| 5.0 classic |
| Johann Sebastian Bach Cello Suite No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007 |
| John Coltrane A Love Supreme |
Unbelievably complex and rewarding, this album pushes musical abilities in every direction. Of the dozens of times that I've tried to follow the myriad of melodies to their fruition, I've been successful some, failed other times, and others I grew from; these implications and wealth of impact create a full experience similar to living or reading shakespeare.
That sounds dramatic but honestly, following Coltrane and his backing here is the finest example of music being everything at once. Try following every cadence then try doing the for a different instrument on the same track; this album has more easter eggs than the Cadbury factory. |
| Miles Davis Kind of Blue |
| The very definition of cool and why the sound of trumpets strikes hard into American culture. This album changed things and not like the way Bitches Brew changed things because this was heartily accepted by mainstream culture. Kind of Blue will forever be a marker for knowing what is hip and cool; onward into what we know as instruments expressing emotion better than words. Thank you Miles. |
| The Beatles Abbey Road |
Triumphantly this album exhibits the expansive power of singer/songwriter/growing self producers at their finest. A
cultural whirlwind around the cover should be overshadowed by the ability to pull off a song over 8 minutes and a
montage of talent that is something like Paul McCartney saying "here, this is supposed to be our last album so here's
like seven songs that I just randomly thought up. Enjoy" which is exactly what he did. All of these songs (in the final
montage) stay generally under 2 minutes showing their potential but no full fruition and ending the whole she-bang
with a captivating last line that only is beaten by how much enjoyment is received by her majesty. This album does it
all and then beats that. Have fun. |
| The Beatles The Beatles |
| Better known as the White album, this magical piece of art defied all concepts of rock to the point where some may consider it the first alternative album ever created (put away the pitchforks, seriously). From the prophetic blueprints of garage/punk (helter skelter) to ironic pop at it's best (back in the USSR) this album manages to cover as much ground as any successful album to date. We may never see such an impact from a single album as this ever again. Enjoy every second. |
| The Mars Volta De-Loused in the Comatorium |
| The Velvet Underground White Light/White Heat |
| 4.5 superb |
| A Tribe Called Quest The Low End Theory |
| Animal Collective Strawberry Jam |
| Aphex Twin Windowlicker |
| Bob Dylan Blood on the Tracks |
| Has Bobby D gone emo? In a sense, yeah... for all the right reasons. Following a shocking divorce (which seems to always be mentioned alongside this album) Bob managed to stop his entire career and turn to look back, focusing his gathered skills to create the best of bob dylan in a brand new form. Nobody has done so much as Bob Dylan and this happens to be a masterful centerpiece to his incredible career. Next time life life has you cornered and you've had enough, turn off simple plan and listen to tangled up in blue... next time girl problems happen forget about senses fail and try idiot wind. The words will carry like none other. |
| Brian Eno Another Green World |
| Bright Eyes I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning |
| Intimate and exorcised, this album builds off the talents of so many other tracks laboriously developed by a modern master, indie songwriter. His poetry has never been so clear as this nor has he ever hit so many identifiable sentiments in one attempt, Bright Eyes (Mr. Oberst) managed to bridge a gap between his obscure beginnings and his polished present making himself sit at the same level as an early Bob Dylan without the fame or regard. These statements seem dramatic but after allowing his unsettling voice (which he argues for in this album) and serious approach harbor itself in your musical palette (a la the same barriers for Bob Dylan and today's generation), he will move you in a new way and make tracks intended for one to kiss their partner like the first time again. It all sounds like a bit much but to understand the effort this man has put into his craft then it makes sense. Spin it around and around until you get it when he talks about the bottom of everything... then you'll see it. |
| Dave Matthews Band Before These Crowded Streets |
| David Bowie The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars |
| DJ Shadow Endtroducing..... |
| Giraffes? Giraffes! More Skin With Milk-Mouth |
| Green Day Dookie |
| Debatably the blueprint for the next decade (and then some) of pop/mall punk to arise to mainstream culture and market the rebellion at the local FYE. That sounds like what they did was blasphemy to every Sex Pistols or Fugazi fan but look at the transition: Sex Pistols-> Minor Threat-> Rancid-> Green Day (don't argue this... it's just a rough example). The torch was passed as each generation found a new way to connect with the youth in a way that said they were different and allowed to be pissed off. Mastering three chords, inspiring an entire demographic into cheerily angry bands, and talking about masturbation as if it were no longer worth talking about.... it was meant to be titled Dookie and it was meant for every 12 year old kid brother to stare at the cover for hours with headphones on. |
| Jars Of Clay Jars Of Clay |
| If Larry Norman lived later, he would have made this album. That's the first line only intended to be understood by those who have been exposed strongly to the religious youth culture and found the impact that Jars of Clay modestly stumbled upon as a gift from above. Full of wonderful textures and soul full , passionate songwriting, this album took a greater leap than anything of the worship capped genre; it was like secular musicians decided to love Jesus. Mainstream success later drove them underground but this album stands as a triumph for Christian rock (at least for those who like it) because the Christ loving kids all agreed in what they wanted: to see the art in them. |
