Essential Indie/Alt Listening??

RE*AC*TOR

From the moderator thread the top 5 indie/alt lists were great. Interesting reading and even gave me a couple of new ideas for music to check out (Tindersticks).

Lets extend the challenge to everyone then - give your top5 indie/alt albums and a brief explanation!

Here's Mine:

1. At The Drive-In Relationship Of Command :- no other album has ever seemed so frenetic, yet so beautiful at the same time. Its an angry raging album, but not in the same sense as some loud / shout bands. Its hard to explain - everyone should hear this album.

2. They Might Be Giants Flood :- the only way I can describe this album is wonderfully dorky.

3. REM Murmur :- everyone knows REM, but probably not so much their debut album. The title reflects Michael Stipe's singing style - but the album is fantastic - it was all downhill from here for them.

4. Ben Folds Five Whatever And Ever Amen :- Ben Folds piano-rock music, catchy licks abound, catchy tunes - catchy everything - lots of unrequited love/angst. Great album - still unbeaten by Folds - but his solo Rockin' The Suburbs came close.

5. Husker Du Candy Apple Grey :- Most Husker Du fans will probably tell you Zen Arcade is a better album, or suggest listening to some later Bob Mould / Sugar stuff, but I love this album - its probably a gear down speed wise from some of their early stuff, but its a wonderfully passionate album. Somewhere, between punk and pure emotion.

Notable mentions - Jeff Buckley, The Pixies, Violent Femmes, The Shins, Ted Leo & The Pharmacists.

Scottish

Here's my current most listened to (not going to give explanations), in no particular order:

Anything by Elliot Smith
Animal Collective - Sung Tongs
Bonnie Prince Bill and Matt Sweeney - Superwolf
LCD Soundsystem
Antony & the Johnsons
Six Organs of Admittance
Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake it's Morning
Futureheads
Arcade Fire - Funeral

Or you could just see here:

http://www.audioscrobbler.com/user/dereka/

Although it doesn't seem to be updating at the moment. In another thread, some said there were 7.5m submissions waiting to be processed :eek:

eclectichoney

Belle & Sebastian - The Boy with the arab strap (indie perfection)

Kings of convenience - Qiet is the new loud (simon and garf-esque folky stuff with gorgeous harmonies)

Iron & Wine - Our endless numbered days (although i only got this a couple of weeks ago, it just gets better and better, definitely classic territory)

Red house painters - Retrospective (a best of is cheating, but rhp's best songs are spread out over so many albums)

Frames - For the Birds (still going strong)

Obviously stuff like Cohen, Scott Walker, Jeff & Tim Buckley, radiohead as well.

Jim

Belle And Sebastian
Snow Patrol
Death Cab For Cutie
The Shins
Idlewild
Turin Brakes
Iron And Wine
The Frames
The Reindeer Section
Mogwai
Postal Service

Prob among my favs.

PiE

The Mountain Goats.

*ahem* is there 5 mountain goats?

JC 2K3

1. Meat Puppets - Up on the Sun
2. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
3. Meat Puppets - Meat Puppets 2
4. Pixies - Doolittle
5. Husker Du - New Day Rising


Others:
Meat Puppets - Too High to Die
Sonic Youth- Dirty
Pixies - Surfer Rosa
Husker Du - Zen Arcade

dudara

In no particular order

The Pixies - Surfer Rosa & Come on Pilgrim
The Libertines - The Libertines
Belle & Sebastian - The Boy With The Arab Strap
The Breeders - Last Splash
The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
Frank Black - Teenager of the Year
Frank Black and The Catholics - Show Me Your Tears
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - The Boatmans Call

and that's just whats at the top of my mind

super_furry

Ooberman – Hey Petrunko. The pop perfection of their previous album moved up a step and includes the only Turkish death metal pop song about Butterflies and named after a dancing snake.

Blur – Modern Life is Rubbish. The album that invented Britpop long before anyone knew what it was. Still their best work.

Belle and Sebastian – Tough to pick just one as pretty much all their stuff is great, but I'll go for The Boy With the Arab Strap, just because it's their first album I heard.

The Flaming Lips - Transmissions from the Satellite Heart. Their big breakthrough album that has two of their best songs in She Don't Use Jelly and Be My Head.

Tilly And the Wall - Wild Like Children. Kinda like and American Belle and Sebastian with more girls singing and instead of a drummer they have a tap-dancer. Could be ridiculous, but sounds amazing.

