Heartbreaking: Another potentially amazing modern pop album held back by generic, soulless production. Still catchy and an unabashedly queer, decently fun listen though. Belongs on the original list, and I can honestly see it getting added in the newest edition (Brat is absolutely getting on, right?). "HOT TO GO!" was great. Just really hoping to one day get to hear a modern pop album that doesn't sound like a slab of processed ham.

Yeah, now that's the shit. An absolutely insane omission from the original list - both this, and Lateralus. I'd say this is their best album. Hits the perfect middle ground between the heavier Undertow and the proggier Lateralus. "Third Eye" is the best song they've ever done. That refrain will never not give me chills.

Not really the biggest fan. It's just kind of pointless noodling for an hour. I have nothing against jam bands (that Phish live album on this list was pretty good!), but I couldn't find anything here to latch onto. Very nondescript vocals, lyrics and guitar playing. It's like a jam band with default presets and no sauce. The most interesting moments were when they quoted some famous songs, like the Pink Panther or Ghostbusters themes. That was pretty cool. Also some meta bullshit: I think some users forget that nobody is forcing them to listen to these albums at gunpoint. There is literally zero reason to tell someone to rethink their life choices over an album choice, lmao

🫲😩🫲 Not bad. Kinda generic.

Thank you for the user album submission, Robert Dimery.

Hello, just arrived in this realm. This is my first user album. I probably won't do the entire thing, but I'm excited to see what interesting stuff got submitted! This was a very fun Latin album. I know next to nothing about this kind of music, but I fuck with it. Insane amount of variety for an hour long album. All that was missing was a random Grindcore song to tie it all nicely together.

Fuckers took a bite of my horse, can't have shit in Detroit. Very, very slow. Not my type of folk.

I really love how insane this album is. Some of it works better, some of it falls completely flat on its face, but the one thing that's consistent, is that you have no clue what the next song is going to be. Gotta be the only album in existence to have both the "Baroque Pop" and the "Hip Hop" tags in its Wikipedia infobox.

It's like a generic 80s synthpop album, but with the twist that the lyrics sound like something you'd find written in a public toilet stall. Just to be clear, that's not a bad thing. It is a bit of a jarring combination though.

I saw the genre name for this was "Neo-Prog". My mind went to stuff like Cardiacs and Black Midi, but all I got was U2. This is one sleigh bell away from being actual Christmas music. Not a fan.

Yeah, now that's the shit. An absolutely insane omission from the original list - both this, and Lateralus. I'd say this is their best album. Hits the perfect middle ground between the heavier Undertow and the proggier Lateralus. "Third Eye" is the best song they've ever done. That refrain will never not give me chills.

I like post-hardcore, but man, this guy is only capable of yelling in one specific tone and it makes everything blend together so much. Very repetitive and very depressing. Wasn't in the mood for something like this right now. Rarely am. Interesting choice though.

Great choice! Crazy how there are NO Emo/Emo-Pop albums on the original list. Just an entire subgenre (one of the most popular ones of all time) completely ignored because Robert Dimery said that "he doesn't like this kind of music". Weak. The children love it and the children crave more of it. I am the children. This shit rocks. 4/5.

"Me and Your Mama" and "Redbone" are great, but nothing else really stuck in my mind... Except for that one song with unfathomably dogshit autotune that completely ruins the vibe of the record and made me burst out laughing. It's alright though. A completely fine album, and a better and more worthy pick than like 90% of the 2010s albums on the actual list.

Family Guy cutaway music. Props to the guy who submitted this though.

"Picaresque" is one of my favorite albums, but I've never bothered to check out the rest of the Decemberists' catalogue, so this was a fun listen. Interesting rock opera, way more proggy than I expected. Very "Central European fairytale"-esque plot. Cool pick!

Factory settings country music.

To cite my almost 3 year old review of the EW&F album that was on the original list: "Listening to Earth, Wind & Fire gives me the same vibes as watching UFO sightings on Youtube." Still haven't figured out what that truly means, but it's true. Anyways, this is pretty alright.

