100. The Great Depression - Defiance Ohio

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This is simply a fantastic album. It's acoustic punk at its finest, with a feel to it that makes it sound like punk fused with the great depression of the US. The songs, in lyrical terms, go from historical to political to depressing songs about growing up to songs about childhood. Violin abounds alongside upbeat acoustic guitar and simple drum beats, creating some heavy sounding music. The male and female singers work together perfectly, with both having a somewhat harsh sounding punk voice.

Best Songs: Petty Problems, Calling Old Friends, Lambs at the Slaughter

99. The Other Side of the Looking Glass - Alias

http://criminal.tuneportals.com/photo/160215:290

Some marvelous underground hip hop nothing like anything else I've ever heard. This album is an introspective journey into the life of Brendon Whitney and what made him who he is today. He raps over some gloomy ambient soundscapes all about himself and his experiences, and the album also includes a few instrumentals. This is a very dark album; not your typical hip hop by any means. Definitely something to check out if you're interested in underground hip hop.

Best Songs: Jovial Costume, Angel of Solitude, Watching Water

98. Amateur Girlfriends Go Proskirt Agents - Xploding Plastix

http://www.thesirenssound.com/wp-con...irt-agents.jpg

A perfect blend of jazz and electronica. Amateur Girlfriends has songs that are reminiscent of jazz classics with very little extras included, especially in the sense of drums and bass, but most songs add very interesting electronic synthesizer sounds overtop. An album for jazz, electronica, and experimental music alike.

Best Songs: Behind the Eightball; Happy **** Girls; Treat Me Mean, I need the Reputation

97. Blackwater Park - Opeth

http://www.metalkingdom.net/album/img/d13/212.jpg

This album is Opeth at it's absolute best. It combines their beautiful, dark, bittersweet non distorted, and sometimes even acoustic, songs with heavy, brutal metal. With songs that change from lonely, slow, sad dirges to massively distorted complicated guitar with the singers deep heavy growls, the album has a constant sense of foreboding and gloom leaving the listener absolutely unsure of what to expect. A very diverse album, and certainly not your typical death metal by any means. Reminiscent of their earlier work, but much better; clearly the whole band has improved immensely, taking the sound in a more dark jazzy direction.

Best Songs: Leper Affinity, Harvest, The Funeral Portrait

99. The Other Side of the Looking Glass - Alias Some marvelous underground hip hop nothing like anything else I've ever heard. This album is an introspective journey into the life of Brendon Whitney and what made him who he is today. He raps over some gloomy ambient soundscapes all about himself and his experiences, and the album also includes a few instrumentals. This is a very dark album; not your typical hip hop by any means. Definitely something to check out if you're interested in underground hip hop. 97. Opeth - Blackwater Park This album is Opeth at it's absolute best. It combines their beautiful, dark, bittersweet non distorted, and sometimes even acoustic, songs with heavy, brutal metal. With songs that change from lonely, slow, sad dirges to massively distorted complicated guitar with the singers deep heavy growls, the album has a constant sense of foreboding and gloom leaving the listener absolutely unsure of what to expect. A very diverse album, and certainly not your typical death metal by any means. Reminiscent of their earlier work, but much better; clearly the whole band has improved immensely, taking the sound in a more dark jazzy direction. Best Songs: Leper Affinity, Harvest, The Funeral Portrait

Originally Posted by crazymenrunningback (Post 682177) Holy crap I didnt know about either of these Bands, I love them!! Im deffinitly gona own those albums some day. Alias sounded like a better cLOUDDEAD that was more intresting. Opeth Sounded like some of the best black metal since i Heard At The Gates. Ill Keep a eye one this thread :afro:

Originally Posted by sidewinder (Post 682076) The Alias is pretty good...though I prefer his instrumental stuff. Muted is a fantastic album.

