My discoveries per year

[dihansse]

Here is 1994:

An album I already own:

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Welcome To Sky Valley by Kyuss
Not their best album because a bit uneven but they do prove how good they are in this quintessential desert rock album and it rises from the 76th to the 46th rank.

An album on my wishlist:

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Too High To Die by Meat Puppets
I recently listened to Huevos and so now to this one and I must say this album is even better than Huevos. Not only because of that great song Backwater which was even a small hit on alternative radio stations in Belgium but because of all the all the other tracks as well and naturally also that hidden track Lake Of Fire which was so fantastically covered by Nirvana. A very good album which combines weird and straight in a fantastic way. It immediately enters at the 30th rank.

[Mercury]

[dihansse]

And two albums of 1995:

An album I already own:

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Wowee Zowee by Pavement
I already talked about that near perfect Pavement concert I saw recently. But I noticed one thing: while they played 25 songs, there were only two of them from this album: Grounded and Motion Suggests. And that's a bit of a shame because this album contains many other of my favorite tracks: We Dance, Rattled By The Rush, Black Out, Father To A Sister Of Thought, Grave Architecture, AT&T, Flux = Rad, Fight This Generation, Kennel District and Pueblo. And there are more good tracks on this fairly long which doesn't seem too long at all because it has a fantastic flow to it with a good mix of songs which are good rocking tracks and more experimental tracks. Need I say more: I love this album and it rises from the 3rd to the 2nd rank of the year. And up to now it's my 2nd favorite of the band after Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain but before Slanted & Enchanted (but maybe I should have another listen to this one as well).

An album on my wishlist:

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Pure Phase by Spiritualized
An album which contains just two ok tracks (Medication and Good Times) is just nog good enough to appear in my top chart. I like a lot of albums from this band but not this one.

[dihansse]

And two albums of 1996:

An album I already own:

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No Code by Pearl Jam
All in all not a bad album and I especially like Mankind so it goes from the 68th to the 45th rank, still not very high but decent.

An album from my wishlist:

Tellin' Stories by The Charlatans
This albums isn't as groovy as most of their other albums and in my opinion it sounds a lot like (not the best) Oasis. There's only three songs that stand out a bit: With No Shoes, the title track and How High, so in general to me it's certainly not the highlight of their career and just good enough to be me in top chart of the year at rank 60 but not much more than that.

[dihansse]

These are the two albums I chose of 1997:

An album I already own:

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Nighttown by The Walkabouts
This album was hanging on at the lowest rank of my year chart and I don't really know why. Both this album and New West Motel (Setting The Woods on Fire is still on my wishlist) are both classics with a perfect mixture between upbeat and melancholy which is also reflected in their respective album art. I both like the vocals of Chris Eckman and Carla Torgerson very much and there's a certain edge to the guitar playing here. The highlight on this album is Prayer For You. And so not surprisingly this album moves up from the 63rd to the 40th rank and is still maybe ranked too low.

An album on my wishlist:

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Lovesongs For Underdogs by Tanya Donelly
Tany Donelly is mostly connected with Belly, a band I was really into at the time (and still am). She broke with Belly and started a solo career and this is her firs solo album. The first three songs really sound like Belly and that is not a drawback. Afterwards the general sound is in my opinion much plainer rock and therefore not really good. There's two more songs which sound a bit like Belly and this is really my divide, four good tracks and 8 somewhat weaker tracks. All in all good for the 46th rank in my year chart of 1997.

[dihansse]

These are the albums of 1998 I listened to:

First and album I already own:

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American Water by Silver Jews
It seems I can't get enough of Stephen Malkmus because in this band he collaborates with the late David Berman. Most of the tracks are sung by the latter and when you get used to his somewhat lazy voice a beautiful deserty world opens for you where every single tracks is great. The rank of the album increases from 35 to 15.

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...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of...il Of Dead
This is their first album and contains some real good punk rock.
The best two songs come at the end: Ounce Of Prevention sounds a bit like Daydream Nation Sonic Youth and the long ending track When We Begin To Steal.. begins with a whisper but gradually gains a beautiful flow. And this means the album immediately goes to the 4th rank of the year.

[dihansse]

My two choices or 1999 albums are:

An album I already own:

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One Part Lullaby by The Folk Implosion
In The Folk Implosion, Lou barlow went pop and on most efforts he got away with that very nicely. This is not their best effort but still a good album which goes from the 43rd to the 23rd rank in my year chart.


An album on my wishlist:

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TRIPtych by The Tea Party
I love the predecessor of this album, Transmission, because it sounded both dangerous and experimental and the Eastern atmosphere was a real asset. This album sounds neither dangerous nor experimental and was a bit of a letdown so not good enough for my year chart.

[dihansse]

For this year 2000 I have only an album I already own because there is nothing remaining on my wishlist:

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NYC Ghosts And Flowers by Sonic Youth
Not their best but still an indispensible part of their discography. It is indeed a bit of an uneven song collection where my score is mainly averaged down by the terrible last track. But the three first tracks are very good and in general it just showed their more experimental side I can also appreciate.
But its rank decreases from 29 to 30.

[dihansse]

Two albums of 2001:

An album I already own:

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You Should Know By Now by Barbara Manni...Go-Luckys!
Another album maybe too well hidden in my collection because it's great. It's a mix between indie and just good singer songwriter stuff although the first prevails on this album which goes from the 45th to the 20th rank.

An album on my wishlist:

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The Coast Is Never Clear by Beulah
Nothing special about this albums: it's just good rock-solid softer rock: a bit of a more upbeat version of the Auteurs. And it goes to the 19th rank of the year.

[dihansse]

These are two album of 2002 I listened to:

An album I already own:

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Hammered by Motörhead
I ranked this album as fairly average but in fact it contains a lot of killer tracks which are as good as the (second) best they produced in their heyday. Walk A Crooked Mile, Brave New World, Mine All Mine, Shut Your Mouth, No Remorse and Red Raw all show that this band could be as gritty at the start of the noughts as they were 20 years before that. So the album climbs deservedly from the 18th to the 6th rank of the year.

An album on my wishlist:

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Strange Bird by Augie March
I discovered this band just recently so wanted to hear more from them and this is also a very good album. Their sound is fairly mellow and sometimes even a bit country (the band being Australian), but they really write good songs. The album is good for the 33rd rank o the year.