| AJJ People Who Can Eat People are the Luckiest People | 4.5 |
| Akira Yamaoka Silent Hill 2 | 4.0 |
| Alcest Souvenirs D'Un Autre Monde | 4.0 |
| Alcest Écailles De Lune | 4.5 |
| alt-J An Awesome Wave | 4.0 |
| Animal Collective Centipede Hz | 3.5 |
| Animal Collective Feels | 4.0 |
| Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion | 4.0 |
| Animal Collective Strawberry Jam | 4.5 |
| Animal Collective Fall Be Kind | 4.5 |
| Animals As Leaders Animals as Leaders | 4.0 |
| Arcade Fire Funeral | 4.0 |
| Arcade Fire Reflektor | 4.0 |
| This was a pleasant surprise. The bombastic, but ultimately empty anthemics of earlier Arcade Fire releases is redressed here with a healthy dose of cheesy fun. There's still plenty of OTT emoting, but Win Butler sounds a little more self-aware this time around. James Murphy's influence is much appreciated. Synths often take precedence over guitars, highlighting the dance punk qualities of the band's sound. Love the clear and airy production on the back end of the album, too. |
| At the Drive-In Relationship of Command | 4.5 |
| Atheist Unquestionable Presence | 3.5 |
| Beck Odelay | 4.0 |
| Behemoth The Satanist | 4.0 |
| Between the Buried and Me The Great Misdirect | 4.5 |
| Between the Buried and Me Colors | 5.0 |
| Big Black Songs About Fucking | 4.0 |
| Big Black Atomizer | 4.0 |
| Black Flag Damaged | 3.5 |
| Black Sabbath Paranoid | 4.5 |
| Black Sabbath Master of Reality | 4.5 |
| Blind Guardian Nightfall in Middle-Earth | 4.0 |
| Bob Dylan The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan | 4.0 |
| Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago | 3.5 |
| Boris Boris At Last -Feedbacker- | 4.5 |
| Bosnian Rainbows Bosnian Rainbows | 3.0 |
| Botch We Are the Romans | 4.0 |
| Botch An Anthology of Dead Ends | 4.5 |
| Angers me to think what these boys could have accomplished with a few more years, a little more refinement. But what a fucking swan song. An EP with all the power of an LP. A solid grasp of quiet/loud dynamics that would have elevated their LPs to a whole other level. Afghamistam, which is essentially an interlude, has the audacity to be the longest track on the album. A window into what the band's future might have held. Hushed emo vocals give way to some glorious Slint worship in the closing minutes. It gives new perspective to the uncompromising violence in Botch's sound. If this is a dead end, it was well worth the detour. |
| Brand New The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me | 5.0 |
| Brian Eno Ambient 1: Music For Airports | 4.5 |
| Distilled, elemental, patient and seemingly vacant. The few moments of trembling anticipation, that might prefigure some great breakthrough or climax, quickly subside. This would frustrate, if not for the record's ingenious use of space. Matter and antimatter. Void and volume. Inhalation and exhalation. Whispers, but never speech. What Eno offers sonically is not a cleansing rainstorm, nor a complex river system - all tributaries and runoff, green fingers fanning out across yellow land - but instead a solitary drop in an ocean. Yes, all well and good. But where are the guitar solos and drum fills, Brian? |
| Burial Untrue | 4.0 |
| Burzum Det Som Engang Var | 3.5 |
| Burzum Hvis Lyset Tar Oss | 4.0 |
| Burzum Filosofem | 4.0 |
| Camp Lo Uptown Saturday Night | 4.0 |
| Can Tago Mago | 4.5 |
| Candlemass Epicus Doomicus Metallicus | 4.5 |
