Favorite Albums of All Time
(in no particular order and incomplete) |
| 1 |  | Radiohead
Kid A
There isn't much to say about this album that hasn't been proclaimed from the mountains, blown up across headlines, or etched into stone. One of the turn of the millennium's most important events, and an album that can be depressing, uplifting, terrifying, and utterly awesome all at once.
Favorite track: Motion Picture Soundtrack |
| 2 |  | Aphex Twin
Richard D. James Album
When it comes to making emotionally resonant and atmospheric music, let alone in IDM, this is Aphex at his apex. (really wanted to make that joke)
Favorite track: Girl/Boy Song |
| 3 |  | Beck
Odelay!
What you'd get if Paul's Boutique was an alternative rock album. The two albums are actually made by the same producers (Dust Bros), funnily enough.
Favorite track: Where It's At |
| 4 |  | Nujabes
Metaphorical Music
Imagine that you have a cold, and you're on a boat wading in an ocean of chicken soup. That's what this album is like, and it's the breath of fresh air that hip hop really needed come the turn of the millennium.
Favorite track: A Day By Atmosphere Supreme |
| 5 |  | Madvillain
Madvillainy
Good God, i love this album to death. Everything from its deliberately radio-hostile sound to the dynamic duo of Madlib's wonderfully eccentric production and MF Doom's brilliant lyrics. A good album to study for any aspiring rappers.
Favorite track: Curls |
| 6 |  | Moby
Play
The first album i ever really held close to me. One of the finest albums I've ever listened to, and great proof that sampling isn't just a tool to use out of laziness.
Favorite track: Honey |
| 7 |  | Daft Punk
Discovery
I'll be really sad if this album goes into the history books just because of "Harder Better Faster Stronger", because this is genuinely a fantastic album that showed us that Guy-Man and Thomas can not only rewrite house, but reinvent it too.
Favorite track: Superheroes |
| 8 |  | The Postal Service
Give Up
Another album I've held close to me from a young age. The greatest indie album I've ever listened to, great for crisp-aired promenades in a fine young autumn.
Favorite track: District Sleeps Alone Tonight |
| 9 |  | DJ Shadow
Endtroducing...
One of the most definitive examples of the power of sampling.
Favorite track: What Does Your Soul Look Like pt 4 |
| 10 |  | Gorillaz
Demon Days
If you love this album just because of "Feel Good Inc", you deserve a slap across the face. The production creates a wonderful atmosphere, strung together by 2D's beautiful yet broken vocal deliveries. Also includes "All Alone", which i think is the greatest song of all time.
Favorite track: All Alone |
| 11 |  | Beastie Boys
Paul's Boutique
explains itself.
Favorite track: Shadrach |
| 12 |  | Eminem
The Slim Shady LP
This album made this list almost exclusively for that legendary 4-bar rhyme scheme in "Brain Damage" based around "orange juice".
Favorite track: Brain Damage |
| 13 |  | Neutral Milk Hotel
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
This captures everything about indie rock, from the aesthetic to the atmosphere. Also, horns. Nuff said.
Favorite track: Holland, 1945 |
| 14 |  | Green Day
Nimrod
Extremely underrated album IMO, I really love the album's diverse forays into different genres all strung together under the umbrella of pop punk or alternative rock.
Favorite track: Reject |
| 15 |  | Michael Jackson
Dangerous
Another album that I've held really close to me from youth.
Favorite track: Heal the World |
| 16 |  | Coldplay
Parachutes
Their most acoustic and laidback effort, and in my opinion their best, despite countless accusations bashing the band of being a watered-down Radiohead.
Favorite tracks: Shiver, Sparks |
| 17 |  | Daft Punk
Alive 2007
The greatest live album of all time. Not an opinion, just a fact.
Favorite track: Superheroes / Human After All / Rock'n Roll |
| 18 |  | A Tribe Called Quest
Midnight Marauders
Sure, most people give "Low End Theory" all of the acclaim, but it would be a disservice to skip their next and equally legendary album. I still think I'll remember the lines to "Award Tour" when I'm 80 or so.
Favorite track: Award Tour |
| 19 |  | The Smashing Pumpkins
Adore
Another extremely underrated album that everyone thought was crap because it sounded nothing like Mellon Collie and had electronica roots (how dare they!). Honestly my favorite Pumpkins album.
Favorite tracks: Once Upon A Time, To Sheila |
| 20 |  | Basement Jaxx
Rooty
Another album that I have a long history with, one of my favorite house albums.
Favorite track: Breakaway |
| 21 |  | Radiohead
OK Computer
Never have I seen an album with such an immaculately constructed atmosphere and pathos that remains intact from track to track.
Favorite track: Climbing Up the Walls |
| 22 |  | Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
Holy fucking shit. |
| 23 |  | Radiohead
The Bends
Easily the most depressing rock album ever made, from start to end. This is an album that you bury your face in a pillow and cry to because your mom didn't let you hang out with your friends because parents just don't understand.
Favorite track: Bullet Proof...I Wish I Was |
| 24 |  | Kanye West
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
I hate how good this album is.
Favorite track: Dark Fantasy |
| 25 |  | Kanye West
The College Dropout
The first album I tried listening to all the way through. Despite looking rudimentary compared to Ye's later work, the production on this album is still amazing.
Favorite track: Spaceship |
| 26 |  | Kanye West
Late Registration
The production. The lyrics. The flow. Not one thing on this album that isn't done perfectly. I can't even listen to the start of "Hey Mama" without getting emotional.
Favorite track: Drive Slow |
| 27 |  | Camera Obscura
Biggest Bluest Hi Fi
Greatest indie rock album out there. Everything from the atmosphere to the soundscape to the aesthetic is pinned down perfectly.
Favorite track: Swimming Pool |
| 28 |  | Frank Ocean
Channel Orange
One of the most well-produced, well-constructed, and well-spoken albums I've ever listened to.
Favorite track: Pink Matter |
| 29 |  | Nine Inch Nails
The Downward Spiral
This is an album I was pressured into listening to after hearing its rave reviews. "Mr. Self Destruct" is one of the most terrifying introductions to an album I've ever heard, but it quickly grew on me, and I ended up listening to the entire thing in one sitting. If there's an album that really runs on emotion, no matter how distorted and bitcrushed it has to be, this is it. Jesus Christ. |
| 30 |  | Ta-Ku
25 Nights for Nujabes
The most important album to me in terms of musical influence.
Favorite tracks: Nights 2, 8, 16, 17 |
| 31 |  | Pink Floyd
Wish You Were Here
An album with a connectable emotional core surrounded by beautiful guitar/Moog soundscapes. |
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