Originally Posted by music_phantom13 (Post 682244) Yep I agree about the Alias thing. They both come from the anticon. label, which is a label owned by a collaboration of 7 bands that describes it's musical style as the hip-hop equivalent of post rock. If you haven't heard of it before, you should definitely check it out. cLOUDDEAD is a collaboration of Why?, Doseone, and Odd Nosdam, three of the seven artists on there. Opeth is one of the few surviving bands of my metal phase where I listened to a lot of metal. There really unique; I love how they add in a dark jazz sound with a lot of their death metal songs. If you want either of these, let me know and I'll get it done after work. Especially Blackwater Park, cuz I'm already uploading that one.

96. Energy - Operation Ivy

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Operation Ivy... it's such a shame this was the only album they ever released. But for a single full length, they still secure a spot as one of my favorite punk bands. Energy is a raw, intense, energetic masterpiece of hardcore punk and ska. It combines some amazing lyrics and group punk vocals with upbeat guitars distorted in a hardcore punk way strumming on the upbeat with a nice running ska bass line and drumming that's definitely above your average punk or hardcore band. This album is pretty much the conception and the epitome of ska punk; they founded the genre and managed to do it better than anyone else ever has yet. There's not a single track of filler on here. And it has some great pure hardcore gems as well; the opening song Knowledge is more or less straight punk. Pretty much the Sex Pistols or the Clash of 90's youth.

Best Songs: Bad Town, Sound System, Unity, Bombshell

95. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn - Pink Floyd

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Yes, I know this is probably a rather unusual choice for a favorite Floyd album. But there's just something about it that appeals to me more than any of the others that I could have chosen. It doesn't have the same nostalgic, psychedelic feel that I find in their other albums, but seems to better resemble Syd's psyche: a fractured, spacey sounding album with songs that often start out sounding very upbeat, but break down into something that is almost scary, with bizarre, clashing, messes of sound. And the lyrics... truly straight from the mind of a crazy man. Written as he was quickly spiraling into a pit of insanity from which he would never return, I feel that this is exactly what Pink Floyd was supposed to be; they continued to make music that was often bizarre or that played off the psychotic side of Syd that came through in this debut album, but no one sane could match this music and these lyrics.

Favorite Songs: Lucifer Sam, Pow R. Toc H., Interstellar Overdrive, Bike

94. It's the Ones Who've Cracked That the Light Shines Through - Jeffrey Lewis

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Jeffrey Lewis is, simply put, a brilliant songwriter. This is a great... I'm really not sure of the genre, but I would guess anti-folk and sort of lo-fi album. Jeffrey Lewis' sweeping acoustic guitar playing on the album has a strangely soft yet energetic feel to it, and his lyrics are absolutely genius, as he tells stories by singing/talking over top of his albums in a slightly out of tone, cracking voice. The album is pretty much split with about half of the songs being more abrasive, raw, and heavy and half being laid back and softer but still energetic. I feel that this review really doesn't do the album justice; just check this out if you've never heard it. You're missing out.

Best Songs: Back When I Was 4, Don't Let the Record Label Take You Out to Lunch, Graveyard

93. The Misfits - Static Age

http://www.mp3boo.com/cover-album/misfits97.jpg

A marvellous hardcore/horror punk album, this is the best thing that the Misfits ever recorded. Again, not a single song I would consider filler in this album, and it really sounds to me like a combination of hardcore punk and rockabilly/surf music like the Cramps for most of the songs, and has a perfect low quality production that gives it a static sound running through the whole album (just what you'd expect from the title, right?). This is punk done right. The lyrics match with the angry, brutal feel of the album - "I got something to say/ I killed a baby today/ and it doesn't matter much to me/ as long as it's dead". Very simple songs, but done so marvelously that this album is an absolute classic, even though it wasn't fully released until 1997.

Best Songs: Last Caress, Angel****, Some Kinda Hate, She

Originally Posted by music_phantom13 (Post 682246) Yeah, his instrumental stuff is really cool; Muted was great and I liked All Things Fixable a lot too. I just really like the dark sounding hip hop he writes, and it's a really interesting album to listen to lyrically. Probably because I really like underground hip-hop and rap that does something new; you'll definitely notice that through the course of this list.

