Starting your career with a sprawling double album is a bold move. But I'd say LCD Soundsystem pulls it off here. Unlike most double albums, this isn't one you could significantly improve by cutting tracks. The flip side of that is that it doesn't have lots of standout songs. It's just really solid, groovy music for all 100 minutes. Appropriately, on this self-titled album they have already found the sonic blueprint for their career, although it's yet to be perfected. There's the dance-punk, and the beats, and the deadpan, detached vocals/lyrics, and it comes together to form a blend that is not timeless, but strongly tethered to the time and place of aughts Brooklyn. But it doesn't need to be timeless. The fact that it's a very good collection of sounds from James Murphy and company is enough. 3.5/5.
S3: At Mister Kelly’s - Sarah Vaughan And Her Trio
S4: Barrett - Syd Barrett
T: Stratosfear - Tangerine Dream
T2: Slaughterhouse - Ty Segall Band
U: The Four Horsemen - Ultramagnetic MC’s
V: Discover America - Van Dyke Parks
W: Why Can’t We Be Friends? - WAR
Y: Vol. 8: Immigrés / Bitim Rew - Youssou N'Dour Et Le Super Étoile De Dakar
Z: Mind Over Matter - Zion I
&: 1st - 不失者 (Fushitsusha) _________________ Join us in the canon game :) / Add me on RYM
Wow! Just wow! Just a fantastic NWOBHM album that's from Sweden. Their major influence is clearly late 70s Priest (Think Killing Machine & British Steel) but they're hardly knock offs. The drum fills remind me of Maiden. I understand that they are LEGENDS in their home country and some claim that this along with Manowar is one of the first Power Metal albums. They are NOT as good as early Manowar, but they're pretty damn close. I'll certainly be delving further into their category that's for sure! Highly Recommended!
Rating:😈😈😈😈
2. I just saw Ty play at Pitchfork and (non surprisingly), He RAWKED! \m/
Another album by Sonic Youth and another very good to great one. They are super super consistent. I think I have given 4/5 to every one of their albums from their debut to this, their 7th studio album. Kind of wild.
The thing I always have heard about this is that it is more alt rock and less noise and more tuneful and less grating than their previous albums and that it continues a 8 or 9 year trend in that direction and indeed that this is the culmination when they became their most accessible while still being absurdly cool and experiemnetal within rock's constraints. Well, I listened 3 times and I can hear that. There aren't nearly as many exploratory noisy twin guitar jams and excursions, or dank and gross subterranean horror sounds, and there are a few more hummable melodies. There is still a lot of heaviness and grit here, and its far from a pop rock album that the avg fan of such would find normal. But its all relative.
Overall, I liked this album a lot. Maybe I think it falls well short of the perfection or near-perfection of Daydream Nation, that's understandable as Daydream Nation is a colossal triumph of modern music. And yes I think Sister is considerably better and gnarlier and more exciting. EVOL also is more to my taste. This album though is right in that same tier of greatness as Bad Moon Rising and Confusion is Sex... I maybe will like this album on those days when I want something super badass and still angular and heavy but don't wanna make myself uncomfortable, but will prefer their 1984 and 85 albums when I want some more eerie, and nasty music. Its alllll good.
There is one song with some hip hop vibes that I think is pretty cool in theory but nestled in this album is very awkward. Could do without that random thing. Otherwise super consistent track list and a great album. I have added it to my 1990s chart and it wasn't really a debate to do so.
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2.
@Repo, I am only familiar with (as in have HEARD of) one of these albums. And I also happen to have heard it as have you I am 99.99% sure, and its a good one.... I choose for theee....
Okay, I have decided what to do as a "gimmick" for my list, and that is simply no gimmick, no challenge and no forcing myself to listen to anything I'm not already majorly interested in and kind of in the bag for lol - so I simply have this big list of albums I want to hear and I roughly ranked em and then now I will at random grab 10 that seem like either really cool and up my alley or ones that I feel like an idiot for never listening to em. Here we go!