| Cannibal Ox The Cold Vein | 3.5 |
| Cattle Decapitation Monolith of Inhumanity | 4.5 |
| Cerce Tour Sampler CD-R | 4.0 |
| Cerce Cerce | 4.0 |
| Chance the Rapper Acid Rap | 4.5 |
| Chelsea Wolfe Pain Is Beauty | 3.0 |
| I love this girl. Pains me to give a lukewarm rating. The album is let down constantly by weak, unmemorable melodies. As usual, there's a persistent, haunting atmosphere. But it's not enough. |
| Chelsea Wolfe Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs | 3.5 |
| Childish Gambino Camp | 3.5 |
| CHVRCHES Recover | 3.0 |
| Circle Takes the Square As the Roots Undo | 4.5 |
| clipping. Midcity | 4.5 |
| Cocteau Twins Heaven or Las Vegas | 3.5 |
| Saccharine sweet, but lacking nutritional value. Hoping it's a grower. Immensely likable, but not loveable (yet). |
| Coheed and Cambria The Second Stage Turbine Blade | 3.5 |
| Coldworld Melancholie² | 4.0 |
| Comus First Utterance | 5.0 |
| Converge You Fail Me | 4.0 |
| Converge Jane Doe | 5.0 |
| Cynic Focus | 4.0 |
| Daft Punk Discovery | 3.0 |
| Danny Brown XXX | 4.0 |
| Danny Brown Old | 4.0 |
| Darkthrone Transilvanian Hunger | 4.0 |
| Darkthrone A Blaze in the Northern Sky | 4.5 |
| David Bowie Hunky Dory | 4.5 |
| David Bowie Low | 4.5 |
| David Bowie The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars | 5.0 |
| Deafheaven Roads to Judah | 4.0 |
| Deafheaven Sunbather | 5.0 |
| Death Human | 3.5 |
| Death Grips Government Plates | 4.0 |
| Death Grips No Love Deep Web | 4.5 |
| Death Grips Death Grips | 4.5 |
| Death Grips Exmilitary | 5.0 |
| Death Grips The Money Store | 5.0 |
| Deftones White Pony | 4.5 |
| Dinosaur Jr. You're Living All Over Me | 4.0 |
| Dirty Three Ocean Songs | 4.0 |
| It's like looking on as something tragic transpires, but not feeling compelled to intervene. You just sit and watch. And it works out in the end. For post-rock, which so often courts the bombastic, this record displays impressive restraint. This is all very pretty and has some solid catharsis on offer. But crescendo-core it is not. It's too understated to evoke the infinite or inspire awe, instead it's almost parochial - could only be Australian. Docking a point because of length and some occasionally unmemorable passages. |
| Discordance Axis The Inalienable Dreamless | 4.0 |
| DJ Shadow Endtroducing..... | 4.0 |
| Dr. Octagon Dr. Octagonecologyst | 4.0 |
| Drudkh Autumn Aurora | 4.0 |
| Drudkh Blood In Our Wells | 4.5 |
| Earl Sweatshirt EARL | 4.0 |
| El-P Fantastic Damage | 4.0 |
| Elliott Smith Either/Or | 4.0 |
| Eminem The Marshall Mathers LP 2 | 3.5 |
| Emperor In the Nightside Eclipse | 4.0 |
| Fiona Apple The Idler Wheel... | 4.5 |
| Fire! Orchestra Exit! | 4.0 |
| Flying Lotus Cosmogramma | 4.0 |
| Food for Animals Belly | 3.0 |
| Four Tet Rounds | 4.5 |
| Frank Ocean channel ORANGE | 4.0 |
| Frank Zappa Hot Rats | 5.0 |
| Fripp and Eno Evening Star | 3.5 |
| Fripp and Eno No Pussyfooting | 4.0 |
| Funkadelic Maggot Brain | 4.5 |
| Germ Grief | 4.0 |
| Vocals like banshee shrieks. Sparkling metal guitars, almost blackgazy. Really good stuff. Could do with being a little shorter. |
| Ghostface Killah Supreme Clientele | 3.5 |
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! | 4.0 |
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven | 4.5 |
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor F♯ A♯ ∞ | 4.5 |
| Gorguts Obscura | 5.0 |
