User Albums Journey
Exploring beyond the book, one album at a time
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3.58
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2010
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29
5-Star Albums
3
1-Star Albums
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Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Peasant
Richard Dawson
|
5 | 2.55 | +2.45 |
|
L'Heptade
Harmonium
|
5 | 2.83 | +2.17 |
|
An Empty Bliss Beyond This World
The Caretaker
|
5 | 2.91 | +2.09 |
|
Lahai
Sampha
|
5 | 2.91 | +2.09 |
|
Geogaddi
Boards of Canada
|
5 | 2.91 | +2.09 |
|
Up
Great Big Sea
|
5 | 3.03 | +1.97 |
|
Djarimirri
Gurrumul
|
5 | 3.04 | +1.96 |
|
California
Mr. Bungle
|
5 | 3.04 | +1.96 |
|
Fully Completely
The Tragically Hip
|
5 | 3.1 | +1.9 |
|
Oncle Jazz
Men I Trust
|
5 | 3.13 | +1.87 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Only Death is Real
Stray From The Path
|
1 | 2.47 | -1.47 |
|
TEKKNO
Electric Callboy
|
1 | 2.42 | -1.42 |
|
Ænima
TOOL
|
2 | 3.41 | -1.41 |
|
Rip It Off
Times New Viking
|
1 | 2.26 | -1.26 |
|
10,000 Days
TOOL
|
2 | 3.24 | -1.24 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| The Tragically Hip | 3 | 4.33 |
5-Star Albums (29)
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Popular Reviews
Future Islands · 4 likes
5/5
Great record. Great record
One of the few live shows I’ve taken in post-pandemic was Future Islands, since concert tickets are like a year’s wage now. They were touring for their sixth album As Long As You Are (2020), but I doubt I was alone in anticipating them bringing the house down with track 1 of Singles, "Seasons".
'Who starts an album like that? I just sat down!'
I have a feeling it isn't #1 on my all-time Apple Music list because I mostly used Spotify during the pandemic; that's where the algorithm foisted this song on me.
But as it turns out... they have other songs. And several of their best can be found on this 2014 release.
Samuel Herring's tortured growl in "Fall From Grace" gives goosebumps every time. Apparently that's him *protecting* his voice, compared to how he sang in earlier releases.
The lyrics can be both overly literary and incredibly direct, which is one of my favourite things about this band. Like you don't need the complete works of Roethke to get down with this album. At least I don't think so. I have yet to read Roethke (his works were a major influence on the band).
Speaking of influence, Future Islands really primed me to like O.M.D., one of their musical forebears that I didn't pay much attention to until this album-a-day business. I now have copies of Architecture & Morality and Dazzle Ships right next to As Long As You Are.
If there is a skippable song, I'd probably choose "Doves". :0 Just that there's a better song out there with the "baby don't hurt me" refrain.
Kind of like fellow Baltimoreans Beach House, several of their albums would have worked here. In fact, one of the albums I was considering adding to this list was In Evening Air (2010), though my favourite F.I. has changed about three times since then. But in terms of, to paraphrase a YouTube comment, music to cry and do push ups to, you can't really go wrong with Singles.
HL: "Seasons (Waiting On You)", "Spirit", "Sun in the Morning", "Light House", "Fall From Grace", "A Dream of You and Me"
Anaïs Mitchell · 4 likes
5/5
Not 1st listen! “Oh my god… I get it now”
My curiosity about this album/musical led me to seek it out last year, as well as some Bonny Light Horseman music, a group Anaïs Mitchell is part of.
It’s a particularly odd case, where I felt it was caught between its various genres and influences at first listen. Too cleanly produced for rootsy folk, too dry & deadpan for the theatrics, plus the only voice I was familiar with was Vernon/Bon Iver, which kept distracting me from the story.
But today, somehow, all the threads came together.
The added context of financial woes to the Orpheus & Eurydice story goes a long way in making it contemporary, where the rattles of cello and musical saw keep the songs planted in this eerie, Tom Waits-esque world of Hadestown without overwhelming the lyrics and story.
Björk · 4 likes
5/5
“Pluto” is one of those songs that sounds shit the first time and amazing the 2nd
I very recently listened to this to get the Apple 100 list finished (February 23, yes I keep track of this shit). That's right- the 1001 could not sate me, and I'm chipping away at so many more curated lists now.
Homogenic is on quite a few of those lists, actually, so its absence from the 1001 is curious. I mean the combined editions see 5 different Björk albums, with one axed (Medulla) and one added later (Vulnicura), so she doesn't lack representation.
Now that I’ve listened to it a second and third time, Homogenic is either my second or third favourite Björk album (Vespertine and Post slap). I concede that this should have been in the list, but anyone who heard Debut and Vespertine (all of us), and was at least a little curious about what happened between those records (me), could have likely found Homogenic on their own.
HL: “Hunter”, “Jóga”, “Unravel”, “All Neon Like”, “Alarm Call”, “All is Full of Love”, basically the whole thing
May 16, 2025
Dream Theater · 3 likes
4/5
September 5, 2025
Half the songs are over 8 minutes, and the thing is still less than an hour. For a metal/prog band, that's efficiency!
My only real exposure to Dream Theater has been "Pull Me Under", from Guitar Hero IV, but I'm looking forward to hearing more!
Whoa the lead singer is a Canuck, instant 5 stars
"Surrounded" is exactly the kind of maximalist madness I want from these kinds of bands. AOR power ballad + Dreamy synth + over-the-top guitar shenanigans. More Whitesnake than Metallica, but still
Daft Punk · 3 likes
4/5
June 22, 2025
Alright Daft Punk fan, you win & I'll tell you why: the revamped versions of songs I disliked in Homework, like "Rollin' and Scratchin'" and "Rock'n Roll" are redeemed here- as are Human After All tracks like "Technologic".
Or they just hit live; on that note, the crowd singing along to the wordless melodies adds to the experience, going against my usual stance of "studio version better, no audience".
"One More Time/Music Sounds Better With You" is a great finale
4-Star Albums (162)
1-Star Albums (3)
All Ratings
The Weeknd
4/5
I promised myself I'd give some space between the end of the main list and the start but
Ladies and gentlemen... the Weeknd
March 27, 2025
(5 years of this album holay)
I'm of the opinion that the trilogy, including this, Dawn FM and Hurry Up Tomorrow are solid as fuck- though my favourite is Dawn FM :)
The thick, hazy, cinematic synths present in this one provide a template for those other two albums, so this would be the logical choice.
What can I say about “Blinding Lights”? That song follows me everywhere I go, up to and including my dreams.
I can’t really complain though, because one of my favourite pop songs from lockdown was “Save Your Tears”, which like “Blinding Lights” was co-written with Max Martin/Oscar Holter 🇸🇪
I could nitpick on which Weeknd should be on the 1001, but this one works just fine. Just wish it started and ended in a more concise manner
HL: "Hardest to Love", "Scared to Live", “Faith”, "Save Your Tears", “Until I Bleed Out”
Jimmy Eat World
4/5
March 29, 2025
HL: "Table For Glasses", "Lucky Denver Mint", "Your New Aesthetic", "Ten", "Just Watch the Fireworks", title track
They have more songs besides "The Middle"?
While listening to this, my brain drew comparisons to post-Britpop like Coldplay, Travis & Doves, but that's more the fault of the 1001 for not really giving heed to the emo subgenre, or my fault for not listening to much emo on my own.
Initially I didn't think it had the chops to wow me over 70 minutes, but take out the 2 bonus tracks, and after realizing that "Goodbye Sky Harbor" is just a really long coda, I concluded it's pretty standard length for a CD release.
Clarity has a really great 3 song run at the beginning, but doesn't lose too much momentum after that. It does the sugary, strings + glockenspiel stuff as well as the power-chord-chugging tunes. Perhaps credit is due to Trombino, the producer who also worked on the Drive Like Jehu & Rocket From the Crypt from the OG list, for making it all flow so nicely.
In sum- lots to enjoy about the more melodic side of emo.
Anaïs Mitchell
5/5
Not 1st listen! “Oh my god… I get it now”
My curiosity about this album/musical led me to seek it out last year, as well as some Bonny Light Horseman music, a group Anaïs Mitchell is part of.
It’s a particularly odd case, where I felt it was caught between its various genres and influences at first listen. Too cleanly produced for rootsy folk, too dry & deadpan for the theatrics, plus the only voice I was familiar with was Vernon/Bon Iver, which kept distracting me from the story.
But today, somehow, all the threads came together.
The added context of financial woes to the Orpheus & Eurydice story goes a long way in making it contemporary, where the rattles of cello and musical saw keep the songs planted in this eerie, Tom Waits-esque world of Hadestown without overwhelming the lyrics and story.
Shania Twain
3/5
March 31st 2025
HL: "Man! I Feel Like a Woman", title track, "From This Moment On", "That Don't Impress Me Much"
I feel like I'm not as enthusiastic for this one for reasons beside the music. There's a reason many of these songs still endure after almost thirty years (at least in Canada), but much of the time that I'm listening to this I imagine a darkened community centre, floor sticky from all the spilled booze, where everyone does the boot scoot n' boogie because that's the only socially acceptable dance.
Shania opens this album with an all-time banger though, so can't complain about that
Gang of Youths
4/5
Definitely the album I know the least about so far, after commercial smashes from the Weeknd & Shania Twain. Thought of Gang of Four & Young Marble Giants (Colossal Youth) from the name, but so far it’s closer in sound to Arcade Fire and Bleachers.
I guess Australian rock hasn’t broken into the Canadian mainstream as much as I thought, though they sure tried in the 80s (INXS, Crowded House)
The man can sing- the partly-screamed vocals in “Atlas Drowned” sound like a different person than the baritone of “Achilles”
I’m wishy-washy on music that is custom fit for a stadium, but as with Arcade Fire & U2, I find this very enjoyable. The emotional hills and valleys make the almost 80-min run time worth it
HL: “Fear and Trembling”, "What Can I Do If the Fire Goes Out?", “Achilles Come Down”, "The Heart is a Muscle", "Le réel", "Say Yes to Life"
later on March 31
THE SPORTS
3/5
Another Australian band I am not familiar with!
This would be great pairing with a contemporary album: Don’t Throw Stones -> Glass Houses (Billy Joel, 1980)
I enjoyed the first few songs the best, though it's pretty consistent throughout. The comparisons to other 70s bands started to enter my mind, uninvited, around side 2. Although based on the quality of the musicianship and lead singer, I prefer it to a few of the prior entries, for instance the Stranglers & Blockheads
3.5
HL: title track, "Thru the Window", "Suspicious Minds", "Tired of Me", "Big Sleep"
April 1, 2025
Margot & The Nuclear So And So's
3/5
Melbourne yesterday, Indianapolis today with Margot & the Nuclear So and So's!
"I wanna gouge out your eyes"- least psychopathic indie band
A couple great songs- see below- but a lot more okay ones in my eyes(ears). It helps that I'm already drawn to this sort of semi-acoustic indie rock.
If you enjoy this I recommend Harlequin Dream by Boy & Bear (2013).
HL: "Pages Written on a Wall", "Broadripple Is Burning", "German Motor Car"
April 2, 2025
Pedro The Lion
4/5
April 7, 2025
HL: “Rapture”, “Penetration”, “Indian Summer”, “Rehearsal”
Today’s AOTD is from David Bazan, of Seattle!
I had misgivings about the opener “Options”, thinking I was about to go down a muddy road towards beige, 2000s post-grunge. Then the ironically upbeat “Rapture” immediately shatters that expectation.
What could have been a simple morality play about the sin of infidelity is complicated by the dejected final couple of tracks- seeming neither sympathetic nor damning to the “protagonist”.
Though it’s not an easy listen, it is a pretty impressive concept album from a time and genre (90s/00s slowcore) I haven’t been particularly interested in.
4* for now
Jellyfish
4/5
April 8, 2025
I knew a LITTLE Jellyfish before today, just from letting the Algorithm guide me. Spotify gave me “Russian Hill”, and Apple Music has an “Inspired By Queen” playlist that features “Joining a Fan Club”. Both are from this album, so it’s no surprise that I enjoy this.
I’ll have to ponder on this further, but it may be genius. *May*
If I was in a band and released this 4 years after forming, I’d also maybe think ‘where do you even go from here’
Jai Paul
3/5
April 9, 2025
HL: "Jasmine", "Str8 Outta Mumbai", "Crush", "100,000"
I wish I didn't spoil the lore for myself before listening, because I'm still trying to fill in the gaps of what a finished "Bait Ones" would sound like.
Maybe down the road I can fully appreciate it as a standalone, but for now I feel blueballed by this clearly innovative take on electronic pop.
Like "Chix" sounds like it's gonna be my favourite song, and then it just ends >:0
3 stars, not because it's merely okay, but because it has so much potential it makes me mad >:0
Gurrumul
5/5
April 10, 2025
wa wa wee wa
Transvision Vamp
3/5
April 12, 2025
HL: “Hanging Out With Halo Jones”, “Sister Moon”, “I Want Your Love”
I can’t believe this is how I find out that Andy Warhol is dead ;(
Decent mix of ‘70s rock n’ roll with ‘80s production. The robotic monologue that kicks off “Trash City” sets a level of camp that nothing else here can live up to
3/5
April 13, 2025
HL: “It’s a Motherfucker”, title track, “I Like Birds”, “Grace Kelly Blues”
Eels #2!
A pleasant listen, and one that strays enough from Beautiful Freak’s glummer atmosphere for me to understand it being here.
I wasn’t immediately in love, despite a lot of the individual elements in it- the sweet brass in track 1, the melodies, the humour- seemingly being perfect for a nice April afternoon.
“It’s a Motherfucker” may have unseated “Flower” as my favourite Eels song, though.
3.5
Status Quo
3/5
April 15th again
HL: “A Year”, “Paper Plane”, the Doors cover
I remember seeing a documentary on Status Quo years ago, about how big they are in the UK, only to be underwhelmed by the actual music.
This is decent, but amidst the T-Rexes, Stones, Deep Purples, Mott the Hooples and Eric Claptons already crowding the scene, it just registers as a bit of dumb fun.
I guess there’s nothin’ wrong with that
There IS a British, boogie rock outfit that’s sorely missing from the OG list. Their name: Foghat
Tori Amos
4/5
April 15, 2025
HL: “Bells For Her”, “The Wrong Band”, “The Waitress”, “Cornflake Girl”
A few recent listens have been releases from an artist already on the original list. And while I think this doesn’t quite leave the shadow of her previous album Little Earthquakes, Under the Pink is the best example yet of somebody who could have been better represented. This is grand and lush, while still being pretty idiosyncratic and off-kilter.
I’m going to Google some lyrics now, and feel pretty dumb about not knowing what a cornflake girl is
Robyn Hitchcock
3/5
April 11, 2025
HL: "Chinese Water Python" (instrumental), “Linctus House”, “Glass Hotel”, “Sweet Ghost of Light” (bonus)
Ranges from nonsense poetry (“Certainly Cliquot”) to more lucid moments (“Executioner”, “Aquarium”), but much is still up to interpretation. I also revisited Hitchcock’s album on the original list, Underwater Moonlight, and remembered how little I understood his lyrics back then. I guess omitting the harmonies, punky rhythms and psychedelic noise of the Soft Boys makes me engage with his surrealist turns of phrase in a way I haven’t before.
I can see this growing on me with time. He’s coming to my city this year, and I will admit, this piqued my interest a smidge
3.5 and rising
Scraping Foetus off the Wheel
3/5
April 19, 2025
The fact that this guy has collaborated with Nick Cave, The The & Einsturzende Neubaten shouldn’t surprise me, because so far, Nail evokes all 3. Particularly the last two.
An abrasive and ugly album, but also somehow arranged like an operetta, with instrumental flourishes and an explosive finale.
I didn’t love it today, but I respect its convention-shattering ways.
TOOL
2/5
Primus
4/5
April 14th, 2025
HL: “Sgt. Baker”, “American Life”, “Tommy the Cat”, “Fish On”
Only knew this band as the ones who made the South Park song. Wasn’t particularly *excited*, but definitely curious.
The mix of funk metal with more esoteric, avant-garde elements sounds like a recipe for sensory overload. Not today 🫡
While enjoyable on its own merits, it oughta be in the book just to prove the Residents’ Duck Stab was actually influential, and not just an isolated curio from the 70s
Adam Green
3/5
April 21, 2025
HL: title track, “Who’s Your Boyfriend”, “Choke on a Cock”, “Losing on a Tuesday”
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
4/5
April 16, 2025
Bob fookin Seger
4 all-time hits and 5 decent tracks that keep the good times going
Damien Rice
4/5
April 17, 2025
Own this CD (bought it because it has "Cannonball", a song I learned from a busker in Galway) Listening to it for the 1st time today, though
Mixed feelings about “Delicate” as an intro to the album; it’s aggressively gentle. But after the album ended, on the strange 3-part final track, I have to take off my hat to Mr. Rice (and also Ms Hannigan) for how the whole album is structured. Stable and melodic at first, but then more unpredictable as the relationship disintegrates.
Procol Harum
4/5
I knew “Conquistador”* and “A Whiter Shade of Pale” before today; I adore Brooker’s vocals, particularly in the latter, so I was surprised at how much this album is sung by other members of the band.
However Fisher’s voice in the symphonic “Hesperus” and “Pilgrims Progress” works just fine.
Procul Harum (also the Moody Blues!) are from a time of early prog that the List instead represented with bands like Spirit and Traffic. I wouldn’t knock out either of those bands for A Salty Dog, but I do appreciate it for those aforementioned symphonic/prog elements, as well as the yearning for the sea. Oh I yearn, Jerry
HL: title track, “Boredom”, “All This and More”, “Pilgrims Progress”
April 18, 2025
*co-starring the EDMONTON Symphony Orchestra, yay Canada
notice us please 🍁 🍁 🍁
Richard Dawson
5/5
April 20, 2025
This is either a cacophonous experiment gone awry or one of the best albums I’ve heard in a while.
Fuck it, it’s both
The Upsetters
4/5
April 24, 2025
HL: "Zion's Blood", "Dread Lion", title track
Incredible album cover
There really is a strange lack of dub on the original list. Sure you hear its influences a lot, in the Specials, the Sabres of Paradise, David Holmes, Public Image Ltd.- the list goes on.
Kinda like another album within the genre, East of the River Nile (Pablo), I spaced the hell out while listening to it, but in a good way :)
Modest Mouse
3/5
April 23, 2025
HL: "Heart Cooks Brain", "It's All Nice on Ice, Alright", "Lounge (Closing Time)", “Cowboy Dan”
Both this & the Moon & Antarctica have been on my radar for a while, at least as long as I’ve had an account with RateYourMusic.
The first time I tried listening to this (within the last year), I got through the opening track "Teeth Like God's Shoeshine" and gently switched to something else. There's a time and a place for that noise, I thought.
Now that I’ve heard the whole Lonesome West, that song is among the better tracks here. Still not in love with Isaac Brock’s vocals, though he & the band do show versatility within 75 minutes. The mumbled “Long Distance Drunk” does nothing to foretell the howls of “Shit Luck”. The pretty riffage in “Trailer Trash” contrasts with the occasional funk of “Lounge”.
Maybe this will join indie rock albums Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and Slanted and Enchanted someday; critically acclaimed albums that took me actual years to truly appreciate.
3.5/5
Kaizers Orchestra
4/5
April 25, 2025
HL: title track, "Blitzregn baby", "Dieter Meyers Inst.", "Christiania", "Jævel av en tango"
My worries that this would just be more post-punk revival were quickly dashed. Interesting use of cabaret and Eastern European folk alongside more mainstream rock. Of course, much of the themes are lost to this Anglophone, so all that really helps paint the picture of a mental hospital are the ever-changing genres & the occasional Bone Machine-esque clanging percussion.
Thanks for sharing!
The Caretaker
5/5
"The Caretaker conjures a quieter, more introspective spirit, lost in his own mind amidst a low-lit labyrinth of ever-decaying and antediluvian shellac phrases. Sourced from a mysterious collection of 78s, these vague snippets of archaic sonics reflect the ability of Alzheimers patients to recall the songs of their past, and with them recollections of places, people, moods and sensations." - from Bandcamp
"If this music was a food it would taste like a single hard-boiled egg that’s really dry"- Dylan in the YouTube comment section
Hi, it's me, the one who brought the spooky ghost jazz.
First off, compared to 'A stairway to the stars' and 'Everywhere at the End of Time', it doesn't evoke horror in the same way. Despite the alienating treatment on big band fragments like "Libet's delay" and "Tiny gradiations", I find the overall effect to be less despair and more saudade ("Longing, melancholy, nostalgia"- Oxford dictionary)
My fascination with repurposed samples in music probably goes back to my Beatles obsession as a teen, with tracks like "Revolution 9" and "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" making use of tape loops from old recordings. However, it wasn't until COVID lockdown, when I discovered both the Caretaker and this generator, that I became aware of the word "plunderphonics". The Avalanches, DJ Shadow, Beastie Boys & the Bomb Squad are all examples of plunderphonics at its best, and I credit this website for exposing me to them. I’ve never known that technique used to such great emotional effect as the Caretaker does.
Ironically, I didn’t have much of an emotional reaction to hearing it tonight, as I was trying to examine it more critically. After all, I could have put Future Islands on this list, or Japanese Breakfast, or the Guess Who. Did we need another electronic artist from the UK?
But then the warped orchestra of “The sublime” kicks in, that one heartstring gets pulled and I remember why I keep coming back to this before so many of the albums I’ve heard.
(And also I don’t feel like absolute garbage like I did after EATEOT)
HL: "All you are going to want to do is get back there", "Moments of sufficient lucidity", "Libet's delay", "Mental caverns without Sunshine", "Tiny gradiations of loss", "Camaraderie at arms length", "The sublime is disappointingly elusive", "Their story is lost" (bonus track)
The Chats
3/5
April 25, 2025
HL: "6L GTR", "Panic Attack", "Ticket Inspector", "The Price of Smokes", "Emperor of the Beach", "Getting Better"
5th Australian act so far on the user list, and 5th that I had no idea about beforehand (after Gang of Youths, the Sports, Gurrumul and Foetus)
I don't care for punk...
...but I like this
7/10
Chet Baker
3/5
Chris de Burgh
4/5
May 2, 2025
HL: “Spanish Train”, “Lonely Sky”, “A Spaceman Came Travelling”, “Old Friend”
The one song of his I really knew before- besides THAT one- was “Don’t Pay the Ferryman”, a great slice of 80s pop.
This is quite different, though bits of synth and strings suggest he wasn’t content to be just a folk troubadour. Knowing he toured with Supertramp around this time makes a lot of sense to me.
1924, lords and ladies, modern day London- de Burgh really plays with time in this album.
And while the production dates it to a specific time, 50 years ago, I found myself enjoying those stories more and more as the album progressed- though personally I like the ones about supernatural beings more than the one about the stripper.
Teenage Fanclub
4/5
April 27, 2025
HL: “About You”, “Don’t Look Back”, “Neil Jung”, “Going Places”, "I'll Make it Clear"
Delightful
Today is an apology tour of sorts; in addition to hearing this for the first time, I also revisited Teenage Fanclub's Bandwagonesque (album #420). I've long been a sucker for some jangly guitar, but to quote me from 2023: "there were a few times about midway thru the record where I didn’t realize one song had ended & and another started."
And I will admit, Grand Prix can be a bit samey as well, though it shows a bit more diversity, with occasional brass and organ. But when the overall sound is so bright and melodic, how could I fault them for sticking to that sound?
Both this and their prior album have absolutely stellar harmonies, which I don't think I fully appreciated two years ago.
The B-52's
4/5
April 29, 2025
HL: "Runnin' Around", "Give Me Back My Man", "Private Idaho", "Devil's In My Car", "53 Miles West of Venus"
QUICHE LA POODLE 🐶
Titus Andronicus
3/5
Bon Iver
4/5
April 30, 2025
HL: “10 d E A T h b R E a s T ⊠ ⊠”, “29 #Strafford APTS”, “8 (a circle)”, “____45_____”
I figured from the song titles that this would be left field compared to “For Emma Forever Ago”. Yet many of the tracks are still recognizably Bon Iver, odd IDM production aside. “God” and the title track aren’t too far removed from his self-titled album from 2011 (though I will add, it is quite the leap from FEFA to that one).
Though Bon Iver’s own records are regrettably absent from the original list, I did get a glimpse of his experimental side in both Yeezus and MDBTF, from Kanye (that Nazi sympathizer from ChiTown).
Still, I needed two full listens to process this, even though it’s pretty short. Critics praised the lyricism; I have no idea wtf he was singing since I was more focused on the vocal treatments and sampling.
Still, listening to it this morning was a weirdly invigorating start to the day. Will keep this in my digital library!
John Mayer
3/5
May the 1st, 2025
HL: “Waiting on the World to Change”, “Gravity”, “The Heart of Life”, “In Repair”
There are many albums I want to like more than I do, but much fewer ones that I want to hate more than I do. Continuum belongs in the second category. Good job John Mayer 👍
I’ve come a long way from dreading to hear that opening track at my grocery store job
3.5
Mogwai
3/5
May 3, 2025
HL: “Mogwai Fear Satan”, “Yes!”, “Tracy”
The spoken word about making up a ‘bit of a sketch’ reminded me of the Limmy Show. Probably just that Glasgow accent.
It has a beautiful finale, the question that I won’t quite be able to answer this afternoon is: “Was the journey worth it?”
It was definitely heavier and noisier than I expected, but I guarantee there will be times where I’m looking for that dense atmosphere.
Just doesn’t happen to be today
Savages
4/5
Late on May 4, 2025
HL: “Shut Up”, “She Will”, “Husbands”, “Marshal Dear”
Another first time listen (well, Wiki says they had one song in the credits for Ex Machina, but I don’t recall if I stayed that long)
As cold and brusque as its title suggests, but also darkly alluring. It definitely sheds the pop appeal of post-punk revival bands from the 2000s, but it’s not all brooding and feedback- there are some genuinely catchy grooves here.