+ = this is the most recently added choice
1. Monuments to Thieves by His Hero is Gone/1996 (This is a classic crust punk album. I have had this ear marked for ages. I add it here now.)
+2. Mecca and the Soul Brother AND The Main Ingredient by Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth/1992 + 1994 (If you pick on of these, I'll listen to both. I got big-ish box sets of these albums back in like 2015 and I listened a couple times and I loved 'em. But then moved on to other genres and styles of interest and forgot about them to some degree and then when I came back to HONESTLY rate only albums I felt I recollected on RYM, I left these unrated because I just feel like they are vague in my memory and they deserves lots and oodles of respect and time.)
3. Lanquidity by Sun Ra/1978 (A month ago I listened to a bit of this. I thought going into it that perhaps it would be a bit or a lot "beyond me" and maybe a bit too abstract for me to dig. Boy was I surprised to find that it kicks fucking ass! I want to jump back in and give this the time and attention it deserves at some point soon. Jazz Fusion of the coolest kind based off the 10 to 15 minutes I heard. And yes, this will be the first Sun ra album for me, friends, so that is a big deal.)
4. Mark Hollis by Mark Hollis/1998 (This is a shameful admission: I have never sat down - nor even stood up! - and listened to this album in one sitting - nor in one standing! I know I know how is this even admissible for someone that has Spirit of Eden high on his all time faves list? Idk. I have bit-and-pieced this album 1 or 2 times over the decade or so of awareness of it. I intend to rectify this soon. RIP Mark Hollis.)
5. Blood Fire Death and/or Under the Sign of the Black Mark by Bathory/1988 + 1987 respectively (Kind of cheating here. If you pick this, feel free to pick one. But I will likely listen to both. These are some of the highest ranked and most revered metal albums as of yet unrated by me. I must have heard these surely but I cant remember much or anything about them. So yeah some of the most influential 80s metal albums are what is here for your choosing.)
6. Where the Light Is: John Mayer Live In Los Angeles/2008 (I am a huge fan of Mayer. Especially love his Continuum album and his live shows. Somehow I have never heard this live album - his highest rated record by far. Seeing him live was, again, amazing. This is peak Mayer in concert and I hear its stellar. This probably won't be chosen by you hip badasses, but I'm including it for consideration.)
7. I Could Live In Hope by Low/1994 (I love this album or I remember loving it. Its been awhile. I sampled it to see if I still liked it and I actually discovered I may love it now more than back in my early 20s. And after falling head over heels in love with their latest, HEY WHAT, i think going back to their beginnings is a smart and nourishing and emotional and smart move.)
8. Ask the Ages by Sonny Sharrock/1991 (I have a very VERY good feeling about this one. I think I am ready and primed to experience a truly transcendent avant garde modern jazz album. This just feels right, like with a melon, you can just tell. I hope I'm not overhyping this in my mind and setting myself up for a let down. I doubt it, I don't generally let that happen.)
9. Left Hand Path by Entombed/1990 (Bring on this absolutely classic and legendary Swedish death metal classic! I couple months ago I absolutely saw the light on Entombed's peers, Dismember, and their 1991 masterpiece Like an Ever Flowing Stream. At that time I meant to now delve into the works of Entombed... but I never did. I listened to the first few tracks of this album newly and thought it was cool but no Dismember and went back to them. Now I would like to give this one the time and TLC it deserves. I heard it awhile ago but I was not a DM fan at the time and I didn't love it just liked it.)
+10. At Action Park by Shellac/1994 (A classic 90s post hardcore release that I have been meaning to play for a decade or close to. When I was updating my 90s chart yesterday I saw this and instantly remembered how much I've wanted to give this a spin. So here it is as an option.) _________________ -Ryan
Great write up, Merc!!! Totally agree for the most part with all your points. I think it's a 😈😈😈😈😈 album easily. One of the best Alt Rock albums of 1990. It would easily make the top twenty or so of year list. Very few albums that I've listened to more than this one. sounds great on a Walkmen walking around the city of Philadelphia! lol.