| This is true madness. Uncharted territory. Here be dragons (and beasts far worse). Precision and chaos co-exist, but not peacefully. This is a jazz holocaust, a prog genocide. This is more than tech death. This is Beefheart metal. It might serve as lobby muzak in hell. But this snarling, gnashing abomination was never meant for mortal ears. Approach at your own risk. |
| Grimes Visions | 3.5 |
| Gris À L'Âme Enflammée, L'Âme Constellée... | 4.0 |
| This was a consistently beautiful album. I want to give it a 4.5, but I just think it's a little on the long side. As a result, its ebb and flow becomes more predictable as it drags on. The dramatic peaks and atmospheric interludes are nicely arranged, though. |
| Hella Hold Your Horse Is | 4.0 |
| Husker Du Zen Arcade | 3.5 |
| Iggy Pop Lust For Life | 3.0 |
| Infest No Man's Slave | 3.5 |
| Interpol Turn on the Bright Lights | 4.0 |
| Oh, this is that band fronted by 'Generic Post-Punk Vocalist #17?' I've been meaning to check them out for years. Heard great things. This album is chill, for the most part. Sometimes it's beautiful even. Trying my hardest to get lost in the expansive, rippling sound-scape, I definitely feel something. But it's faint. The lights flicker expectantly, before being snuffed out by the vengeful ghost of Ian Curtis -- icy cold, drained of vitality. EDIT: grows on you once you get past the vocals. |
| ISIS Panopticon | 4.0 |
| J Dilla Donuts | 4.0 |
| James Blake James Blake | 4.0 |
| Jesu Jesu | 4.0 |
| Jethro Tull Thick as a Brick | 4.5 |
| Joanna Newsom The Milk-Eyed Mender | 4.0 |
| Joanna Newsom Ys | 5.0 |
| John Coltrane A Love Supreme | 4.0 |
| John Frusciante From the Sounds Inside | 3.5 |
| John Frusciante PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone | 3.5 |
| John Frusciante To Record Only Water for Ten Days | 4.0 |
| John Frusciante Niandra LaDes and Usually Just a T-Shirt | 4.5 |
| Joni Mitchell Blue | 4.0 |
| Jonny Greenwood There Will Be Blood OST | 4.5 |
| Joy Division Unknown Pleasures | 4.5 |
| Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy | 4.5 |
| Katatonia Brave Murder Day | 4.5 |
| Kendrick Lamar Section.80 | 4.0 |
| Kendrick Lamar good kid, m.A.A.d city | 4.5 |
| Kid Dynamite Shorter, Faster, Louder | 4.0 |
| Killer Mike R.A.P. Music | 4.0 |
| Killswitch Engage Alive or Just Breathing | 3.5 |
| The clean vox and the frequent, chugging bro-downs take away from the experience somewhat. But all musical snobbery aside, you have to be fairly soulless not to enjoy this stuff. This is really tight and catchy. And I'll be honest, a few of those bro-downs did get me awkwardly headbanging with headphones on, alone in my room at 2AM. Hey, I'm not going to deny what is essentially a good bit of fun. Metal can groove, too. |
| King Crimson Red | 4.5 |
| King Crimson In the Court of the Crimson King | 5.0 |
| Korn Korn | 4.0 |
| Kraftwerk Trans-Europe Express | 3.0 |
| Kvelertak Kvelertak | 4.0 |
| The most fun I've had with a black metal(?) record in a long time. Almost like listening to blackened party rock anthems. Maybe a little repetitive on occasion, but the album is a tasteful length, does not overstay its welcome. |
| Kyuss Welcome to Sky Valley | 4.0 |
| La Dispute Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair | 4.5 |
| Lauryn Hill The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill | 4.0 |
| Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV | 5.0 |