That crunchy bass :0
Went to see Sinners hours before listening to this, so way to keep the gothic atmosphere going! 🧛♀️
Phish
3/5
May 6, 2025
HL: “Bouncing Around the Room”, “Gumbo”, “Simple”, “Harry Hood”
I’ve never listened to this band before today, but I did read about the recent fan poll for the Rock Hall of Fame, where Phish was #1.
Okay, well THAT just happened! This collection of recordings goes from reggae, to jazz, to weird a cappella breakdowns. I understand the appeal, since both discs are great examples of improvisation and crowd engagement. My own jam band bias makes me think it’d be very easy to forget the audience and commence 20 minutes of atonal droning, but Phish seem pretty aware of getting their fans’ attention- partly through the aforementioned genre switchups.
At the end of the day it’s fun but there’s no one track I eagerly want to revisit right now. 3/5
Hikaru Utada
4/5
May 8, 2025
HL: “Blue”, “Colors”, “Kairo”, “Passion”, "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro", “Keep Tryin”
Utada wrote “Simple and Clean” for Kingdom Hearts, a game I have never played, but it appears in the reveal trailer for Sora as a downloadable character for Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Let me emphasize, that song is not in Super Smash Bros., just in the trailer. Yet I regard it as something of a perfect melody, despite only knowing about it in this second/third hand way.
https://youtu.be/KGidvt4NTPI?si=oUTXgG073SUWhYYa Check it out, it’s fricken beautiful.
Anyway, back to this full hour of J-pop, a genre that’s absent in my own library as well as the 1001 book. It’s not a perfect album in my eyes, with not every track benefiting from the mid 2000s techno, but my attention kept getting drawn back to the main melodies, and when they hit, they HIT. Sometimes offbeat and quirky (“Keep Tryin”), sometimes ethereal (“Blue”, aka the next track), they’re the element that left the strongest impression on me. And the production isn’t only a hindrance: the bleeps and bloops elevate certain tracks, like “This is Love” and the Latin-esque “One Night Magic”.
Overall, a pleasant listen. Maybe I’m overrating it a bit because of the novelty, but I definitely plan to check out more Hikaru Utada down the road.
Snarky Puppy
3/5
Still May 11, 2025
thank u for the jazz fusion album, We Like It Here, by Snarky Puppy
Wouldn't mistake it for the Phish album, but both have a way of letting virtuosity overshadow other elements of the compositions. I even had that feeling from Mahavishnu Orchestra's The Inner Mounting Flame, considered one of the very best in the genre.
Then again, if they tour nearby I would pay money to see Snarky Puppy absolutely shred.
*checks tour dates* Not this year...
blink-182
4/5
May 9, 2025
HL: "Going Away to College", "What's My Age Again", "All the Small Things", "Adam's Song", "Wendy Clear"
blah, skate punk, no thanks.
(35 minutes later) there is something to this skate punk
First Blink-182 album, but doesn't really feel like it with how much I've heard the most famous tracks. The *less* famous tracks don't stray far from the formula, but I'd be shocked if they did.
*throws 4 stars on the counter* Keep the change
The Sound
3/5
May 10, 2025
HL: "Winning", "Fatal Flaw", "Silent Air", "New Dark Age"
3.5 at least
The bright synth keeps it separate from the brooding tones of Joy Division and Seventeen Seconds-era Cure.
Would fit in like a glove to the book's selection of early 80s material. Maybe one could have bumped Echo & the Bunnymen's debut in favour of this; after all, they'd still have two more albums in the list.
Earth, Wind & Fire
4/5
Touché Amoré
4/5
May 12, 2025
HL: “Skyscraper”, “Displacement”, “Benediction”, “Flowers and You”
I generally don’t go out of my way to listen to this kind of stuff, i.e. melodic hardcore. But as someone who lost their mom to stage four cancer, I say here is an excuse to scream.
Thanks for sharing
Sampha
5/5
oh hey, not 1st listen
In the wake of Kendrick Lamar's album Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, he went on SNL to perform the song with "Father Time" with Sampha. That was the first time I was really aware of the latter artist, and led to me listening to his vast catalogue of... one studio album: Process (2017). I liked it well enough that I basically listened to Lahai the day of release, a stat this album shares in common with virtually no other (save Mr. Morale, funny enough).
I've mused before how timing plays a big part in how I receive an album, and Lahai dropped not a moment too soon. Besides dealing with the lack of Sampha solo output for a few months before this second album released, it also helped that its jittery, spiritual tunes differed from the more grief-oriented Process just as I happened to be grieving in my own life. Sometimes I look for darker music to match my mood, but most of the time, contrast goes a long way. Sometimes, more optimistic music hits when I'm not feeling so optimistic.
Additionally, I read Jonathan Livingston Seagull as a kid, and while I don't remember it super well, it is cool to see that story as a framing device for Sampha's own outlook on life. It's a small world, etc etc
I get why the rating is a little low; ye seem to underrate other alt-soul artists such as Kelela, FKA Twigs and SZA, fellow 1001 Generator users. The electronic elements here switch from being ambient and serene to borderline overstimulating. Aside from "Only", there isn't even an obvious standout track (Process had the ballad "Like the Piano"). But like many albums I admire, the songs are stronger together than on their own, to the point that Lahai should be seen as a single 40 minute piece. (Watch me contradict myself by listing my own favourite songs below)
In the year or so since I heard this last, a deluxe version came out; while they don't affect my overall rating, I do enjoy the four additional tracks as well.
HL: "Spirit 2.0", "Dancing Circles", "Only", “Jonathan L. Seagull”, "Satellite Business 2.0" (bonus track), "Re-Entry" (bonus track)
May 11, 2025
Boy Azooga
4/5
May 15, 2025 again
HL: "Breakfast Epiphany", "Hangover Square", "Waitin'", "Face Behind Her Cigarette", "Jerry"
This is their only album & their website is down, so I feared the worst for this band-- until their Instagram revealed they're still kicking and doing shows around Cardiff, so-- good for them.
The info under the YouTube comment for "Breakfast Epiphany" cites such inspirations as diverse as Caribou (a CANADIAN), Serge Gainsbourg & Broadcast, so it's a perfect intro to the rest of the album and its chill blend of alt-rock.
Hope the 2nd album is even better
Slowdive
4/5
Not 1st listen
The worst thing about hearing it that first time was being distracted by its placement on the RateYourMusic. I like it more than a lot of the 1990s section of the 1001, but #40? Of all time? 💿 Nothing could live up to that.
Ah well- there are much more confusing-to-me placements on that chart than Souvlaki, and for what it’s worth, I think it’s a beautiful and well-put together album.
HL: “Machine Gun”, “40 Days”, “Sing”, “When the Sun Hits”, “Dagger”
May 13, 2025
Killswitch Engage
2/5
First metalcore album (that I have heard), so take this with a grain of salt
Has an explosive start to the album, but most of the remaining tracks suffer from sameness. CMJ wrote in a positive review that "this 12-track platter never takes its foot off of the throttle", so it's kinda funny that my biggest gripe with the album is precisely that- it doesn't let up. Diff'rent strokes, et al
Lead vocalist Jesse Leach has three modes that are pretty different from each other: sing, shout, and GROWWL, but it's that last one that is both the most frequently used AND my least favourite style. Still, if I didn't watch the music video for My Last Serenade I would've guessed at least two people traded off lead vocals.
HL: "Numbered Days", "Self Revolution", "My Last Serenade", "Rise Inside"
May 14, 2025
Weezer
5/5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2tUbVBCzOQ
Not much to say about it, but the people have spoken: this is the biggest miss of the original book.
Ric “the Cars” Ocasek, Rivers’s endearing-loser lyrics, the harmonies, the melodies, they all make for a prime slice of 90s power pop.
After 50 submitted albums, I’ve only had 5 (including this one) that I’ve heard before, and 19 from artists completely off my radar, so I’m glad I’ve stuck around! Good job, fellow completionists 🫡
HL: “My Name is Jonas”, “The World Has Turned…”, “Buddy Holly”, “Undone”, “In the Garage”
May 15, 2025
Björk
5/5
“Pluto” is one of those songs that sounds shit the first time and amazing the 2nd
I very recently listened to this to get the Apple 100 list finished (February 23, yes I keep track of this shit). That's right- the 1001 could not sate me, and I'm chipping away at so many more curated lists now.
Homogenic is on quite a few of those lists, actually, so its absence from the 1001 is curious. I mean the combined editions see 5 different Björk albums, with one axed (Medulla) and one added later (Vulnicura), so she doesn't lack representation.
Now that I’ve listened to it a second and third time, Homogenic is either my second or third favourite Björk album (Vespertine and Post slap). I concede that this should have been in the list, but anyone who heard Debut and Vespertine (all of us), and was at least a little curious about what happened between those records (me), could have likely found Homogenic on their own.
HL: “Hunter”, “Jóga”, “Unravel”, “All Neon Like”, “Alarm Call”, “All is Full of Love”, basically the whole thing
May 16, 2025
Crash Test Dummies
4/5
Oh wow, 3 in a row I’ve heard before.
Also the CRASH TEST DUMMIES? From WINNIPEG? Sound the alarm, It’s CanCon 🇨🇦 🇨🇦
How Canadian am I? (“How Canadian?”) When I was in elementary school the drummer of Crash Test Dummies did a motivational talk in my hometown. And the song is just pronounced “Mmmmmm”- I asked him myself. Surely they love being asked that.
Occasionally in December local radio will play their “First Noel”. It’s my favourite version of the song, no word of a lie. Keyboardist Ellen Reid sings lead for half of it, which makes me wonder who to be mad at that she doesn’t sing lead in this album. You can really hear her in “The Psychic” though.
Normally I gripe about music in the 90s, but take me back to when “MMM MMM MMM MMM” could be and was a worldwide hit.
Arthur Russell
4/5
May 18, 2025
Beguiling
Even though I have recently indulged in the electro-acoustic wash of Tim Hecker, as well as the ambient, repetitive works of Brian Eno & Max Richter, for a 40 y.o. album World of Echo doesn’t really sound like anything else.
Mayyybee Oar by Skip Spence with all the echo & murmuring.
4 for now, even if it is just a masterclass in mucking about
The Dear Hunter
3/5
May 27, 2025
HL: "If All Goes Well", "The Line", "Ouroboros"
'I don't know what the hell is going on in the most wonderful way'
Don't know if it's because my brain finally caught up to my ears, but the 2nd half sounded better to me than the 1st. 10/10 for ambition; has some intriguing musical direction ("The Bitter Suite") but also some songs that were pop-minded to the point of distraction ("Waves")
The War On Drugs
4/5
May 20, 2025
HL: "Holding On", "Strangest Thing", "Thinking of a Place", "Clean Living"
In the two years since hearing Lost in the Dream, and three years since hearing I Don't Live Here Anymore, I've since made peace with Adam Granduciel writing the same song, every song.
But it's a good song.
Was it a miss on the 1001's part? No, though I don't necessarily like them removing Lost in the Dream for newer readers.
Am I glad I listened to this? Hell yeah. This might be the best example of the 80s throwbacks, yearning lyrics and dreamy wall of sound that goes into making a War of Drugs album.
LaBelle
4/5
May 22
HL: "Nightbird", "All Girl Band", "What Can I Do For You?", "Lady Marmalade"
Amadou & Mariam
4/5
May 23, 2025
Oh yeah, after the main list with two Ali Farka Tourés and one Songhoy Blues, I'm what you call an expert on the country of Mali now...
*also Googles what Bamako means*
I think the make-or-break element is Manu Chao's involvement, as his cosmopolitan approach to mixing genres means Dimanche à Bamako is a little scattershot.
But he & Amadou (R.I.P.) & Mariam make a hell of a team. That genre unpredictability works in their favour; and though it's polished, it's still a very warm, rootsy and joyous-sounding record.
Café Tacvba
3/5
May 25, 2025
HL: "El Fin de la Infancia", "El Baile y el Salón", "Esa Noche", "El Cicion"
Do I love it? I'm not sure yet. There's a lot of moving parts, and I'm still warming to Rubén Albarrán's voice.
Should this have been on the OG list? 100 times yes; there are lots of less interesting cuts from the 90's that made it into the book instead, and it wouldn't be a total outlier among albums like Buena Vista Social Club, Street Signs or Clandestino either.
Maybe a 5-star a year from now
The Tragically Hip
5/5
Oh I love it when my album lists overlap. I have taken on CBC's (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) 100 Best Canadian Albums, a frankly bizarre assortment that covers everything from classical recordings, to jazz, to mainstream smashes like Shania Twain & Sarah McLachlan, to hardcore punk. I guess not too dissimilar from the 1001 that way. And my main criticism of it, due to the way I was brought up, is "not enough 80's AOR". Give me Platinum Blonde or give me death, I say!
Anyway, Fully Completely is #13 on that list.
Even though I haven’t the whole album until today, the songs that get the most radio play over here- “Wheat Kings”, “Courage”- have become a gold standard for Canadian rock. And I say that as someone who’s been bemused by the enduring popularity of the Hip in the past.
Overrated in Canada, sorely underrated everywhere else. Anyway this is a 5
HL: “Wheat Kings”, “Fifty-Mission Cap”, “Courage”, “At the Hundredth Meridian”, “Pigeon Camera”, “The Wherewithal”
May 24, 2025
Sunny Day Real Estate
3/5
May 30, 2025
HL: “In Circles”, “48”, “Grendel”
User Album LXIII: Revenge of the Scene Kids
A long time ago in a country far, far away…
The music critics of the BRITISH EMPIRE have launched their assault on emo fans, publishing an acclaimed list of music albums that does not contain one work in the genre (with the exception of maybe one Drive Like Jehu).
However, a small but determined group of Rebels make their own list of albums, bringing light to not just emo, but also bands of the forbidden genres of screamo and melodic hardcore, under the Empire’s nose…
🤷♂️ I thought it was pretty good
Frank Zappa
4/5
First listen, probably. Definitely heard part of this album in the past; songs like “Yellow Snow” and “Cosmik Debris” ring a bell.
Usually when I listen to Zappa, I lament I don’t find Zappa as funny as Zappa did.
However, Apostrophe’s absurd turns of phrase did put a smile on my face today, as did nearly all of the odd musical choices.
28 May 2025
Ani DiFranco
3/5
May 31, 2025
HL: “Untouchable Face”, “Outta Me, Onto You”, title track, “Amazing Grace”, “Going Down”
Tricky album to rate, has some electric performances but also some meandering bits in the middle that I got lost in.
DiFranco the melancholy folkie worked, DiFranco the pissed alt-rocker worked, not sure why those two elements didn’t coalesce into a satisfying hour.
3.5 for now
System Of A Down
4/5
Not first listen. that was last year
HL: "Prison Song", "Chop Suey!", "ATWA", title track, “Aerials”
A good nu-metal band is hard to come by, but SOAD make it happen.
May 28, 2025
Stromae
3/5
The 2013 is strong with this one
"Papaoutai" was really big when I was in high school French- Stromae, ou-t'ai?
Despite not being hot on the genre, Racine carrée is a pretty good example of 2010s house. Both the music and singing style bounce around from song to song, and for a virtually unilingual listener (me with all my French classes) it’s still quite accessible.
3.5
HL: "Papaoutai", "Tous les mêmes", “Moules frites”
May 29, 2025
Steven Wilson
3/5
4/5
June 1, 2025
HL: “Sunflower”, “Dinosaur Act”, “Laser Beam”, “Embrace”, “In Metal”
First Low album!
Better than I expected, quite haunting at times. I figured it would be a depressing hour, but I find my spirits picked up after listening.
Great Big Sea
5/5
Music for yearning for the sea 🌊
For me, this is good-time music in its purest form, and I don’t say that lightly. Even in its least idealistic moments: the frustration of “Nothing Out of Nothing”, the dire working conditions listed in “Process Man”- there’s a warm glow surrounding the tracks, partly due to the harmonies, the singalong choruses, and perhaps to Mr. Danny Greenspoon’s production, who also worked with similarly-Celtic inspired Canadian troubadours Spirit of the West. Though I’m really not sure how much is him, and how much is simply the performances and arrangements.
Alan Doyle (gravelly) and Séan McCann (smooth) trade off lead vocals magnificently, even if the former is more or less the face of the band. I argue this album would not be complete without the latter’s take on the traditional “Mari-Mac”, or the sweet melody of “Something to It”. McCann might have even topped those contributions on GBS’s followup Play (1997), or if you listen to Canadian radio, “the one with all the hits”.
Though I do love Up for itself, it is worth noting that this is one of the rare albums I knew front-to-back before I turned 13, aka when I started to dig into the canon classics like Wish You Were Here, Abbey Road, et al.
Would the simple pleasures of Great Big Sea hit the same if I only came across it today (my 29th birthday 🥹)? Who could tell. Not much of the lyrical content- Newfoundland, kitchen parties, black rum, sailing the salt sea- reflects my own life experience.
Since I had two albums to add for your enjoyment, I used my other spot for something that pushes the envelope a little (Leland Kirby, aka the Caretaker). I kinda envisioned this one as an apology: if you get through the sad dementia-themed ambient one, here’s the coziest album ever written. Or vice versa, if this is too dopey for your liking, boom- depressive dark ambient is headed your way.
Ty Segall
3/5
June 5, 2025
HL: "Californian Hills", "Diversion", "Baby Big Man (I Want a Mommy)"
so much FUZZ
Going into this album, I was already opining that there are too many garage rock albums in the original list- yet the wonky, DIY production and noise rock elements keep it from being too grounded in one scene or era.
The glam elements sometimes reminded me of Cindy Lee/Diamond Jubilee
Bad Religion
4/5
June 8, 2025
favourite song: “Kerosene”
Hm, as my introduction to this band, this is pretty darn cool
With riffs this glossy and harmonies this crisp, am I even listening to punk? Yet, the breakneck tempo of some songs, as well as the deliciously unsubtle politics, does in fact convince me of its genre.
Unwound
3/5
June 11, 2025
HL: "Next Exit", "Corpse Pose", "Lady Elect", "For Your Entertainment"
You can really hear the sonic influence from classic post-punk/gothic rock. Especially Public Image & Gang of Four. Yet at the same time it doesn't come across as a retread of that time period at all.
You know the (admittedly imperfect) subgenres stat for the original list? Well, it turns out there are only a handful that I rated below a 3/5 average- nu metal, hardcore punk, *post-hardcore, and noise rock*. So when I say this is like a 3.5, it beats out much of the competition.
I would gladly axe one of the Sonic Youth 90s albums for Unwound to be included in the OG list.
Edit: person who submitted this album is big on Sonic Youth, so... just kidding!
Vulfpeck
4/5
again, June 11, 2025
HL: “Animal Spirits”, “Running Away”, “Beastly”, every time Antwuan Stanley sings
Anonymous user’s favourite genres according to this website: Jazz, Funk, Soul
Also anonymous user: submits a jazzy funk & soul album :0
I am surprised that I’ve had THREE live, jammy albums so far (72 out of 247/possibly infinite albums); however as my own summary page ranks Funk and Soul at the top, it shouldn’t be a surprise that this is my favourite of the 3. It isn’t as adventurous as, say, Phish, but it is very much a crowd-pleasing, joyous affair.
The Postal Service
4/5
June 6, 2025
HL: "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight", "Such Great Heights", "Recycled Air", "Natural Anthem"
First Ben Gibbard/Death Cab-adjacent album.
Certainly knew "Such Great Heights" before today, but the rest is pretty fresh to me.
Bittersweet (emphasis on “sweet”) electronica from the early 2000s that hasn't aged too much.
Molto bene
Backstreet Boys
2/5
June 12, 2025
HL: "The One", "I Want It That Way"
Packaged on: 05/18/1999
Use by: 12/31/1999
Mary Chapin Carpenter
3/5
late June 17, 2025
HL: "The Hard Way", "He Thinks He'll Keep Her", the "Passionate Kisses" cover, the "The Bug" cover, "I Am a Town"
My love of country music is conditional and fickle. But this is an agreeable enough listen that would be appropriate for a quiet morning.
I have to mention, however, that Carpenter & Don Schlitz seem to have written a perfect song in "He Thinks He'll Keep Her". 💐
Maybe this is a grower
3.5 overall
Bob Mould
3/5
June 20th, 2025
HL: "Anymore Time Between", "Fort Knox, King Solomon", "Egøverride"
Copper Blue, Zen Arcade, Warehouse- now this makes the 4th album in Mould World.
More respectable 90s alt-rock, between all the projects I've heard so far I could probably compile a pretty great playlist. There's just too many songs that don't interest me as much. But, out of those four Mould-adjacent albums I can't recall a bad song, either.
Avenged Sevenfold
4/5
June 19, 2025
HL: "Beast and the Harlot", "Blinded in Chains", "Strength of the World", "Sidewinder"
Look, I'm not an arbiter of good taste, particularly when it comes to metal- but I had fun with this overlong, overblown, delightfully unserious album. Especially because it's from a band I was sure I didn't care for! Apologies to those I judged in grade seven
Type O Negative
3/5
June 16, 2025
HL: title track, "Black No. 1", "Too Late", "Blood & Fire"
Y'know, I just listened to this last year, looking for Halloween-appropriate music. I also listened to Welcome to My Nightmare by Alice Cooper (1975), which may well be my ideal Halloween album now.
Taking away the cold winds, jack-o-lanterns and skellyboys, and replacing them with direct sunlight and a high humidex, and I report that this album doesn't hit quite as hard as the first time.
Maybe the novelty of the wild genre swings and Peter Steele's theatrical vocals wore off, though I will say the album finishes better than I remember, with the proggy "Bloody Kisses" and "TOO-LATE-FOR-APOLOGIES". The thrashy "We Hate Everyone" is entertaining, but that and "Christian Woman" more closely resemble their hard rock contemporaries than the band would probably care to admit. Or they absolutely wanted that sound. I can never tell with these guys.
Jack Johnson
3/5
June 18, 2025
HL: “Good People”, “Sitting”, “If I Could”, “Constellations”
Nice
*remembers that someone rides-or-dies for this album*
Also, pretty
JJ joins the likes of John Mayer, Sarah McLachlan and Norah Jones in my growing list of folky artists I wish I loved more than I did.
But I commend him for his good vibes, and his contributions to Curious George
Daniel Bélanger
3/5
As much as I relish the CanCon submitted here, I really should note my knowledge of Canadian Francophone artists is basically nil. Hence, I have heard OF Daniel but haven't heard a lick of his music.
To make up for this deficit (and to actually make good on my desire to hear more Quebecois music) I'll additionally put on Quatre saisons dans le désordre (1996), ranked higher on CBC's list of greatest Canuck albums than Songs of Leonard Cohen & Jagged Little Pill.
I'm really liking this earlier album of his so far! Still not literate enough to follow much of the lyrics, but the dynamic, lush production really suits his gentle songwriting. Quite different to the down-to-earth, 90's Canadian acts I know, such as the Hip, the Tea Party and Our Lady Peace.
Okay, now Rêver mieux is on, and I'm getting quite a different impression- we're now caught up in the folktronica sphere which we've heard in the OG list from artists like David Gray and Beth Orton.
I thought hearing two Belangers would enrich my enjoyment of both, but my bad- I think this one was overshadowed by Quatre saisons. Not because the songwriting is worse- his flair for catchy choruses is just as apparent here- I'm just not as big on the aesthetic choices this time around. I go back and forth on that lounge pop/downtempo style that was big in the late '90s and early aughts.
Maybe if I actually pull off practicing the language in the "French quarter" of my city, I can return and appreciate his lyrics as well, which from the YouTube comments are no small part of his legacy.
3.5/5
HL: "Une femme", "Un chanson pour moi", "Intouchable et immortel", title track, "Comme des amants"
June 25, 2025 (June 21 for his other album)
Mylène Farmer
4/5
June 26, 2025
HL: “Désenchantée”, title track, “Regrets”, “Beyond My Control”
Turns out Mylène Farmer is a major cinephile.
The sultry tones of John Malkovich and John Hurt aside, there’s some pretty solid synthpop here. Kinda Pet Shop Boys in parts, a little Madonna in others.
The crow actually reflects a slight gothic tinge in the music, as heard in “Agnus Dei” and “Beyond My Control”.
Genre-wise, synthpop is pretty well-represented in the 1001, but the French sure aren’t. I’m conflicted on whether L’autre was a missed inclusion; I’m only just learning about her popularity in Europe today. But my ears love this dark, romantic, art pop stuff, so I’m rounding up to a 4 regardless.
I was surprised to see that she was brought up in Quebec before moving to France. La belle province in particular has been well represented on the generator recently, with *three* Montreal acts.
TOOL
2/5
June 20, 2025
HL: "Forty Six & 2", "jimmy", title track
I'm about to say the worst thing I've said in my whole life...
I don't care much for Tool.
There's a part of my brain that shows up for the tangled time signatures and interesting atmospheres, but the rest is like TV static. Just like zero emotion going on up there.
I do think I appreciated it more than 10000 Days, as songs like the title track & "Third Eye" may have upped my heartrate just a tad.
2.5 for now
Charli xcx
4/5
June 16, 2025
HL: "Sympathy Is a Knife", "Talk Talk", "Von Dutch", "Girl, So Confusing", "365"
If they ever make another edition of the book, I would be shocked if they didn’t put this in.
I still can't get over how the stark confessionals "I Think About It" and "So I" don't feel out of place with "Club Classics" or "Apple".
My own enjoyment of this album was a bit delayed (Brat summer started in like, late August for me), but the hyperpop-inspired, sometimes trashy songs sound just as good today as they did last year.
(Remind me in 5 years)
Noname
4/5
June 18, 2025
HL: “Yesterday”, “Diddy Bop”, “All I Need”, “Casket Pretty”, “Forever”
Starts out reminiscent of Chance the Rapper’s Acid Rap with the gospel-y “Yesterday”, then moves to a gentler, woozier sound that compliments Noname’s half-sung/half-rapped flow.
Chose to listen to this walking through the park, and it whizzed by so fast it warranted a second listen.