Psyched to delve into some Pagan Altar!!! 😈
(Yes. I've heard it b4, but it's something I want to digest MORE! \m/
Moment Of Truth by Gang Starr
This is some quality east coast hip hop. Really dug it, surprised I haven't listened to it before. I know I've gone on record in the past saying I fucking hate skits, but in this album they were unobtrusive and did a decent job of breaking up the flow between songs with different vibes. So I dig it. One thing that REALLY gets me about Gang Starr though is how much they emphasize they're from New York. But they don't say "Queens", "Brooklyn", "Staten Island", "the Bronx", etc. so I was wondering what borough they're from. I thought it was weird since usually borough pride vastly outweighs city pride in NYC, particularly in the hip hop scene (Jay-Z from Brooklyn, Run-DMC from Queens, Wu-Tang from Staten Island, the origins of hip hop itself from the Bronx, etc.). So I looked up Gang Starr and it turns out they started at Morehouse College (in Atlanta)... but they're all from Boston. So I guess they moved to NYC and helped jumpstart the hardcore hip hop scene there. Really cool, so they're not super tied to one borough of the city, makes sense.
Well anyway, I really enjoyed this. Gang Starr seem to draw a lot from a lot of different hip hop genres: boom bap, gangsta rap, jazz rap, conscious hip hop, and it all fuses together really nicely. I feel like I could easily recommend Gang Starr to someone who loves Wu Tang OR to someone who loves Tribe (though true Wu Tang or Tribe lovers are probably already very familiar with Gang Starr...).
4/5, this is going into the regular rotation for me, might be one of my favorite 90s hip hop albums.
3)
Gonna roll with NPR until that's done, and going to start rotating through other charts to fill out the remaining 10.
NPR: The 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women:
114. Rumor Has It by Reba McEntire
148. The Mosaic Project by Terri Lyne Carrington *this marks the end of this chart!
Mercury's top albums of the 1990s
4. Like an Ever Flowing Stream by Dismember
7. Through Silver in Blood by Neurosis
11. ...And Out Come the Wolves by Rancid
13. Rear View Mirror by Townes Van Zandt
16. NOLA by Down
17. Revival by Gillian Welch
21. Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk by Emperor
29. Souls at Zero by Neurosis
Noted on the chart shakeup Mercury! Not too much of a change for me, the 2 that fell out of my top 8 unlistened (Gorguts, James Booker) are #2 and 3 on deck _________________ 51 Washington, D.C. albums!
Purplepashranker, rater, & music list makerProfile Western Australia
Glad you jumped in and got to choose an album from your own list Rocka. It's always interesting to me to see what the owner of a chart picks for me considering they obviously know every album well. This is the debut album from a new up and coming alternative rock band from Bristol UK. A lot of post-hardcore influence, a little bit sludgy at times (but not too much), a little bit screamo at times (but not too much), a little bit metal at times (but not too much), a little bit grungy at times (but not too much), and even a bit gothic at times (Half House, An Owl Is a Cat With Wings, Bats for Bleeding). This may make it sound like an all over the place album but it is the opposite case. It's a solid bunch of good quality songs with a consistent sound and tone and vibe throughout, and the variety within is welcome at a time when alternative rock, and to a lesser extent post-hardcore, has become a bit stale (coming from someone who loves those genres). 7.5/10 (but on the high end of the 7.5 region), and just scrapes into my top 100 (for now - that may change with my next chart I explore) at #100.
I'm stoked you found some albums to enjoy from my chart EyeKanFly, especially pleasantly surprised that you got into a couple of the lesser known and appreciated artists (at least here on BEA) like Jebediah and Carter USM.
Not sure whether you will like this or not but Through Silver In Blood is my favourite of these.
Okay one last chart from 2020 (probably) until I return to earlier years. Looking forward to this one as there is a lot I haven't heard (65) but from what I have I expect to like some of these.