PiE

Papa Smut wrote:

*ahem* is there 5 mountain goats?

No. But if people can post 9 or 11 bands in a top 5 thread, I can surely post just one.

Mutant_Fruit

Jimeatsmenu wrote:

Belle And Sebastian
Snow Patrol
Death Cab For Cutie
The Shins
Idlewild
Turin Brakes
Iron And Wine
The Frames
The Reindeer Section
Mogwai
Postal Service

Prob among my favs.

I have to agree with all of those unfortunately I'd also like to add:
My Vitriol
Ambulance Ltd. (not quite indie though...)
Interpol

See my scrobbler for my current favourites. (its in me sig). If you like what i quoted, and what i mentioned, you'll probably like a lot of what i listen to.

EDIT: Can i put in a special mention for Hope Of The States - Sts'ikel (demo). Its one amazing song imo.

Jim

Mutant_Fruit wrote:

I have to agree with all of those unfortunately I'd also like to add:
My Vitriol
Ambulance Ltd. (not quite indie though...)
Interpol

See my scrobbler for my current favourites. (its in me sig). If you like what i quoted, and what i mentioned, you'll probably like a lot of what i listen to.

EDIT: Can i put in a special mention for Hope Of The States - Sts'ikel (demo). Its one amazing song imo.

Yea, Interpol.
Although they're in a league of their own tbh.

Mutant_Fruit

Ooh, we have an interpol fan. Just noticed your sig

I have to say, interpol were one of my better discoveries of 2004. Its a pity i can't get a ticket for their gig They sold out before i could get one. Hine hint: my birthday is coming up soon

Now, to go listen to Antics (their new album, and damn good!).

From audioscrobblers list of my most played songs...:
1) Interpol - Obstacle 1 68 times
2) Interpol - PDA (Morning Becomes Eclectic Session) 68 times
3) Interpol - Hands Away (Peel Session) 54 times

maherw2

Here's what i've been listening to lately

1.Bloc Party-Silent Alarm
2.Devendra Banhart-Rejoicing in the hands
3.Drive by Truckers-The Dirty South
4.Fourtet-Rounds
5.Les Savy Fav-Inches
6.Mark Lanegan-Bubblegum
7.Sonic Youth-Murray Street

nlgbbbblth

PiE wrote:

The Mountain Goats.

one of my favourites,
the two 4AD LPs are somewhat over polished though.

Zopilote Machine, Beautiful Rat Sunset and Nothing For Juice are Darnielle's best I think

nlgbbbblth

1 Jesus & Mary Chain - Psychocandy. Sublime, searing, savagely intense. Super melodies that have never been topped.

2 Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures. Murky, magnificient and claustrophobic. A dark and brooding record.

3 Beach Boys - Pet Sounds. Not indie or alternative. Still pretty perfect though.

4 The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead. I played this five or six times a day when I first bought it. A devestatingly great and timeless record.

5 The Fall - Hex Enduction Hour. My favourite band and their finest er, hour. This dates from 1982, arguably their best period. Cohesive and hypnotic.

nlgbbbblth

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

Interesting reading and even gave me a couple of new ideas for music to check out (Tindersticks).

they had a pretty good comp out last year - Waiting For The Moon. Get it if you see the 2 CD version.

Otherwise I would start with the first album, Tindersticks and work my way up from there.

The first four studio albums have been remastered with extras etc so go for those versions.

John

maherw2 wrote:

Devendra Banhart-Rejoicing in the hands

He's playing the Village in July.

nlgbbbblth wrote:

they had a pretty good comp out last year - Waiting For The Moon. Get it if you see the 2 CD version.

Otherwise I would start with the first album, Tindersticks and work my way up from there.

The first four studio albums have been remastered with extras etc so go for those versions.

Waiting For The Moon is a normal studio album, the last one they released. The compilation was Working For The Man, there's a two disc version that everyone should own. And also be warned, the first two albums are both just called Tindersticks but both are great so it doesn't matter which one you buy (the first one is the one with the Spainish dancer on it).

parasite

ummm ...
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear The Heart Beating as One
Galaxie 500 - On Fire
Beta Band - 3 EP's
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - I See a Darkness
Sigur Rós - Agætis Bryjun

and a million others :rolleyes:

PiE

nlgbbbblth wrote:

one of my favourites,
the two 4AD LPs are somewhat over polished though.