Aside from her feature in the aforementioned Acid Rap, this is an artist that has stayed off my radar, so I appreciate whoever submitted this album. Especially since this is, like, the first hiphop album I’ve discovered from this list in 3 months
Faith No More
3/5
Creative, if not my cup of tea.
I’m unabashedly a normie for preferring The Real Thing over this.
HL: “Land of Sunshine”, “Rv”, “Everything’s Ruined”
June 27, 2025
Biffy Clyro
3/5
The Burning Hell
3/5
July 3, 2025
whoa, it's Can Con even I'm not familiar with
Entertaining lyrics, great arrangements, and a voice I do not love!
Favourite songs are probably "Amateur Rappers" and "Travel Writers"
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
5/5
June 25, 2025
HL: "Storm", "Sleep"
Not first listen. :0
This is actually the only GYBE I have heard so far (maybe besides their music in 28 Days Later), and I've been meaning to dive deeper into their work, so this'll be a healthy refresher.
Why have I previously complained about other dark, noisy, disjointed, overlong projects but love this one?
'You got me. By all accounts, it doesn't make sense.'
I think the finer points of GYBE's political messaging is lost on me here, but I am still moved by the four movements all the same. "Storm" is perhaps the most aptly-titled song, since it gives me about the same feeling as watching a thunderstorm pass by.
Hair-raising, heavy, but ultimately a great musical odyssey.
Maybe the reason why Godspeed doesn't feature in the original 2005 list, even though it has *some* post-rock such as Sigur Ros and Tortoise, is that it grew in stature over time.
Or it's their contempt for any Canadian artist not named Young, Cohen or Mitchell >:0
#iloveallofthembuttheydidnotneed20albumsbetweenthethreeofthem
Daft Punk
4/5
June 22, 2025
Alright Daft Punk fan, you win & I'll tell you why: the revamped versions of songs I disliked in Homework, like "Rollin' and Scratchin'" and "Rock'n Roll" are redeemed here- as are Human After All tracks like "Technologic".
Or they just hit live; on that note, the crowd singing along to the wordless melodies adds to the experience, going against my usual stance of "studio version better, no audience".
"One More Time/Music Sounds Better With You" is a great finale
Pink Floyd
5/5
stone 🗿 stone 🗿 stone 🗿 stone 🗿
There was a time when my Dark Side, Wish You Were Here loving self was told in high school that Animals was the superior Pink Floyd; I was unconvinced.
But also one of my all-time favourite concert moments was Rog Waters singing “Pigs” live, accompanied by winning imagery of the-then 45th president.
Waters may have embarrassed his public image since that glorious night, but his special hatred for the ppl in charge of the White House continues to be both endearing and relatable to me.
God damned pigs 🥓
Salif Keita
4/5
June 30 2025
HL: “Yamore”, “Moussolou”, “Koukou”
Sweet
I don’t know why the day/night cycle affects my music taste, but I really think hearing it at dusk-twilight enhanced Moffou.
Stars
4/5
Oh hello- my lists overlap again (this is #63 on CBC's best Cdn records. And Moving Pictures by Rush is #100)
First I'm actually listening to this band; I remember seeing them on TV years ago on, I assume, CBC, where they played some songs in studio & the voiceover talked about how cool and important they were as a band. Well whatever they played didn't convince me, so it wasn't until June 2025 that it turns out: they're actually good.
There's a very mid-2000s air about Set Yourself On Fire, as in The Sims 2 soundtrack by Mark Mothersbaugh era.
It really helps if you grew up with that sound, as I did.
It's just a neat little cross-section of the chamber pop Arcade Fire was initially known for, with concert-ready singalongs a la Metric, and an electronic flair not unlike I/we heard with the Postal Service.
HL: "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead", "Ageless Beauty", "What I'm Trying To Say", "Celebration Guns"
June 29, 2025
Sufjan Stevens
4/5
4/5
John Martyn
3/5
Ni fu ni fa
Like One World with shorter, poppier songs. Not sure what this should add to my appreciation of John Martyn, but it’s some nice n easy jazz rock so I won’t grouse about it
HL: “Lookin On”, “Hurts in Your Heart”, “Baby Please Come Home”
July 10, 2025
Arctic Monkeys
4/5
July 7, 2025
HL: "Star Treatment", "American Sports", title track, "Four Out of Five", "Batphone"
Orbital's version of "The Saint" played after this and I completely believed it was a bonus track. Kooky 60's melody and everything.
I've never been THAT big on Arctic Monkeys, despite them having the greatest band name on Earth. However, between this, The Car and The Last Shadow Puppets, they have more range than I initially gave them credit for, back when all I knew them for was "R U Mine" and "I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor".
(Also I really loved "Do I Wanna Know" in high school but that's besides the point.)
Tranquility Base doesn't really have the element of surprise if one listened to The Car first, but its flirtations with retrofuturism and languid art pop mesh really well.
Next to The Age of the Understatement and Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not- ehh, it's redundant on the list. But it's also some of the best tunes I've heard from Alex Turner & co.
Tame Impala
5/5
HL: "Let it Happen", "Yes I'm Changing", "Eventually", "The Less I Know the Better", "Reality in Motion", "Brand New Person"
Con: this was inescapable in 2016
Pro: without this there'd be no Tame Impala/Diana Ross collab for Minions: Rise of Gru
The Lumineers
4/5
July 2, 2025
HL: title track, "Sleep on the Floor", "Ophelia", "Long Way From Home", "Patience"
2017. The year I saw Roger Waters, The Barenaked Ladies, and the Lumineers on their *Cleopatra World Tour*, featuring Icelandic group Kaleo. That last one I was the least enthusiastic about, but my friend had a spare ticket, and who was I to refuse the chance to hear "Ho Hey" sung live.
They got "Ho Hey" out of the way three songs in. But while I wasn't particularly excited before or even during the show ('how do people know all the words to these songs?' I wondered), even though it was in a big hockey arena with shitty sound, I still recall that concert with great fondness. "Cleopatra" the song slapped, their tributes to Tom Petty and Bob Dylan were endearing, and I'm sorry but "Sleep on the Floor" cut through my attempt at cynicism with ease.
As with Golden Hour by Kacey Musgraves, I guess seeing them tour in support of this album meant I felt no urgency to listen to it. And while I'm no stranger to the first half ("Sleep" through to "Angela"), the 2nd is pretty great too, with songs I haven't heard before like "Sick in the Head".
Ahh, nothing like nostalgia for my 20s while I'm still in my 20s.
Switchfoot
2/5
Haven't checked out this band before!
Ah, putting inspirational lyrics in post-grunge. Like wrapping a pill in bacon. Or with more pills
Not a fan, occasionally threatens to become a good album but alas. I tried to ignore my usual dislike of CCM music, but it kept rising like bile.
I believe The Beautiful Letdown does the lighter pop rock sound better than the plodding altrock ("Meant to Be") which was tHe StYlE aT tHe TiMe
HL: title track, "Gone", "Monday Comes Around" (bonus)
July 17, 2025
CAKE
4/5
July 13, 2025
HL: “Frank Sinatra”, “The Distance”, “I Will Survive”, “Perhaps”, “It’s Coming Down”
Once again, a fellow user selects a 90s album different from much of the book’s albums, in that it’s interesting and also aged decently.
A sloppy mélange of genres that ends up holding together in the end. I knew “Frank”, “The Distance” and “I Will Survive” before today, and the rest of it is about as charming. I’m still not entirely enamoured with tracks 3-6, but I also preferred Fashion Nugget’s second half.
The Hold Steady
3/5
July 8, 2025
HL: "First Night", "Massive Nights", "Chillout Tent", "Teenage Liberation" (bonus)
Based on the cover, the Hold Steady does not sound like I thought they would. It looks like how "Shake It" by Metro Station sounds to me.
Anyway, solid pick! Once I got past the reverence for 80's Americana (which I thought was a crutch for another band on this list, Titus Andronicus), it had the feet tappin'.
3.5/5
edit: ohhh I should have known that name! They provided one of my favourite musical moments in Game of Thrones, covering "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" in the credits right after a particularly grisly cliffhanger.
Pigeons Playing Ping Pong
2/5
🐦 heh heh, pidgey on the front cover
I for one am shocked that so many think there weren't enough live albums on the main list. The fact that it's another preppy jam band twists the knife a little.
Bonus points for the pitch-shift pedal in "Ghostbusters", I always liked its use in "Marooned" by Pink Floyd and it's cool here as well.
5/10 --> 2.5 overall
HL: "Offshoot", "Ghostbusters"
July 17, 2025
Al Stewart
3/5
July 18, 2025
HL: "Lord Grenville", "If It Doesn't Come Naturally, Leave It", "One Stage Before", title track
Al Stewart is kind of like if Neil Tennant from the Pet Shop Boys was born 10 yrs earlier and played soft rock.
Al Stewart's hits on the radio (mainly "Time Passages") didn't click with me like other "old gold" singer/songwriters like Cat 🐱 Stevens or Jackson Browne, but Year of the Cat 🐱 is a pleasant way to spend an hour.
Cat 🐱
Wishbone Ash
3/5
July 16, 2025
HL: “Time Was”, “The King Will Come”, “Warrior”
3.5
Ween
3/5
Oh shiet, Ween that isn’t The Mollusk or Quebec? (Aka the 100% of Ween music I’m familiar with)
Let’s go
Perhaps the lack of sleep I am operating on contributes to the rating, but I don’t think this is quite as good as those other Weens.
(Then again, I didn’t really care for the Mollusk at first listen but I enjoy it a lot more now.)
I concur that this band should be in the original list. After all, 69 Love Songs can’t be the only 90s postmodern genre-hopping experiment!
“Take Me Away”, “A Tear For Eddie”, “Mister Would You Please Help My Pony?”, “Joppa Road”
July 10, 2025
Men I Trust
5/5
July 12, 2025
HL: “Found Me”, “Dorian”, “Porcelain”, “You Deserve This”, “Tailwhip”, “Show Me How”
Made it to a hundred of *our* albums today!
Another piece of CanCon I’m unfamiliar with (besides the name). Starting to doubt my expertise with my country’s music.
This is maybe a sad bar to meet, considering how little time I generally spend on each album, but I couldn’t move on to the next one until I had heard these 24 songs at least twice.
And here I was doubting their ability to make a dreamy-jazz-pop album that long consistently enjoyable! Admittedly we didn’t need “Tailwhip” twice, and a few songs hardly establish themselves before the next one floats in, but when the overall experience is akin to a warm blanket (in outer space), I suppose I can let it slide.
A very pleasant surprise
Guy Clark
3/5
July 20, 2025
HL: "L.A. Freeway", "She Ain't Going Nowhere", "Desperadoes Waiting For a Train"
Solid
R.E.M.
4/5
July 23, 2025
HL: "Losing My Religion", "Near Wild Heaven", "Shiny Happy People", "Texarkana"
wot if REM but country 🤠
The 4 in the original list are probably sufficient to show how their sound evolved throughout the 80s, but I've been relishing this deeper dive into their music nonetheless. I now have listened to every one of their albums between Murmur and Automatic.
Harmonium
5/5
July 15, 2025
A treat.
I noted, when Daniel Bélanger came up on this website, that Quebec music is not really talked about in the predominantly Anglophone prairies, and Harmonium is no exception.
After the grand finale of “Comme un sage”, I was genuinely annoyed that it took until tonight to hear this band. Beautiful, mystical prog/folk. Was a little skeptical of the 90 minute runtime but even that ended up being (mostly) justified.
RIP Serge Fiori
(Oct/25: bumped up from a 4-star. Even though les Québécois have enough of an ego smh.
Growing up in a wheat field puts a chip on one's shoulder)
The National
3/5
July 21, 2025
HL: "Fake Empire", "Squalor Victoria", "Apartment Story", "Racing Like a Pro"
I had a feeling I'd love it after High Violet, but I was missing something from the experience once the first track, "Fake Empire" concluded (probably my fave part of the album).
Like, the Apple Music blurb about Boxer basically describes it as high art for the working class, and... maybe I just wasn't listening hard enough.
The orchestral parts, especially toward the end of the album, were really nice and made the slower patches worth it.
now that the dust has settled, it's probably a 3.5
Gotcha!
3/5
July 19, 2025
HL: "Bonesong", "Love O' My Life / Madame Butterfly", "Money", "Heroine"
Anouk (love "Good God"), Boudewijn de Groot, dEUS, De Dijk, Doe Maar, Golden Earring (hey I know them!), Herman Brood & His Wild Romance, Junkie XL (know him), k's Choice, Osdorp Posse, Raymond van het Groenewoud, Spinvis, TC Matic, Urban Dance Squad.
Those are all the artists in the Dutch 1001 book that aren't in our list. All that to say Gotcha! didn't make it in that version, either. Not tryin' to be snarky, I don't know much about Dutch popular music; for all I know this is their Oasis.
Oh my god, did Lenny Kravitz hear "Madame Butterfly" and write "Fly Away"
This is some neat 90s rock I never would have found without this list, thanks m8
David Baerwald
3/5
July 28, 2025
HL: "A Secret Silken World", "The Waiter", "A Brand New Morning"
Marillion
4/5
July 29, 2025
HL: "Gazpacho", "Beautiful", "Out of this World", "Beyond You"
First Marillion, a band I knew very little about before today.
The album cover looks like goth metal, rather than the soft rock/prog/new age record it really is. Despite the tracks being on the longer side, the album itself is less than an hour long.
I was first reminded of Rush, then of early-ish Talk Talk, then Division Bell-era Floyd. Somehow that combination, and the generally contemplative mood, worked for me tonight.
The Cure
4/5
July 23, 2025
As this is my seventh Cure album, I would have been very surprised if I didn't like this one. Well, I did. Since the last stuff I heard from the band was from the Head on the Door and Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, switching to this more abrasive, rocky sound was like getting splashed in the face with cold water.
My main nit to pick is how loud the drums are in every song, but that's more a question of mixing than song quality.
Tally Hall
3/5
Sam Fender
3/5
July 24, 2025
HL: "Crumbling Empire", "TV Dinner", "Remember My Name"
What if: the War on Drugs, but Geordie
3.5
Death Cab for Cutie
4/5
July 21, 2025
HL: "Expo 86", "Tiny Vessels", title track, "A Lack of Color"
He really did this and the Postal Service the same year, huh? Sumbitch
I liked Transatlanticism almost as much as Give Up, if for the fact my tastes are skewing towards that synthy sound at the moment more so than slowcore/emo. I don't actually believe one is better than the other.
Shoutout to the ambience between tracks, they don't pad out the album length and are great for continuing the autumnal mood led by the songs.
Mustafa
3/5
Ok now you guys are running CanCon circles around me at this point.
I’ve been aware of this artist for a minute, his debut Dunya is on my personal album todos, but here’s an EP, released three years before, that I now gotta pay attention to.
Oh this was added before Dunya, hence it would've been his most complete project at the time.
The samples are effective, warm but at the same time ghostly.
I think part of the challenge is hearing Mustafa through the admittedly subtle production of British artists that worked with him on this EP- Sampha and Jamie xx especially. I love their stuff, but I hope his future work is less comparable to albums I've heard from the original 1001.
I think When Smoke Rises is important though, not just as a tribute to fellow Torontonian Smoke Dawg (seen on the cover) but as genuinely heartfelt music from the inner city that is at odds with, say, less compelling claims like "Started From the Bottom" by Drake.
HL: "Separate", "Ali", "Come Back"
July 26, 2025
Talk Talk
4/5
July 22 2025
HL: "The Rainbow", "Eden", "I Believe In You", "Wealth"
Talk Talk's follow-up to The Colour of Spring has been on my personal list since I started cobbling that spreadsheet together, and I finally bit that bullet... last month, before I knew someone posted it here. But now I get to listen to it again :D
Now in one way, Spirit of Eden is harder to get into than its predecessor. Its slow pace and emphasis on ambience and improvisation had me thinking "Wait, that's it?" after the first time I heard "Wealth" fade off into the ether.
Yet the tone it sets, somewhere between religiously cathartic and meditative, is so unlike past Talk Talk and 80s popular music that it intrigues me still.
4 stars- maybe more with time
Igorrr
4/5
July 25, 2025
HL: "Houmous", "Problème d'émotion", "Au Revoir"
He just... keeps throwing genres together... like a thoughtless child
Listening to this, I couldn't help be reminded of how Muse, one of my favourite bands, got dragged through the mud in 2012 after trying to combine arena rock, EDM and orchestral bombast. I am still a defender of that album, The 2nd Law, even as I have thought it was a BIT much.
But no, Igorrr comes and takes a similar approach, except he/they dial it up 1000%. And now I say, the problem is that Muse didn't take it far ENOUGH.
As with metalcore, I could only take this "breakcore" stuff in small doses; luckily 40 minutes was a small enough dose.
Jason Isbell
3/5
August 2, 2025
HL: title track, "Gravelweed", "Don't Be Tough"
I've been meaning to check out Jason Isbell's music, but this is a curious place to start. Quiet and downcast record. There are quite a few acoustic folk albums I would prefer listening to over this, but it's not bad.
Graham Parker
4/5
Catchy as hell
Times New Viking
1/5
Pitchfork: Could you explain your album, young man?
TNV -Well, basically I just copied noise pop of the 90's.
Then I added more noise, to lower the life expectancy of the listener.
And these rainbows and peace signs I feel are pretty sharp.
Pitchfork- Agreed. Best New Music!
Jimmy Buffett
3/5
July 31, 2025
"Trying to Reason With Hurricane Season" is my favourite couplet, and it's not even in the lyrics
I've mentioned before that my love of country music is fickle, and there it is... going... gone
I feel my enjoyment would go up exponentially the closer I get to the sea, and as someone who uploaded an album primarily concerned with the sea, I don't want to write off these relaxing ditties just yet.
Now where can I get a honeysuckle vine to chew...
Joe Cocker
4/5
August 1, 2025
Joe Cocker is one of the bigger 1970s misses. Or maybe it just feels like it because he's popular in my family. Either way
Probably unintended, but it feels like a heartfelt farewell to 60's pop music. And it's that heart n' soul that keeps me from yelling "REDUNDANT" at the covers of the Beatles, the Stones and Cohen.
Beyoncé
5/5
NOT 1st listen
I painted the CD gold. Because it's the gold standard!
As underrated as her self-titled is here, I always thought Lemonade was in a different league entirely.
HL: "Formation", "Freedom", "Don't Hurt Yourself", "Sorry", "Daddy Lessons", "All Night"
The Alan Parsons Project
4/5
July 30, 2025
HL: "The Raven", "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Cask of Amontillado"
Kinda frustrating that you have to click through the "1987 remix" to get to the original album (on Apple Music anyway), though the spoken word bits in that are neat.
The first time I heard the "Usher" suite, I thought it was a let down compared to the agreeable, slightly cheesy A-side. Listening to it now, it's about as apt for Poe concept album as one could hope for, though the switch back to 70's rock with "To One in Paradise" is still jarring.
Debbie Gibson
3/5
August 12, 2025
I've been working through my own list of albums (with blackjack and hookers), and recently I have put on ones by Bryan Adams, Men Without Hats and Madonna. Hence I am pretty primed towards 80s pop at the moment.
Oh I must have heard "Only in My Dreams" before- great chorus
Great start, and if I bought this as a teen in the 80s it would have been worth it for the first couple tracks alone (that is, if I wasn’t beaten up for owning a Debbie Gibson record).
Wasn’t impressed as much by the second half, but it wouldn’t be the first pop album to be ‘top heavy’.
3.5
HL: title track, "Only in My Dreams", “Wake Up to Love”
Electric Callboy
1/5
August 13, 2025
HL: "Arrow of Love", "Neon"
It evokes "anime battle" music sometimes, but I quickly became disenchanted with the mindless EDM beats supporting these metalcore breakdowns that are simply not my thing. My favourite vocals are the guest ones from Conquer Divide ("Fuckboi"). I found the actual vocalists from Electric Callboy irritating, particularly the growly one.
In a way, the mishmash of genres is a noble experiment, but it just so happens to include so many tropes I hated the most about 2010s rock and pop. Like if Marianas Trench decided to be death metal.
1.5/5
They Might Be Giants
4/5
August 14, 2025
HL: "Can't Keep Johnny Down", "When Will You Die", "Spoiler Alert", "You Probably Already Know", "In Fact"
My first record by They Might Be Giants. From my brief research, Flood or Lincoln seem to get all the critical accolades, but if this is considered "lesser" Giants, then it's a pretty good start.
At its best it's infectious and uplifting;
maybe somebody who has better vocabulary in this field could better explain what I mean, but the production doesn't quite reach the level of zaniness the songwriting promises. That's not a major criticism, though. Just because the instrumentation sounded a bit thin didn't mean I didn't enjoy this.
First Aid Kit
4/5
Valerie June
3/5
7 outta 10
HL: "Workin' Woman Blues", "Somebody to Love", "Shotgun", the title track
August 18, 2025
Roger Waters
3/5
August 17, 2025
I feel like the progression of the Wall > The Final Cut > The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking is just diminishing returns on the same musical ideas; though considering how much I like the first, and how much the second has grown on me, this was still a decently enjoyable listen.
If the intent was to create a dreamlike state in the moments before dawn, then I feel Eric Clapton's bluesy licks were a strange choice for the album. I can think of another guitarist that could create a moody, dreamy atmosphere, what's his name... Gave Dilmore or something...
There is a Roger Waters solo album that I quite enjoy, and I don't mean The Final Cut--
Is This the Life We Really Want? (2017), produced by Nigel Godrich and featuring the talented vocalists from the band Lucius.
Alex Cameron
3/5
The Jesus Lizard
3/5
August 19, 2025
HL: "Mouth Breather", "Nub", "Karpis", "Rodeo in Juliet"
Easy breezy 30 minutes
One of those picks that would have good company in the original list, alongside Slint, Big Black, the Birthday Party and PJ Harvey.
I didn't fully take to the sound of Goat, even after a second listen, but the dissonance comes with some real energy and headbanging opportunities. "Pop Song" is a great, tongue-in-cheek bonus track.
May grow on me with time
4/5
August 21, 2025
HL: "Little Dipper", "Stars", "I'd Like Your Hair Long"
Kind of up there with 90s bands from the O.G. list I shouldn't care about but do now, like the La's, Grant Lee Buffalo and Ride.
"Suicide Machine" was my least favourite song, but otherwise this album deftly balances the melodic with the distorted.
4 zebras out of 5 🦓
The Stooges
2/5
oh... okay. Iggy Pop #6, why not
My poor, basic ears can only take so much of the lo-fi recording, and I’m not sure that tracks like “Rich Bitch” and “Cock in My Pocket” showcase the best of the band’s abilities. (Or maybe they do, in which case refer to the point about the low-fidelity)
However, Iggy’s manic stage presence is something that you don’t fully hear in Fun House or even Raw Power, and the back-and-forth he engages in with the increasingly violent audience is probably the main reason for hearing this.
Didn’t really enjoy. Still an important historical recording.
August 22, 2025
Courtney Barnett
4/5
Copied from Wikipedia:
Matt Price of The Australian said that "[t]he whole premise of [1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die] is humbug", arguing that it would take too long to listen through all the albums in the book whilst also following new releases.
He also criticized several of the book's choices on what albums to include and to not include, concluding that it was "BIASED, UN-AUSTRALIAN AND UNACCEPTABLE”.
… well at least the user list doesn’t have that problem, eh? Also, it's surprisingly manageable to do an album a day ;)
I have been recommended Courtney's music before, but I’m only hearing this for the first time today.
The first few tracks have a nice distribution of noisy and zen sounds.
The poppy, 60s-style organ was a nice touch in "Debbie Downer".
Barnett's deadpan singing style sounds more akin to today's pop rock than 2015's (see: Wet Leg, Olivia Rodrigo for possible but unproven influence)
HL: "Elevator Operator", "Small Poppies", "Depreston", "Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go to the Party", "Debbie Downer"
August 24, 2025
The Avett Brothers
4/5
August 25, 2025
HL: title track, “January Wedding”, “And It Spread”, “Ten Thousand Words”, “Tin Man”
At some point I’d like to hear the album promised by the spooky artwork, because this is not that. But the bright, shiny songs like “Slight Figure of Speech”, “Tin Man” and “Kick Drum Heart” are a joy to listen to, even as the greatest strength of I and Love and You is PROBABLY the slow songs like its title track.
We did not need more indie folk. But I did, thank you
GAS
4/5
once again, August 24, 2025
I'm a little sad that some of the strangest albums here aren't reviewed by the person that submitted them. Justify thy reasoning!
The way the buzzing insects cut in and out creates an interesting effect, kind of eerie (“Pop 1”, “Pop 2”)
Maybe got a little much by the end (“Pop 7”) , but overall this is a beautiful, curious slice of ambient. I don’t know what dropping acid in a forest feels like, so I’ll just assume it feels like this
Karnivool
3/5
August 31, 2025
HL: "New Day", "All I Know", "Change", "Roquefort" (bonus track)
The didgeridoo really takes it to new places 🦘
The blurb I read compared them to Muse, a band I really enjoy, as well as Tool, a band I have struggled to enjoy. Turns out both takes are reasonably accurate- hence, it was a decent listen I probably won't be compelled to revisit anytime soon
Dead Boys
3/5
August 27, 2025
HL: "All This and More", "High Tension Wire", "Not Anymore"
Hell is just a neverending playlist of punk bands from 1977.
Okay, FINE, I liked it I guess. I'm just glad they're not from effing London or L.A. this time.
