| 5.0 classic |
| Apator Masturbate in Praise of Black Satan |
| Arvo Part Tabula Rasa |
| "I could compare my music to white light which contains all colours. Only a prism can divide the colours and make them appear; this prism could be the spirit of the listener." |
| Discordance Axis The Inalienable Dreamless |
| Intense, immense, fast, brutal, yet strangely beautiful grind album. The Inalienable Dreamless is about as perfect as the genre gets. |
| dredg El Cielo |
| Elliott Smith XO |
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor F♯ A♯ ∞ |
| Joanna Newsom Ys |
| Joao Gilberto Joao Gilberto |
| John Frusciante Shadows Collide with People |
| maudlin of the Well Bath |
| Toby Driver > Everyone. |
| Melvins Bullhead |
| Mike Oldfield Ommadawn |
| Minutemen Double Nickels on the Dime |
| Nick Drake Pink Moon |
It is almost impossible for someone like me to pick out their absolute favorite album of all time. You have so many albums to compare strengths and weaknesses. There are so many "perfect" albums out there that you just can't see one rising above the other.
This was the case for me until I picked up a copy of Nick Drake's "Pink Moon." I have listened to this album approximately ten times more than all of my other albums (this may be due to the short length...). "Pink Moon" is an emotionally powerful album. You can literally feel the depression and despair of Drake's voice and his somber guitar. Every song is equal in its greatness. In fact, I usually start off my day listening to something other than "Pink Moon" simply because of the fact that if I start a song on it, I'll have to listen to its entirety. You have to take my word for this.
The music is both technical and fairly simple at the same time. Drake has a unique fingerpicking style that he had mastered before his untimely death. His singing is calm and soothing. At times it's hard to decipher what it is that he is saying, but quite honestly, you don't really care at these times because you can already tell what he's trying to say from the raw emotion of his voice. The production is very stripped down to the core, with only one guitar, piano for the title track, and Nick's vocals - clean and without reverb, an unusual production style.
So yeah listen to it. |
| Nobuo Uematsu Final Fantasy VIII: Original Soundtrack |
| NoMeansNo Wrong |
I SAID WHITE MAN, YOU, YOU, YOU, YOU, YOU JUST STARTIN TO GET
THE BLUES |
| Off Minor The Heat Death of the Universe |
| Operation Ivy Energy |
| It is impossible to drive around with your windows down blasting Energy without looking like one cool ass motherfucker. |
| Opeth Blackwater Park |
| My prior soundoff was really, really gay, but what I was really trying to say was, shit rules. |
| Radiohead OK Computer |
| Red House Painters Red House Painters |
| I can't really sum up the feelings I have for this album. Possibly the peak of Mark Kozelek's songwriting (though that's not to say his more recent work isn't stellar), Red House Painters I, otherwise known as Rollercoaster, is a 76-minute emotional powerhouse. Kozelek's autobiographical and easily relatable lyrics combine with a diverse songwriting skill to create a nearly flawless album. Styles range from the beautiful, shoegazey pieces "Grace Cathedral Park" and "Mistress" to epic anthems of depression "Mother" and "Katy Song." Red House Painters I won't pick you up when you're down, but in its own morbid way, you may just end up enjoying the feeling. |
| Shugo Tokumaru Night Piece |
| Slayer World Painted Blood |
| Sun Kil Moon Ghosts of the Great Highway |
| Sun Kil Moon's Ghosts of the Great Highway is essentially the perfect soundtrack for reminiscing times long past, both the good and the bad. |
| Talking Heads Remain in Light |
| Tom Waits Rain Dogs |
| Wilco Being There |
| 4.5 superb |
| A Wilhelm Scream Career Suicide |
| Adolescents Adolescents |
| Agalloch Ashes Against the Grain |
| Aidan Baker Scalpel |
| Air Moon Safari |
| Ali Farka Toure and Ry Cooder Talking Timbuktu |
| Alias The Other Side Of The Looking Glass |
| Antonio Vivaldi The Four Seasons |
| Arghoslent Hornets of the Pogrom |
| Assuck Misery Index |
| At the Drive-In Relationship of Command |
| At the Drive-In Vaya |
| Bad Astronaut Houston: We Have a Drinking Problem |
| Bad Religion No Control |
| Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution A Call To Arms |
| Bark Psychosis Codename: Dustsucker |
