| 4 excellent |
| A Wilhelm Scream Career Suicide |
| AC/DC Back in Black |
| Air Moon Safari |
| Alexi Murdoch Time Without Consequence |
| Ambulance LTD. Ambulance LTD. |
| Animal Collective Strawberry Jam |
| Bad Brains Bad Brains |
| Beach Boys Pet Sounds |
| Ben Folds Five Whatever and Ever, Amen |
| Built To Spill Keep It Like A Secret |
| Circulatory System Circulatory System |
| Creedence Clearwater Revival Willy and the Poor Boys |
| Death Cab For Cutie Narrow Stairs |
| Elliott Smith Roman Candle |
| Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes |
| Fleet Foxes Sun Giant Ep |
| Fleetwood Mac Rumours |
| Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac |
| Fugazi 13 Songs |
| Fugazi End Hits |
| fun. Aim and Ignite |
| Goo Goo Dolls Dizzy Up The Girl |
| Guster Keep It Together |
| Incubus S.C.I.E.N.C.E. |
| Iron And Wine Our Endless Numbered Days |
| Jack Johnson Brushfire Fairytales |
| Jack Johnson In Between Dreams |
| Jack's Mannequin Everything In Transit |
| James Taylor Greatest Hits |
| Japandroids Post-Nothing |
| John Mayer Where the Light Is |
| John Mayer Trio TRY! John Mayer Trio in Concert |
| Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison |
| Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV |
| Mad Caddies Just One More |
| Great great album, and the best from the Mad Caddies. Here the band matures their sound (with better production and more mature subject matters) while incorporating a number of secondary genres that make for a more diverse listen than prior albums. Above all, however, the band remains extremely catchy and sports strong hooks throughout the record, which is unfortunately more than can be said for their more recent outing "Keep It Going." Nostalgic bursts of raw punk, like the regrettable "Contraband" and "Riot," ironically don't fair too well here, as the smarter, more sophisticated slow grooves like "Drinking for 11" and "Spare Change?" steal the show. |
| Max Tundra Mastered by the Guy at the Exchange |
| Michael Jackson Off The Wall |
| Minor Threat Complete Discography |
| Neutral Milk Hotel In the Aeroplane Over the Sea |
| Nick Drake Bryter Layter |
| Nickel Creek Nickel Creek |
| Nirvana Nevermind |
| Nirvana was huge in broadening my musical horizons. It was through this band that I really looked into music that was beyond my comfort zone (which then was mostly country music, which i still enjoy however). I was appropriately introduced to Nirvana through their radio hits and then this album itself, which I love. Beyond just myself, it brought alternative music into the mainstream and generally is a landmark in rock music. Great album, but I would discover that things got even better with In Utero, which I consider a stronger release. |
| Nirvana Greatest Hits |
| Nirvana With the Lights Out (Boxed Set) |
| No Age Losing Feeling EP |
| Oasis Whats the Story Morning Glory |
| Okkervil River Black Sheep Boy |
| Okkervil River The Stage Names |
| Panda Bear Person Pitch |
| Pink Floyd The Wall |
| Pink Floyd Meddle |
| Pixies Doolittle |
| Pixies Trompe Le Monde |
| Portishead Dummy |
| Q and Not U No Kill No Beep Beep |
| R.E.M. Lifes Rich Pageant |
| R.E.M. New Adventures In Hi - Fi |
| Radiohead The Bends |
| Reel Big Fish Turn The Radio Off |
| Reel Big Fish Why Do They Rock So Hard? |
| Rogue Wave Descended Like Vultures |
| Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers |
| Sebadoh Bakesale |
| Sublime Sublime |
| Sufjan Stevens Illinois |
| Sufjan Stevens Greetings From Michigan : The Great Lake |
| Ted Leo And The Pharmacists The Tyranny of Distance |
| Ted Leo And The Pharmacists Shake The Sheets |
| Ted Leo And The Pharmacists Hearts of Oak |
| The Beatles Rubber Soul |
| The Beatles Revolver |
| The Decemberists Castaways and Cut-outs |
| The Decemberists The Hazards Of Love |
| The New Pornographers Mass Romantic |
| The Pains of Being Pure at Heart The Pains of Being Pure at Heart |
| The Pains of Being Pure at Heart Higher Than The Stars EP |
| The Shins Chutes Too Narrow |
| The Shins Oh, Inverted World |
| The Thermals The Body, The Blood, The Machine |
| The Thermals More Parts Per Million |
| Third Eye Blind Third Eye Blind |
| Umphrey's McGee Anchor Drops |
| UNKLE Psyence Fiction |
| Weezer Pinkerton |
| Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot |
| 3 good |
| A Tribe Called Quest Midnight Marauders |
| AC/DC Highway To Hell |
| Animal Collective Feels |
| This is pretty good. I've heard this and Strawberry Jam and prefer the latter. I don't like the album's order with the longer, quieter tracks filling up the second half because they seem to run together too much and become a bit boring. Despite the ever-present freak sound effects and ambient noises that play in their songs that create a cool environment, they don't impress much after a while when not much happens. The first half of the album up to "Bees" and the closer "Turn into Something" are great, but the longer tracks really drag it down. Strawberry Jam is more accessible and exciting. |
| Bad Religion The Process of Belief |
| Bad Religion Stranger Than Fiction |
| Belle and Sebastian Dear Catastrophe Waitress |
| Ben Folds Songs for Silverman |
| Billy Joel The Stranger |