Billy Squier
4/5
August 27, 2025
HL: "In the Dark", "THE STROKE", “You Know What I Like”, “Lonely is the Night”
Sometimes, boomer rock is all I need to be happy (EgoRatatouille.gif)
Chappell Roan
5/5
NOT first listen
One of my favourite pop albums in years. Do I think it's perfect? Well, no- there are a couple tracks I don't think are AS engaging, like "California" and "After Midnight". But when the highs are this high, I gotta give Roan props, considering I had only heard her name for the first time a year ago. "Pink Pony Club" is one of those songs I distinctly remember where I heard it the first time. Pretty sure it was August 16 2024, on the road to the beach. But god forbid I remember my cousin's names
HL: "Red Wine Supernova", "Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl", "Hot to Go!", "My Kink Is Karma", "Kaleidoscope", "Pink Pony Club", "Guilty Pleasure"
9/10
August 28, 2025
Daft Punk
5/5
August 29, 2025
HL: "ONE MORE TIME", "Digital Love", "Harder Better Faster Stronger", "Superheroes", "Veridis Quo", "Face to Face"
First listened to in 2023, so I don't have a long personal history with this. But it not being on the original list makes me SO MAD -_-
I implied when Alive 2007 came up that I've made peace with their debut Homework, as much as certain tracks annoy me. But here's an example of the duo building on their strengths and making an actual cohesive, beautiful listen from front to back, and the 1001 book puts fucken Les Rythmes Digitales instead of this one.
blink-182
4/5
After my initial disgust of a 2nd Blink album to hit the generator, I pressed play... and now I have a favourite Blink album. Sorry, Enema
If Robert Smith approves of this band, then they’re alright with me
August 30, 2025
Maldita Vecindad Y Los Hijos Del 5to. Patio
4/5
September 2, 2025
If I listened to this when it was actually generated, it’d be perfect for that day’s hot weather.
Now it’s overcast and like 15°C, but honestly- I think I need this record more today.
A bit like that Fishbone record, in that it’s very much late-stage 80s production, before grunge did a lil reset, but also like it in that it has basically no drag whatsoever. 4/5
Emicida
4/5
September 4, 2025
HL: "A Ordem Natural das Coisas", "Prinicipia", title track, "Ismália", "Libre"
Not as crazy about: "Eminência Parda". (Makes me wonder whether trap is boring in every language)
Hard to rate at first, as even with the "prerequisite" Brazilian records like Caetano and Clube da Esquina, I felt pretty out of my element. After I skimmed over other people's reviews, I had a eureka moment, and that was when someone brought up contemporary rappers Drake and Bad Bunny. I have put on a couple of both their records this year, and while decent my opinion consistently landed around a 3 to 3.5/5. Hence, my realization that I would rather listen to this thing by Emicida rounds it up to a four.
Well, that and the use of classic sounds of 'música popular brasileira'. Never hurts an album from my experience.
Kano
3/5
September 6, 2025
HL: "Typical Me", "Nite Nite", "How We Livin'", "Signs In Life"
unexpected Black Sabbath- on that note, the rap rock elements really evoke Rick Rubin's work with Beastie Boys and Eminem.
Bonus track "Boys Love Girls" is probably my least favourite. The technical last song, "Signs" is among my favourites though.
In the absence of hip-hop albums on this user list- well, until now- I've been making my own way through the genre, with mostly positive results. Just in the last month, there has been Kanye, Outkast, Denzel Curry, Black Thought, the new Chance the Rapper and Little Simz, Drake, Future, Skepta, Clipse and K'Naan (yes, the "Wavin Flag" guy. He has other songs, trust me).
AND YET- I still find I have to put in a bit of additional work to appreciate hip-hop compared to other genres. Perhaps that will always be true of lyric-first genres for me.
So where does Kano/Kane Robinson fit in, this Londoner I didn't really know about before today? Probably in the top 50%; the beats are colourful enough to maintain my interest and Kano's delivery is... pretty good, worthy of a debut album. I think his tracks with Ghetto/Ghetts are the best flow-wise.
I would rank most of those other recent rap cuts between 3 and 4 stars (Lotus and Cheat Codes being the closest to a 5 and Troubadour and Dirty Sprite 2 the furthest away), so let's say Home Sweet Home is a 3.75. With room for growth :)
Also on the subject of grime/British hip-hop, Skepta and Fred Again dropped some really good tunes recently, if you've heard this and are hungry for more.
Dream Theater
4/5
September 5, 2025
Half the songs are over 8 minutes, and the thing is still less than an hour. For a metal/prog band, that's efficiency!
My only real exposure to Dream Theater has been "Pull Me Under", from Guitar Hero IV, but I'm looking forward to hearing more!
Whoa the lead singer is a Canuck, instant 5 stars
"Surrounded" is exactly the kind of maximalist madness I want from these kinds of bands. AOR power ballad + Dreamy synth + over-the-top guitar shenanigans. More Whitesnake than Metallica, but still
Yellowcard
3/5
September 11, 2025
HL: “Breathing”, “One Year, Six Months”, title track.
My sieve of a brain didn’t really take much from this album, though it was good! More punk bands should have a fiddle
Ozzy Osbourne
4/5
September 5, 2025
HL: "Crazy Train", "MR. CROWLEY", "Revelations", “Goodbye to Romance”
Has one of my favourite songs on it, and then some respectable hard rock. 🤘
Not that I have anything against the song “I Don’t Know”, but the album really should have started with “ALL ABOARD!” from “Crazy Train”.
I didn’t think much of “Goodbye to Romance” the first listen, but liked it much more the second time. Ozzy had a surprising knack for ballads, between this, “Changes” and “Mama I’m Coming Home”.
Amon Düül II
3/5
"A perfect album to trip too [sic]"- some person on the YouTube comments, where I went to get the second half of this album
No offence, but hypothetically, if I were tripping and someone put this on, I probably would stop talking to them. This is a nightmare. "Eye Shaking King" with that ring modulator is terrifying.
Good jams tho!
September 6, 2025
100 gecs
3/5
Nightwish
4/5
Ou, not first listen.
Fun fact, if the combined edition list on RateYourMusic is accurate, this made the Finnish edition of 1001 Albums.
"Planet Hell" makes me want to throw a house party and commit atrocities in Falador, the City of the White Knights.
"Creek Mary's Blood" has the hey-ya chants and references to the Trail of Tears; I'm sure they mean well but it's tacky in retrospect. At least Bruce Dickinson didn't start chanting in "Run to the Hills".
That aside, I enjoyed this more the second time. Though the orchestra frequently threatens to overwhelm the songs, it's good fun, and something I'd like to hear live one day along with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
HL: "If I Had an Angel", "Nemo", "Planet Hell", "Ghost Love Score", "Higher Than Hope"
4/5
September 9, 2025
HL: "How to Draw/Petrichor", "Love It If We Made It", "Sincerity is Scary", "It's Not Living (If It's Not with You)"
"I Like America"- can't relate. "I'm afraid of dying/ It's fine"- can relate.
Despite the experimental tag on Wikipedia, "It's Not Living" and "Love It If We Made It" sound like what I expect the 1975 to sound like. (I've only heard Being Funny in a Foreign Language and the odd single from their first two albums)
"Eschewing the 1980s-influenced sound of its predecessor"- stop the cap. "I Couldn't Be More in Love" was ghostwritten by Mick Hucknall, I just know it
Well, I happen to really like how this record sounds, so I guess it's forgiven. Also props to the 1975 to making what sounds like a COVID record over a year in advance. Not that the Internet and social isolation weren't hot topics before 2020, but damn.
I feel like I appreciate 22, A Million more now for keeping and staying off the rails
Garbage
4/5
September 10, 2025
HL: "I Think I'm Paranoid", "When I Grow Up", "Push It", “Special”, “You Look So Fine”
They’ve done it again
David Allan Coe
3/5
Things I knew about David Allan Coe:
-He wrote "Take This Job and Shove It"
Things I know now:
-He has other good songs I guess
HL: "Would You Lay With Me", "Would You Be My Lady", "Wood and Steel", "You Never Even Called Me By My Name"
September 15, 2025
7 outta 10
Wussy
4/5
September 18, 2025
HL: "Soak it Up", "Conversation Legs", "Crooked", "Yellow Cotton Dress"
Skipped it to listen to some MF Doom, but now that today's album of the day is MF Doom, it feels only right to return.
FFS you would think I've had my fill of noise pop/indie rock. And you would be dead wrong.
Kinda reminds me of Copper Blue by Sugar, but for some unforeseen reason I find myself enjoying this one more.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
4/5
September 13, 2025
HL: "East Hastings"
im scard
Honestly, there aren't many bands that don't piss me off when their songs are upwards of 20 minutes long.
That IS part of the reason why I put off Lift Yr Skinny Fists for a good while, but between that one, this one & their most recent album ("No Title as of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead"), I'm starting to think I really like this band.
Enter Shikari
2/5
September 14, 2025
I'll listen to another metalcore-labelled album when I have the strength to do so
September 20, 2025
HL: "Anything Can Happen", "Jonny Sniper", "Adieu"
switches between amiable electro rock and screamo. Especially that screamo
Harry Styles
4/5
not first listen,
actually I had both this and Harry's House on my own list until I put on Fine Line literally this summer. I couldn't believe the acclaim it received on critic's decade-end reviews, as based on radio hits like "Adore You" I just kinda dismissed it as fluff.
It's actually pretty enjoyable :0
Who would have thought
It's kind of like a modern day Wings- not life-changing or anything, but really consistent even among the lesser played(-to-death) tracks. I basically copied my highlights from my first listen below, but "Canyon Moon" and the title track are no slouches either.
HL: "Golden", "Watermelon Sugar", "Cherry", "Sunflower", "Treat People With Kindness"
September 15, 2025
Today I also put on that other album, Harry's House, and while it's pretty good it kinda veers into easy-listening territory in the 2nd half, so I still prefer Fine Line
New Model Army
4/5
September 23, 2025
HL: "I Love the World", "Green and Grey", "Vagabonds", "Archway Towers"
très goth, très cool
Something that kind of distracted me from the overall experience was the name recognition of Alleyne-Johnson, the violinist featured on this record. I found him in a random YouTube video years ago, where he was improvising over numerous FX pedals in the black-and-white town of Chester, UK.
I actually made a point of going to Chester while in the UK, mainly because of how it looked in the background of this random violin video.
I bought an Ed Alleyne-Johnson song on iTunes ("Orange") before I ever had a job. 99 cents well spent.
Anyway, do I think he positively contributed to the sound of Thunder and Consolation? Well, yes
Carly Rae Jepsen
4/5
not first listen!
Also it's Can Con, but the fact that I didn't hear "Run Away With Me" on the radio all the time like they push artists like Shawn Mendes- it's criminal, I tell ya.
s'good
HL: "Run Away With Me", "I Really Like You", "All That", "Let's Get Lost", "When I Needed You", "Favourite Colour" (bonus track)
MF DOOM
5/5
September 20, 2025
HL: "Rapp Snitch Knishes" "One Beer", (heard those two before today) "Deep Fried Frenz", "Hoe Cakes", "Kon Queso"
3rd MF Doom I've heard this year, after Take Me To Your Leader and Madvillainy.
I might just finally be getting accustomed to his style, but tonight this is my favourite one of those three. Even though the songs on their own can be unsatisfyingly short and peppered with endless skits, taken as a whole it's more entertaining than I expected.
Maybe that's the unifying power of food: Gumbo. Guinness. Chocolate fudge butter crunch. Whatever a knish is
9/10 before I change my mind
Courteeners
3/5
September 28, 2025
HL: "Bide Your Time", "What Took You So Long?", "No You Didn't"
likeable, occasionally jangly indie rock. Compared to the album as a whole, the quality of the singles stood out to me
Roky Erickson
3/5
September 25, 2025
HL: "I Walked With a Zombie", "Night of the Vampire", "Stand For the Fire Demon"
Kinda like the 13th Floor Elevators album, I was intrigued by the premise but was left wanting.
The Cramps album on the O.G. list wasn't perfect but at least its delivery matched the ghoulish lyrical content.
Still, it's decent rock n' roll.
Korn
3/5
September 21, 2025
HL: "Blind", "Faget", "Shoots and Ladders", "Helmet in the Bush"
Well that was an especially long 10 minutes (looking at you, "Daddy")
Follow the Leader was #402 /1089 on the generator- I rated it 2 stars, didn't honour it with a review. This debut, while not much easier on the ears, IS remarkable for being ahead of the nu-metal curve, predating Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock's breakthroughs by several years.
I will admit that, despite not having any song as replayable as "Freak on a Leash", I found Korn's self-titled more consistent and immersive; a thick, misanthropic cloud of detuned riffs and growls.
Producer Ross Robinson helmed some of my only 1-star albums from the O.G. list, like Slipknot (1999) and Roots (1996). Perhaps I treated you too harshly...
Thee Oh Sees
3/5
October 1, 2025
HL: “Web”, “Withered Hand”, “Contraption”
Garage rock
WHY?
3/5
Iiiinteresting, I figured this was the first I heard of Why?/Yoni Wolf, but he was on the 'cLOUDDEAD' album I put on last year. (Very trippy stuff, that)
"Good Friday" has strong Beck vibes
This is neat, I'm not bowled over by it but it's something I can see myself liking more with time. The moment I heard the toy piano in "Assassin" my feeling was "ah yes, these are my kind of hipsters"
3.5/5
HL: "These Few Presidents", "Song of the Sad Assassin", "A Sky For Shoeing Horses Under", "Simeon's Dilemma"
October 4, 2025
Pearl Jam
4/5
September 25, 2025
HL: "Go", "Daughter", "W.M.A.", "Rearviewmirror"
Pearl Jam? More like SQUIRREL Jam, because, uh- these songs are so good it's nuts
-_- Once again, Pearl Jam pops up on this website and I have nothing really to say. The last PJ I listened to in full wasn't Ten, but Vitalogy, which had a lot more bells and whistles to mention- not that it made it a superior album.
"W.M.A" and "Glorified G" do demonstrate a righteous fury I forgot this band was capable of, so that's pretty noteworthy!
Martha
3/5
October 7, 2025
HL: "Hope Gets Harder", "Baby Does Your Heart Sink?", "FLAG // BURNER", "I Didn't Come Here to Surrender"
Hey, that's a guy singer, his name isn't Martha! Oh, they also have a lady singer. Hey, her name isn't Martha, either!
I get the sense this band are more nostalgic for the 2000s than I am rn, which is saying a lot, but they end up cutting a decent enough pop punk album nonetheless.
There are some departures from their main sound, like the jangle of "Surrender" and the lullaby tinkle that closes out the album.
I think if anything brings me back to this album, it's the overall warmness & coziness (that goes against the snowy cover).
A 3.5 at least
Also, unexpected connection with the original list, they recorded their debut album with the guy from Hookworms. What Hookworms could have been if that guy wasn't an (ALLEGED) abuser
Charles Aznavour
4/5
Crystal Castles
4/5
Not first listen- which is good, since this kinda pissed me off the first time. All I wrote about it last year was "Om, Ethan's a big fat c*unt", so I was probably less focused on the music than on the "sex crimes" section on Wikipedia.
Before hearing this, all I knew about Crystal Castles is their amazing version of Platinum Blonde's "Not in Love" (featuring Robert Smith). So finding out much of their music is more on the abrasive side was disappointing. At first.
Now songs like "Alice Practice" hit, whereas before they were just irritating. Plus the flurries of 8-bit chirping were also easier to stomach today.
Like Daft Punk's debut, it's a disjointed melange of older and newer material... and it works. Buckleys
HL: "Untrust Us", "Alice Practice", "Vanished", "Magic Spells", "Tell Me What to Swallow"
September 27, 2025
Johnny Winter
3/5
October 13, 2025
HL: “Mind Over Matter”, “Lay Down Your Sorrows”, “Golden Olden Days”
i liked the guitar
The Tragically Hip
4/5
Sound the bells, it's Can(adian)Con(tent)
Though it's always been a doomed affair to get this band's music outside of our home country- check out NME's smarmy 4/10 review of this album- it does amuse me some knowing there's more than one Tragically Hip on this list.
Compared to their earlier albums Day and Night and Fully Completely, this one has a little ✨polish✨. And an all-time great song in "Bobcaygeon". It doesn't stray too far from their earlier sound though; I figured from the spacey atmosphere in "Bobcaygeon" that the whole album would have a more country-pop direction. I guess that's on brand for this band: whether the hard rock, alt-rock, blues, folk, or country influences reveal themselves depends on the song, not so much the album.
"Thompson Girl" and "Fireworks" are songs I feel like I should have heard on Canuck rock radio all the time, but didn't. Don't worry, there's still PLENTY of other Hip songs that get played instead.
HL: "Poets", "Something On", "Bobcaygeon", "Thompson Girl", "Escape is at Hand for the Travellin' Man"
September 29, 2025
The Mountain Goats
3/5
October 13, 2025
HL: "The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton", "Fault Lines", "Riches and Wonders", bonus "Answering the Phone"
Rodríguez
4/5
I thought I had never listened to the whole thing before, because it's always someone else that plays this. But no, its brief 30 minutes are already quite familiar to me!
It reminds me of my aunt who passed this year, who advocated for Rodriguez and lamented that he wasn't as acclaimed as that Bob Dylan hack. :p
I wasn't particularly interested in Dylan or Rodriguez as a teen, but I found these songs grim and preachy at the time. And there's an effect on the otherwise really good "Sugar Man", that whining string/synth part, that used to bother me.
So let's say I've come around to Cold Fact. The mix of cynical blues and pastoral psych-pop is both very 1970 and also kind of unique to this album.
The horn part in "Crucify Your Mind", maybe my favourite song on the album, sounds like something Air or the Go Team would use. Also it juxtaposes with the proto-metal of "Conversation" in a cool way.
HL: "Sugar Man" (even with that annoying whistle thing), "Crucify Your Mind", "Hate Street Dialogue", "Inner City Blues", "Jane S. Piddy"
October 5, 2025
The Breeders
4/5
October 4, 2025
HL: "Invisible Man", "No Aloha", "Divine Hammer", "S.O.S.", "Drivin' On 9"
Haven't heard this, but I have listened to their earlier album "Pod"
Another win for the Breeders
Tell me Teenager of the Year deserved to be in the original list over this
The Vaccines
3/5
Joan As Police Woman
4/5
October 13, 2025
HL: title track "Feed the Light", "I Defy", "Flushed Chest", "Anyone"
nice
Olivia Rodrigo
4/5
Not the first listen! It'll be interesting going back to this album, as I didn't really give it the attention I gave her debut SOUR (2021).
Now, when Rodrigo finds a better muse than Taylor Swift, I think she’ll release a perfect album. As it is, it’s still really fecking good for a Disney pop star. I found the slower songs a little drab today, but the poppier/rockier ones better than I remember. “Vampire” took a while to grow on me, but its odd, bombastic moments are a definite highlight. “lacy”, “love is embarrassing” & “pretty isn’t pretty” are also songs I didn’t realize I enjoyed.
Quicksand
3/5
October 17, 2025
HL: "Lie and Wait", "Can Opener", "Transparent"
Seconding Apple Music's comparison to At the Drive In, but Slip is muddier and more morose. Can't speak for the comparison to Deftones, as I STILL haven't given them a proper listen. Honestly, I expect them to show up on this list one day, based on how much I've heard about them recently.
The singer is a bit one-note, but the half-sung, half-shouted vocals are powerful, so I chalk it up to a genre rather than personal limitation.
I could bitch about this genre known as "post-hardcore", and how dreary and beige a lot of it sounds to me, but doing so would ignore the fact that a lot of these songs had my head bobbing against its will. So it can't be that bad...
***
Q65
3/5
I don't know why I should complain, having added like 5 white guys to this list myself- but I can't believe I'm hearing Dutch garage rock covers of "Spoonful" before any actual Howlin' Wolf here. At least I can't accuse Q65 of sanitizing the original, since the fuzzy riffs and decent imitation of Wolf's rasp keeps it somewhat sleazy.
The studio album ends with "Bring it On Home" (14 minutes dear Lord), but I'll keep to the bonus tracks since several of their actual charting hits were non-album singles, such as "You're the Victor", and "I Despise You".
They brought me back with the Bolero snippet. I was fading. That's a long-ass time without any chord changes
As 60's blues rock, I can't really fault it. The singles/bonus tracks are definitely worth a listen, but... it's just the Yardbirds again.
If you rearrange the letters of Joop Roelofs it spells Jeff Beck
HL: "The Life I Live", "Just Who's In Sight", "Get Out of My Life Woman", "Sour Wine", bonus tracks "You're the Victor", "World of Birds"
October 17, 2025
Bon Iver
4/5
October 10, 2025
HL: "Beth/Rest", "Beth/Rest", "Beth/Rest"
Not first listen
"Beth/Rest" is a pretty good song
Oingo Boingo
4/5
While I was dimly aware of Elfman’s band Oingo Boingo, I more recognize him from such films as A Nightmare Before Christmas, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the Tobey McGuire Spider-Mans (in case you can’t tell, I grew up in the 2000s).
He was also involved in a movie called Forbidden Zone, which I watched this year; it probably altered my brain chemistry. I think about it semi-often.
Today I found an infectious, groovy album that I hope to put on at future October gatherings. Yet I had to temper my expectations that this was going to be on the spookier side.
See, my problem is I zoned in on “Dead Man”, where the real emphasis should have been on “Party”.
Also, I suppose certain eccentricities were toned down, compared to his aforementioned movie work, to get more of a dance party feel.
4/5
bad idea to listen to late at night. Even worse idea to watch the video for "Faceshopping" late at night.
I suspected I might like this for her prod. work with Vince Staples and Charli, and I really did for the most part. Every time I think I've defined the limits of what music I like, along comes someone like SOPHIE who says "Reconsider."
Rewarding once I got past the eardrum-shattering, distorted percussion
HL: "It's Okay to Cry", "Faceshopping", "Is It Cold in the Water?", "Pretending"
October 11, 2025
Stray From The Path
1/5
October 22, 2025
HL: "Goodnight Alt-Right", "All Day & a Night", title track
Not as crazy about: "Let's Make a Deal", "Strange Fiction", "The House Always Wins"
"the price is wrong bitch!"
- Happy Gilmore
- Stray From the Path
"Who's your leader? Trick question: none of the above"
I started out onboard with the rage, while accepting that I'm stomaching another screamo record, but when they start bothsides-ing in "The House Always Wins", it confirmed just how hollow and useless this record is to me. Especially this year.
I'm not lionizing the Democrats either, as almost the entire party has revealed themselves to be feckless and complacent in the clear shift towards an authoritarian state.
But when your white-hot, screaming indictment boils down to "oh I can't tell either of these parties apart, and I'm so mad!", and only one of those has
a) threatened the sovereignty of MY country, and
b) announces to heavily tariff American film companies that work in my country- which, if that isn't just a dementia word salad of a policy, would destroy an industry that me and many of my friends are dependent on,
it kinda seems to me like your two parties ARE different.
idk- maybe that's too much text to waste on a pretty short song. What else does this album offer?
"If you preach hate, than expect hate." I like it
"They want the pawns to fight each other and say we're not the same / Well I say, don't hate the player, hate the game!" Hell yeah, chess, like the album cover. Also war is bad.
"Join or die. I won't pick a side"... ah, starting to sound like all those who sat out the American 2024 election again. Maybe political rap rock isn't your thing.
The more I think about this album, the less I think Slipknot's debut deserved the 1 I gave it. At least that had some creative musical arrangements.
1.5/5
For contrast, I put on Wake the Dead by Comeback Kid, another hardcore band on my radar, and within minutes I felt like flipping a police car. And I don't even know what that album is about!
Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass
3/5
HL: "Ladyfingers", "Taste of Honey", "Bittersweet Samba", "Lollipops and Roses"
(hearing the title track for the first time) I feel like I'm losing in a game show
I was interested in seeing Herb Alpert this month, but remaining tickets were dummy expensive.
Hm, well what are the odds that 90-year-old Herb Alpert will return to Winnipeg, Manitoba in the near future?
3.5/5 for now, the hokier arrangements are held up by truly beautiful brasswork
Comus
3/5
October 15, 2025
As one of the psychos who gave the Incredible String Band 5 stars, I assumed I would greatly appreciate this other strange folk album. And I appreciate it, but I don't love it at this time. The vocals are especially off-putting, especially in the opener "Diana", albeit appropriate for a spooky October night. The lyrics are also creepy, but not always in a good way.
Based on the fact I listened to this on the 15th, then the 16th, and am writing this on the 17th possibly means I'm still processing this album. The flute-laden instrumentals are often transcendent.
Powderfinger
3/5
October 14, 2025
HL: "The Meter", "Like a Dog", "These Days"
First I'm hearing Powderfinger, of Brisbane. Decent, sometimes great pop-rock with the occasional singalong chorus.
I give it a 7 outta 10
Alabama 3
3/5
October 24, 2025
HL: "Speed of the Sound of Loneliness", "Woke Up This Morning", "U Don't Dans", "Old Purple Tin"
Over an hour of 90s British electronica, people here are going to HATE it.
Upon checking the ratings, people in fact DON'T seem to hate it. Progress?
It's decent, but I liked Screamadelica as a representative of this subgenre more, and no I swear I don't work for NME. Also in terms of 90's British blues/gospel pastiche, I'd go with Spiritualized
The Tragically Hip
4/5
O man, with a Canadian band like this, who needs a second ("hey Siri, play Glass Tiger, Platinum Blonde, Chilliwack, Bryan Adams, the Tea Party, Nomeansno, Blue Rodeo, Spirit of the West, Alannah Myles, the Spoons, the Pumps, Sloan, Thrush Hermit, Plumtree, Doug & the Slugs, Martha & the Muffins, and Men Without Hats :)")
The user who picked this also chose If I Should Fall From Grace With God as their fave from the original list, and that makes strange sense to me.
Like, the Pogues and the Hip aren't exactly similar musically, but... either one would be great by a fireplace on a cool day.
Gord Sinclair. I looked up the bassist's name, since he's such a highlight of "New Orleans" among other songs. Add him to the other renowned Canadian Gords like bandmate Downie, Lightfoot and Pinsent.
Kashmir
3/5
October 30, 2025
HL: "Jewel Drop", "Ophelia", "The Curse of Being a Girl", "Snowman"
These guys are from København, eh?
I would've sworn I've encountered at least one Danish act from this website, but perhaps I'm just thinking of Queen of Denmark by John Grant.