Originally Posted by sweet_nothing (Post 682638) Glad seeing the Misfits get some love around here.

92. Relationship of Command – At the Drive-In

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Relationship of Command is the perfect post-hardcore album, in my opinion. They take every aspect of the genre and simply do it right. I love the melodramatic, howling singing, the intense, wailing guitars, the electronic aspect they infused into their sound… no other band in the genre can approach these guys. I wasn’t big on Sparta, nor am I a big fan of The Mars Volta, but damn this stuff is good. Iggy Pop even appears singing backup on Rolodex Propaganda! I’m not a big fan of producer Ross Robinson (who produced stuff by Korn and Slipknot…) but even he couldn’t slow the raw, driving, angst of At the Drive-In right before their break up. Also, how many hardcore bands actually leave the stage and insult their fans when they start slam dancing too violently? (They played a concert in Australia and left the stage shortly after starting because the moshing was too violent, and later in the day a girl actually suffocated while Limp Bizkit was playing… can’t remember the name of the concert though)

Best Songs: Arcarsenal, Sleepwalk Capsules, Mannequin Republic, Rolodex Propaganda

91. Holes – Melpo Mene

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I’m assuming this’ll surprise a decent amount of people, but I’m kind of a sucker for the whole Swedish indie pop thing… in fact, you’ll probably even see another album in the same vein as this later in the list. I just love the melodic, simple single note, upbeat acoustic guitar sound, the background strings holding down the rhythym, the occasional flute, and the simple non-invasive drumming; but it goes beyond that. What puts this album above a bunch of other things that might sound similar, though, is the diversity of the songs and the lyrics. The verses cover a huge variety of music. The verses of Lady sounds very much like The Decemberists, while Dream About Me, Tropical Island, and Don’t Save Me are essentially upbeat jazz songs, with bongos and everything, and a Melpo Mene style indie chorus. These are the songs that really do it for me soundwise; I love music that combines jazz with other styles. Lyrically, the songs are great too – “I’ve got holes in my jeans, but what’s worse, they’re in my head too” hehe.

Best Songs: Holes, To Be Someone, Dream About Me, Tropical Island

90. Night of the Porch People – The Recipes

http://www.homegrownmusic.net/images/recipe2.jpg

Every couple months, I’ll go to the used book and cd store, and just pick out a couple of used cds by bands I’ve never heard of based solely on the cover. I actually always seem to have really good luck with this; it’s how I found Alias and this album. I think that the best way to describe this is to just say look at the cover. It pretty much sums it up perfectly. This is, essentially, Grateful Dead type jam rock combined with an Allman Brothers Band type southern rock sound performed by a backwoods bluegrass jam band heavy on fiddle. But it’s even more than that. It’s simply all over the place; with moments of funk, bluegrass, alternative rock, and blues, and probably some other stuff I missed. The female vocalist sounds like she could be a distant relative of Janis Joplin at times, with a low powerful blues voice, but she also has an incredible range. The lyrics are also quite interesting; with songs about alien abductions, country living, the beauty of nature, and good old fashioned hoe down songs (haha) among other topics, this album simply covers everything. A winner in my book; if you like jam music at all check it out.