| John Coltrane Giant Steps |
| Miles Davis Bitches Brew |
| Experimentalism, your name is bitches brew. Miles Davis is a man beside himself, brain cleared from the blues and filled with red pushing the limits of ideas in every direction, which hit the music world like an open parachute. Every person who enjoys their instrumentally focused genres (namely core acts) owe a debt of gratitude to this pop-destruction that compromises nothing all the way through. It takes getting used to and it can be unnerving but after many spins and an open mind it begins to make sense why people bow to Miles Davis and hold this in such a high regard. |
| Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk Live At Newport 1958 & 1963 |
| Neutral Milk Hotel In the Aeroplane Over the Sea |
| Nick Drake Pink Moon |
| Pavement Slanted and Enchanted |
| I discovered this incredibly late only because Spin magazine rated this the best indie album ever (note: don't read spin, saw a news link online and I don't necessarily agree with this... it's just how it is). After hearing this once I was pissed because all the cd did was make me agree that Spin was dilution of Rolling Stone (full of themselves) but after a couple more spins (excuse the pun) the world that existed inside this band poured into my skull. The poetry was second or another instrument through this rough and clunky journey into home-made beauty. Listen to these tracks and listen over again because this cd and all the intricacies naturally balanced throughout make you want to start your own band and make people ask: can we treat it like an oil well? Because Pavement is underground and out of sight. Corny enough? it should be. |
| Radiohead OK Computer |
| Refused The Shape Of Punk To Come |
| Sigur Ros Takk... |
| Sonic Youth Sister |
| Sufjan Stevens Illinois |
| AMG called Sufjan a snakeoil salesman because of this album; does this prove his dishonesty in his art? Maybe for professional critics but for myself, this album jumps to a level of honesty and emotion barely met by any other piece of music. Ambitious, warm, and generally expansive (noise-y guitar solo in "man from metropolis..." is a change in pace) this album manages to stay directly impactful for a loooong period of time. Whether a song about bone cancer (which has nothing to do with the song title) hits you first or the tale of a mass murderer (of boys) will find you where you sit, Illinois has the power of one man's vision about a whole state. Sufjan is building an empire of great music... hopefully he will dethrone many others because the credit he deserves has not been served yet. |
| Sufjan Stevens Seven Swans |
| Sun Kil Moon Ghosts of the Great Highway |
| The Blood Brothers Young Machetes |
| The Clash London Calling |
| Sadly I know very little about this album's history besides some remarks Joe Strummer has made about the talking heads to Tom DeLonge. That's not the point. The point is I've always heard my favorite pissed of albums compared to this one, some sort of blueprint for being angry and channeling passion into nonconformist musicianship. Bought the record before a 20 hour drive back home from college and instantly I was shocked at how accessible this record is. From from to back, every song can potentially be on a party playlist without too much fuss and at the same time could be in the headphones of my roommate who painted to a handful of their tracks. Every spin of this record unlocks more of the nuances that would have been the icing for a live show but typically get lost in production. Nothing is lost here as the love beats of the caribbean are mixed with the bitter and skeptical attitude of London's disillusioned. Punk at a whole different level. |
| The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground & Nico |
Sonic Youth has been praised and exalted for throwing out all previous notions that existed in music to create a new "audible soundscape of noise" (does that sound pitchfork enough  ). What must be understood about what Sonic Youth did was that a band who self-coined the term "underground" for a music scene had covered that in the epic ending of their ever underlistened album here. A hardened street rat, two college kids (one a classically trained pianist), and their friend's sister who didn't mind being ringo made tension triumph into a new perspective on many genres after each track. What must be understood about this album is though the lay listener may think it all sounds like old rock music but upon reading lyrics, hearing songs two or three times over and in different orders it begins to reveal how unreal their ability to jump from so many mountain tops happens to be. This is a beatles album with some attitude and disregard for anyone else's opinion. This is underground. |
| The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground |
| Thelonious Monk The Best of Thelonious Monk |
| Thelonious Monk Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane |
| Third Eye Blind Third Eye Blind |
| It seems odd that I have this record listed next to the likes of: the VUs and the clash, and in reality they don't belong there culturally or for innovation at all. Not even close. But! but! third eye blind made an album that had 14 tracks that were not just radio friendly but radio dominating (note: early Beatles had similar impact). Those who are old enough to remember the season of 3eb remember every month having another track from the same cd destroy every other song being played. This is remarkable for any band but especially notable because this is all at the verge of radio usage suffering huge loses because of the internet supplement. Bottom line: 3eb managed to make a cd that comes across alternatively wonderful and entirely accepted, a rare feat. (PS it must be noted they also had one of the finer lines in some time with: I speak to you like a chorus to a verse, choppin up a line like a coda with a curse). solid. |
| Thursday Waiting |
| Van Morrison Astral Weeks |
| Venetian Snares Rossz Csillag Allat Szuletett |
| Ween Chocolate and Cheese |
| Wu-Tang Clan Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) |