My 5 seconds of research before the album made me think this would be in the realm of Snow Patrol and Travis, and it occasionally crosses into something one might wave a lighter to, but mostly remains in a somewhat cold, brutalist environment. "The Cynic" featuring Bowie is neat; the spoken word piece from Lou Reed adds some spooky vibes but mostly felt like filler. I'm generally not a big fan of Reed in general tho (I'm not a hater, just a... meh-er).
Overall, I liked No Balance Palace the most when it delved into those stormy, shoegazey elements, and least when Kasper Eistrup sounded a little too much like Thom Yorke ca. Hail to the Thief. ("Kalifornia", "She's Made of Chalk").
3.5 today, maybe a 4 down the road
Black Devil Disco Club
3/5
I had a feeling the musician who chose this album cover wasn't black... I was correct in that assumption.
Never heard of this before now, but is pretty futuristic for a 1978 record.
"No Regrets", the closer, is easily my favourite track despite all 6 sounding pretty similar to each other.
"<< H >> Friend" ought to be in a movie set in a strange, otherworldly club. A haunted dancehall, if you will -_-
HL: "H Friend", "No Regrets"
maybe a 3.5, idk
October 25, 2025
Vangelis
4/5
Freddie Gibbs
4/5
October 23, 2025
HL: "High", "Bomb", "Shitsville", "Lakers", title track
A strange mix of ear-candy instrumentals and the everyday horrors that Gibbs raps about- you'd almost think, with the music behind it, that thuggin' and pimpin' are steps to some great spiritual revelation.
Before today I knew Madlib from his contributions to Madvillainy, and Freddie Gibbs from a random SNL skit starring Chris Redd. Thankfully, I have a greater appreciation of both after today.
Plus, a shocker comes from the fact that my favourite song MIGHT be the one with Raekwon. Yes, the guy whose album Cuban Links was one of my lowest-ranked hip-hop albums from the original list.
Do you hear the winds of change?
Lift To Experience
3/5
What you're about to hear is the kind of cutting-edge musical critique that only I can provide:
This album which has a length that is long...
It feels long.
Hold thine applause. >:0
Maybe I'll love it one day, as there seems to be some genes shared with Spiritualized and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. As of now, I haven't learned much beyond what I gathered from snippets off of RateYourMusic and Wikipedia, that they're some Texans who play their guitars really loud and ramble for about 1-2 hours concerning Texas and religion. Generally when those two things are combined, it makes something incredibly problematic, but in the case of the Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads, it comes together pretty nicely all things considered. I typed all of this in the 14-minute space before the hidden track 'untitled'. It's a good length of time to pause and reflect.
If the house band at my local evangelical church were introduced to drugs, do you think they would sound this good?
3.5
October 29, 2025 (rated user album #200 today. The second second of eternity has passed)
Joe Jackson
4/5
Oct 22, 2025
HL: "Sunday Papers", "Is She Really Going Out With Him?", "title track", "Got the Time"
I knew “Sunday Papers” and “Is She Really”, but not so much the rest of Joe Jackson’s output. Which is a shame, since this a pretty strong debut from him. Even with the sad schmuck-down-on-his-luck lyrics. No, especially the sad schmuck-down-on-his-luck lyrics.
I feel like I’ll never stop going back to this, even as a fan, but SIX Elvis Costello…
The world has more pub rock to offer!
Yo La Tengo
4/5
This is the 2nd Yo La Tengo for me, after putting on
And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out (2000)
That was over a year ago, so I'm not able to closely compare them, but they definitely share a lot of the same vibes (sweet country flair at times, Jesus & Mary Chain-level distortion elsewhere)
ICHTHBAO lost me a little with "Spec/Bebop" & "We're An American Band", but finishes strong on a sweet ditty "My Little Corner of the World", which I just learned was first a hit in 1960.
I give this a "neato" out of 5
HL: "Moby Octopad", "Sugarcube", "Stockholm Syndrome", "Autumn Sweater", "Green Arrow"
October 24, 2025
Vampire Weekend
5/5
Not first listen-- in fact, I've heard all of em Vampire Weekendses. I started in chronological order, listening to their self-titled & Contra last year, but then skipped ahead to this one after the (exclusively online) buzz became too loud to ignore.
I thought it made a strong impression, but then again I Shazamed a song in a restaurant this year, thinking it was really cool, and it was "Mary Boone" from this album.
*Googles 'can 29-year-olds get dementia'*
In my defence, my first listen was like at 4am. Also from my listening history, it MAY have been overshadowed by Imaginal Disk that week. But it's a good example of Vampire Weekend pushing their sound about as far as it will go while still sounding like themselves. As surprising as the overall noise level was, those soweto-style guitar licks are still there in "Classical" and "Pravda"*.
Somehow these twee bastards put more vitriol in "Gen X Cops" then I've heard from a lot of American "political" tunes
I thought "Hope" was a little repetitive and lackluster the first time, for an album closer, but it keeps sounding better and better.
The album cover evokes the unique production. It's a bit gross and unsettling until you see the whimsy of some dude walking on the walls. I have a feeling this is something I'm going to keep coming back to, so I'm feeling generous with the star rating.**
*Vampire Weekend was one of my "new" favourite acts last year. Though after finding some thinkpiece about their lifting of certain Afropop tropes, I happened to find another of my favourite listens, The Indestructible Beat of Soweto (1985). Never hurts to know where your favourite artists steal from (see also: Paul Simon and Ladysmith Black Mambazo from the original list)
**I may be a bit reticent with the 5-star albums this year. After all, including this one, only 4 of the top-rated albums were ones I had never heard before, and I was basically indoctrinated from an early age to like one of those four (Fully Completely 🇨🇦). Expect a couple edits for the 5iest of my 4-stars...
HL: "Classical", "Connect", "The Surfer", "Gen X Cops", "Mary Boone", "Hope"
Warren Zevon
4/5
okay, not first listen--
Have to say, the October picks from the generator have been on point! 🐺
the title track is scarier than the werewolf one, how did I not notice before
HL: “Johnny”, “Werewolves”, “Headless Gunner”, “Lawyers”
Duncan Dhu
3/5
November 8, 2025
HL: "Rozando la eternidad", "Rosa gris", "Historias tristes", "El chico de los ojos asustados"
Spain? So what, there are other Spanish-speaking countries besides Mexico now? /s
For real though, San Sebastián, where this band originate from, is the only city in Spain I've been to (being very close to the French border and all), so it's neat seeing it represented here.
Autobiografia is 30 songs and 2 discs long, much like the White Album, but is 10 minutes shorter than the latter. Efficiency!
I guess my main issue with the album is ("don't say too long, don't say too long")... um, a lack of diversity among the songs that made the cut in this double album. Even though there are some fun diversions like the folky brass in "El chico" and the rockier songs like "Entre salitre y sudor".
Though that last song (and its music video) gave me something to chew on. The umbrella of jangle pop, sophistipop & pub rock in the 80s often come with the idea that this is the "real music", a guitar-driven antidote to the artificial synth and dance-oriented music that dominated the charts.
But then you get something like that aforementioned song, synth strings galore, promoted by a music video with a guy miming cello over the synth strings... out of shame? That was their lead single for this album, so forgive me if I'm a bit confused
Chico Science
3/5
November 11, 2025
HL: "Manguetown", "Maracatu Atômico" (Ragga Mix), "Macô", "Quilombo Groove", maybe "Corpo de Lama"
I am grateful to confirm that Brazilian music is more than just MPB and Sepultura. (as the callbacks to Os Mutantes remind me, there's also the psychedelic-leaning Tropicália groups
I am still conflicted about this album. The blend of different rhythms & percussion is the best thing about it, however when it turns into 90's rap-rock, I didn't find myself enjoying it any more than Chico Science's English-language contemporaries Fun Lovin' Criminals and Beck.
I normally try not to mess with the tracklist if I haven't heard an album previously... but I sprinkled all the Maracatu Atomicos throughout the record in roughly equal intervals. It's a good song but not good enough to hear three times in a row.
The Marcus King Band
4/5
A big gourmet potato salad
Times like these are why I sometimes struggle with star ratings. My four stars include both some of the greatest, most ambitious albums of all time, as well as, uh, good ol' fashioned southern rock, sung and played well.
But then, when I try to devise a system that takes influence into account, it always gets defeated by me thinking something along the lines of "Well I liked Carolina Confessions too much for a 3 star..."
4/5 ☆, like A Love Supreme
Neutral Milk Hotel
4/5
I think about the title track a lot, stemming back from when I learned the trombone solo to play in a band that never made it to its first gig. It's been quite a while since I've actually listened to this in full, recognizing it mostly as the butt of online jokes about online music communities now.
Maybe it just has to do with the passage of time, but the production doesn't faze me considering how often I grumble about lo-fi techniques (e.g. The Mountain Goats). It definitely abets the surreal atmosphere created by the lyrics, the artwork and unconventional instrument choices, e.g. the musical saw in the title track.
HL: title track, "Two-Headed Boy", "Holland 1945", "Ghost"
Freestylers
3/5
November 17, 2025
HL: "Dancehall Vibes", "Don't Stop", "Ruffneck"
Okay, from my own bias with 90's electronic music (see also: my bias with all 1990s music), I'm not surprised that these songs about gyals and rude bwoys come from two British white guys. Though one thing the 1001 lacks is Caribbean genres like dancehall, hence "Dancehall Vibes" grabbed my attention right away.
Where's my pitchfork, it sounds like they're trying to pass off 80s electro as their own cooking!
Wait put down that pitchfork, that's actually the Soulsonic Force and not just an extended sample/interpolation.
Okay, by the time "Scratch 22" is playing, I may be enjoying this somewhat. The Pulp Fiction sample is silly but well-executed. Thought the closing dialogue was from Doctor Who but it's actually Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
I didn't care to hear another breakbeat album, but this was more fun than expected.
3.5/5
Nujabes
5/5
"enjoyed! Though I was up at noon today, this feels like an appropriate sunrise album."
-October 21, 2024
That is all I wrote in my music diary. Damned past me is about to make me set an early alarm for Nujabes
November 9, 2025
HL: "Feather", "Ordinary Joe", "Luv(sic)", "Thank You", title track, "Horizon"
Listened to some of it at 8am and the rest at 8pm. It's a morning album, it's a night album, it's a frikin blast and I'm still not entirely sure why.
The guest roster of underground rappers like Shing02 and Apani B Fly get their time to shine but their features don't really stand out the way you'd expect from a hip-hop album; the album is mainly focused on dreamily shifting from one track to the next.
Though there are many great examples of mixing hip-hop and jazz before and after Modal Soul, this album is still a pretty special one.
Tom Misch
3/5
November 19, 2025
"Tick Tock", "It Runs Through Me" (feat. De La Soul), "Man Like You", "Water Baby", "We've Come So Far"
Oodles and oodles of potential
For such a laidback album, I feel like I went through a wide range of emotions. Anger for hearing such sophistication when I currently crave something noisier (as my voting record for punk and metal shows, that's not a common issue with me).
Joy upon hearing that De La Soul was involved, as well as during the funkier tracks like "Water Baby".
Contemplation, during the vibier tracks like "We've Come So Far" and that little Stevie Wonder excerpt.
Tldr this album made feel everything and nothing
7/10
Cat System Corp.
4/5
One peculiar note about the accolades on Wikipedia are cited from academic articles, not music journalists. From that alone, this is a brave choice for the generator.
I don’t think I’ve ever thought critically about a vaporwave playlist before, but I can try. Shoutout to “Z e l d a w a v e” on Marble Pawn’s YT channel, that’s about the only example in the niche/microgenre I can name off the top of my head.
I was skeptical since the evocation of early 2000s America should mean one would have had to be in that time and place to feel what “Cat System Corp.” intended. And even then that’s subjective.
I was 5 when the towers fell and I don’t have any recollection of that day. But the Canadian weather channel, seemingly always on at my grandma’s suite, sounded just. like. this.
So the nostalgia bait is somewhat effective?
I gave the Crusaders 2 stars on the original list for veering too close to elevator music, and they literally are sampled for the purposes of this album!
That isn’t to say I don’t appreciate the musical merit of the sampled music, as much as they aren’t my cup of tea by any means.
Sometime before the end of the 1st side, I started to get taken in by THE CONCEPT, which is good because none of this works without it. I think the mid-sentence cuts, which omit the “This just in” moment from the actual broadcasts, are super eerie and effective.
I’m not entirely sure how to feel about the weather channel half. I guess the more immersive bits of morning television had me thinking there would be more glimpses into this banal universe, but no. A crackle of VHS static and it just ends.
Weird dream is over.
4 stars for the audacity
November 2, 2025
Malibu
4/5
Checkpoint reached
November 4, 2025
Songs: Ohia
3/5
November 14, 2025
HL: "Being in Love", "Back on Top"
First Songs: Ohia.
He'd have been a nightmare on open mic night
4/5
November 14, 2025
HL: "Colossus", "Scum", "Danny Nedelko", "Samaritans", "Great"
Wild connection to the original list, in that "Cry to Me" by Solomon Burke is track 11. Completely did not notice it, until I read that they covered it as an apparent reference to the Dirty Dancing soundtrack. (I haven't seen the movie and Solomon Burke is NOT on the soundtrack CD I have at home.)
Anyway, listening to this right after Songs: Ohia was some fine whiplash. I surprise myself by preferring IDLES's 2018 release, considering I would typically choose melancholy folk after something that takes after the 80s/90s hardcore scene. (I would have believed that "Television" was from a Black Flag album)
of Montreal
4/5
I guess I avoided Of Montreal for so long for the crime of falsely implying that they're Canadian. Same with Boards of Canada >:0
Still not as bad as "Big Dick" Manitoba (see: The Dictators) suing actual Canadian Dan Snaith for the right to the name, but still.
Shame on me, I guess- this takes some pretty good 2007 electropop and infuses it with Sparksisms and Bowieisms. The closest thing we have on the original list is probably the Scissor Sisters s/t, but this is a bit wackier and more exploratory.
First impression is that the album is a little worse after "Grotesque Animal", but still keeps up the oddball energy of the 1st half.
Still closer to a 4 than a 3 in my books
HL: "Cato as a Pun", "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse" (wot are these titles), "The Past is a Grotesque Animal"
November 15, 2025
Bloc Party
4/5
November 7, 2025
HL: "Like Eating Glass", "Helicopter", "Positive Tension", "Little Thoughts", "Plans", "Two More Years" (bonus track)
Gang of Four is the gift that keeps on giving, as I have been made aware of another post-punk revival band today.
Actually that's not quite true, as I knew the song "Helicopter" from Guitar Hero III, so I figured this would be up my alley. And it was.
Okereke's voice switches nicely between the punk talk-singing and softer tones. The rhythm section is ON POINT (again, see "Helicopter").
Based on its release date (2005, when the first edition was released) and origin (London, UK), I can imagine the book's editors almost including this, sharing puckish grins among each other before replacing it with that fourth Morrissey album.
Built To Spill
3/5
Let's put a pin in that
Some of the album feels aimless and jammy, but then occasionally hits with a thing of beauty ("Else"). I think a future listen would be rewarding, since being new to the Built to Spill party, I was more occupied on trying to place them in the U.S. indie landscape rather than taking in the album as a standalone piece. There's a lot of indie on this extended list, have you noticed? I'm still processing the Modest Mouse one and that was months ago.
Not to mention all the Canadian indie I've mostly ignored through my life, that I'm getting to on my own time (Karkwa, Broken Social Scene, Wolf Parade, you name it).
"If all indie is critically acclaimed, then none of it is." -The Incredibles (2004)
My New Year's Resolution for 2026 is to swear off indie rock like it's nicotine
Between 3 and 5 stars
HL: "Carry the Zero", "Else", "Broken Chairs"
November 26, 2025
Michael Hurley
4/5
November 24, 2025
HL: "Wildegeeses", "Valley of Tears", "Molly Malone/Loch Lomond"
Cozy as hell, really like the interplay with Michael Hurley's gentle playing and the band that is more indie rock than folk/country.
"Hoot Owls", even though it is not the best song, is really the moment where I thought to myself "How could I NOT love this album"
Weezer
4/5
Baroness
4/5
November 24th, 2025
HL: (Yellow) "Take My Bones Away", "Little Things", "Cocainum", (Green) "Green Theme", "Stretchmarker"
Closer to mainstream rock than I expected, but I'm not complaining. Recent attempts to get into heavier subgenres (Agalloch, Burzum) were a bit punishing, so I'll accept things like melody and songs that end before the 10 minute mark.
Oh, I realize now I probably enjoyed this metal album because it isn't... really. Curses, my horizons aren't as broadened as I thought. Still, the swathes of atmospheric noodling ("Green Theme", "If I Forget Thee") were lovely and cooperated with the more straightforward rockers ("Take My Bones Away").
If anything, this evokes Make Yourself by Incubus the most out of the original 1001, in that it sounds like a heavy metal band disinterested with heavy metal. However, despite the intimidating 2-disc length, I wound up liking this more than Incubus.
⚓ Plus some nautical roguishness never hurt a rock album ("Sea Lungs", "March to the Sea")
Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera
4/5
November 24th, 2025 again
(I'm playing some catchup today. Been more focused on stuff that's been on my radar for a long time, rather than total surprises like the Velvet Opera)
HL: "Mary Jane", "I Was Cool", "Long Nights of Summer", "Reactions of a Young Man", bonus b-side "Dreamy"
-RYM says the real album ends at "Now She's Gone", so I'm basing my review off that.
-Off to a great start, weirdly great pairing with Baroness's Yellow and Green, which I also happen to be hearing for the first time this afternoon.
-"Dream Starts" might be one of the best songs through all the FX
on the acidic side of 60's psych. More Piper than Sgt. Pepper; less Zombies than Iron Butterfly
I'm grateful for whoever submitted this, even tho I was wary, as not all the 60s psych from the 1001 hit in the way I expected (Country Joe, 13th Floor Elevators, Byrds). It's just close enough to its contemporaries to not be a total surprise- obligatory sitar by track 6- but Elmer Gantry's Opera finds a good balance between delivering some fine pop rock ("Mary Jane") and freaking out ("Dream Starts").
Childish Gambino
5/5
HL: "Me and Your Mama", "Have Some Love", "Riot", "Redbone", "Stand Tall"
Hm, pretty hard to be unbiased about an album I've been coming back to since about its release date.
Let's say that I continue to love this in spite of its over-earnest homages to its funk predecessors. We remember Maggot Brain and There's a Riot Goin' On from the original list, both of which "Awaken My Love!" seems to repurpose. (For specific examples, see "Have Some Love" for the former album and "Terrified" for the latter.)
The time I came across it (late 2016-early 2017) as well as its place in Childish Gambino's discography, definitely helped my appreciation for it. Cold winter. Teeny tiny chequing account balance. Professors on strike. Fucking States letting us down in perhaps a never-ending series of letdowns.
Then the guy who rapped "Bonfire" does a psych-funk album. Did it fix any of the problems listed above? No, but it didn't exacerbate them, either. Gambino's knack towards more melodic songs (heard earlier in "Sober" and "3005") really benefited from the vehicle of 70's funk and soul.
Fun fact: this lost the Album of the Year Grammy to Bruno Mars. And I'm actually not mad! Who's going to put 24k Magic here...
Les sheriff
2/5
Les $heriff, more like les Sh€riff, amirite!
Be-because of the... French don't use dollars...
I'll just play the fuckin' album
HL: (D1) "Tout les temps pareil/Je veux savoir pourquoi", "Ça fait mal"
(D2) "J'aime jouer avec le feu"
Not bad, but on the other hand... ehhh
I'm getting to feel like Charlie Brown having the football taken away every time I encounter a new punk band.
'Oh this time, it's going to be different. They don't sing in English!'
Toutefois... 70 minutes of "OI OI OI".
It's impressive how little it deviates from the formula. No really, they just don't quit! It's the best quality about Les deux doigts, and also my biggest problem with it.
At least they didn't spring for 20 minutes of feedback drone or drum solos just to make it 2 discs worth of music.
Mes oreilles, ils sifflent!
More enjoyable than the Stooges live album tho
The 1975
4/5
Not 1st listen- that one didn't do much for me but maybe this time...
Unexpected CanCon with the guest vocal in "About You" (it's Carly Holt. aka the guitarist's wife. I'm really reaching for this CanCon)
It's gotten shorter since I last listened to this (2023?), with "Human Too" removed as of this month. I checked it out on YouTube; I don't feel the album is any better or worse without it, but it's a strange move to scrub it imho.
There is no eleventh song in Ba Sing Se :0
I think I realized my initial problem with this album. You see, it was not my love of the 1975 but my appreciation of Jack Antonoff/Bleachers that led me to check it out. I quite enjoyed his 2021 release Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night, which was met with resounding shrugs from many critics. Being Funny seems to share a lot of aesthetic choices, especially the ghost of Clarence Clemons that haunts both this and the aforementioned Bleachers album. Another example is the baroque stylings of both "Part of the Band" here & "91" from Take the Sadness. And the shoegaze-lite "About You" versus "Chinatown".
Antonoff has proven range- I mean, look at his work with Kendrick Lamar and Lorde- but the similarities bummed me out especially since this was hailed as one of the best albums of 2022.
But let me bury this hatchet. Despite all that I liked this a good deal more tonight, maybe because I'm more familiar with The 1975 thanks to whoever submitted A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships (these long-ass titles, I swear to God). Songs that left me feeling hollow before, such as "All I Need to Hear" and "Somebody to Love", clicked today even if they aren't my FAVOURITE, and the highlights listed below sounded richer and more anthemic than ever. It doesn't have to fight with Bleachers for the right to bring back 80's Big Music™.
3 if I'm in a bad mood, 4 if I'm in a good mood. I'm in a good mood
HL: "Part of the Band", "Oh Caroline", "About You", "Happiness"
Medeski, Martin & Wood
4/5
November 28, 2025
HL: "Think", "Bubblehouse", "Henduck", "Jelly Belly"
The phrase "experimental jazz fusion" from Wikipedia had my mind racing, not all of them good thoughts. However, I didn't quite expect an organ workout à la some new-age Jimmy Smith.
Whereas Back at the Chicken Shack is more comforting, Shack-Man throws in just enough dissonance to keep one on edge.
And just when it seems like it could get tedious, it bows out gracefully with "Kenny".
An unexpected 4 stars
Boards of Canada
5/5
don't hug me, I'm scared
Music Has the Right to Children certainly piqued my interest when I first heard it- thanks to this website. But Geogaddi initially unsettled me to the point that I wasn't even sure I liked it. Turns out I loved it, but that combo of "Beware the Friendly Stranger" and "Gyroscope" so early in the album is uniquely dread-inducing. No wonder they put the latter in the movie Sinister.
Of course, Geogaddi isn't content to be mere psychological horror, as through the muck you also get groovy rhythms from the likes of "Julie and Candy" and "Music is Math". A concession to the listener
Definitely don't want to listen to this all the time, but these freaky synths probably make for my favourite BoC album (out of a mere 4)
HL: "Gyroscope", "Alpha and Omega", "Devil Is In the Details", "Julie and Candy",
(I keep skipping to the ones I've heard already, this included, which I admit is kind of against the point of this whole generator. We'll get there when we get there, Tom Misch)
Polvo
3/5
November 30, 2025
"Vibracobra", "Can I Ride", "Duped"
If it's anything like how I perceived fellow distortion lovers Sonic Youth and Sebadoh, Polvo's 1992 debut has room to grow on me.
Solid lo-fi-ness
Daft Punk
3/5
3rd Daft Punk on this user list and still no R.A.M.? Is it not cool to like that album anymore, or...
...cuz I still like it...
Anyway, I'm curious how this will go; I've never watched any of the Trons, so my brain can't fill in the blanks like I did with the Blade Runner soundtrack.
I guess the original had Virgin Suicides and Shalimar, soundtracks to movies I have yet to see. And those were fine!
I definitely support soundtracks as standalone pieces of art, and am kinda mad I didn't even consider one when submitting my album(s).
Hmm... while I had my expectations tempered somewhat with the Apple Music blurb- basically "expect something darker and more orchestral than Discovery"- I still didn't have as much fun as I expected. Kind of like Hans Zimmer's work in the Dark Knight, there are a lot of loud, urgent, pounding moments that I'd bet would feel amazing in a movie theatre. But that also means that a lot kinda blended together for me, to the point I have a hard time saying exactly what moments I liked best about it. (Highlights are below ;D )
Damn that synth brass in "Finale" resembles the Shining.
Oh Wendy Carlos did both the Shining and the original Tron? Guess at least part of that must have been lifted from the earlier movie.
HL: "Adagio for TRON", "Derezzed", "Finale", "Sea of Simulation" (bonus)
3.5
December 5, 2025
Manchester Orchestra
3/5
November 20, 2025
HL: "The Gold", "The Alien", "The Wolf"
Oh neat! They scored the movie Swiss Army Man
Also! Maybe the first album I've heard that acknowledges the existence of South Dakota.
As for the music, it’s… decent? Maybe I overdid the 2000s indie recently, but I found only a few songs matched A Black Mile’s cinematic ambitions, Or its dramatic cover that kinda looks like a spinal column.
I continue to be shit when it comes to absorbing lyrics, but I just read that they, along with the album title allude to miners working underground.
On God I have been in a cave in South Dakota, it did not feel this nice
I’ve said this about a few records now, but this would sound a lot better driving down a long highway
Talking Heads
4/5
The initial release is the 40-minute one that starts with “Psycho Killer” and ends with “Take Me to the River”, but given that it omits “Heaven”, "This Must Be the Place" and “Crosseyed and Painless”, I’m saying ‘fuck that’ and skipping right to the 2023 remaster. (I can't complain that someone uploaded a 90-minute live album then)
Plus having seen the concert film, I don't care for the idea of "Girlfriend is Better" being at the halfway point, rather than as part of the big finale along with "Take Me to the River".
Oh hell, AllMusic puts it a lot better:
"Since its release, purists have found Stop Making Sense slickly mixed and, worse yet, incomprehensive. The nine tracks included jumble and truncate the natural progression of frontman David Byrne's meticulously arranged stage show."