Album cover goes hard as fuck. Screenshotted and shared with my 32-year-old grandson "Félipé" immediately. Unique vocal style for this kind of punk. Was there even any 90s pop-punk on the original list other than Green Day? Guess there wasn't any space for it, because god forbid somebody dies without hearing all three Dexys Midnight Runners albums. Whatever, this slaps. Great pick!

World music is always appreciated, but this was kinda annoying.

Thank you for the user album submission, Robert Dimery.

This is like submitting "Air Bud" to a 1001 Movies List, but I deeply respect that, and I'm all here for it. Actually way more fun and consistent than I expected. Sampling "Lullaby" by The Cure is a nutty choice.

Getting an album with the opening track "The New Year" on December 31st. Cute indie, nothing special though. I was also under the impression that this was an Emo band, so it was a bit of a surprise when Owl City Man 2.0 came in with the vocals.

For an album that seems to put so much effort into its sequencing, this felt like a completely incomprehensible disjointed mess. Too ambitious for its own good. Overlong, boring. Still has some standouts though, like "3005". I like the fart synths on that one.

Heartbreaking: Another potentially amazing modern pop album held back by generic, soulless production. Still catchy and an unabashedly queer, decently fun listen though. Belongs on the original list, and I can honestly see it getting added in the newest edition (Brat is absolutely getting on, right?). "HOT TO GO!" was great. Just really hoping to one day get to hear a modern pop album that doesn't sound like a slab of processed ham.

Very chill jazz. Would have personally gone for "Chet Baker Sings" for a Chet album. Guy was both a great trumpeter and a singer. Don't do three trillion kilograms of heroin, kids.

Not much of anything. Forgettable alt-country.

I was going to say that this sounds suspiciously similar to Les Rallizes Dénudés, and as it turns out, the lead singer was in a LRD cover band (and like 30 other bands, holy shit). "Sticky Hulks" especially, with its screeching psychedelic guitars, the vocal effects, the intonation. The inspiration is extremely clear. Amazing, loved it. Definitely not what I was expecting from the album cover. Strong 4/5!

His second best album, love the guy's work. Amazing, beautiful, heart wrenching. Five outta five.

I thought The Posies were a really generic pop rock band for some reason, but this was not that. Surprisingly very solid. Some darker alt rock is always a good time. Cool shit. 4/5.

Dob Bylan. These guys had an album on the original list as well, but I can't remember anything about it. This sounds vaguely like The Postal Service sung by a Bob Dylan homunculus. It's alright. Not anything I'd ever revisit though.

Inexplicably unavailable on streaming in Europe (same thing for their debut). Less post-punk and catchy hits, but way more cheese. I think the original list's B-52's was enough.

I sadly couldn't get any enjoyment out of this, because I'm still lost on the fact whether MF DOOM is a dangerous evil villain feared by many and if Spider-Man is after him. I think one more 3 minute long skit of 50s cartoon characters talking could have really brought this one together. Also, obligatory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THOUT3vZnSY

"This sounds like Elvis Costello" is the scariest possible sentence to see when you first open the reviews before listening to this. Slightly better than Elvis Costello, but maybe that's only because this one doesn't carry the "Oh god, I still have to listen to 5 more of these" weight that getting an Elvis Costello album album meant on the original list.

This sure was a bunch of very quiet 10-minute long French songs.

More painfully average 80s music with one big hit and a whole bunch of nothing. Sorry, not a fan in the slightest.

Cool stuff! -50 points, because now I'm going to have "Lady Marmalade" stuck in my head for a week.

Inferior version of the Persona 3 soundtrack.

A fine addition to my "What the fuck is this and why does it slap so hard" collection that I am slowly accumulating by going through these user submitted albums. Also a worthy addition to the "Albums that sound the least like their album covers" list. Extremely unexpected but welcome Ska Punk jumpscare.

This was sort of like listening to dust and cobwebs.

Donkey Kong Country music. Pretty interesting, despite the fact that I don't exactly dig this sort of electronic music. The Kate Bush cover was surprisingly really well made. "Tick of the Clock" was the standout though. Despite being 15 minutes of roughly the same thing, it's strangely hypnotizing.