Best Songs: Affected Specimen, Luna Parade, Bonemeal, World Swirl

89. Chutes Too Narrow – The Shins

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I had a really hard time choosing a Shins album to include here. I really like all three albums, but it came down to Chutes and Oh, Inverted World. In the end, I picked Chutes because I love the more straightforward rock sound that focuses more on the guitars than keyboards. There is one song, A Call to Apathy, that has that god awful steel slide guitar sound that I can’t stand, but it’s the only song on the album that I really don’t like, and it’s honestly the main thing that keeps this album from a spot in my top 10 (and it sounds totally out of place, so I don’t feel bad skipping it). Also, this album has Young Pilgrims, my favorite Shins song in terms of lyrics because I feel like they’re describing me. I also think that lyrically, their second album is more simplistic but more meaningful than their debut. Mercer’s voice rings out clear and true over some marvelous guitar, and while the album doesn’t have the seem sort of experimental feel that could be found on their debut, it still maintains the jangly pop sound, and all of the instruments work perfectly together, creating an awesome busy yet light feel. Chutes is also more of an upbeat album than their debut, and sometimes honestly reminds me of the Beach Boys in some ways? I know that’s weird, but on songs like Turn a Square, before the singing starts I feel like I could be listening to a present day Beach Boys album. It’s a lot better than the Beach Boys though.

Best Songs: Kissing the Lipless, Young Pilgrims, Fighting in a Sack, Turn a Square

Originally Posted by music_phantom13 (Post 683135) 92. Relationship of Command – At the Drive-In 89. Chutes Too Narrow – The Shins

Originally Posted by music_phantom13 (Post 683135) Next four: [CENTER] 92. Relationship of Command – At the Drive-In http://images.uulyrics.com/cover/a/a...of-command.jpg Relationship of Command is the perfect post-hardcore album, in my opinion. They take every aspect of the genre and simply do it right. I love the melodramatic, howling singing, the intense, wailing guitars, the electronic aspect they infused into their sound… no other band in the genre can approach these guys. I wasn’t big on Sparta, nor am I a big fan of The Mars Volta, but damn this stuff is good. Iggy Pop even appears singing backup on Rolodex Propaganda! I’m not a big fan of producer Ross Robinson (who produced stuff by Korn and Slipknot…) but even he couldn’t slow the raw, driving, angst of At the Drive-In right before their break up. Also, how many hardcore bands actually leave the stage and insult their fans when they start slam dancing too violently? (They played a concert in Australia and left the stage shortly after starting because the moshing was too violent, and later in the day a girl actually suffocated while Limp Bizkit was playing… can’t remember the name of the concert though) Best Songs: Arcarsenal, Sleepwalk Capsules, Mannequin Republic, Rolodex Propaganda

88. Love Songs For Patriots – American Music Club

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Unlike any of AMC’s previous albums, Love Songs… displays the band developing a new sound. To me, it is a slow and quiet yet at the same time intense and powerful album. The intro track, Ladies and Gentlemen, sets up the album perfectly; with heavily distorted, dark guitars and detuned piano under Mark singing out “Ladies and Gentlemen it’s time/ for all the love that’s in you to shine...” Simply put, this album shows right off the bat that Mark Eitzel’s amazing songwriting skills are just as strong as they were nearly ten years ago when their previous album was released, and the beginning of the album seems to focus on the concept of forgiveness, redemption, and a return to grace through honesty. The music underneath the lyrics sounds like an oncoming thunderstorm, often growing more and more chaotic and darkly experimental as the songs progress. It gives off a very gray, not quite depressing but certainly not upbeat sound – like I said, the way the sky starts to turn darker and darker gray before the chaotic lightning and thunder and downpour hit. If you liked other American Music Club, or just albums with good lyrics, definitely check this out.

Best Songs: Ladies and Gentlemen, Another Morning, Only Love Can Set You Free, Myopic Books, America Loves the Minstrel Show


87. Sung Tongs – Animal Collective

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The fourth album from Animal Collective (the only two of the actual members of the band are present) shows the band taking a poppier turn. That’s not to say this album lacks any of the psychedelic, transcendental, even spiritual sound of their previous works, but listeners can actually easily make out the melody and lyrics whereas these things took more of a back seat in their other more experimental music. They create a sound that strongly resembles childhood; the innocence and simplicity of being young. For example, Kids on Holiday displays the everyday occurrence of taking a vacation in a perfect description of childhood excitement and adult anxiety, blending two very different attitudes into one simple story. My favorite song, Who Could Win a Rabbit, is filled with nonsensical seemingly random lyrics and quick, speedy music that rushes throughout until the very end of the song.