- Michael Hastings
Well I don't know about the "slick mix", but... yeah.
Poor choices aside, the original cut still contains maybe the best examples of Speaking in Tongues cuts "Swamp", "Girlfriend is Better" and "Burning Down the House". Also, the keyboard wizardry of special guest Bernie Worrell is on full display.
Meaning I still think the original makes for a good listen, but it's hard to recommend when there's a superior (albeit much longer) version available 👀
Just watch the movie. You can't *hear* a funny, over-sized business suit, can you?
HL: "Psycho Killer", "Burning Down the House", "Girlfriend is Better",
bonus tracks "Heaven", "Cities", "Making Flippy Floppy", "Genius of Love", "Crosseyed and Painless"
November 25, 2025
Shihad
3/5
Records show this is only the second Kiwi album I've listened to this year besides Lorde's almost-great Virgin (2025). That's my bad :(
HL: "Pacifier", "Sport and Religion", "Brightest Star"
iz decent
Future Islands
5/5
Great record. Great record
One of the few live shows I’ve taken in post-pandemic was Future Islands, since concert tickets are like a year’s wage now. They were touring for their sixth album As Long As You Are (2020), but I doubt I was alone in anticipating them bringing the house down with track 1 of Singles, "Seasons".
'Who starts an album like that? I just sat down!'
I have a feeling it isn't #1 on my all-time Apple Music list because I mostly used Spotify during the pandemic; that's where the algorithm foisted this song on me.
But as it turns out... they have other songs. And several of their best can be found on this 2014 release.
Samuel Herring's tortured growl in "Fall From Grace" gives goosebumps every time. Apparently that's him *protecting* his voice, compared to how he sang in earlier releases.
The lyrics can be both overly literary and incredibly direct, which is one of my favourite things about this band. Like you don't need the complete works of Roethke to get down with this album. At least I don't think so. I have yet to read Roethke (his works were a major influence on the band).
Speaking of influence, Future Islands really primed me to like O.M.D., one of their musical forebears that I didn't pay much attention to until this album-a-day business. I now have copies of Architecture & Morality and Dazzle Ships right next to As Long As You Are.
If there is a skippable song, I'd probably choose "Doves". :0 Just that there's a better song out there with the "baby don't hurt me" refrain.
Kind of like fellow Baltimoreans Beach House, several of their albums would have worked here. In fact, one of the albums I was considering adding to this list was In Evening Air (2010), though my favourite F.I. has changed about three times since then. But in terms of, to paraphrase a YouTube comment, music to cry and do push ups to, you can't really go wrong with Singles.
HL: "Seasons (Waiting On You)", "Spirit", "Sun in the Morning", "Light House", "Fall From Grace", "A Dream of You and Me"
The Heads
3/5
The Talking Heads were a vital part of ushering in the new wave, and smoothly transitioned into more commercial pop towards the mid-80s. From then all I knew was they dropped a couple of albums most people didn’t care for, Byrne left and the rest was history.
Clearly it was not merely "history", as this apparently exists. Michael Hutchence, Debbie Harry & Andy Partridge are the names I know, all great frontmen from the Talking Heads’ time, but how well will they mesh with that band’s members?
Edit: I didn't recognize some of the names, but we're also dealing with the singers of Concrete Blonde, Happy Mondays, Live & Violent Femmes. A real 80's-90's-and-whatever jamboree.
Doesn't SOUND much like a jamboree, though.
I have experienced many examples of 70s artists trendchasing into the 80s, but don’t think as much about how 80s artists had to market themselves for a post-Nirvana world. From my own experience, there’s Madonna, who switched lanes pretty hard, and R.E.M., who took their jangly rock and (mostly) kept on truckin’. A lot however, as the YouTuber Todd in the Shadows frequently mentions, just found their career at an end.
No Talking finds the remaining Heads somewhere in the middle, in a strange middle ground between their past post-punk/funk (post-funk?) heyday and some of the worst 90s-isms the decade had to offer. Alright there's my anti-90s bias coming out, but the Heads' eclecticism has a hard time meshing with the gray porridge of post-Madchester, post-grungy, industrial-lite trends. And ya I will defend U2's slant towards industrial-lite, baggy, alternative dance on Achtung Baby and Zooropa, because I am a giant hypocrite.
Also, this damned mess has the GALL to also have some good songs and performances, so I can't even one-star it into oblivion.
A beautiful disaster, or an ugly success. Either way, I don't think it deserves to be forgotten about, but I'm still surprised to find it here.
HL: "Damage I've Done", "The King Is Gone", title track, "Indie Hair" (ya the one with the Live guy) "Papersnow"
November 25, 2025
Hamilton Leithauser
4/5
I told myself I was done with the generator until the new year, but too many of these are piquing my interest.
Who the heck is Hamilton Leithauser?
Oh, the singer for the Walkmen.
Who the heck are the Walkmen?
Turns out I have a Walkmen song in my digital library, it seems. "If Only It Were True". Great tune that I definitely thought was by the Lumineers
It took me a second to accustom to Leithauser's voice, a blend of Tom Cochrane's rasp and, again, Wesley Schultz from the Lumineers. But then about three songs in, I decided I really liked what he was doing here.
Alright, as "1959" featuring ex-Dirty Projector Angel Deradoorian came to a close, I realized this album is preaching to the choir. It's me, I'm the choir. Think I'm going to pass on an indie folk album?
As nostalgic as this album can be, pulling from classic soul, Dylan and Cohen, what sounds like the backing vocals to that Flamingos song "I Only Have Eyes For You"-- there's enough moving between genre to avoid feeling trite. Plus the eclectic production from Rostam gives it a more surreal, dreamy bent.
HL: "Rough Going", "In a Black Out", "Peaceful Morning", "You Ain't That Young Kid", "1959"
December 6, 2025
Sublime
3/5
Mixed feelings towards Sublime, as while they've never been my favourite bands (even with their evergreen karaoke pick "Santeria"), it seems wrong that they're not a part of the original list.
Maybe they forgot to release it in the UK or something, because the hits from Sublime's self-titled are all over Canada.
I just refreshed myself on the 1996 portion of the book and woof...
Didn't need a 2nd Barry Adamson or Everything But the Girl; I'd argue Manic Street Preachers or Belle and Sebastian* didn't need a 2nd album either. There was plenty of room for one 1996 slacker-ska-punk record!
3.5/5
worth it for the singles at least
HL: "What I Got", "Santeria", "Burritos", "Get Ready", "Doin' Time"
November 27, 2025
*I'm sorry Belle and Sebastian, I would never cut you
Lady Gaga
3/5
Not first listen-
How time has affected my perception of these songs. Once the nadir of vacuous, auto-tuned pop in my (12-year-old) eyes, it has now risen to the point where I gave it a soaring grade of... 7 outta ten. That was a while ago, and specifically for the 90 minute expanded edition combined with the 24-track The Fame Monster (#89 on Apple Music's greatest). Consider tonight a re-re-evaluation.
Okay yeh I'm still leaning towards a 7 outta ten. It really does not get better than the opening run (which I'll repeat, in middle school I plain disliked), but mostly avoids recycling what works by trying out some new genres towards the end. Not "Money Honey" though, that's just "Just Dance" again.
I guess I still carry some bias towards having to hear songs from The Fame every day- perhaps multiple times a day- in the late aughts. At the same time, I really underrated Lady Gaga's amazing, versatile voice back then, which really elevates songs like "Poker Face" and "Just Dance" above a lot of the trash that accompanied these singles on the radio. Fight me, Flo Rida
HL: "Just Dance", "Paparazzi", "Poker Face", "Starstruck" (yes the Flo Rida collab), "Brown Eyes"
Alexisonfire
3/5
December 3, 2025
HL: "A Dagger Through the Heart of St. Angeles", "The Kennedy Curse", "Little Girls Pointing and Laughing"
My interest in Alexisonfire has always been more academic than anything. It's cool that they're a Canadian band whose influence isn't just felt on Canadian artists, cool that City and Colour made his start here.
But actually listening to them hasn't been one of my priorities. Gotta do it for the culture tho
Let the record show that anything approaching screamo does not tend to get a high rating from me. But what if the gothic-melodic-hardcore backing is often some of the best I've heard in the genre? The beautiful textures in ".44 Caliber" and "Polar Bears" do their best to offset the ugliness of Pettit's screamed vocals. I had Apple Music's lyrics tab open for several songs, and even then I had to double check "Oh THAT's what they're saying?". That's a problem I have with all so-called "unclean vocals". Deafheaven is perhaps my favourite band with that element right now, and I literally cannot hear the English language coming out of their singer.
I hope I'm not just rounding up to a 3 because they're Ontarian-- but I do think, in this case, the good outweighs the bad
Hombres G
4/5
December 8, 2025
HL: "Visite nuestro bar", "En la playa", "Marta tiene un marcapasos", "Rita la cantaora"
Neato
The Groundhogs
3/5
December 15, 2025
HL: "Strange Town", title track, "Status People"
An imaginative take on blues rock.
Didn't vibe with every track but the few I really liked all had these wonky guitar lines that wove in and out of the standard key. In particular, the guitar work in the title track knocked my socks off.
3.5, maybe a 5 another day
The Angelic Process
4/5
Continuing the series of: Anon’s favourite metal albums don’t really seem like metal at all. More like ambient that will blow your subwoofers
Incredible atmosphere, although bleak and apocalyptic. Strangely, the drums seem like an afterthought, and are probably the main reason why I wouldn’t rank this higher. At first I thought they were programmed/canned, à la Treasure by Cocteau Twins where I similarly thought the drums were weird, but Wikipedia indicates otherwise.
Still, an especially unique addition to the list, and one I’d probably not return to for a while knowing why it was made. But I’m definitely open to putting myself through this again
December 14, 2025
Amália Rodrigues
4/5
December 17, 2025
I'm not the most erudite when it comes to Portuguese music, but in Civilization V and VI I would honestly start games with Portugal and Brazil just for the music, so
You could say I'm enjoying this so far
Gerry Cinnamon
4/5
Good name. Cinnamon, that is
"He has said that he was a fan of Oasis and The La's. He has a particular admiration for the work of Bob Dylan." - I believe it
Waiiit... "Belter" was sung by this guy?
For context, I lived in Ireland for 18 months, and heard it all around before the pubs all shut for the coronavirus. Guess it makes sense for Ireland to be tuned into the Scottish music scene as well. I don't think I've heard it once in the 5 years since I returned to Canadaland. Not even sure it's the best song on the album, but what a rush of nostalgia just there. If nostalgia is the right word. Being in a foreign country during lockdown really was the best of times and the worst of times
But enough about me! Though this is his debut album, Gerry Cinnamon already seems quite the savant at likeable melodies and wordless choruses. I look forward to checking out his rich catalogue of... one more album :/
HL: "What Have You Done", "Belter", title track, "Diamonds and Mud", "War TV"
December 19, 2025
Robyn
4/5
Crass
3/5
HL: "Do They Owe Us a Living?", "They've Got a Bomb", "Sucks", "So What"
Now THIS is punk!
Porter Robinson
3/5
11 December 2025
HL: "Get Your Wish", "Trying to Feel Alive", "Mirror", perhaps "Wind Tempos"
For the record, I did see this was added to the generator. But it's still kinda odd that this popped up literally a day after I took this CD home from the store. Very rarely do I buy a CD before hearing a single track off of it. (Very rarely do I buy a CD at over 10 bucks, mind you)
Okay, today isn't the first time I didn't unconditionally love an album I bought the first time I heard it (read: my opinion of XTC's Apple Venus. That's at least a 4/5 now. Maybe it's time to give the Underworld CD another try). But there's enough going on I can see this sounding better over time. "Lifelike" and "Trying to Feel Alive" are gorgeous, bittersweet bookends, laced with what sounds like a melodica. The rousing synth n' beats provide an interesting contrast with the more pastoral piano bits.
Still, I was a bit confused at this album. "Wind Tempos" is perhaps the best and the worst song on the album, depending on what section we're talking about. That's just one of the moments where I felt I was trying to listen past the processed vocals, instead of taking it all in.
Also, my attempt to give more attention to the 2nd third of the album, where I felt my attention wandered a bit, was derailed after I read Kero Kero Bonito was involved in "Musician". Now my attention is once again on the album Time n' Place. Ah we'll get ya next time, Porter.
Would that I could lay prostrate in a field of daisies. But no, I listened to Nurture in a time where sunlight is scant and wet, blowing snow threatens to bury us all.
Billy Strings
4/5
December 27, 2025
HL: "Escanaba", "Seven Weeks In County", "Stratosphere Blues / I Believe in You", "MORBUD4ME"
First I'm hearing of this Billy Strings. But you had me at "bluegrass". I don't go out of my way to listen to the genre, but I somehow gave the 2-hour Nitty Gritty album 5 stars.
What the hell, this has the same producer as Mac Miller's Circles? Never would have guessed. Also, the Eels' Beautiful Freak. Gotta start paying attention to Jon Brion, I guess.
Well, I gotta hand it to OP. I've been pretty lukewarm on some of the country picks, but here's one that's traditional but not conservative, emotional but not depressing, eclectic but not disjointed, and long but not tedious.
Now I want to hear him do a psychedelic album in the vein of "Stratosphere Blues". Or would that be considered stepping on Sturgill Simpson's toes
4* at least
Espers
4/5
January 6, 2026
HL: “Dead Queen”, “Dead King”, “Dead Jack” (kidding, not a real song), “Cruel Song”
Straddles the line between witchy psych-folk and droning post-rock, both of which I have a personal weakness towards. So did I need to hear it? Kinda, yes.
Dedicating “Dead King” to a special someone today, January the 6th.
Metric
4/5
Not 1st listen (hell yeh)
HL: “GIMME SYMPATHY “Help I’m Alive”, “Collect Call”, “Twilight Galaxy”, “Gold Guns Girls”
Mac Miller
3/5
The Chameleons
4/5
December 21 /25
HL: "Here Today", "Up the Down Escalator", "Less Than Human", "A Person Isn't Safe Anywhere These Days"
cool
Turnpike Troubadours
3/5
December 23 /25
HL: "1968", "Whole Damn Town", "Evangeline"
I have a bone to pick with the producer, Mike McClure. Or maybe it's just music in the year 2010. But why the pitch correction? In a rustic, sometimes beautiful country rock album that otherwise has nothing to do with THAT kind of pop country, the pitch correction stood out like a sore thumb.
There was enough fiddle and accordion to keep me happy though, so I'm not that mad
>:0
Ignoring that little quibble, maybe there could be more variation between tracks, but what is here is pretty likeable.
Somewhere between a 6 and a 7 outta 10
Descendents
3/5
User Album #250
In the first half, I could not figure out why more hardcore made it here.
"I'm Not a Loser" kinda stopped being funny by the "Mr. Buttfuck" part, which is impressive for a song less than 90 seconds.
However, in the break between Side A & B, they just, like, decide on a whim to architect 1990's punk rock. In 1982!
3.5 (as always, for my own personal taste because this is a pretty great example of an influential band that got shafted in the first list)
Current 93
3/5
'weeping angels'? 😰
Apple Music has two EPs bookending the real album as described on Wikipedia. Consider them skipped!
I just praised Philadelphian band Espers for blending witchy psych-folk and droning post-rock, but today it seems the mix curdled a bit.
Obviously, waiting 30 mins for a bus in sub-zero weather didn't help the experience, but the same could be said of the reverse.
As depressing as it can be- as annoying as the singer can be at times- I still didn't hate it. Its oppressive, sinister atmosphere mode is sometimes buoyed by gentle melodic strumming, enough to keep it from being a total dirge.
Especially unique entry to the user list, but forgive me if I don't revisit it any time soon.
HL: "The Inmost Night", "The Bloodbells Chime", "The Frolic", "Patripassian" (of course Nick Cave is involved in this)
January 7, 2026
Mansun
4/5
January 8, 202six
HL: title track, "Fall Out", "Cancer", "Being a Girl"
Extremely unfamiliar with this band. They're from some place called- let me know if I'm saying this right- England?
Ok, whatever :p
Unexpected Tchaikovsky. Unexpected Tom Baker
Okay, my expectations weren't terribly high, since I may have read Manic Street Preachers and Suede influenced them (they got 3s across the board from me). Something about the reckless overuse of guitar FX and noises (anyone else catch the TARDIS at the end?) ended up making it a more enjoyable experience. Amidst contemporary bands like Suede, Oasis, & The Verve, who were taking themselves maybe too seriously in the late 90s, there were also weirdos like Super Furry Animals and, I guess Mansun, just trying random bullshit and having a lot of it succeed.
Vince Guaraldi Trio
4/5
“What’s cooler than being cool?”
“Vince Guaraldi”
65daysofstatic
3/5
December 26, 2025
HL: "Await Rescue", "Climbing on Roofs", "Radio Protector"
Respect for its mix of brooding prog, IDM and D&B, though found I couldn't really engage with this LP at a deeper level. I couldn't tell if it needed to get to the point quicker or *sprawl*. I'm surprised that no songs crack the 6-minute mark.
Yoko Ono
2/5
Not my first Yoko; Double Fantasy and her version of the Plastic Ono Band were heard first. So my understanding of her music ranges from surprisingly good, to what I remember being, to put it kindly,
absolute pigshit.
I can't tell if this is here out of genuine appreciation for the avant garde, or an exercise in sadism -_- Guess I'll just have to spin this to find out!
Edit: to paraphrase Mr. Lennon, “Fly (1971) is a concept by which we measure our pain”
There’s no easy entry point into Fly, and unfortunately it was more of an endurance test than something to be enjoyed, but also had some neat moments like the proto-electronica in Side 3, assisted by a Joe Jones. Kind of like Ornette Coleman’s unexpected involvement in Plastic Ono Band (Yoko’s Version), it reminded me that most of the best moments come from an outside contributor.
As someone who has been somewhat intrigued by the weird shit Yoko and John composed in the late 60s/early 70s (“Number Nine, Number Nine”) , it is remarkable how… empty it feels across two discs. The decent bits are separated by truly bleak stretches of, whatever-you-wanna-call-it. Protopunk, avant-garde minimalism. I call it pigshit
HL: “Don’t Worry Kyoko”, “Mrs. Lennon”, “Airmale”
January 5, 2026
Garmarna
4/5
January 9, 2026
HL: title track, "Euchari", "Sorgsen ton", "Brun"
I figured I would like it from what little I know of Scandi folk- the electronic elements came as a surprise, though a welcome one.
Medieval druids... in space!
Angelo De Augustine
3/5
Shudder To Think
4/5
January 10, 2026
HL: "Sweet Year Old", "Earthquakes Come Home", "X-French Tee Shirt", "Chakka"
Ending kinda meanders past "Chakka"/"Own Me", but a lot of 90s albums are too long, so it's in good company.
But y'know what, I enjoyed this considerably more than a lot of the post-hardcore/noise rock picks from the 1001, so kudos to thee.
Lady Gaga
3/5
January 11, 2026
HL: "Venus", "Fashion!", "Applause"
Happy for Lady Gaga fans, that this is on the list
BABYMETAL
3/5
J-pop and death metal.
"The scientists, they could, but whether or not they should, they didn't stop. Dinosaur." - Geff Joldblum, Jurassic Park
Was kind of hoping "Song 4" would just be Blur's "Song 2" twice
I think some part of me wants to give Babymetal a fair shot, due to the insane cognitive dissonance I experience listening to this genre fusion; at the same time if someone close to me suggested I listen to this album I might trust them a little less, without knowing why
HL: "Megitsune", "Headbangeeeeerrrrr!!!!!!!", "Gimme Chocolate"
January 12, 2026
Various Artists
4/5
Oh fantastic, I was wondering when I'd come across an actual video game soundtrack here. I'm not being sarcastic. There's a lot of neat stuff out there that can be appreciated outside its usual medium. Minecraft. Cuphead. I'll personally always advocate for The Sims 1 and RuneScape soundtracks, though nostalgia certainly plays a factor in those cases.
“You Are Smart”- I don’t feel smart, Japanese video game soundtrack. Don’t patronize me!
I can't get over that this music was written for a PS2 game. It's a bubbly mix of pop, rock, jazz & electronica, and composed in the vein of "Shibuya-kei" music that I keep meaning to pay attention to but understand little about. Hard to tell what the music is made for without the context of ever playing this- but that doesn't mean I'm not having a grand ol time.
Sure glad that the name of the game didn't get Anglicized to "Clump Spirit"
HL: "Katamari on the Rocks ~ Main Theme", "LONELY ROLLING STAR", "Walking on a Star!", "Cherry Tree Times", "Que Sera Sera"
January 13, 2026
Josh Ritter
3/5
January 18, 2026
HL: “Girl in the War”, “Monster Ballads”, “One More Mouth”
Idaho
Roy Harper
4/5
January 15, 2026
HL: "The Same Old Rock", "Me and My Woman"
Hats off to Roy! I'm sorry it took this long to hear this.
I've been guilty of "one and done-ing" a lot of these albums, but this one took 2 full listens just to process what I was listening to.
That is, some dense, tangled, proggy folk. And I am here for it! Have a cigar, boy
Extrechinato y Tu
3/5
January 21, 2026
HL: "Abrazado a la tristeza", "Tres puertas",
Listened on YouTube since Apple Music only has part of the album available
Hm, anyone else hear Alturas de Macchu Picchu? It's another Spanish-language, ambitious rock album that honours a poet. In that case, it's Pablo Neruda; here it's Manolo Chinato. Most of the Google search results of Chinato lead right back to this album.
As a unilingual dummy, I appreciated the former band's ability to fuse prog and South American folk, which hooked me even if the poetry the music was built around is lost on me.
Here, there are certainly hooks beyond the poetry, like the bombastic orchestra in "Tres puertas", but the genre changes makes this feel like a compilation moreso than an album. Whiplash aside, its ambitions, for the most part, translate to some good tunes.
Like a 7/10 for now
Sports Team
3/5
January 17, 2026
HL: "Lander", "Camel Crew", "Here's the Thing", "The Races"
7/10, maybe more down the line; my darn brain kept drawing comparisons to other bands so I couldn't fully immerse myself in this album, but it also takes some of my favourite elements from British and American indie rock and runs with it.
"Here's the Thing" is so fun
Digable Planets
4/5
I've been made aware of Digable Planets, but only when people are talking about their sophomore release Blowout Comb.
Well I’ll get to that eventually; in the meantime this debut is so, so good. As I learned from the 1001, jazz rap is a pretty easy sell for me, and this trio won me over pretty quickly. I’ve definitely heard the hit “Cool Like Dat” before, though I didn’t know it was theirs!
Smooth like butter
HL: "Pacifics", "Where I'm From", "Rebirth of Slick", “La Femme Fetal”, “Escapism”
January 18, 2026
Reincidentes
4/5
January 19, 2026
HL: “¡Ay! Dolores”, “En una Patera”, "Hablando Con Mi Cerebro", "La espiral", "Domesticao"
The closest thing I can think of that I listened to recently is the Bad Religion album someone else posted. In other words, a punk band that chose a more mainstream rock sound without totally sacrificing their edge. I hate that those are the "punk" albums I gravitate towards, but 'thems the breaks'.
The album cover and song titles give me the sense this is a political album. My Spanish is basically nada, so how political, and what politics, I cannot say.
But this still rocks! 🤘
Sometimes I forget I was raised on a more straightforward rock diet (thanks, Mom), so the pleasures of an album such as this shouldn't come as a surprise to me. Even if my own tastes have drifted over the years...
Barenaked Ladies
4/5
HL: "Hello City", "Enid", "Brian Wilson", "Be My Yoko Ono", "The King of Bedside Manor", "If I Had $1000000"
Someone added the Ladies!
"You Did It. The Crazy Son of a Bitch, You Did It" - Jeff Goldblum, Jurassic Park
At a whopping total of TWO times, the Barenaked Ladies are perhaps the live act I've seen the most. Both times after their co-lead singer Steven Page left the band in 2009, which remains a bummer second only to Great Big Sea's great big breakup in 2013.
They never needed to make this a full hour, I will admit. The goofiness of many of the tracks clashes a bit with the sincere melancholy of "Brian Wilson" and "The Flag". I never even paid much attention to this full album outside of the hits. But where would Canadian rock radio be without classics like "If I Had $1000000" and "Enid", hmm?
To illustrate my point, let's go back to the early aughts, when I gained sentience and some rudimentary form of music taste. Next to the post-grunge soup of Theory of a Deadman, Three Days Grace, and Our Lady Peace, BnL were an absolute godsend to me.
Imperfect, yet essential
Childish Gambino
4/5
January 22, 2026
HL: "I. Crawl", "II. Worldstar", "Sweatpants", "3005", "Zealots of Stockholm"
"Sweatpants" and "3005", previously the only songs I really knew from B.T.I., probably kept me from being utterly lost.
My Bino longplays before this were Awaken My Love!, Royalty (mixtape), and Atavista in that order, and I would say all are easier listens than this. But I have to say, like the aforementioned albums, I did enjoy the creative twists n' turns here.
Either a 3 or a 4 but I'll bump it up today.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
It's two hours. Which is pretty brief for a Springsteen concert, so I've heard... but still.
I listened to it. As long as you're happy. You're happy, right? 'Cuz I sure want you to be happy!!!
Idk why my knickers are in such a twist. I gave Born to Run 5 stars; I would have been just fine if OP had offered The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle instead. The lengthy jam of "Kitty's Back/Moondance" was an unexpected high point. But... idk. Never could be a hardcore Bruce follower. I'd probably be the yokel clapping along to "Waitin on a Sunny Day"
As I think with every decent live album, "Happy for the people who were there"
HL: "Born to Run" (as always), "Kitty's Back"
January 26, 2026
Auri
3/5
January 24, 2026
HL: "Skeleton Tree", "See", "Underthing Solstice"
This band is named after a character in The Name of the Wind... God I read that like 10 years ago. There's somebody named Auri in it?
Oh, she's this mysterious waif that lives in the "Underthing", this labyrinth hidden below the magic university.