Zopilote Machine, Beautiful Rat Sunset and Nothing For Juice are Darnielle's best I think

Only over-polished compared to his usual standard

Tallahassee.

nlgbbbblth

John2 wrote:

He's playing the Village in July.




Waiting For The Moon is a normal studio album, the last one they released. The compilation was Working For The Man, there's a two disc version that everyone should own. And also be warned, the first two albums are both just called Tindersticks but both are great so it doesn't matter which one you buy (the first one is the one with the Spainish dancer on it).

doh!
sorry, Working for The Man is the comp indeed.
Waiting for the Moon the fifth studio LP, not remastered. Their weakest in my opinion.

John

nlgbbbblth wrote:

Waiting for the Moon the fifth studio LP, not remastered. Their weakest in my opinion.

Agreed. Too many filler tracks but most of them worked well live. Until The Morning Comes is a great song though, easily up there with their classics.

Basq

Not sure if all of these could be classed as Indie / Alt but this is the stuff currently the rounds on iPod / CD Player:

The Shins - "Chutes Too Narrow"
The Shins - "Oh, Inverted World"
The Postal Service - "Give Up"
Death Cab For Cutie - "Transatlanticism"
Razorlight - "Up All Night"
The Killers - "Hot Fuss"
Bloc Party - "Silent Alarm"
VA - Garden State OST (full of amazing indie / alternative tracks)
Kaiser Chiefs - "Employment"
Keane - "Keane"
Idlewild - "The Remote Part"

Pacifico

Anything by Modest Mouse, and after that check out Ugly Casanova!

Mutant_Fruit

I found modest mouse a bit shouty at times. But they do have some great songs, such as "float on".

One band i forgot (And i don't know how i did) are Tracer AMC. They are home grown talent, living in belfast afaik. Similar to mogwai, except much better. I have yet to find someone who disagrees with me on that point. They have a few sample tracks on their site. All in all, probably the best debut album i've ever heard.

Pacifico

If you're going to start with MM i'd go for 'The Lonsome Crowded West' its an all round excellent album. Brock's vocals do need a bit of getting used alright.... (especially in the earlier stuff)

btw if anyone knows where i could get Modest Mouse - 'Barron Von Bull**** rides again' let me know

Jonny Arson

Here is my two cents anyway.

OK Computer - Radiohead: Not to everyones tastes but a downright incredible sound on this record and some truly amazing melodies (see Let Down and No Surprises)

Up The Bracket - The Libertines: I don't know why this band were not one of the biggest in the world. This album changed my life and cheers me up any time I listen to it. Cheerful, dancy, singalongs. Pure bliss.

The Holy Bible - Manic Street Preachers: I have never come across one person or article or anything in general saying a bad word about this record. This is their essential album. Dark, Punky, Agressive and pure brilliance. lyrical one of the best I've ever listened to.

The Queen is Dead - The Smiths: Someone else mentioned this. Only recently I've got into the whole Smiths/Morrissey thing and I know what the fuss is about. Mozzas lyrics are simply fantastic on this. Witty, intelligent and truthful.

Absolution - Muse: Frightenly stunning album. Incredible sounds and some blow you away rock like Stockholm Syndrome and The Small Print. If anyone doesn't already have this album may I ask why? Get it!

There are so many more I could go on all day.

Newer releases I would recommend to anyone would be albums from Bloc Party, Kasabian and Mark Lanegan Band.

Mutant_Fruit wrote:

Ooh, we have an interpol fan. Just noticed your sig

I have to say, interpol were one of my better discoveries of 2004. Its a pity i can't get a ticket for their gig They sold out before i could get one. Hine hint: my birthday is coming up soon

Now, to go listen to Antics (their new album, and damn good!).

From audioscrobblers list of my most played songs...:
1) Interpol - Obstacle 1 68 times
2) Interpol - PDA (Morning Becomes Eclectic Session) 68 times
3) Interpol - Hands Away (Peel Session) 54 times

Could someone help me out here? Interpol are one of these bands who I just will never get my head around why so many people like them. Their music fails to excite me at all and their vocalist is god awful. I respect them as a band and their success but I just can't get my head around why so many people think they are great. Could any Interpol fans give me any insight as to why you like this band? I feel like I'm the only person to not like them.

Mutant_Fruit

Zane from MTV2 wrote:

Could any Interpol fans give me any insight as to why you like this band? I feel like I'm the only person to not like them.

Its like trying to describe the colour green to a blind person. Some music you like, some you don't.

