| 5.0 classic |
| Bad Brains Bad Brains |
| From lunatic speed/thrash/metal/punk hardcore to low-tempo reggae, this album is a frenzied mix of two styles with more hits than misses. You won't get any faster riffs than 'Don't need it' or 'Sailin on' & the drumming is just insane. Lyrics are sung so fast as to be indecipherable and are more like sonic accompaniment than lead vocals. All sneers, yelps and high-pitched wailing sung like a machine gun at breakneck speed. But what really sets this album apart is the musicianship on display. Every crazed lick seems deliberately placed and there are some truly awesome slower numbers like 'The Regulator' which are almost traditional classic rock. The reggae songs make a welcome change of pace & give you a chance to catch your breath before the next maniacal crescendo of sound assaults your ears. Great album. Lots of fun, energy and old-school oomph! |
| City of Caterpillar City of Caterpillar |
| Dinosaur Jr. You're Living All Over Me |
| YLAOM still stands out as one of the best underground/alternative/progressive/college-music/whatever albums from the mid-late 1980's. My taste in music has changed considerably sincei first heard this, but, unlike many other--well, loud--recordings from the period, I always gravitate back towards YLAOM and the follow-up BUG, both of which are awash in crazed screeching feedback but somehow sustain a sense of melody at times. As for the remastering, it's excellent. The levels were so low on the old SST CD version that you had to bump the volume all the way up when listening. Merge has cleaned up and amplified everything, although it still keeps that low-fi sound that's part of the production. |
| Neutral Milk Hotel In the Aeroplane Over the Sea |
| Jeff Mangum is the King of Carrot Flowers. Or at least, the king of his own brand of innocently psychedelic dream-rock. The second full-length album from the endearingly weird Neutral Milk Hotel is not as lo-fi as "From Avery Island," but its beauty and dreaminess are still untouched. Full of psychedelic brass bands and folky songs about children with wings, Neutral Milk Hotel's second album is a rare, magnificent album without a single unworthy song. Beautiful, strange and wondrous. |
| Streetlight Manifesto Everything Goes Numb |
| Truly, few debut albums are as complete and fulfilling as this one. Most of the time they are mere indications of a bands coming glory. Not the case of Streetlight Manifesto. This debut cd is truly a masterpiece. Kalnoky is truly the heart of the band. His guitar playing is not necessarily anything special in itself, though it is still good. His vocals, however, are where he shines the most, having refined his voice and brought it to new more angry and energetic heights since "Keasby Knights." His song writing is extremely origonal and diverse. Songs do not follow cliched patterns of verse-chorus-verse. You never know what to expect. |
| Third Eye Blind Third Eye Blind |
| A perfect rock album, from start to finish. I wish every rock album released could be half as good as Third Eye Blind's self-titled first release.rWe've all heard the radio hits played over and over, such as "Semi-Charmed Life," "Graduate," "How's It Going To Be," "Losing A Whole Year," and "Jumper;" you know how good those songs are, the others on this album that weren't played over the airwaves are just as good, if not better. That's what makes this album one of my all-time favorites.rBetter, deeper cuts from this album, such as "Thanks A Lot," "Good For You," "The Background," and "Motorcycle Drive By" may never get radio play, but are excellent songs. Songs such as "I Want You" and "God of Wine" are as close to perfection as music gets.rFor a long time this album has been one of my favorites; I thought it was about time I let more people know. This is one of those albums you're glad you have on CD, otherwise you'd have burned out the tape or vinyl. You'll end up learning all of the lyrics and become addicted.rThis CD is worth every penny you spend on it. |
| Treepeople Something Vicious for Tomorrow / Time Whore |
| 4.5 superb |
| A Tribe Called Quest The Low End Theory |
| Alice in Chains Dirt |
| Bad Religion Suffer |
| Bad Religion No Control |
| Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution A Call To Arms |
| Basement I Wish I Could Stay Here |
| BATS Red In Tooth and Claw |
| Black Flag Nervous Breakdown |
| Black Sabbath Master of Reality |
| Black Sabbath Sabbath Bloody Sabbath |
| Bob Marley and The Wailers Legend |
| Built to Spill Keep It Like a Secret |
| Candlemass Epicus Doomicus Metallicus |
| This release can be summed up in one word : DOOM ! Don't expect songs about the beauty of trees or the temptations of women in short skirts, this is heavy duty metal. Candlemass continued to release good CDs, but everything else they've done pales in comparison to this disc. Prepare to hear powerful doom metal, when you need a little "Solitude." |
