Overcast

Not sure why everyone is taking the thread so literally. Was the intent of this thread to make impersonal and predictable lists, or personal and therefore more interesting lists? It could be either way anyhow, because both serve a purpose of discussion.

Anyway, these are some of the 'essential' albums for me for certain genres. Nowhere near as interesting or groundbreaking as some of the other lists are going to be since I've only listened to a small sliver of mostly safe stuff.

The Microphones - The Glow, Pt. 2 (indie folk)
The Microphones - Mount Eerie (avant-folk)
Joanna Newsom - Ys (chamber folk, singer-songwriter)
Slint - Spiderland (post-rock)
Current 93 - All the Pretty Little Horses (neofolk)
Agalloch - The Mantle (folk metal)
Akron/Family - S/T & Love Is Simple (very underrated freak folk)
Swans - Children of God (experimental rock/post-punk)
The Cure - Pornography (post-punk)
Animal Collective - Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished (experimental, noise pop)
Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2 (ambient, electronic)
Beach House - Devotion (dream pop)
Beat Happening - S/T (twee pop)
Boards of Canada - Geogaddi (ambient, electronic)
Carissa's Wierd - Songs About Leaving (slowcore)
Low - I Could Live In Hope (slowcore)
Red House Painters - Red House Painters I (slowcore)
Crystal Castles - S/T (electronic)
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F♯ A♯ ∞ (post-rock)
Grandaddy - Under the Western Freeway (indie rock)
Sparklehorse - It's A Wonderful Life (indie rock)
Grouper - A I A: Alien Observer (ambient)
Bohren & der Club of Gore - Black Earth (dark ambient, doom jazz)
Leonard Cohen - Songs of Love and Hate (singer-songwriter, folk)
Melody's Echo Chamber - S/T (dream pop)
Modest Mouse - The Lonesome Crowded West (indie rock)
Mount Eerie - Singers (singer-songwriter, lo-fi)
Thanksgiving - S/T (singer-songwriter, lo-fi)
The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree (indie folk/rock)
múm - Finally We Are No One (post-rock, electronic)
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral (industrial, rock)
Portishead - Dummy (trip-hop)
Primus - Pork Soda (funk metal, alternative rock)
Radiohead - Kid A (electronic, rock)
Sigur Rós - Ágætis byrjun (post-rock)
A Silver Mt. Zion - Horses in the Sky (post-rock)
St. Vincent - Actor (indie pop)
Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans (indie folk)
A Winged Victory for the Sullen - S/T (ambient, contemporary classical)
近藤浩治 - Yoshi's Island (VGM)
Akira Yamaoka - Silent Hill 2 (VGM)
Angelo Badalamenti & Julee Cruise - Twin Peaks (dream pop, jazz, ambient)