| It's hard to follow up such an influential record as 1994's Hex, one of the first albums to acquire the post rock label. I went into this album with little expectations due to how little I hear about this album and how much I hear about Hex, but with Bark Psychosis's 2004 release Codename: Dustsucker, Graham Sutton once again proves his mastery of creating dreamy soundscapes with excellent pop sensibilities. While still retaining many characteristics that its predecessor is known for, Dustsucker opts for a more guitar-oriented sound which works for the best. From the opener "From What Is Said To When It's Read," Graham immediately builds up a dense atmosphere layered with guitars and reverb-laden vocals, and the density does not let up for the album's entirety. "Black Meat" may very well be the best BP track to date, starting with a jazzy section complete with a muted trumpet solo until dissolving into a beautiful cascade of synths. Each track is unique and stands out in its own right. In conclusion, Dustsucker meets and exceeds the standards set by Hex, and overall ends up being one of the best albums that I've come across all year. |
| Beck Sea Change |
| Benoit Pioulard Precis |
| Bill Callahan Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle |
| Boards of Canada Music Has the Right to Children |
| Bob Dylan Blood on the Tracks |
| Bob Marley and The Wailers Legend |
| Brutal Truth Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses |
| Built to Spill Perfect from Now On |
| Coheed and Cambria The Second Stage Turbine Blade |
| Coheed and Cambria From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness |
| Comus First Utterance |
| Cryptopsy None So Vile |
| Cynic Focus |
| I'm going to have to say that this is one of the most innovative, technical, and unique metal albums I have ever heard. Malone on bass is a sheer madman with a Chapman Stick (see Textures), Gobel can shred incredibly well (see... everything), Reinert keeps everything moving with amazing drumfills, and Masvidal can... uh... be a robot well, too. The incorporation of jazz in the mix of the technical metal is a great combination, adding a very flavorful influence. A metal classic. |
| Dalek Abandoned Language |
| Damien Dempsey To Hell Or Barbados |
| Dead Kennedys Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables |
| Deltron 3030 Deltron 3030 |
| Devin Townsend Ocean Machine: Biomech |
| Discordance Axis Jouhou |
| DJ Shadow Endtroducing..... |
| TRIP-HOP MADNESS. pretty chill tho |
| Elliott Smith Either/Or |
| Elliott Smith Elliott Smith |
| Envy A Dead Sinking Story |
| Erik Satie Gymnopédies |
| Fennesz Black Sea |
| Frontier Ruckus The Orion Songbook |
| Fugazi The Argument |
| Global Communication 76:14 |
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven |
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada |
| Gospel The Moon Is a Dead World |
| GridLink Amber Gray |
| Grizzly Bear Yellow House |
| GZA Liquid Swords |
| Harvey Milk Courtesy and Good Will Toward Men |
| HORSE the band The Mechanical Hand |
| Husker Du Zen Arcade |
| Incubus (USA-CA) Alive at Red Rocks |
| Iron Lung Sexless // No Sex |
| ISIS Panopticon |
| Why pay attention to Acidity's soundoff when you could be listening to a modern day classic? Panopticon is the gem of slow-burning sludge and post metal. The music on this album creates a near-suffocating atmosphere. The weaving and interlocking guitars and keyboard create a density that I have yet to hear something that can surpass. The "repetitiveness" (note the quotes) of each song is in fact just a slow, magnificent buildup leading to an orgasmic climax. The vocals are both harsh and melodic at the same time. The drumming is simple, but it suits the music well. The bass serves its purpose while throwing in a few driving lines here and there. "So Did We" is essentially the perfect post-anything song, revolving from bone-crushing sludge to thick, soaring ambient textures. This is truly a groundbreaking album in the realm of metal. |
| ISIS In the Absence of Truth |
| Jack Johnson In Between Dreams |
| Joanna Newsom The Milk-Eyed Mender |
| Joanna Newsom Joanna Newsom and the Ys Street Band |
| John Frusciante Curtains |
| John Frusciante The Empyrean |
| Kayo Dot Choirs of the Eye |
| Choirs of the Eye: Greatest avant-garde metal album ever written. Toby Driver's writing is insanely powerful, and it merges classical with metal better than any album I've ever heard before. This album is home to some of the most epic moments of music history, especially one especially long moment entitled "Wayfarer." Choirs of the Eye is a must-have for anyone who enjoys musical epiphony. |
| Kayo Dot Dowsing Anemone With Copper Tongue |