| Leonard Cohen Songs of Love and Hate | 4.0 |
| Lisa Hannigan Sea Sew | 4.0 |
| Liturgy Aesthethica | 4.0 |
| Lou Reed Transformer | 4.5 |
| Mac DeMarco Rock and Roll Night Club | 3.5 |
| Mac DeMarco 2 | 4.0 |
| Madvillain Madvillainy | 4.5 |
| Mark Hollis Mark Hollis | 4.0 |
| Mastodon Leviathan | 4.0 |
| Megadeth Rust in Peace | 4.0 |
| Mercyful Fate Melissa | 3.5 |
| Mercyful Fate Don't Break the Oath | 4.5 |
| Metallica Master of Puppets | 4.0 |
| Metallica Ride the Lightning | 4.5 |
| Michael Jackson Thriller | 4.0 |
| Miles Davis Kind of Blue | 4.5 |
| Milo I Wish My Brother Rob Was Here | 4.0 |
| Milo Things That Happen At Night | 4.0 |
| Milo Things That Happen At Day | 4.0 |
| Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica | 4.0 |
| Modest Mouse The Lonesome Crowded West | 5.0 |
| Morbid Angel Altars of Madness | 4.0 |
| Mos Def Black on Both Sides | 4.5 |
| My Bloody Valentine Loveless | 5.0 |
| Nails Unsilent Death | 4.0 |
| Nails Abandon All Life | 4.0 |
| Nas Illmatic | 3.5 |
| Negura Bunget OM | 4.5 |
| Neil Young After the Gold Rush | 3.5 |
| Neil Young Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere | 4.0 |
| Neutral Milk Hotel In the Aeroplane Over the Sea | 5.0 |
| Nine Inch Nails Pretty Hate Machine | 3.5 |
| Angsty, grimy, vulnerable, suffering major growing pains. This is some profoundly adolescent music, but if you can get past that, you will find a synth pop record unlike any other. No twinkling, bubblegum wonderland here, just rusty razor blades and pounding machinery. At this point in Trent's development the industrial trappings are still just that, trappings. He is yet to realise the full potential of the aesthetic that would cement TDS as a modern classic. But this record represents a solid prototype for future projects. Things are taking shape. It's more than a curiosity. It stands alone, youthful, impetuous, and catchy as hell. |
| Nine Inch Nails The Downward Spiral | 5.0 |
| Nirvana Nevermind | 3.5 |
| Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds | 2.0 |
| Oneohtrix Point Never Replica | 3.5 |
| OutKast Aquemini | 3.5 |
| OutKast Stankonia | 4.0 |
| P.O.S Never Better | 4.0 |
| Panda Bear Person Pitch | 4.5 |
| Paul Simon Paul Simon | 3.5 |
| Paul Simon Graceland | 4.5 |
| Peste Noire La Sanie des Siècles | 4.5 |
| Pink Floyd Animals | 3.5 |
| Pink Floyd The Dark Side of the Moon | 4.0 |
| Pink Floyd The Piper at the Gates of Dawn | 4.0 |
| Pink Floyd Meddle | 4.5 |
| Pixies Surfer Rosa | 4.0 |
| Pixies Doolittle | 4.5 |
| Porcupine Tree Stupid Dream | 3.0 |
| Porcupine Tree In Absentia | 3.5 |
| Porcupine Tree The Sky Moves Sideways | 3.5 |
| Portishead Dummy | 4.0 |
| Prince Purple Rain | 3.0 |
| Protest the Hero Kezia | 4.0 |
| Protest the Hero Fortress | 4.0 |
| Queensryche Operation: Mindcrime | 3.5 |
| Radiohead The Bends | 3.5 |
| Radiohead The King of Limbs | 3.5 |
| Radiohead Hail to the Thief | 4.0 |
| Radiohead The Daily Mail/Staircase | 4.0 |
| Radiohead OK Computer | 4.5 |
| Radiohead In Rainbows | 4.5 |
| Radiohead Amnesiac | 5.0 |
| Radiohead Kid A | 5.0 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers Californication | 3.5 |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers Blood Sugar Sex Magik | 3.5 |
| Refused The Shape Of Punk To Come | 5.0 |
| Rosetta The Galilean Satellites | 5.0 |
| Run the Jewels Run the Jewels | 3.5 |
| Rush Moving Pictures | 4.0 |