For me interpol have some very nice melodies going on with their guitarists. I'm really into that kinda thing. I think that 2 guitarists each playing a relatively simple piece of music can mesh together to sound much better than a single guitar playing a complicated piece of music, and Interpol hit that spot for me.

As for the vocals, everyones tastes differ. I think he's got a great voice, whereas a friend of mine hates his voice. The lyrics are pretty good, but i'm the kind of person who doesn't listen to the words, i'd more listen to the sound of the words... if you know what i mean.

All in all, a great band.

put on "turn on the bright lights" (the album) and just listen to the guitars. Then try and tell me its not good

Badly Drunk Boy

nlgbbbblth wrote:

1 Jesus & Mary Chain - Psychocandy. Sublime, searing, savagely intense. Super melodies that have never been topped.

2 Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures. Murky, magnificient and claustrophobic. A dark and brooding record.

3 Beach Boys - Pet Sounds. Not indie or alternative. Still pretty perfect though.

4 The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead. I played this five or six times a day when I first bought it. A devestatingly great and timeless record.

5 The Fall - Hex Enduction Hour. My favourite band and their finest er, hour. This dates from 1982, arguably their best period. Cohesive and hypnotic.

Someone else in Newbridge like early eighties Fall music? Nice one! Although 'Live At The Witch Trials' is probably my favourite...

To add to the list I'd have 'George Best' by THE WEDDING PRESENT, something, anything, by THE SMITHS, 'The 3 EPs' by the BETA BAND, 'Loveless' by MY BLOODY VALENTINE, and BELLE AND SEBASTIAN's
The Boy With The Arab Strap. (Given time to think about it, it sould be completely different...)

Jim

Zane from MTV2 wrote:

Could someone help me out here? Interpol are one of these bands who I just will never get my head around why so many people like them.

I really don't know how to descirbe them. If its the second album your listening to, grab the first, its far superior.

The only thing I can really say to you is that I quit my old job about 8 months ago. A few weeks before I quit I gave a girl there Turn On The Bright Lights (first album). When I asked what she thought she said it was the biggest load of ****e she'd ever heard. I'm back in that job now temping for a week and she asked me was I going to their gig. She said she was going mad because she couldn't get a ticket. Turns out she put the album on her mp3 player by accident after I left and after awhile couldn't stop listening to it. They're now one of her favourite bands.

Give them another chance.

nlgbbbblth

Badly Drunk Boy wrote:

Someone else in Newbridge like early eighties Fall music? Nice one! Although 'Live At The Witch Trials' is probably my favourite...

To add to the list I'd have 'George Best' by THE WEDDING PRESENT, something, anything, by THE SMITHS, 'The 3 EPs' by the BETA BAND, 'Loveless' by MY BLOODY VALENTINE, and BELLE AND SEBASTIAN's
The Boy With The Arab Strap. (Given time to think about it, it sould be completely different...)

I only moved to Newbridge in 2003, originally from New Ross
yeah - I have been listening to The Fall since I boughtThis Nation's Saving Grace 20 years ago within six months I had bought all their others.
Can't wait for the Peel Sessions box set next month.

The Wedding Present and My Bloody Valentine would also be in my top 10 favourite bands ever. I have never missed a Wedding Present/Cinerama gig in Dublin - however Bizarro and Seamonsters would rank higher than George Best in my opinion. Loveless, while undoubtedly fantastic, is not as wonderful as Isn't Anything. I think it depends on which one you hear first. I got Isn't Anything for Christmas back in 1988 and had almost three years solid listening to it before Loveless came out.

If the 3 EPs was a proper album it would be up there too. As for B&S, they peaked with Tigermilk and ever successive LP has been less good (although they're all worth buying)

Badly Drunk Boy

nlgbbbblth, I'm never sure which MBV album I prefer. Depends on the mood. Just picked Loveless this morning because I was in the mood...

I'd rate Bizarro very close to George Best but Seamonsters didn't do too much for me. I've seen yer man Gedge four times, 90, 91, 2005,and in 2004 as Cinerama. At the recent gig, the music was as driving as Sonic Youth at their best. That can't be bad...

I'm a newcomer to The Fall in comparison with you. I've only been into them since 1988. Which is also when I got into Laibach (which has nothing to do with anything).

Alana

K not all indie or alt...but..