| King Crimson In the Court of the Crimson King |
| Leonard Cohen Songs of Love and Hate |
| Lovage Music To Make Love To Your Old Lady By |
| Lunasa Otherworld |
| Machinae Supremacy Redeemer (Underground Edition) |
| Magrudergrind 62 Trax Of Thrash |
| I listened to a 57-minute long grind/powerviolence album in one sitting. This is that good. |
| Manic Street Preachers The Holy Bible |
| maudlin of the Well Leaving Your Body Map |
| Mew Frengers |
| Mike Oldfield Tubular Bells |
| Miles Davis Kind of Blue |
| Modern Life Is War Witness |
| Modest Mouse This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About |
| Mono You Are There |
| Mr. Bungle California |
| When you listen to any of Mike Patton, the man who can take a sample of a belch and still turn it into an epic 7-minute masterpiece, some of these words come to mind: crazy, insane, loony, demented. This album touches every genre from metal to surf, and is much more organized than that madfest "Disco Volante." Every song on here slams into a different style, keeping things fresh without coming off too gimmicky. Patton's the man. |
| Murder by Death Who Will Survive and What Will Be Left of Them? |
| My Bloody Valentine Loveless |
| Naked City Naked City |
| Nasum Shift |
| Neurosis The Eye of Every Storm |
| Nick Drake Five Leaves Left |
| Nine Inch Nails The Downward Spiral |
| Nobuo Uematsu Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec |
| Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec is basically fully orchestrated arrangements of Nobuo Uematsu's best cuts from the Final Fantasy VIII OST... so what's not to love? |
| NOFX The Decline |
| NOFX So Long and Thanks for All the Shoes |
| NoMeansNo 0 + 2 = 1 |
| Opeth Ghost Reveries |
| Ghost Reveries is arguably Opeth's most solid release to date. Gone is a great deal of Opeth's weakness of repetition and present are memorable tracks like the monstrous "Ghost of Perdition" and bluesy "Hours of Wealth." |
| Pink Floyd The Dark Side of the Moon |
| King Crimson invented progressive rock, Pink Floyd pioneered it. Dark Side of the Moon is an album name I'm sure about... well... 99% of the world has heard (drastic exaggeration). There's a good reason, too. This was the breakthrough album for one of rock's most influential artists. All songs are flawless, and without this album, prog wouldn't be what it is today. Period. |
| Porcupine Tree Signify |
| Porcupine Tree Deadwing |
| Primus Frizzle Fry |
| Radiohead Amnesiac |
| Raison D'Etre The Empty Hollow Unfolds |
| Red Sparowes At The Soundless Dawn |
| Refused The Shape Of Punk To Come |
| Reverend Bizarre III: So Long Suckers |
| Richard Youngs Sapphie |
| Rites of Spring End on End |
| Say Anything In Defense of the Genre |
| Shpongle Tales of the Inexpressible |
| Shugo Tokumaru Exit |
| Sigur Ros Agætis byrjun |
| Sigur Ros ( ) |
| Sigur Ros Heima (DVD) |
| Six Organs Of Admittance School of the Flower |
| Sole Selling Live Water |
| Stars of the Lid And Their Refinement Of The Decline |
| Streetlight Manifesto Everything Goes Numb |
| Streetlight Manifesto Somewhere in the Between |
| Subhumans The Day the Country Died |
| Sufjan Stevens Illinois |
| Sun Kil Moon April |
| Sunny Day Real Estate Diary |
| System of a Down System of a Down |
| Talk Talk Laughing Stock |
| The Beach Boys Pet Sounds |
| The Decemberists Picaresque |
| The Decemberists The Crane Wife |
| The Dillinger Escape Plan Calculating Infinity |
| The Dillinger Escape Plan Irony Is a Dead Scene |
| The Drones Havilah |
| The Flashbulb Soundtrack to a Vacant Life |
| The Fun Years Baby, It's Cold Inside |
| The Future Sound of London Lifeforms |
| The Mars Volta De-Loused in the Comatorium |
| The Mars Volta Frances the Mute |
| The Microphones The Glow Pt. 2 |
| The Microphones The Glow Pt. 2 (Re-release) |
| The Pogues If I Should Fall from Grace with God |
| The Samuel Jackson Five Easily Misunderstood |
| The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground & Nico |
| Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra Born Into Trouble As the Sparks Fly Upward |
| Thrice The Artist in the Ambulance |
| Toby Driver In the L..L..Library Loft |
| Today Is the Day Temple of the Morning Star |
| Tomahawk Anonymous |
| Tool Ænima |
| Ulver Bergtatt - Et eeventyr i 5 capitler |
| Warning Watching from a Distance |
| Weezer Pinkerton |
| Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot |
| Wilco Kicking Television: Live in Chicago |
| Wolves in the Throne Room Two Hunters |
| Yo La Tengo I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One |