And here's a song literally called "Underthing Solstice". Neat
I didn't want to start the second book until there was any promise of a conclusion to the trilogy, which there still isn't a decade later. (It's also very fun to be an ASOIAF fan) Point is, maybe Auri is more important later on; who is to say. That 2nd book continues to gather dust on my shelf.
At least we got this agreeable set of Celtic-inspired ditties in the interim between The Wise Man's Fear and, um, the death of the Sun
Koritni
3/5
Never heard of Koritni- but I remember when "Runnin' Wild" by fellow Australians Airbourne started playing on rock radio, and naive preteen me probably thought it meant classic hard rock was back, baby.
Lex Koritni's voice kinda reminds me of the guy from the Black Crowes, which is a plus imho
Fun, not sure how much of this I'll remember after today.
OP's album summary will haunt me for a while, though. 1- and 2-starring almost every single album on the list, stayed on the user list long enough to give this 5 stars, and was never seen again.
Sir, what motivated you? I have a harder time sticking to a routine of things I actually enjoy (like playing piano).
3/5, could use more piano
HL: "By My Side", title track, "Tornado Dreaming II"
January 27, 2026
P.S. no I'm not done whinging. GnR didn't even get 5 stars from this dude. ROCKS by Aerosmith got 3 only. What even is this album without those two? I'll convince myself OP is a troll, because the alternative is too hard to bear
Counting Crows
3/5
HL: "Omaha", "Mr. Jones", "Rain King"
Solid
Foxing
4/5
January 28, 2026
HL: "Grand Paradise", "Gameshark", title track, "Trapped At Dillard's", "Won't Drown"
I had the phrase "I rate this four horses out of five" in my head before I heard a second of this band. I think I'm funny. But the more I hear (listening to "Won't Drown" atm), the more that rating might be serious.
The first rough patch after a pretty great start was the meandering "Five Cups", though it does its best to hold the lush soundscape the whole album offers.
Kind of similar to TV on the Radio, in that it mixes radio-friendly hooks with off-kilter production choices.
Just because it resembles some of the indie picks from the 1001 doesn't mean I am not glad to find this here.
Mr. Bungle
5/5
January 29, 2026
Time to go further Into the Pattonverse than I have to date!
Both Angel Dust and The Real Thing, by Patton's former band Faith No More, are albums I probably wouldn't have listened to without this website, but they were pretty good.
Funny how I just heard "Retrovertigo" for the first time just last week when my friend put it on,
Edit: qu'est ce-que fuck
I guess that lounge bonus track from The Real Thing wasn't a joke after all. Or this is all one big joke. Either way, more jokes like this please!
I kept waiting for this cartoonish fever dream to get too obnoxious for my tastes, but aside from that abrasive beep ending "Pink Cigarette", that never came to pass.
California takes the dark surrealism of the Residents and makes something somehow palatable. And mixing hard rock of the 90s with doo-wop and space age pop, to boot!
Maybe I'm just in a good mood, but this gets a 5 today
HL: "Sweet Charity", "Retrovertigo", "The Air-Conditioned Nightmare", "Pink Cigarette", "The Holy Filament"
Soul Coughing
2/5
If I were to sum up my feelings for this album it’s “Shut the fuck up. Please, shut the fuck up”.
Rhythm section deserves a legacy Grammy or something, though
Old-timey samples are neat, but found that aside from a few examples (Bus to Beelzebub), they didn’t really blend with the jazz club-cum-ska punk-cum-whatever they were going for here
5/10
Dolly Parton
3/5
7/10
Still not a Dolly superfan, but her + bluegrass are a pretty nice mix. Favourite track might be her cover of “Silver Dagger”, though the title track is up there
Louis Armstrong
4/5
Though not a true album, 1001 already kinda set a precedent by allowing Birth of the Cool, a Miles Davis comp. featuring songs mainly recorded in the 40s-- even though the book is meant to cover 1955 onward. So hell yeah, we're going to the 20s! 🎺🎺🎺
Avoiding being distracted by the degraded audio quality is a challenge (which is rich coming from the guy who put a Caretaker album on here), but memorable tunes like “St James Infirmary” and “West End Blues” elevate this assortment beyond just being an important historic artifact
Paul McCartney
5/5
Not first listen
A sheep and a GOAT
I actually don’t know this album as well as, say, Band on the Run, but it remains very fun even with the odd disposable track like “3 Legs” and “Eat at Home”. Heck, the former has that coda that almost sounds like a Beck track from 1996.
“Ram On” is like “Junk” from the previous McCartney (1970), in that it seems kinda lightweight and unfinished, but the melody is so nice I just want to listen to it on repeat
Shpongle
3/5
Never had I imagined what Microsoft Sam scat-singing would sound like
HL: "Shpongle Spores", "Divine Moments of Truth"
February 17, 2026
Sparks
4/5
February 13, 2026
HL: “Tryouts For the Human Race”, title track, “La Dolce Vita”, “Beat the Clock”
This is Sparks 4.5 for me. After Kimono My House, Propaganda, Lil Beethoven- and that half, FFS, a collab with Franz Ferdinand.
The Sparks documentary definitely shed light on why Sparks aren’t for everyone, but also as someone who already is predisposed to weird artpop shit, to never say no to one of their albums.
I guess I didn’t seek out No. 1 In Heaven before now because their foray into Giorgio Moroder’s world (see: Bad Girls) sounded like trend-chasing to me. After all, they were far from the only 70s band to try out disco and/or new wave.
Well, I hate to eat crow, but I guess Sparks can do dance music without losing their personality.
It helps that both Sparks and Moroder aren’t afraid to throw in leftfield elements- for instance, the chaotic synths and ominous lyrics appearing in “The Number One Song In Heaven”- to keep it from sounding to much like their contemporaries.
February 18, 2026
HL: "Rejoice", "Bad Bad Luck", "A Song Dedicated to the Memory of Stormy the Rabbit", "People II: The Reckoning"
When you only booked the studio for one hour and the drummer is 30 minutes late
As slapdash as this album is, I really enjoyed it. If this is AJJ's highest point, that'd be a little unfortunate, but I'm not sure that the bright energy and humour on display would necessarily improve with longer songs and better production.
From my Can-eh-dian point of view, "Stormy the Rabbit" sounds like a parody of the Weakerthans
Lizzy McAlpine
3/5
Not an artist I've paid attention to before today. If I travel back to the ancient time of April, 2024, the only new-ish albums I paid attention to were Cowboy Carter (Beyonce) and A La Sala (Khruangbin). Important context of that time is that I was single-mindedly going through the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die; you might have heard of it ;)
I guess I remember her name being on Noah Kahan's recent-ish album, Stick Season. I was kinda dismissive of that album despite (or due to?) it being a rehash of the folk-pop ("Ho!") I loved so well during high school ("Hey!")
So far, this agrees with me more, though track 2, "Come Down Soon", had me worried this would be another War on Drugs copy. The harmonies in "Staying", smart woodwinds in "All Falls Down" and the triumphant build at the end of "I Guess" are possible indicators of a good-ass album.
The bulk of the songs are delivered slow n' sparse, so those moments stand out all the more. I felt the second half of the album start to drag, despite containing some of the best vocal performances.
I must downgrade my initial impression of a good-ASS album, to *just* a good album.
HL: "All Falls Down", "I Guess", "March", "Drunk, Running"
February 18, 2026
February 19, 2026
HL: "Am I Wry? No", "Symmetry", "She Spider", "Comforting Sounds"
Alright, I admit it. I love "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol. And "The Scientist" by Coldplay. And after today, "Comforting Sounds" by Mew.
As much as I hate to weight a rating based on a single song, that finale probably shifts Frengers from a respectable 7/10 to an 8. Because otherwise this is an album of great melodies and shoegazy-pop atmosphere, but it does start to meander a bit before the end. Actually I'd lump in "Christmas" and "She Spider" as the moment where the album picks up again.
Denmark, what else are you hiding?
The Housemartins
4/5
Queen
5/5
Not 1st listen
I award you 0 points based on the fact that Queen has several great albums on the original list, but also this bangs and everyone should listen to it
HL: “Tie Your Mother Down”, “You Take My Breath Away”, “Millionaire’s Waltz”, “Somebody to Love”, “Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy”, “Teo Torriate”
Jon Batiste
4/5
February 16, 1026
HL: title track, “WHATCHUTALKINABOUT”, “BOYHOOD”, “FREEDOM”
My Morning Jacket
3/5
TFW when u wanted to add My Morning Jacket's Z, but someone added Z so ur Plan B... is to add Z
Okay, It Still Moves is pretty well represented. "I Will Sing You Songs" and "One Big Holiday" sound pretty great here. Maybe I'm just Jacket-ed out right now, but I recall liking "Mahgeetah", "Run Thru" and "Steam Engine" more in the studio.
And the tracks from 2005's Z are nothing to sniff at, even if they sound pretty close to the studio version to me. No notes for the live version of "Wordless Chorus", "Gideon", even "Anytime".
I haven't heard MMJ's earliest two albums, Tennessee Fire or At Dawn, but they also have a smattering of songs here. "Xmas Curtain" is pretty good, never heard that before
Jim James's voice sounds strained at times, but in a good rock-and-roll way, not as in "call an ambulance" way
Ultimately, my liking of My Morning Jacket is tempered by the fact that it's another live album over 2 hours long, not long after the 2 hours of live Springsteen. (srsly where do u fuckers get off)
However, this band should have been on the original list, so I can't be too mad...
March 19, 2026
Mansun
3/5
M A N S U N
I had no idea who they were until some hoser put their album Six on this very website, but I'm excited to hear more of their stuff.
Update: idk, I figured I'd enjoy this more than I did. While it can be fun, and all the elements for a rockin' good time are there, I had to replay parts of the album because they went in one ear and straight out the other. Kind of reminds me of Dog Man Star by Suede, where I listened to it, thought "yes, this is objectively good music that is up my alley", but then only rated it a 3
HL: "Taxloss", "Who Do You Hate?", "Stripper Vicar", "Dark Mavis"
March 5, 2026
The Brian Jonestown Massacre
3/5
I've previously listened to Thank God For Mental Illness at a friend's recommendation, which I quite liked even though half the album is this weirdo hodge-podge called "Sound of Confusion". I've also heard good things about their album, Their Satanic Majesties' Second Request. What gets me is those two albums and this, Take It From the Man, were all released in 1996. I thought heroin made you less productive, dog!
You know, I might like this one a little less than Mental Illness, even though there's some magic to be found in their aping of 60's rock tropes (see below). The "Sympathy for the Devil"/"Hey Jude" knockoff at the end is funny
3.5/5
HL: “Who?”, “Since I Was Six”, “Straight Up and Down”, “Fucker”
March 4, 2026
Denzel Curry
3/5
Not first listen :0
Melt My Eyez is an example of an album I like, but want to love >:0
I think Curry is a talented vocalist, and the production is pretty excellent (jumping between tried and true boom-bap and more modern trap beatz), but the excitement from the first third wanes into a more temperate experience, barring the explosive “Zatoichi”.
The guests could maybe use quality control; I’m not a big fan of 6LACK’s hook in “Ain’t No Way”, but I always welcome a Rico Nasty guest spot.
454 doesn’t really add anything to “Sanjuro”, but I liked Buzzy Lee’s feature in “John Wayne” (whoever Buzzy is)
Two of my favourite moments, “Mental” and “The Smell of Death”, are way too damn short
All that to say, this might be a 7/10 for now, unless something clicks and I see the light, or whatever
HL: “Walkin” (maybe one of my favourite rap cuts of the 2020s), “Mental”, “X-Wing”, “Zatoichi”
Matthew Good Band
3/5
-It's CanCon, but not CanCon I've ever properly listened to before. I didn't realize Dave Matthews Band and Matthew Good Band were different things until recently.
-Well it's almost midnight, so why the hell not
-You're listening to 92.1 CITI-FM, where we play rock, rock and more rock. We got Three Days Grace*, Load-era Metallica, but up next, here's mandatory Canadian content "Hello Time Bomb" by the Matthew Good Band
(I'm not trying to be mean, I really like "Hello Time Bomb". Didn't know what it was called, or who sang it, before tonight.)
-If you miss new wave, then where are the synths, you poser
-"Load Me Up" is another song I recognize. Thought it was by Our Lady Peace. The BODIES- I mean, the vocals are less annoying than Our Lady Peace
-saucy little monkey boy is not a phrase I expected to hear on this album
-really liked the build in "Born to Kill"
-alright, so Beautiful Midnight isn't really my thing, born out of a period of rock music I never really cared for. With the kind of rock albums that received acclaim and high sales, it's a wonder the genre survived as long as it did. However, there are enough good songs, as well as nice moments in okay songs, to carry this to a 6/10
HL: "Hello Time Bomb", "Suburbia", "Born to Kill"
February 25, 2026
*That's who's literally playing, on CITI FM, as I type this. Three Days Grace
Wilco
4/5
February 22, 2026
HL: "I Must Be High", "Casino Queen", "That's Not the Issue", "Should Have Been In Love"
What I keep having to remind myself is that there's the *CANON*, and then there's everyone else's version of the canon. As someone who means to check out more Wilco, I have saved titles like Summerteeth and Sky Blue Sky for future listening, ones that seem to show up on other greatest album lists. Never have I paid attention to Wilco's debut album, until it appeared on this generator right now.
This reminds me a lot of Being There, but their influences are even more apparent here (Big Star, the Stones, Flying Burritos). It's also only one disc as opposed to two, so that's something!
The thing is I really liked Being There, almost as much as Mermaid Ave and YHF. They can really pull off that 90s alt-country that I like more than most country subgenres. So if I'm being honest, I'm leaning closer to a 4 than a 3 with this one. But I'm not pleased about it!
Shoulda been some Blue Rodeo here instead >:0
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
3/5
The last Alex Harvey, Next!, was on the OG list- 826/1089 in my own generator journey- and no I do not have any strong feelings pertaining to it, though it seems I enjoyed it from my short review. I never would have expected him or his Sensational band to resurface on this website, though!
-Alright, off to a decent start. Bluesy ("Soul in Chains")
-"The Tale of the Giant Stoneater" is batshit, best song so far
-God I need the full Cabaret soundtrack sung by the Alex Harvey band after that title track
Bold mash of genres, though like Next!, it's an inconsistent album, buoyed by some neat guitar lines and Alex's inimitable brogue.
Don't love it, but I respect it
HL: "The Tale of the Giant Stoneater", "Shark Teeth", title track
March 6, 2026
My Chemical Romance
3/5
February 20, 2026
HL: "Welcome to the Black Parade", "Mama", "Famous Last Words"
My penchant for bombastic rock of the 2000s (Green Day, Muse, The Darkness), as well as the 'title track', led me to believe I would enjoy MCR more than I did.
My sincere apologies to scene kids, both past and present.
I didn't know "Teenagers" was by them, so that's neat! It's annoying as hell, but that doesn't equal a bad song per se
ROSALÍA
5/5
Not first listen! Still haven't gone and listened to the "full" version (the CD has like 4 extra tracks), but this'll more than suffice
As 2025 grew to a close, with its best albums relegated to the “Almost Great” category, along came Rosalía, at the eleventh hour, to thoroughly beat me over the head with LUX.
“You want greatness”, it seemed to say, “well here it is.”
She brings a thousand piece orchestra, sings in 800 languages, and has intercourse with your spouse/significant other, all in less than an hour. Do not skip!
HL: "Reliquia", "Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti", "Berghain", "La Perla", "Memória"
Chromatics
4/5
As someone who has previously considered factors like time of day when listening to an album, or whether or not you are behind the wheel of an automobile, I take the title of this album as instructions.
But if I can't get my hands on the automobile, at least I will put this on in the nighttime.
Edit: still do not have an automobile
After the stylish, neon-coloured cover art, I thought this would be a more dancey album. "Tick of the Clock" and "Killing Spree" are among the cuts that totally shatter that preconception, choosing instead to be ambient, wintery, and almost creepy much of the runtime.
Not complaining!
The Kate Bush cover was very apropos to walking after dark in -20 degree weather, being a bleaker affair than the original.
February 20, 2026
edit2: I guess I'll listen to the full version, as the Wiki blurbs make it sound like it was originally intended to end with "Accelerator". If I wasn't enjoying myself so much, I'd cut it at "Tick of the Clock"
Bruce Hornsby
3/5
March 1, 2026
Damn me for developing expectations for this album. I already knew Bruce Hornsby was a great piano player, and I (sure I’ll admit it) mostly knew Hopper paintings like the one on the cover from sad, liminal playlists on YouTube. Hence, I thought I was getting into a smaller scale Bruce Hornsby where he moved away from the pop production of “The Way It Is” (we’ve all heard it) into jazz. It does be jazzy, but the production has merely advanced a couple years, into a mix of R&B, hip-hop-lite beats and adult contemporary ballads. All of which remind me why the 90’s was the worst time for popular music
Around “China Doll”, where most of the band stops playing and it’s just Hornsby playing some rather dissonant chords, I catch a glimpse of an album I’d greatly enjoy.
Then it switches gears to a more earthy ballad, “Fields of Gray” which actually might be one of my favourite tracks even though I just said I preferred the moments where Hornsby gets a little weird!
“Rainbow’s Cadillac”, “Pastures of Plenty” and “The Tide Will Rise” are gems in an album that is stronger in its second half.
In conclusion, it is a decent listen, and Bruce rocks the keys- although, I do want to sue the producer.
…Never mind, Bruce Hornsby self-produced
Alexisonfire
3/5
February 27, 2026
HL: "Side Walk", "No Transitory", "That Girl Possessed"
It definitely was some more Alexisonfire
Ryan Adams
2/5
Alright, Love Is Hell makes album #300 of our chosen albums, a milestone I feel like I have reached, sore and battered, dragging myself over the finish line.
For Ryan Adams, my general impression from the original list was "His music might be boring, but at least he's an asshole". I don't know why someone thought he needed a THIRD representation on this website, but free will is awesome and one is free to make their choices.
Let me be clear- I don't rate music based on morals. If I did, surely I'd be harder on Mick Jagger, Steven Tyler, Kanye, the list goes on.
The tepid "Wonderwall" cover and "Avalanche" are probably the worst moments, but there's some high points when the jangle and twang are utilized. For the most part, I still don't see what Ryan Adams brings that you don't find in 1000 other singer-songwriters at open mic night
HL: title track, "City Rain, City Streets"
March 6, 2026
Wolf Alice
4/5
March 2, 2026
Wolf Alice is cool
Yeasayer
4/5
March 19, 2026
Hell yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about
I don't think there's a neo-psychedelic album from the late 2000's that I've said "no thanks" to, and All Hour Cymbals is not an exception.
The lyrics could be the most trite nonsense, and I wouldn't know because I was too focused on the African drums, clunky DIY instrumentation, and cool harmonies. On those last two, I'd say Smiley Smile-era Beach Boys had a bigger impact on music of that time than I initially appreciated
Susanne Sundfør
4/5
March 20, 2026
HL: "Good Luck Bad Luck", "The Sound of War", "Undercover", "The Golden Age", "Mountaineers"
"The Sound of War" becomes Game of Thrones White Walker music at one point, and I'm fine with that
Also, what a finale- good to hear from John Grant again
As someone in trouble, thanks for recommending this OP
GRiZ
3/5
-Excision Shrek visuals came across my brainrot YouTube algorithm literally today, maybe that's the algorithm's way of saying I am in fact the target audience for this album
-I will say, the switches between abrasive electronica and brass grooves make "Astro Funk" a pretty unique listen
-"Vibe Check" is more recognizably brostep à la Skrillex or Knife Party
-"Other Side of Jupiter" makes good use of those wobbly, Leslie speaker-kind of vocals
-I think by "Feel It All", I was ready for it to be over. But I will say though, listening to the cut up vocals in the final track "The Echo Tree", I acknowledge the bones Griz throws at people such as myself who don't really care for brostep/riddim/bass music/whatever one might call it. The spacey synthy interludes, and of course the brass and organic elements help balance the drops.
-My final thought is I wish it leaned into those fringe elements a bit more. The build and denouement are better than the climax
-wub wub wub
HL: "Burn Up the Floor" title track, "Harmony"
March 21, 2026
The Beautiful South
3/5
The Housemartins are dead, long live the Beautiful South
As someone who has only recently been put on to Housemartins, courtesy of this website, I'm not sure what to expect from this band
To use the 1001 albums as reference, I can't decide if it's
a) more like Viva Hate after the Smiths broke up, where Heaton and co. are restless to invent beyond the jangle pop of their original band, or
b) like Dexys third album Don't Stand Me Down, where the tight pop-rock structures are expanded to 6 and 7-minute long odysseys, but without a clear stand-out track like their earlier records.
This might grow on me, who is to say. Just because I wasn't taken by it as easily as the Housemartins' two-minute ditties, doesn't mean it wasn't a worthwhile listen
3.5
HL: "Song For Whoever", "You Keep It All In", "Woman in the Wall"
March 22, 2026
Zero 7
3/5
March 25, 2026
HL: "Warm Sound", "The Space Between", "Speed Dial No. 2"
Savatage
4/5
Not familiar with this band. I haven't listened to much metal so far in 2026, so I'll try to keep an open mind here.
(from Wikipedia) the "Grit", the "Crunch", the "Thunder", and "Doctor Killdrums". That's way more fun than saying the names of the band members
The Crunch is really good on this album, I wonder what he's up t-Jesus Christ. Amazing how many stories of fatal drunk driving end with the drunk person alive
Why do I like this so much? I was wondering for a minute if it needed a rating higher than 4 stars, but then everything after the title track kinda dragged it back down. ("Devastation" is a decent ending though)
At different times, I thought of Dio and Scorpions, but the fact that Hall of the Mountain King isn't groundbreaking doesn't detract from how much fun I had. Their synthy rendition of the Grieg instrumental could be worth the price of admission alone.
Something about that rhythm section, particularly in Side A- what's the word I'm looking for, limber? bouncy? Idk I found there was a lightness that you don't often find in other 80's metal bands. i liked it
HL: "Beyond the Doors of the Dark", "Legions", "Prelude to Madness", "Hall of the Mountain King"
March 28, 2026
The Decemberists
4/5
not 1st listen- that was about a month ago. I knew it was on here from the user album list, I just got impatient.
Funny enough, this was recommended to me during high school, by someone I haven't seen since like, 2015. I've been listening to this band ever since- "Sons and Daughters", "The Mariner's Revenge", "I Was Meant For the Stage"- but for some reason I always put off this one.
Maybe I always liked the idea of a rock opera more than I did actively seeking them out. I love albums like Tommy and The Wall, but I really don’t care about the story so much as I do seeing how these rock bands create a cohesive, musical movement complete with motifs and multi-part suites.
The Hazards of Love isn’t that complicated, musically or story-wise; Meloy’s lyricism and voice, as well as the guest stars on this album, are what keep the tragic lovers’ tale from becoming too predictable.
My feeling in the first half, that they don’t use enough musical motifs or “ingredients”- how many times do we have to hear that sludgy metal riff, as good as it is?- is assuaged by the album’s second half, where strings, harpsichord and freaky atmospheres combine to make a pretty great payoff.
Re-listening to the final track here, “The Hazards of Love 4”, is one of the rare times the album sounds like the Decemberists. Obviously I know that’s subjective, as they continue to experiment with genre. 2024’s insane “Joan and the Garden” might be one of my favourite songs of theirs, and it’s reminiscent of The Hazards in parts.
Anyway, while I don’t think this is the best introduction to the band, it’s still an ambitious and worthy entry to their catalogue
Ookla The Mok
3/5
My monkey- I mean, my review- is linked below:
https://media1.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTZjMDliOTUyYTN2MW5nZGZ5dXZ3OXVqbjdzYTZ3ZDVoaGo4bmx1djl0MngxMW4yaiZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/XeqguPE3q88xsIeMgb/giphy.webp
April 1, 2026
Sahara Hotnights
4/5
April 1, 2026 again
HL: "Visit to Vienna", "The Loneliest City of All", "No For an Answer", "Getting Away With Murder"
Wikipedia, are you saying this band formed as 10 year olds? Madone as if I didn't feel like I'm behind in life enough as it is
It took me a minute, but I'm really warming to the Hotnights. My first thought was the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but it actually feels more like pop rock from the early 80's. The Bangles, Cheap Trick, the Cars.
Just straightforward, melodic tunes.
Caught between a 3 and a 4. tonight I shall round up
August is Falling
3/5
This is album #311 past the 1089 original albums for me; I think I've been pretty good at keeping an open mind, but just looking at this cover makes me want to quit.
Oh it's a man in his forties doing a lampoon of 2000s emo. Is that better or worse?
Oh it's only 5 songs long, what am I even complaining about.
Edit, after I actually listened to it: oh it's actually not bad
I think the parody aspect is kind of lost on me for two reasons: one, my insistence that I despised this whole era of pop punk was challenged when I gave not one, but TWO Blink-182 albums 4 out of 5 stars, thanks to this generator. (That's a lot of numbers.)
The second reason is that the genre was already so ridiculous to begin with. I have friends that can make me laugh with a couple simple phrases: "tonight will be the night that I will fall for you", and "where are you and I'm so sorry". So funny!
A welcome salve to the shared trauma of having grown up in the 2000s.
While this E.P. is more amusing than funny to me, I can't bring myself to hate the songs themselves. The "highlight" is probably the second last track. The refrain of "Don't click the link below / We're all gonna fucking die", mixed with the shitty trap beat, sounds like the kind of song I would have unironically liked in junior high.
Music to cry in the minivan to
HL: "Don't Click The Link (feat. Kim!)", "August is Falling"
April 2, 2026
Blackalicious
4/5
West coast rap I'm not really familiar with, except for that one song that blew up thanks to Daniel Radcliffe performing it on late night television
Really dig this overall! A little more nostalgic-leaning than, say, Jurassic 5 and the Roots from the original 1001; however, the surprisingly versatile mix of beats from Chief Xcel, mixed with an impressive performance by the aptly-named Gift of Gab (RIP), makes this a worthy addition to the user list.