Best Songs: Who Could Win a Rabbit, Winters Love, Kids on Holiday, Mouth Wooed Her


86. Nevermind – Nirvana

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Nirvana’s release of Nevermind launched what had been alternative as in non-mainstream music into the mainstream. I’d say that this was the pivotal point where alternative music became more a specific type of music than simply meaning alternatives to the popular music of the time. I don’t really think there’s too much I need to describe here, so I won’t.

Best Songs: Smells Like Teen Spirit, Lithium, Territorial Pissings


85. Ocean Rain – Echo and the Bunnymen

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Echo and the Bunnymen shine on this album. With more of an upbeat feel than some of their contemporaries, Ocean Rain is, simply put, a post punk masterpiece. Since I’m only doing my top ten albums for now, this is way up at 85 but it easily makes it into my top 25. Echo and the Bunnymen use quite a few less than normal instruments in this album, including a harp and quite a lot of strings instruments (would that include the harp?). Also has some entertaining lyrics: “And the yo-yo man/Always up and down/Take me to the end of your tether” cue quick staccato violin! This is a fantastic album that I would say sums up a band that was playing a genre where a lot of bands ended up stuck in the same old sound, and redoing it in their own unique way. They also don’t use a synthesizer, something you don’t find too much in 80’s new wave type bands, but that helps in the band creating themselves. A post punk/new wave must have.

Best Songs: The Yo-Yo Man, Crystal Days, My Kingdom, Angels and Devils

Originally Posted by music_phantom13 (Post 685014) A 86. Nevermind – Nirvana Nirvana’s release of Nevermind launched what had been alternative as in non-mainstream music into the mainstream. I’d say that this was the pivotal point where alternative music became more a specific type of music than simply meaning alternatives to the popular music of the time. I don’t really think there’s too much I need to describe here, so I won’t. Best Songs: Smells Like Teen Spirit, Lithium, Territorial Pissings

Originally Posted by Rickenbacker (Post 685116) No, this. http://www.tahinpekmez.org/uploads/i...ument_No_5.jpg then this. http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0...CLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Originally Posted by music_phantom13 (Post 684788) I honestly don't know anything by Ross Robinson other than that he's produced some stuff by Korn, Slipknot, and this cd. So that's a kind of biased opinion I have of him. What else has he worked on (excluding any other nu metal type stuff)? Maybe I'll check it out. Four more coming up today soon if I can manage! I'm still really busy what with work and all but I'm slowly working my through everything.

Originally Posted by music_phantom13 (Post 682063) [CENTER]100. The Great Depression - Defiance Ohio http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/...V51600076_.jpg This is simply a fantastic album. It's acoustic punk at its finest, with a feel to it that makes it sound like punk fused with the great depression of the US. The songs, in lyrical terms, go from historical to political to depressing songs about growing up to songs about childhood. Violin abounds alongside upbeat acoustic guitar and simple drum beats, creating some heavy sounding music. The male and female singers work together perfectly, with both having a somewhat harsh sounding punk voice. Best Songs: Petty Problems, Calling Old Friends, Lambs at the Slaughter

Originally Posted by dreadnaught (Post 685194) Good choices. I think Chutes Too Narrow is generally underrated by Shins fans, it's good to see it rates highly with someone else. Who Could Win A Rabbit is probably my favorite AC song, it really stands out from the rest of the album.

Originally Posted by shiseido red (Post 685233) Yeah he's done a lot of ****ty nu-metal stuff but the Korn and Slipknot albums he have produced are pretty okay (I'm not a huge fan of either band but respect what he's done with those albums). Pretty sure he also did one of the Cure's albums too, not sure which one though. Anyway, keep the reviews coming! :)

Originally Posted by +81 (Post 685604) With all of these threads, would I suck if I made one sometime?

