| 4.0 excellent |
| Adele 21 |
| Arcade Fire Funeral |
| Arcade Fire The Suburbs |
| Arctic Monkeys Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not |
| Band of Horses Everything All the Time |
| Band of Horses Cease to Begin |
| Bloc Party Silent Alarm |
| Bon Iver Bon Iver, Bon Iver |
| Burial Kindred |
| Crystal Castles Crystal Castles |
| Crystal Castles Crystal Castles III |
| Cut Copy In Ghost Colours |
| Daft Punk Random Access Memories |
| It's Homework with disco instead of house... (That's a good thing) |
| Death Cab for Cutie The Open Door |
| Deerhunter Monomania |
| Def Leppard Pyromania |
| Duran Duran Rio |
| Eminem The Marshall Mathers LP |
| Explosions in the Sky The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place |
| Frank Ocean Nostalgia, Ultra. |
| Frank Ocean channel ORANGE |
| Grimes Visions |
| Hans Zimmer Inception |
| James Blake James Blake |
| Jamie xx Far Nearer / Beat For |
| Japandroids Celebration Rock |
| Jay-Z and Kanye West Watch the Throne |
| Joy Division Unknown Pleasures |
| Justin Timberlake FutureSex/LoveSounds |
| Kendrick Lamar good kid, m.A.A.d city |
| Koji Kondo The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Symphony |
| Kraftwerk The Man-Machine |
| Lady Gaga The Fame Monster |
| Ladytron Witching Hour |
| LCD Soundsystem This Is Happening |
| Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV |
| M83 Hurry Up, We're Dreaming |
| M83 Saturdays=Youth |
| Muse Absolution |
| My Bloody Valentine m b v |
| My Bloody Valentine Loveless |
| Pallbearer Sorrow And Extinction |
| Passion Pit Gossamer |
| Passion Pit Manners |
| Phoenix (FRA) Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix |
| Pixies Doolittle |
| R.E.M. Document |
| While prior R.E.M. albums may have provoked more discussion about the surface materials, it rwas only with Document that true potent lyricism emerged, sometimes political, sometimes rpersonal, and always from the common man. From the shimmering anthemic guitars of "Finest rWorksong" to the metallic sludge of "Oddfellows Local 151", this is also R.E.M.'s "rock" ralbum, all respect to Monster. With surging riffs, an uncharacteristic (at the time) cover rof a Wire song, a radio hit, and a saxophone solo that definitely grows on you, the album rseems to throw everything against the wall, only to have most of it stick. Finally, one raspect often neglected concerning this album is its AMAZING sense of humor. The bubblegum rpolitics of "Exhuming McCarthy", the half-rap nigh-nonsensical lyrics of "ITEOTWAWKI:AIFF", rand the Animal Farm lyrics of "Disturbance At the Heron House" all never fail to bring a rsmile or chuckle to my mouth. |
| R.E.M. Murmur |
| Regina Spektor Far |
| Ride Nowhere |
| Stars Set Yourself On Fire |
| Stars Heart |
| Sufjan Stevens Illinois |
| The Beatles Rubber Soul |
| The Breeders Last Splash |
| The Flaming Lips Embryonic |
| The National High Violet |
| The Pipettes We Are The Pipettes |
| The Postal Service Give Up |
| The White Stripes White Blood Cells |
| The xx xx |
| TV on the Radio Return to Cookie Mountain |
| The major-label debut of this genre-confused group (post-funk? art soul?) opts for a political, emotional, and above all focused album, where every song seems to have its place. Potent lyricism and seeping, grower-if-I've-ever-heard-it instrumentation make for a lasting impact from this album... IF you can make it through your first listen alive. |
| Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend |
| Wild Nothing Nocturne |
| 3.5 great |
| Bjork Homogenic |
| blink-182 Enema Of The State |
| Bombay Bicycle Club A Different Kind of Fix |
| Broken Social Scene You Forgot It in People |
| Coldplay A Rush of Blood to the Head |
| Coldplay Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends |
| Cut Copy Zonoscope |
| Death Cab for Cutie Plans |
| Death Cab for Cutie Narrow Stairs |
| Death Cab for Cutie Codes and Keys |
| Florence and the Machine Lungs |
| Florence and the Machine Ceremonials |
| Green Day American Idiot |
| Imagine Dragons Continued Silence |
| Jimmy Eat World Bleed American |
| Justin Timberlake The 20/20 Experience |
| Kanye West Yeezus |
| Kings of Leon Only By The Night |
| LCD Soundsystem Sound of Silver |
| Massive Attack Mezzanine |
| Metric Fantasies |
| Metric Synthetica |
| Modest Mouse Good News for People Who Love Bad News |
| Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica |
| This is obviously not a perfect album: slight oddities find their way into the edges of songs. But what makes this a classic, beyond any musical prowess, is the culmination it represents of the indie rock of the 90s. Built to Spill, Pavement, Sebadoh, Silver Jews; all are assimilated into the majesty and grand scope of The Moon and Antarctica. Even Godspeed You! Black Emperor is referenced through The Stars Are Projectors, probably the most divisive track on the album. The most arresting thing about The Stars Are Projectors for me is the unwillingness of the track to reach a sort of catharsis, the types of peaks that early Arcade Fire reveled in. This annoyed me until I realized that, if Modest Mouse actually did that, it would be going against all the ideals of indie rock. While Pavement used its circular rhythms and laconic vocals to embody Generation X, Modest Mouse uses them to show the inability for easy answers to be found. The Moon and Antarctica is the last great indie album because it finally succumbed to the scope and power that U2 continually craves, while never actually making a song that would work in a stadium. |
| Modest Mouse We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank |
| Modest Mouse The Lonesome Crowded West |
| Muse Black Holes & Revelations |
| Of Monsters and Men My Head is an Animal |
| Purity Ring Shrines |
| R.E.M. Automatic for the People |
| Radiohead Kid A |
| Radiohead Amnesiac |
| Radiohead In Rainbows |
| Snow Patrol Final Straw |
| Stars The North |
| Taylor Swift Red |
| The Cure Disintegration |
| The Killers Hot Fuss |
| The Killers Sam's Town |
| The Knife Silent Shout |
| The National Alligator |
| The National Boxer |
| The National Trouble Will Find Me |
| The Shins Wincing the Night Away |
| The Strokes Is This It |
| Two Door Cinema Club Tourist History |
| U2 All That You Can't Leave Behind |
| Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot |
| Yeah Yeah Yeahs It's Blitz! |