Old-gold-mid-nu-school hip hop
Pairing this with another 90's album that's too long* today, from my personal list: Aaliyah's One in a Million
HL: "Do This My Way", "Cliff Hanger", "You Didn't Know That Though", "As the World Turns", "Sleep"
April 7, 2026
*all of them. All 90's albums are too long.
Nic Jones
4/5
April 8, 2026
HL: 1, 2, 4, 7, 9
As Michael Rosen says: *pop* “nice.”
Less Than Jake
3/5
From Wikipedia: "All My Best Friends Are Metalheads" is featured in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, and in the soundtrack for the 2000 film Digimon: The Movie.
Important historical context ^
This reviewer has spoiled much of the user list for himself, because he's always fascinated with how it's taken on a life of its own. As a consequence, he understands this is far from the last ska punk he'll come across if he keeps coming back to this website.
But really, as one of the purest exposures to the subgenre yet (Sublime's self-titled was sometimes but not always ska), I can't really fault it. The melodies are nice, the brass section is commendable.
My own genre biases probably make this a 7/10 listen; for much of my life, ska punk was represented by a) The America's Funniest Home Videos theme, and b) Weird Al's "Your Horoscope For Today"--
but perhaps sometime in the future I'll grow up and give Hello Rockview the extra star it deserves.
HL: "All My Best Friends Are Metalheads", "Motto", "Scott Farcas Takes It on the Chin", "Al's War"
April 9, 2026
The Presidents Of The United States Of America
3/5
April 10, 2026
HL: "Lump", "Boll Weevil", "Peaches", "We're Not Going To Make It", "Wake Up" (bonus track)
I'm not a smart man, but I know what a classic is: the song "Peaches"
rest of the album is hit or miss, but still enjoyable.
Pulp
4/5
Not first listen!
C’mon it’s Pulp what’s not to love
Songs I singled out from last listen: “Lipgloss”, “Someone Like the Moon”
Other HL: "Have You Seen Her Lately?", "Happy Endings", "Do You Remember the First Time?"
Chucklehead
4/5
Back in the 90s again- I often try to find albums that complement the Album o’ the Day, but as I’ve been on a 90’s kick recently featuring Aaliyah, Prince, MJ and Janet, it’s almost like the AOTD is complementing ME
Never listened to Chucklehead before, but it fits under the very loose umbrella of “90’s funk”, featuring RHCP, Primus, Jamiroquai and Cake. I did say “loose”.
I love Bozack Horseman
I wasn’t entirely sold on this album at first, but after it was over, I realized my spirits were lifted somewhat by this Boston-area jam band. So that’s somethin’!
HL: “Retrosexy”, Beatles cover, “Hell”, “Flavorful Bouquet”, “Tug Boat”
April 12, 2026
Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine
3/5
April 13, 2026
HL: "Anytime Anyplace Anywhere", "A Prince in a Pauper's Grave", "Shoppers' Paradise", "Billy's Smart Circus"
"It was recorded... on 8-track, costing only £4,000", and by Jove, it sounds like it!
This mix of new wave, glam and punk seems to be the answer to the question: "What do you get when you cross New Order with Big Black?"
And y'know what, it's pretty fun. It feels like a pre-game before spectating a football match. I've never spectated a football (read: soccer) game to date, but I imagine it feels like this
"Shopper's Paradise" is basically a Pet Shop Boys song
7/10
The Posies
4/5
Welcome back to the latest entry in "Oops! All 90's Albums!"
7 out of my last 8 albums have been from that decade. I get the sense that a certain demographic prevails in this community. (I also submitted a 90's album so I do not judge)
The producer, Don Fleming, produced this album, as well as Bandwagonesque by Teenage Fanclub and Goo by Sonic Youth. The second one makes perfect sense. The 3rd one really surprises me (though he's only an assistant producer on Goo)
So far I'm liking the Posies' take on grungy power pop. It doesn't exactly fill a niche that wasn't already on the 1001 (see Bandwagonesque, Copper Blue, It's a Shame About Ray, Foo Fighters self-titled*), but it's still a joy to listen to.
If Frosting on the Beater is a pop album produced like a grunge album, it makes a nice bedfellow to Nevermind, a grunge album produced like a pop album.
HL: "Solar Sister", "Flavor of the Month", "Burn & Shine", "How She Lied By Living"
April 14, 2026
*I just read a YouTube comment that Foo Fighters rip off this band, and I don't know if that's true, but I believe it
The Last Dinner Party
4/5
Not first listen
I wasn't immediately taken by Prelude to Ecstacy, even though it has much in common with my favourite rock and pop. A potential reason for my initial coldness is the producer, James Ford. Not because he does the Last Dinner Party wrong, but because I was starting to really notice his presence in bands I listened to.
The grand, reverby treatment one hears in The Last Shadow Puppets' The Age of the Understatement (2008), Florence and the Machine's Ceremonials (2011), Arctic Monkeys' The Car (2022), and Blur's The Ballad of Darren (2023)? All produced by him.
As much as I like those albums, when I started to notice the similarities TLDP has with those other bands' orchestral pop, I started to focus more on the style than the substance of this album.
Ford might as well be shorthand for "I am sophisticated and British, now where's my Mercury Award?!"
I regret the opinions I held in the past (aka 2025), because I now think these songs get better and better after repeated listens. "Burn Alive", after the bombastic intro, wasn't the easiest introduction to this band, veering between that odd, suspenseful guitar line and synthpop, and back again. But now, next to the amazing track "Nothing Matters" (featuring vocalist Abigail Morris at her best), it has become one of my favourites.
There's a 90 second piece of Albanian folk in there, "Gjuha", that I somehow don't remember from past listens.
In a way it kinda sums up my feelings for this album: lush, immaculately produced, very pretty, even if it's a little confounding the first listen.
My fears that the Last Dinner Party would be a one-album fluke were ended when From the Pyre quickly followed their debut, a slightly darker, gothier affair that matches this one in quality.
4 stars, maybe more
Magdalena Bay
5/5
oh man, I just got this album out of my system :(
Like a dream you don’t want to wake up from
Also they're making this album into a movie! I found that out only today
HL: “Image”, “Death & Romance”, “Watching T.V.”, “Tunnel Vision”, “Cry For Me”, “The Ballad of Matt & Mica”
April 17, 2026
TOOL
3/5
(Not first listen)
Tool, Tool, Tool…
This is the first album of theirs I heard, but 3rd on this generator. Between this, Ænima and 10000 Days, I've given up hope that I will ever be excited to put on a Tool album. BUT I do remember liking this one more than the other two, so maybe time will be kinder on Lateralus.
Well, this is a change. My initial impression of the second half was that it was a repetitive wank that brought down a decent first half. However, the faux-Eastern, psychedelic noodling of "Reflection" drags less than I remember. Maybe it's because I broke up listening this time, instead of riding it out the entire 75 minutes.
I lean towards prog rock and prog metal albums that are on the campy, even ridiculous side. Even Pink Floyd took themselves too seriously sometimes, but at least there's a sense of humour in their big Statement Albums like Animals and DSOTM.
Lateralus is a monster comprised of savage riffs, crazy time signatures (that somehow work) and existential lyrics. I can see why it is celebrated, and it is the best I've ever heard from this band, but the ambitious, complex arrangements that made them famous are precisely why I don't enjoy Tool all that much.
Still, this is like a 7/10 to me
HL: "The Grudge", "Schism", "Parabola", "Reflection"
Charles Mingus
4/5
Not first listen (1001 generator be playing all the hits this week)
Now, something I didn't realize before is the version I've heard is an "uncut" version released in 1979. USUALLY I try to avoid deluxe versions, but in this case the longer version seems more in tune with Mingus's original vision, so I'll stick with it.
I didn't actually retain much from the first listen (according to my handy-dandy music diary, for whatever reason I put it on when I was listening to pop from the likes of Japanese Breakfast and Charli XCX, so maybe my brain just wasn't in jazz mode)
Halfway through today's listen, I am struck by the variety of moods. The "Hallelujah!" accented opening track is still a highlight, but also the weirdness of "Open Letter" is something I didn't appreciate last time.
I'm also learning that "Fable of Faubus" is meant to be a protest song with lyrics; however, being anti-racist is not a position Mingus's record label wanted to be associated with at the time. It's still a great, groovy tune as an instrumental, though.
And "Jelly Roll" is a nice final track to end on, with Mingus's bass skills front-and-centre
HL: "Better Git it in Your Soul", "Open Letter to Duke", "Fable of Faubus", "Jelly Roll"
That Handsome Devil
4/5
April 20, 2026
HL: "Damn Door", "Rob the Prez-O-Dent", "Kiss the Cook", "Viva Discordia", “Squares”
Cops from the last century of American popular music but also distinctly sounds like 2008.
Let me expand on that; it feels like an Internet-age album in the same way that Demon Days and St. Elsewhere do
Unbelievably, this isn’t the first album on this list to combine rock, hip-hop and old-timey jazz; however unlike Soul Coughing, That Handsome Devil’s hyperactive genre switches and theatricality won me over much faster.
Godforbid’s bullfrog vocals can be a bit much, but they are no more abrasive than say Tom Waits
Jimmy Eat World
3/5
The fun of random number generation: when I received Clarity (1999) I initially balked at the long run time, and wondered why I wasn't getting the album with "The Middle" on it.
Today I finally heard the one with "The Middle" on it, and... I think something was lost from that last Jimmy Eat World album.
Don't get me wrong, the concise song structures are welcome, but beyond the polish there isn't much to write about.
Oh God. Is this brand of 2000s pop rock something I was too young to appreciate when it was new, and too old to appreciate now??
3 existential crises out of 5
HL: title track, "The Middle", "Get It Faster", "Cautioners"
April 21, 2026
Bruce Cockburn
4/5
It's pronounced 'Co-burn', you degenerates
This is not first listen- that was last year, when I powered through the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's idea of the greatest 100 Canadian albums 🍁 🍁 🍁
Dancing in the Dragon's Jaws was right in the middle of the ranking. So, better than Nickelback's Silver Side Up, but not quite as good as Gordon by the Barenaked Ladies. (The rankings are wild, go check it out)
On that note, the Cockburn I hear the most often is probably the Barenaked Ladies' cover of "Lovers in a Dangerous Time", so maybe I also equate these very different artists.
The A.M. radio gentleness of Dancing represents Canadian music better than perhaps I'd like to admit (as much as the Norval Morriseau artwork and the French-language track). Or at least, it represents what Cdn radio/TV has shown me, is that the native artists aren't really known for rocking the boat.
Of course, the sweet melodies and marimba-flecked instrumentation are why I enjoy this so much, and probably help the enduring popularity of this album (The Globe and Mail's Canadian best-of also uses this to represent Bruce Cockburn). He would make more overtly political tunes like "Lovers" and "If I Had a Rocket Launcher"; matter of fact, I'm listening to Stealing Fire (1984) right now just so I can say I know more than one of his albums.
HL: "Creation Dream", "Hills of Morning", "After the Rain", "Wondering Where the Lions Are", "Dawn Music" (bonus track)
dEUS
3/5
Kinda weird coincidence, but I was just reading about post-Britpop bands on RateYourMusic, including dEUS, just yesterday (I've been listening to much Coldplay recently :0)
Guess you don't have to be a Brit to be tagged as such 🇧🇪
It has its moments
HL: "One Advice, Space", title track, "Instant Street", "Everybody's Weird"
April 24, 2026
Portishead
4/5
Not first listen
sampling yourself. what a flex.
such a claustrophobic album
“Humming”-best Portishead song? who’s with me
You know, Third might be my favourite Portishead. That is not an opinion I had when it showed up on the original list, but as good as Dummy and self-titled are, that one has grown on me the most.
If Dummy falls in second place, then that makes this the worst Portishead album.
Four out of five stars
HL: “Humming”, “Cowboys”, “Over”, “Mourning Air”
Ornatos Violeta
3/5
There are spy film soundtrack vibes in this at times ("Notícias do Fundo") which I enjoy
Thought it dragged in the middle but has a strong run towards the end of the album
HL: "Chaga", "Notícias do Fundo", "Fim da Canção"
April 25, 2026
Os Mundi
4/5
When the link takes you to Deutsche Wikipedia, you know you're going in deep
I see Conny Plank was involved in this band, which is no surprise- he also worked on German albums Neu! ’75 and Kraftwerk's Autobahn. HOWEVER, I reread the article and it turns out he wasn't involved with them on Latin Mass, so we really are in uncharted territory
The album cover is unsettling. Is that part of the candle? I can't unsee a naked bald man bowing towards the camera
More jam/improvisation territory than I expected. The music has a sinister edge like its cover, but you can't scare me with a drum solo
The genre of "heavy psych" has its ups and downs (Hawkwind, Blue Cheer being two bands I didn't rank very highly in the original list), but I found I enjoyed this a lot. I'm just a sucker for some organ.
HL: "Ouverture", "Credo II", "Agnus Dei"
April 26, 2026
Self Esteem
3/5
April 27, 2026
HL: "Focus is Power", "If Not Now, It's Soon", "The Curse", "Cheers to Me"
So, I actually found out about this in a WORST of 2025 list (Paste), which seeing as it's also in best-of lists (The Economist), I'm really intrigued about this
Update: 3/5, neither the worst nor the best of 2025. Coming to you live, from the fence I sit on
Okay, huh- it's kinda all over the place. The gospel at the opening segueing into dance pop was cool, but then the reverse happens, dance-pop to gospel in "69"/"What Now", and it feels strange and disjointed. It's not a proper bookend, either, since the album actually finishes on "The Deep Blue Okay", which along with the more abrasive "Lies" are songs that might grow on me. (That "I might fucking try" line is pretty great though)
As a first foray into Self Esteem's music, it was a pretty good time overall, despite feeling that this album is inconsistent. There should be more Northern English pop divas in the world
The orchestral backing made me think of one of my favourite albums this year, so I may as well shout it out- RAYE's This Music May Contain Hope
Wet Leg
4/5
Fun thing about keepin' a music diary is that I know I have listened to this before, but well after the initial hype had worn off (January 21, 2025). It happened to also be the same day I listened to Haim's Women in Music Pt. III, which overshadowed Wet Leg's debut to me.
No such distractions this time!
I will say, I didn't truly appreciate the weirdness of the biggest hit "Chaise Longue" until more recently ("Would you like us to assign someone to worry your mother?"), so maybe the rest of the album will sound better.
Okay, so I may have thought before that Wet Leg sounds at times like an H&M commercial.
But tonight, I will admit there is a lot to love about this album, from that trendy, crunchy indie rock, to the more melodic, emotional moments, to Teasdale's voice switching between disaffected deadpan and riotous screaming depending on what the song needs.
It's a fun, breezy 37 minutes, and I feel bad for not paying much attention the first time
As with several of the recent British acts that have come up here, there is a chance the next 1001 book will have this
HL: "Chaise Longue", "I Don't Wanna Go Out", "Wet Dream", "Loving You", "Supermarket"
Coheed and Cambria
2/5
May 2, 2026
is there any emo punk missing from this list at this point? I guess someone could add Billy Talent
Turns out the genre doesn't get less annoying to me when you stretch it out over 10-minute suites and 70 minute albums. To be fair, I thought The Black Parade was a bit annoying, so it's not Coheed and Cambria's fault that I can't immerse myself in this era of rock music.
Lest we forget those prog elements-- I was intrigued at the promise of a sci-fi saga called The Amory Wars. But when the music sounds like this I could not give a fuck about the story. One of the characters likes to kill women, I picked up that much. His name is Al the Killer
Good Charlotte makes a Rush album
"Weird Al" Yankovic
4/5
HL: "Ricky", "Happy Birthday", "Stop Draggin' My Car Around", "Another One Rides the Bus", "Mr. Frump in the Iron Lung"
1983. A LEGEND was born
Kind of keeping in theme with the original 1001, this is not his best album, but it is an important one in his discography. His band would later become known for their chameleonic ability to do pop, new wave, metal, polka or whatever the song required; here Al's accordion works overtime. Hence his parodies here sound like jokes from the get-go ("My Bologna", "I Love Rocky Road"), unlike later, faithful-to-the-original parodies like "Amish Paradise".
My main problem with this debut is it doesn't have a polka medley of popular songs- yet in a way the reliance on the accordion makes this whole album a polka medley, in a way.
Side A has three elements which would define Al's career to come: the song about TV ("Ricky"), the song about food ("Rocky Road") and the upbeat, morbid original ("Happy Birthday"). It's the blueprint!
I've seen him live twice, on the Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour and the Unfortunate Return of the Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour. Both shows were, as advertised, almost free of the parody songs that he became famous for, and comprised of originals from the 1980's to 2010's. I don't recall him dredging up any songs from this album, possibly because it's the only one where his parodies are better than his originals.
Screaming Females
4/5
Some albums just make me want to go "hell yeah"
May 3, 2026
John Frusciante
3/5
Remember John Frusciante from the Chilis? He's back, in prog form!
Could be that I'll love this more with time, it gets quite pretty at parts. What I did learn today is how much Frusciante's soft-rock, melodic stylings informed my favourite songs from Stadium Arcadium, aka an album I will definitely probably listen to its full two hours at some point.
3.5
HL: "Song to the Siren", "Dark/Light", "Central"
May 12, 2026
Himiko Kikuchi
4/5
May 11, 2026
HL: title track, “Fluffy”, “Sand Storm”
I’m not always keen on an upcoming album being labelled “jazz fusion”, but it’s not like there are many entries on here, user list or otherwise.
Japanese pianist Himiko Kikuchi shreds, but the compositions are also catchy, diverse and don’t overstay their welcome. My favourite tracks were the ones that had an MPB/samba flair to them.
“Second Summer” was probably the least interesting track to me, but then the album finishes nicely on the surprisingly rock/R&B-inspired “Ducky Ducky”
Plus it has a DOG on the cover
Songs: Ohia
4/5
May 5, 2026
HL: "Just Be Simple", "Almost Was Good Enough", "The Old Black Hen", "Hold On Magnolia"
The way people talk about this album I expected it to change my whole life
It is pretty good country rock tho
Deltron 3030
4/5
I love how this is the second album featuring Brad from the Crash Test Dummies (“National Movie Review”)
It also has John Lennon’s idiot son, but his contribution is brief and pretty decent
This is not first listen; actually I waited to hear this come up on the generator but, let’s be honest. When I started the user list they numbered 200. Now I’m over 300 and I’m still 200 away from “completion”, so there are going to be albums I’m too curious about to wait for.
Deltron, revisited, is still a fun album, the 7-minute opener is still my favourite song, and the skits are amusing without overstaying their welcome.
The retro-futuristic concept wears a little thin by the end, but there’s so many good moments throughout the album, I can’t fault Deltron 3030 for being too long when everyone and their mother were trying to max out their CD lengths.
HL: “3030”, “Virus”, “Mastermind”, “Madness”, “Time Keeps on Slipping”, “Memory Loss”
Avicii
3/5
All I know about this album is I really like “Waiting For Love”
Edit: I feel like we have as a society forgotten the reign of EDM in the 2010s, so thanks for reminding us.
Stories has its greatest tracks near the beginning, and then “City Lights”, which won me over even though it has that annoying “woaw” effect.
I think “Broken Arrows” is where I stopped loving the album, as that kind of country/electronic mashup worked in “Wake Me Up” and even “Hey Brother” (in my opinion), but feels like diminishing returns here.
Also what’s the guy from Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes doing on “For a Better Day”?
Not that I disliked any particular track, just that the energy levels (get it? “Levels”?) dip somewhat in the midsection and don’t really recover or gain a new element that makes up for that lost energy.
Actually I lied, I didn’t care for the one with Chris Martin, speaking as a Coldplay fan. He sounds like he’s sowing the seeds for that piece of shit Chainsmokers collab “Something Just Like This”.
The positive vibes of the music, as well as lines like “I may not be perfect but I’m loving this life” are rendered somewhat sadder by the circumstances around Avicii’s short life
HL: “Waiting For Love”, “Touch Me”, “Ten More Days”, “City Lights”
May 6, 2026
Low
4/5
not first listen; all I wrote down when I listened to this was "production makes it a difficult, but rewarding listen"
I don't think I realized that it's the same guy who did 22, A Million by Bon Iver (BJ Burton), but there are a lot of similarities in the unorthodox sounds and vocal treatments.
I would like to contrast this with Sleep Token, who I listened to for the first time last night and agree with the sentiment that it sounds like secular CCM (not a good thing). Meanwhile here is music quite influenced by Christianity, that is combined with a bizarre, metallic, cavernous soundscape one wouldn't normally associate with so called religious music.
On second thought, if one scrapes away the industrial noise from "Hey" there might as well be a church organ echoing through an empty cathedral
It's not necessary to know going into this album that it's haunted by the Emperor of all maladies, Cancer, but it perhaps helps to understand those menacing undertones behind the sweet harmonies
HL: "Hey", "Days Like These", "Don't Walk Away"
Spinvis
4/5
May 13, 2026
HL: “Bagagedrager”, “Voor Ik Vergeet”, “Astronaut”, “Leo’s Definitieve Aquarium”, “Regen En Patchoulli”
Sometimes an album comes at the right time and this Spinvis album (one-man show from the Netherlands) was perfect for a sunny, warm day after a long stretch of cold winds. (Crummy Canadian spring >:0)
It wasn’t really registering for me at first, as is the case for several of these “downtempo” records, but I ran it back and I found I appreciated it a lot more the second time.
There’s a Dutch version of the 1001 Albums book that includes this, apparently. Neat!
J Dilla
4/5
Not fair! This album is ∞ minutes long. I don't have an eternity to listen to J Dilla
not first listen! but it's been a while, so I appreciate being reminded of this
I will say my prior impression of a summery instrumental hip-hop album is complicated by all this oddball noises I don't remember from last listen.
An album I literally heard hours before putting this on is Starsailor by Tim Buckley. One would think the weirdness of that one would make this seem normal by comparison, but no
I never realized that Ghostface Killah's Fishscale (also from 2006) samples this, I will have to check that out again.
It really helps to go around the donut at least a second time, the seeming lack of a coherent structure feels better when you remember it's just looping around to the intro track
Decided to get off this ride at track 19, "Anti-American Graffiti", perhaps next time I play this album, I'll start there
HL: "Workingonit", "Stop", "Time: the Donut of the Heart", "Lightworks", "One Eleven", "Two Can Win", "Last Donut of the Night"
Burial
5/5
"Archangel" is the feel-bad song of the summer, every summer (since I started listening to Burial in 2024)
My first Burial was his E.P. Antidawn, after some online mag (Pitchfork, maybe) raved about it. Imagine the broken vinyl effects and ghostly vocals without any hook or danceable beat. I really liked it, so it was only a matter of time before I checked out some of his other stuff.
It's a good thing I have heard Untrue several times before, since my mood wasn't particularly great this morning. Grey windy weather, a long commute, an over-tired brain who just wouldn't shut off the night before,
yadda yadda yadda.
Untrue, as miserable and dark it can sound in places, alternately balances it out with catchy rhythms and warm swathes of ambient. Also those 'musique concrete', random clips of people talking is weirdly comforting and adds to its atmosphere.
Cons: that tinkly sample of a bullet casing hitting the floor, as heard in several tracks
Pros: everything else
HL: "Archangel", "Endorphin", "Etched Headplate", "Shell of Light", "Raver"
Frank Ocean
4/5
I feel like the minority in online discourse when I say Blond(e) was a letdown compared to Channel Orange (I gave that 5/5. I stand by that opinion).
But this has "Pink + White" and "Nights", so yes, I will put this on again for your benefit
Edit: Oh my God- I still don't have a clear opinion of this album. Here are some fragmented opinions though
- Accepting this might be the final album of his makes it more disappointing, not less
- Blonde isn't pop like Channel Orange- maybe part of me wished that it was the first time I heard it (2023), which isn't exactly me engaging with the actual material
-Apple Music, Paste and Rolling Stone all rank this super highly on their respective Greatest lists, which feels like recency bias if not for the fact this came out TEN YEARS AGO. Paste writes:
"Fellow generational greats like Kendrick Lamar, Solange and Radiohead also took artistic leaps on their sublime albums in 2016, but none jumped as high as the elusive Frank Ocean."
-all this to say not fully "getting" Blonde frustrates me more than it should
-I'm putting on Endless, the visual album whose release coincided with Blonde, for the first time to better understand this whole era
-the visual component is watching paint dry (literally.), but I'm liking this extension of his ambient/R&B. Especially since I didn't know this existed until relatively recently
- okay, if I had to boil this album down in as few words as possible it'd be "stellar production + voice memos". Or "better than nostalgia,ULTRA."
-and maybe it's only disappointing as a followup to Orange, since when I comb through this album track by track, I have like seven big highlights: "Pink + White", "Self Control", "Nights", the Andre 3k solo, "Close to You", "White Ferrari" and "Godspeed"
-& the more I think about it, "Ivy" might be his best, emotional vocal performance in the album, and the album is just getting going at that point. Make it eight.
-That's a lot of highlights for an album that supposedly disappoints me!
-Yet the disjointed interludes with spoken word/mumbling kneecap the flow of an already slow, contemplative album
-then there are the bursts of noise in "Pretty Sweet" and "Futura Free" that kinda just piss me off when they come up in the tracklist.
-"Dreaming a thought that could dream about a thought that could think of the dreamer that thought that could think of dreaming". Perhaps the most "stellar production + voice memos" moment in the album.
-If it's a crime that half-baked songs have to be saved by expertly weaving them together in production, completing them with orchestral overdubs, I guess Abbey Road's B-side would also be guilty
-a 2026 update: I work in schools now. One school had multiple artistic representations of Frank Ocean in what I guess was an installation representing the students' musical tastes. I never considered his enduring impact, at least in one part of one city, on the youth until that moment
-so what star rating to give this? None, star ratings are dumb >:o
-Now that I've thought about it, it's closer to a 4 star than a 3 star, Because despite my own annoyance with some of the creative choices made, there's a lot sonically to consider here.
I'm not even getting into the themes of modern relationships, the Internet, queerness & masculinity in the lyrics. This album resonates with a lot of people for a reason