Originally Posted by jackhammer (Post 686123) You are more than welcome to make a similar thread.

84. The Price of Existence - All Shall Perish

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This is, simply put, metalcore to make your ears bleed. And damn, is it good. I'm really not a big metal fan at all these days; I was into it a lot back in the middle of high school but only a few bands have been worthy of remaining in my playlist, and this is the death/metalcore that gets to stay. With two vocalists, one that does low, demonic growls and another that does the higher grunts working in unison, they created a vocal sound that couldn't be rivaled by any of their competition in the genre. Their genre simply blows my mind; at times pumping out blast beats faster than I can comprehend and then immediately breaking down to painfully slow, intense rhythms the next second. These guys are truly technically talented, and it shows in their music. There isn't a single moment on the album where a listener has time to get bored; the band is constantly speeding up, changing tempo, and flying into breakdowns that slow down so abruptly it articulates the sound of someone slamming the brakes in their car to avoid an accident. Plus, with the heavily distorted, crunchy down tuned to b guitars, the music is 100% brutal.

Best Songs: Eradication, Wage Slaves, Prisoner of War, Promises

83. Aoxomoxoa - The Grateful Dead

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All right, yes, I know a lot of people might consider this a strange choice for a Grateful Dead album, especially over American Beauty. But for me, this is the ideal Grateful Dead; a collection of their greatest hits, and the epitome of their experimental era (in case you haven't notice, I love experimental sounding stuff). This album contains several of their best known hits (St. Stephen, China Cat Sunflower) but also includes some of their songs that I think are vastly overlooked by non Deadheads (casual Dead listeners that have just Skeletons in the Closet or American Beauty), namely the acoustic marvel Mountains of the Moon and Cosmic Charlie's. What's Become of the Baby is, simply put, a song for drugs. If you listen to this song sober, it really kind of sucks. But I'm telling you - take acid or eat some shrooms and it's like you're listening to something completely different. The lyrics are simply grand, and it was just a very misunderstood song (as far as I can tell, most people don't like it). In 1996, this was re-released on cd with three over ten minute jams and a live recording of Cosmic Charlie. This simply put this album over the top for me, as it would have been my favorite before. Though Anthems of the Sun does come in at a very close second.

Best Songs: St. Stephen, Dupree's Diamond Blues, Mountains of the Moon, China Cat Sunflower, All of the jams are great too if you get the bonus songs

82. Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? - The Unicorns

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Yep, it's the Unicorns! Looking at the album artwork for this gives one a pretty good idea of what to expect. It's some quirky, upbeat (usually) experimental electropop perhaps? I'm not so great on my genres but I try. This is simply some great music; it contains electronic sounds that really remind me of something I'd hear from Boards of Canada with the aged sound but more staccato, combined with high pitched, poppy male vocals, drum beats that just get your feet tapping, and great syncopated guitar lines that lead into nice heavy choruses.

Best Songs: Tuff Ghost, Jellybones, I Was Born (A Unicorn)

81. Spooky - Lush

http://www.amoeba.com/dynamic-images...rad/spooky.jpg

This is one of my favorite shoegaze albums. Lush, working with Robin Guthrie, take the ethereal dream pop sound of the Cocteau Twins and put it behind even more layers of guitar, creating a rather unique sound with Miki's beautiful, lush sounding (haha) voice sounding out over top. Just slightly out of tune, she sounds perfect on Spooky, using her voice more as an additional instrument than for lyrics. At times heavy and distorted; at times minor key and dark; sometimes just fascinating and shimmering; this is the perfect music to listen to on a grand summer day, at night in the dark with your eyes closed, or while with that special someone. It's thehe diversity of the tracks that make it the perfect soundtrack to so many things. This is a gorgeous, lush album, truly living up to the name of the band all the way through.

Best Songs: Nothing Natural, For Love, Untogether, Laura