Top 97 Music Albums of 2020 by Repo (5 picks left)
1. Strum & Thrum: The American Jangle Underground 1983-1987 by Various Artists
2. Ravening Iron by Eternal Champion
3. Obsidian by Paradise Lost
5. Pith by Melkbelly
6. Keeping Up Appearances by Basic Plumbing
9. Blue Hearts by Bob Mould
11. Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain by Gwenifer Raymond
12. Traditional Techniques by Stephen Malkmus
13. Ricky Music by Porches
18. Silver Ladders by Mary Lattimore
Black Radio Won't Play This Record by Mother's Finest
Yeah, the genre descriptors are pretty loose on this list, which is kinda disappointing but also not unexpected. Then again, there are some fascinating combinations like that Polyphonic Spree and Buck Fever albums. So how much soul and how much alt metal is there? Well, it's a slightly funky 90s alt/hard rock sound, so I guess there's a lot more alternative metal. Mother's Finest in 1992 sounded like Faith No More with a female singer, and were overall not nearly as charismatic or fun as a band. Much less experimental and weird too, which I don't mind, but this style can be very generic if the band tries to follow the trends too much. And even though Mother's Finest mix some funk and soul with rock here, it's still mostly the same old formula with ok-ish songwriting. The ballads were poppier and the singer Joyce "Baby Jean" Kennedy had a more R&B approach on them, which was a nice change. Mostly cheesy, but I didn't mind it. The lead guitarist is excellent, and his playing was the only major positive thing on this album. Along with the title that is, what a fantastic album name - especially when you know the backstory. So Mother's Finest were a moderately popular 70s rock band before going on a hiatus in the early 80s. They reformed and started performing live before deciding to do another album in a more funk metal style. Upon hearing the demos (or some songs or something, I'm not entirely sure), a Scotti Brothers executive commented something in the vein of "you can't release that, black radio won't play this record" which eventually became an album name. Every band member is black, which means their target audience were probably people who listen to "black radio" (or so I've read, I don't really know much about the black radio phenomena). Very punk/grunge attitude, which I love. Overall not bad, relatively fun, but still predictable album. 7/10
(2)
Obsidian is excellent, you might not dig the more death metal tracks, but the more gothic and catchy ones will surely be up your alley.
(3)
2021
JPEGMAFIA - LP!
Grouper - Shade
Lil Ugly Mane - Volcanic Bird Enemy and the Voiced Concern
Turnstile - Glow On
Рожь [Rozh] - Вечное
Lorde - Solar Power
Pink Siifu - Gumbo'!
Worm - Foreverglade
파란노을 [Parannoul] / Asian Glow / sonhos tomam conta - Downfall of the Neon Youth
Sven Wunder - Natura Morta _________________ Overall chart Fake overall chart
Yup, this album goes hard, or to channel Repo, rawks \m/. The first ten tracks are the noisy, grimy, compact songs that typify Segall at his best. If the album ended after Oh Mary, it would comfortably be the second-best thing I've heard from him. But sadly, it concludes with the 10.5 minute Fuzz War, a complete nothing track of fucking around in the studio that eats up a quarter of the total runtime and ends the proceedings on a very sour note. All told, Slaughterhouse is a pretty good garage record that's ultimately a missed opportunity for a career highlight. 3/5.
S3: At Mister Kelly’s - Sarah Vaughan And Her Trio
S4: Barrett - Syd Barrett
T: Stratosfear - Tangerine Dream
T2: Return To Cookie Mountain - TV On The Radio
U: The Four Horsemen - Ultramagnetic MC’s
V: Discover America - Van Dyke Parks
W: Why Can’t We Be Friends? - WAR
Y: Vol. 8: Immigrés / Bitim Rew - Youssou N'Dour Et Le Super Étoile De Dakar
Z: Mind Over Matter - Zion I
&: 1st - 不失者 (Fushitsusha) _________________ Join us in the canon game :) / Add me on RYM
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