catered brand of death metal that this list epitomises. The story here is far less (needlessly and hilariously artificially) fussy than Pon's hikkikomori death-cult-of-the-Anglosphere-basement-empire travesty of a list, but it does have too much in common with its general flavour.

The catch is that if you *remove* the death/post/prog/sludge metal majority from list, you're left with an adorably normie bedrock that suggests some measure of social versatility. Rush, QOTSA, RATM, Floyd, Bowie, Talking Heads, Eminem? Maybe it's not a wide or d-d-d-deep selection, but the guy has a common ground with just about anyone right there - and he's even got Slint as a get-in with the hip kids! Ford has never pretended to be a tastemaker or overly precious about things he doesn't ultimately care about, but as far as a putatively one-trick set of taste goes, this is refreshingly grounded and well-rounded.

VERDICT: deja vu, but honest and easy to respect for what it is. 3.5/5

DROP: Aenima - you're much too cool for that bs

BUMP: The Cold Vein, Moonmadness, Saturday Night Wrist, Red, Australasia, one from Kyuss and OutKast
79Malice Mizer
Merveilles


Jasdevi087
https://www.sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1036414

I wasn't entirely what to expect from Jas, but this mingling of enlightened-conservative consensus classics (see: Ryus/z00sh/harvey) with easily discernible but individually unobtrusive moments of personal flair does seem fairly matched to him. Many of its obvious quirks are inoffensive at worst (Debut as the best Bjork and Noise as the best Boris are strange takes, but rather unassuming as far as eye-catchingly odd opinions go), and its populist cards (Gorrilaz and Lights esp) scan as half-hearted representations of a less stuffy taste that I don't think holds its own against these innumerable critical setpieces.

I'm reserving some measure of judgement, since there's a decent number of things I now want to hear (Current 93, Joan Baez) or am overdue checking (Secrets of the Beehive, I Tell A Fly, Graceland, Gauze), but this is essentially the imprint of an adamant Online Music Nerd who has reserved the majority of his extant idiosyncrasies to back up an apparent love for V-kei and the occasional hill few would consider fit to die on.

VERDICT: Not a bad list by any means, but it's neither the best embodiment nor the most interesting appropriation of the canon it rather compliantly siphons from. 3.0/5

DROP: Radiohead, Lateralus, Godspeed, maybe Kate Bush. Even by the standards of the canon in questions, these are dull picks (and most don't live up to the standards this list is apparently pushing for)

BUMP: anything by Anna von Hausswolff, Banks, Fela Kuti, Natural Snow Buildings, Number Girl and The Body should be a good start. Also Deep Turtle, Hiding Places and Boy In Da Corner
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