Joni Mitchl-blue
Idlewild-the remote part
Good will hunting ost-elliot smith is fabulusly sombr
Aimee mann-magnolia
autamata-my sanctuary
cathy davey-something ilk
interpol-antics and turn off..
kills-
ANYTHING BY THE GODDESS THAT IS PJ HARVEY
liz phair
fiona apple-when the pawn
ryan adams-heartbreaker & gold
brendan benson-lapapulco
rilo kiley-more adventurous
gramham coxon-happiness in mag...
lucious jackson-electric honey
smog-dongs of sevotion (defny in my all time top 5)
whipping boy
Mark lanegan

anything by the smiths, morrisey, pixies, or the cure-prefrably strange lil boys but...i aint fussy, or tori amos's, weezer, mylo argh there are just too many!

PersonalJesus

Take ryan adams - gold out and you have a pretty good list there. Very few redeeming features on gold. Tho Love is Hell is a masterpiece. Silly record labels.

My list...
The Arcade Fire - Funeral
Sons & Daughters - Love the cup
The best of willy nelson
The best of kenny rodgers
Kraftwerk - the man machine
Everything by primal scream after the 1st 2 albums unless you a real die hard
Kings of convience
The sugar lumps
Bjork (esp vespertine)

Whoever mention Tracer AMC was quite right in terms of an impressive debut. Flux and Form was alot of ppls album of the year in belfast anyways. I find them impressive and very talented if a little contrived. But i aint a massive instrumental fan.

Heres a tip, go down to your local oxfam or cancre research and but the random tapes that they have. You can find some really cool bizzare stuff. I once got this guys demos recorded on one side of a cassette and i still listen to them to this day.

Badly Drunk Boy

PersonalJesus wrote:

The sugar lumps
Bjork (esp vespertine)

Why not combine them to get The Sugarcubes, the second band I ever saw live?

PersonalJesus

dang narn it! Slip of the fingers. Freudian one could say

nlgbbbblth

Badly Drunk Boy wrote:

Why not combine them to get The Sugarcubes, the second band I ever saw live?

good old SFX gig
did you go Fri or Sat?

we went Sat. think Alice Springs supported

gary the great

Muse - Origin of symmetry
What an album some of the guitar sounds are brilliant, great album my fav songs are New Born, Bliss, Plug in baby, citizen erased.
I think everybody should have that album..

Placebo - Black Market Music
Another quality album surprised nobody else has mentioned it!
I have probaly listened to this album more than any other. Favourite songs are black eyed, days before you came, Special K.

Other good bands snow patrol, jeff Buckely, interpol, razorlight, kings of leon.

Tyrrial

here we go....

All Time Greats
Belle and Sebastian
The Reindeer Section
The Sins
Death Cab For Cutie
dEUS
Eels
Sparklehorse
Sebadoh


Some New Favourits Of Mine
The Go! Team
Viva Voce
Aberfeldy
Adam Green
Broken Social Scene
The Dresden Dolls
The Wedding Presant

wrafter

Menomena - I Am The Fun Blame Monster
!!! - Louden Up Now
A.C. Newman - The Slow Wonder
Tom Vek - We Have Sound
Cane141 - Moon Pool

mr_angry

For me, the definitive album of our time hasn't even got a mention yet...

Mansun - "Six".

I know I keep pimping this around on the forum, but I find it shocking that almost nobody else here has even listened to it. Considering their first album made it to #1 in the UK charts, I find it hard to believe that nobody else went to the trouble of following up their second album.

Six is a crazy, 74-minute, twisting, overlapping kind of record. Each song blends into the next, and some of them (particularly Fall Out) have weird samples running through them. Each song seems to be made up of about 3 sub-songs, and the entire album is put together very intelligently. The lyrics are witty, and parody everything, including themselves in the rather reflective "Anti-Everything".

If you haven't got this album, you have to get it and listen to it! I'm also a big fan of Interpol and their meandering melodies - this is very similar in that regard. However, Paul Draper more of a classic voice, although he does tend to sneer at some of the harsher points in the lyrics. Some people don't like that, I love it.

Mansun's background comes from a kind of Northern British rock, but has some similar synth melodies to Duran Duran and Tears For Fears. Anyway, I simply can't pimp this album enough - if you love progressive rock, indie, manic-street-preachers-style lyrics and albums made in a drug-fuelled madness, get it. Get it now.

Mutant_Fruit

I'll pick up a mansun CD tomorrow, see what they're like. If i don't like it, i'll come back and kill you!

One band that hasn't been mentioned yet is "Modest Mouse" They're new album is GREAT. Definately worth a listen. Not sure how i'd describe em though. But i'm sure even ye poor sods on dialup can spare a few mins to check out some of their tracks on http://www.modestmousemusic.com/.