| Catch 22 Keasbey Nights |
| Circle Takes the Square As the Roots Undo |
| Cougars Pillow Talk |
| Cypress Hill Black Sunday |
| Defeater Travels |
| Dinosaur Jr. Hand It Over |
| Dinosaur Jr. Bug |
| Faith No More Angel Dust |
| Flogging Molly Swagger |
| Frank Turner Love, Ire & Song |
| Fudge Tunnel Creep Diets |
| Helmet Betty |
| Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains Love Songs For The Apocalypse |
| Kvelertak Kvelertak |
| Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin |
| Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin II |
| Mastodon Leviathan |
| Megadeth Rust In Peace |
| Metallica Ride The Lightning |
| Metallica ...And Justice For All |
| mewithoutYou Brother, Sister |
| mewithoutYou Catch For Us the Foxes |
| Misfits Static Age |
| Mr. Bungle Mr. Bungle |
| My Bloody Valentine Loveless |
| Nick Drake Pink Moon |
| Nine Inch Nails Pretty Hate Machine: 2010 Remaster |
| Nine Inch Nails The Downward Spiral |
| Nirvana In Utero |
| "I miss the comfort in being sad," Kurt Cobain grovels harshly on the excellent mid-tempo rocker, "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle," a sparse and raw tune that typifies the overall sound of "In Utero." Cobain and company establish a rougher-edged sound right away on "In Utero," rawer than the previous Nevermind album, though not as raw as the band's debut, Bleach, perhaps somewhere in between. The chorus to "Serve the Servants," the opening song, is as catchy as any previous Nirvana tune, just somewhat more plodding and low key. Inescapable from this great disc is the slower, thicker, even woodsy sound that may not grab a hold of listeners like the previous album so overwhelmingly did. |
| Nirvana MTV Unplugged in New York |
| Nirvana's Unplugged remains one of the band's most majestic moments. Coming hot off the heels of the noisy In Utero album, the band decided to stop into MTV's studios in New York City and play an acoustic set that completely erased any notions that they were just a simple "grunge" band. Kurt Cobain seems completely relaxed throughout, and he gives some staggeringly beautiful vocal performances. Dave Grohl plays the drums with wire brushes and demonstrates that he was just as capable of subtle shading as he was at hard-hitting fury. Krist Novoselic proves himself to be a worthwhile musician as well, playing accordion on "Jesus Doen't Want Me For a Sunbeam" in additon to playing a very solid-yet-laid back acoustic bass. Add former Germs guitarist Pat Smear to the lineup, as well as a guest appearance by the Kirkwood brothers of Tempe band the Meat Puppets, and you have all of the ingredients of that legendary November 1993 night. |
| Operation Ivy Energy |
| Pixies Doolittle |
| Pixies Surfer Rosa |
| Primus Frizzle Fry |
| Public Enemy It Takes A Nation (...) To Hold Us Back |
| Rage Against the Machine The Battle of Los Angeles |
| Ramones Ramones |
| Reel Big Fish Our Live Album Is Better Than Your Live |
| Refused The Shape Of Punk To Come |
| Regina Spektor What We Saw from the Cheap Seats |
| Regina Spektor's last album, 2009's Far, found the singer-songwriter at her most accessible. This move seemed to put off long-time fans (as my myself), Spektor's appeal before finding her way to VH1 was her offkilter songwriting. With WHAT WE SAW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS, Spektor has returned to the fun, strange songwriting that initially brought her into the spotlight. WHAT WE SAW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS is hard to predict. Not only do songs range in tempo, tone, and mood from one song to the next, these shifts can happen mid-song The changes in style never feel like Spektor is aping a genre or playing the chameleon; instead, it feels as if Spektor's imagination is running wild in the studio. The result is an interesting, fun album. One of the problems I have with CHEAP SEATS is that it feels scattershot. While the album gets a strong start, the closer, "Jessica" doesn't quite feel like a good way to wrap up the album. |
| Rise Against The Sufferer and the Witness |
| Slint Spiderland |
| Sonic Youth Evol |
| Sonic Youth Daydream Nation |
| Sonic Youth Sister |
| Soundgarden Badmotorfinger |
| State Faults Desolate Peaks |
| Streetlight Manifesto Keasbey Nights |
| Sublime 40 Oz. to Freedom |
| Sunny Day Real Estate Diary |
| System of a Down Steal This Album! |
| The Breeders Pod |
| The Clash London Calling |
| The Dillinger Escape Plan Option Paralysis |
| The Hellacopters Supershitty to the Max! |
| The Rolling Stones Beggars Banquet |
| The Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream |
| The Specials Specials |
| The Stooges Raw Power |
| Thrice The Artist in the Ambulance |
| Tom Waits Bone Machine |
| Tom Waits Rain Dogs |
| Tool Ænima |
| Tool Lateralus |
| Touche Amore/La Dispute Searching for a Pulse/The Worth of the World |
| Weezer Pinkerton |