| Serge Gainsbourg Histoire de Melody Nelson | 4.0 |
| Shabazz Palaces Black Up | 4.5 |
| Sigh Imaginary Sonicscape | 4.5 |
| Sigur Ros Kveikur | 3.5 |
| Simon and Garfunkel Bridge Over Troubled Water | 4.0 |
| Slayer Reign in Blood | 4.5 |
| Slint Spiderland | 5.0 |
| Sly and The Family Stone There's A Riot Goin' On | 3.0 |
| Spiritualized Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space | 4.5 |
| St. Vincent Strange Mercy | 3.5 |
| Steely Dan Aja | 4.5 |
| Strand of Oaks Pope Killdragon | 4.0 |
| Swans White Light From the Mouth of Infinity | 4.0 |
| System of a Down Toxicity | 4.0 |
| Talk Talk Spirit of Eden | 4.5 |
| Talk Talk Laughing Stock | 5.0 |
| Tame Impala Innerspeaker | 3.5 |
| Tame Impala Lonerism | 3.5 |
| Television Marquee Moon | 4.0 |
| The Beach Boys Pet Sounds | 4.0 |
| The Beatles Abbey Road | 4.5 |
| The Cure Pornography | 4.0 |
| The Cure Disintegration | 5.0 |
| The Dismemberment Plan Emergency & I | 4.5 |
| The Doors The Doors | 4.5 |
| The Flaming Lips The Soft Bulletin | 3.5 |
| The Jesus and Mary Chain Psychocandy | 3.5 |
| The Jimi Hendrix Experience Electric Ladyland | 4.0 |
| The Jimi Hendrix Experience Are You Experienced | 4.0 |
| The Mars Volta De-Loused in the Comatorium | 4.5 |
| The Mars Volta Frances the Mute | 5.0 |
| The Mothers of Invention Freak Out! | 4.5 |
| The National Trouble Will Find Me | 3.5 |
| The National Alligator | 4.0 |
| The National Boxer | 4.0 |
| The National High Violet | 4.0 |
| The Offspring Smash | 3.5 |
| The Offspring Americana | 3.5 |
| The Rolling Stones Let It Bleed | 4.0 |
| The Rolling Stones Beggars Banquet | 4.0 |
| The Roots Things Fall Apart | 3.5 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream | 4.0 |
| The Smiths The Queen Is Dead | 4.0 |
| The Stooges The Stooges | 3.5 |
| The Stooges Fun House | 4.0 |
| The Velvet Underground Loaded | 3.5 |
| The Velvet Underground White Light/White Heat | 4.0 |
| The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground & Nico | 5.0 |
| The Who Tommy | 4.0 |
| The Who Who's Next | 4.5 |
| Thy Art Is Murder Hate | 3.5 |
| Time To Burn Is.Land | 4.0 |
| Tool Ænima | 3.5 |
| Tool Lateralus | 4.5 |
| Torche Harmonicraft | 4.0 |
| TR/ST TRST | 3.5 |
| tUnE-yArDs w h o k i l l | 3.5 |
| TV on the Radio Young Liars | 4.0 |
| Unwound Leaves Turn Inside You | 4.5 |
| Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend | 3.5 |
| Vampire Weekend Modern Vampires of the City | 4.5 |
| Van Morrison Astral Weeks | 4.5 |
| Wavves Afraid of Heights | 3.0 |
| Weezer Pinkerton | 4.0 |
| Weezer Weezer | 4.5 |
| Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot | 4.5 |
| Wolves in the Throne Room Two Hunters | 4.5 |
| The acme of Cascadian Black Metal. Natural beauty is channeled here in a way you'd never think possible in the hands of an extreme metal band. But to call this supremely calming and ambient record "extreme" seems a little misguided. You can get lost in the lush sonic expanse if you're not careful -- and once lost, you may not wish to find your way back again. This is living, breathing music. A wonderful re-contextualizing of Norwegian BM tropes. The macabre becomes the triumphant. The bleak becomes... well, bleak - but tempered by awe in the face of nature. This is the best kind of cultural appropriation and there needn't be any controversy. |
| Wormrot Abuse | 4.0 |
| Yes Close to the Edge | 5.0 |