"Float on" would probably be the best song on the album, but "The world at large" is damn good too. Check those out first.

Badly Drunk Boy

nlgbbbblth wrote:

good old SFX gig
did you go Fri or Sat?

we went Sat. think Alice Springs supported

I went the Saturday. Don't remember who supported. But Phil Chevron (not Phil Lynott) played on one song. And I've got the bootleg of the Friday gig.

mr_angry

Mutant_Fruit wrote:

I'll pick up a mansun CD tomorrow, see what they're like. If i don't like it, i'll come back and kill you!

Remember to get "Six", and whatever you do, don't get "Little Kix"... awful follow-up.

Mutant_Fruit

I have to say, after listening to it a few times. I'm quite willing to agree that its a damn good album! This is going into my regular rotation. Any more recommendations?

mr_angry

Hmmm... looking through our respective audioscrobbler profiles, there's not that much else that I can recommend that you aren't already listening to. I'd say your major omissions (:p) are:

Vast - Music For People
PJ Harvey - Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
Garbage - Version 2.0

These are all a little more 'verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus' than stuff like Mansun and Interpol, but well worth a listen if you just want to crank out some good rock songs.

Edit: Actually, Longpigs - "The Sun Is Often Out" is pretty good too. Its quite hard to get your hands on though.

BeautifulLoser

The first 5 greats that spring to mind (in no particular order)-

The Velvet Underground - "The Velvet Underground + Nico" - This is an absolute powerhouse of an album with an intense underlying energy. You get the sense that Reed and Cale are simultaneously trying to outdo each other while feeding off each others talents at the same time. Nico is the perfect counterfoil to the Music and brings a softness to the VU that didn't exist on other albums. Some of the songs still blow my mind every time I listen to them.

The Stone Roses - "The Stone Roses" - Messrs Squire and Brown at their very best. There's a wonderful energy and arrogance to this album, which spreads through the fantastic bass lines and guitar riffs and it can't help but to put you in a good mood.

Joni Mitchell - "Ladies of the Canyon" - This is one of those albums that you get something new from with every listen. It's both haunting and beautiful. Mitchell's voice is angelic and acts as an instrument in itself which, at times, can distract you from the lyrics which are both powerful and moving.

Gomez - "Bring it On" - Fun. Energetic. New(well, um..you know what I mean). Exciting. The best debut album I can recall. Alas, where did it all go wrong?

The Smiths - "The Queen Is Dead" - For all the reasons everyone has given and more!

ronano

Manic Street Preachers, Fiona Apple, Nick Drake,The Mars Volta, Oasis, The Cure, The undertones, Thin Lizzy, Joy Division, New Order, Jeff Buckley, Alanis Morrisette, The Eels, Smashing Pumpkins, The libertines, The boomtown rats, Goldfrapp, Rage against the machine, Happy mondays, primal scream, nirvana, belle and sebastian, pixies, jj72, The Smiths, Sparta, At the drive in, rufus wainwright,the stone roses, the beatles, the doors, radiohead, belly, godspeed your black emperor

The new fiona apple album is i've wiated so long

Deadwing

Failure: Magnified or fantastic planet. Thier cover of depece mode's 'enjoy the silence' is better than the original tbh.

Autolux: Future perfect.

And you will know us by the trail of dead: Source tags and code. Whjat can i say, absolute classic.

Deadsy: Commencement. Hard album to get into but definitely worth it.

Joy division: one of the best bands ever. Without them you wouldnt have half the music around at the moment, ie interpol, killers etc.

hada

Josh Ritter - Hello Starling: Definitely one of the best cds I own+probably one of the best singer/songwriters around..

Ryan Adams - Gold: I know the album could/should have been 6 or so tracks less, but still, for your great great great ballad, ryan is absolutely ace.

Stereophonics - Performance and Cocktails: Damn good album that broke the 'phonics. Probably their best to date as well (well im not sure the state of their new album..)

Iron & Wine: Anything by this dude, he's damn fantastic

Pearl Jam - Ten:....

Nirvana - In Utero: This is, and will always be a better album than Nevermind. Nirvana's
best album, period. Also probably one of the best albums of that whole period 1990-97ish

Tracy Chapman: Probably one of the forgotten singer/songwriters of the late 80's, early 90's, pure brilliance.

Karl Hungus

I'm of the firm belief that everyone should have some Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds in their Collection.