| Blue Sky Black Death Late Night Cinema |
| Broken Social Scene You Forgot It In People |
| Burial Untrue |
| Cap'n Jazz Analphabetapolothology |
| Coldplay X&Y |
| Coldplay A Rush Of Blood To The Head |
| Dinosaur Jr. Farm |
| Dr. Dog Fate |
| God Is An Astronaut Far From Refuge |
| God Is An Astronaut All Is Violent, All Is Bright |
| Grizzly Bear Veckatimest |
| Guster Ganging Up on the Sun |
| By Guster standards, this isn't that great of an album. Like everyone else is saying, the album is too drab and lifeless. But I think there are some excellent songs on here, and overall the album's mostly just inconsistent in terms of just basic quality. While I hate "Lightning Rod", the first half of the album (especially "Satellite," "Captain," and "Ruby Falls") is actually quite good. From "C'Mon" to "Beginning of the End," however, it's sounds completely lazy and unmemorable. Oddly enough, though, "Hang On" is one of my favorite Guster songs. |
| Guster Goldfly |
| Harvey Danger Little By Little... |
| Horse Feathers Words Are Dead |
| Jack Johnson Sleep Through the Static |
| Jack's Mannequin The Glass Passenger |
| Jane's Addiction Ritual De Lo Habitual |
| Jet Shine On |
| Ken Nordine Colors |
| Lily Allen It's Not Me, It's You |
| Lonestar Lonely Grill |
| Maritime We, the Vehicles |
| Marvin Gaye Let's Get It On |
| Massive Attack Blue Lines |
| When I first heard this a few weeks ago, I was expecting this to be alot better than it turned out to be. While I respect it for its importance in founding trip-hop, numerous songs themselves leave much to be desired. While the generally soothing groove and instrumentation are good, the singing, despite often being upbeat, is what really brought the rating down for me. Many of the songs, namely "Safe From Harm" (the female's voice), "One Love," "Lately," and "Hymn of the Big Wheel" (which is by far the worst song here), are hurt by overdone vocals that sound very corny and dated. In contrast, "Blue Lines" is far and away the best song here, radiating pure cool with almost whispered rhymes for an incredible ambiance. Other than these songs, the trip-hop grooves are good, but not very memorable to me. Overall, this album has much less musical focus than their other major album Mezzanine, although I find that to be overrated as well. |
| Massive Attack Mezzanine |
| Max Richter The Blue Notebooks |
| Metaform Standing on the Shoulders of Giants |
| Millencolin Same Old Tunes |
| Minus The Bear Planet Of Ice |
| Muse Black Holes and Revelations |
| Nine Black Alps Everything Is |
| Oh No! Oh My! Oh No! Oh My! |
| Polvo In Prism |
| R.E.M. Accelerate |
| R.E.M. Document |
| R.E.M. Monster |
| R.E.M. Out Of Time |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers BloodSugarSexMagik |
| Reel Big Fish Monkeys for Nothin' and The Chimps... |
| Rise Against The Sufferer and the Witness |
| State Radio Us Against the Crown |
| Streetlight Manifesto Keasbey Nights |
| Sufjan Stevens A Sun Came |
| Ted Leo And The Pharmacists Living With the Living |
| The Dear Hunter The Lake South, The River North EP |
| The Dear Hunter Act II: The Meaning of... |
| The Fall Of Troy Doppelganger |
| The Field Mice Where'd You Learn to Kiss That Way? |
| The Fray How to Save a Life |
| The Raveonettes In and Out of Control |
| The Shins Wincing the Night Away |
| The Thermals Now We Can See |
| Wavves Wavvves |
| Why? Alopecia |
| Yeasayer All Hour Cymbals |
| 2.5 average |
| Animal Collective Sung Tongs |
| Arctic Monkeys Whatever People Say I Am.... |
| Augustana All the Stars and Boulevards |
| Bersarin Quartett Bersarin Quartett |
| Caribou Andorra |
| Cut Chemist The Audience's Listening |
| Feral Children Second to the Last Frontier |
| Fightstar Be Human |
| Fugazi Steady Diet of Nothing |
| Guns N' Roses Appetite For Destruction |
| Jet Get Born |
| Live Mental Jewelry |
| Besides "Pain Lies on the Riverside," which is an absolutely bitchin' song, Mental Jewelry is largely bland and unmemorable. "Pain Lies on the Riverside" is by far the most enthusiastic and exciting track here, reaching epic proportions but remaining serious, urgent, and hard-rocking. "Operation Spirit (The Tyranny of Tradition)" and "Brothers Unaware" are decent tracks, but the rest of the album, while perhaps piquing interest at times, never yields lasting moments or enduring, enjoyable tunes. Regardless, considering this album directly precedes the band at their commercial (and perhaps critical) peak with Throwing Copper, loyal Live fans will more thoroughly enjoy Mental Jewelry. |
| MGMT Oracular Spectacular |
| Modest Mouse We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank |
| Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica |
| Nirvana Bleach |
| O.A.R. Souls Aflame |
| Oh No! Oh My! Between the Devil and the Sea |
| Porcupine Tree Stupid Dream |
| Rogue Wave Asleep at Heaven's Gate |
| Sleepingdog Polar Life |
| System of a Down Toxicity |
| The Flaming Lips Hit To Death In The Future Head |
| The Good, The Bad & The Queen The Good, The Bad & The Queen |
| The Mars Volta Frances the Mute |
| The Most Serene Republic Population |
| The New Pornographers Challengers |
| Titus Andronicus The Airing of Grievances |