Damn, and I thought I was kind of crossing the treshold for submitting that 80-minute Cardiacs album. Can't stand this dude. I could hardly sit through "Born to Run". Listening to an over 2 hours long Bruce Springsteen live album is an actual Tartarus punishment for my wicked soul.

Wasn't expecting to be listening to Australian Aboriginal music today, but what a great surprise. The guy who submitted this understood the assignment. A hidden gem. Thank you for sharing this.

Not something for me, but I see the appeal. Personally found the singer's voice kind of grating and everything too samey. I'm probably not American enough for this.

I think I prefer his debut "We Cool?" a bit more, but there's no denying that this guy's probably the best and most consistent modern pop-punk artist. Four outta five. I'm a sucker for this kind of thing.

Mr. President, a second two-hour long live album has hit the user-submitted albums. Okay, you know what, fuck it. I AM in the mood for this today. Bring it on. (2 hours later) That was not so bad. Wish more of this was as psychedelic as "Stash" and spent less time on pointless noodling like the entirety of "You Enjoy Myself" and "Tweezer" (the two longest songs, ugh). Still, I'm really surprised it kept my attention all the way through.

Other reviews mention this not being on Spotify, but I personally found it in one search, so I think it's just a region-locking issue? This is awesome. Very interesting backstory as well. More African albums are always appreciated.

Pretty good hip hop. Very Tupac-esque. I've heard of this before, but never listened to it. From the praise I've seen this get, I was expecting something more envelope-pushing, I think. Still an interesting listen though.

Primus was totally robbed a spot from the original list, same with Ween. I demand more bullshit music like this. Not as good as "Frizzle Fry", probably even "Pork Soda", but a worthy inclusion and a great time. Strong 4/5.

Listening to this album reminded me of how it feels to not be listening to an album.

A bit too overly-dramatic for me to file this under the best music genre of all time - "goofy medieval music". Also, this is going to be extremely specific, but it reminded me too much of music you'd find in Youtube compilations titled something like "Royalty Free Viking Music For Your D&D Campaign 10 Hours (No Ads)". 2/5, but a weird kind of 2/5, because I can tell that I would have absolutely loved it with some production tweaks.

Dollar store Eddie Vedder. Genuinely can't tell if this is supposed to be a parody album.

Some of that goofy shit, love to see it. I've only heard "Only a Lad" by Oingo Boingo before and while I think I prefer that one, this was absolutely groovy as hell. Knows how to stand out, which is a super important thing when it comes to New Wave.

🫲😩🫲 Not bad. Kinda generic.

Gizzing so hard right now. Not only do King Gizzard deserve a spot on the list, they feel like a band that should have at least 3 albums on there with their insanely diverse discography. This is 42 minutes of raw energy. It's one of the most pure fun albums ever recorded and one of the best of the 2010s by one of the most hard-working bands of all time. Easy 5/5. Also recommend "I'm In Your Mind Fuzz" to anyone who liked this and would like to hear more.

Fartstep. Pretty minimalistic krautrock. Very gloopy, very bloopy.

Every second, this album throws a coin to decide whether it wants to be indie rock like Interpol, or hard rock like Pearl Jam. Would this count as Emo? No idea. Anyways, interesting record, thanks for sharing. Kinda depressing, but I was sort of in a mood for that. I don't think I'd ever listen to this over the aforementioned Interpol though.

Not really the biggest fan. It's just kind of pointless noodling for an hour. I have nothing against jam bands (that Phish live album on this list was pretty good!), but I couldn't find anything here to latch onto. Very nondescript vocals, lyrics and guitar playing. It's like a jam band with default presets and no sauce. The most interesting moments were when they quoted some famous songs, like the Pink Panther or Ghostbusters themes. That was pretty cool. Also some meta bullshit: I think some users forget that nobody is forcing them to listen to these albums at gunpoint. There is literally zero reason to tell someone to rethink their life choices over an album choice, lmao

Smooth electronic R&B. Probably too smooth, even. It's good background music, but not something I ever look for personally.

Somebody beat me to the Sega video game music comparison.

I didn't notice the release date and listened to the whole thing thinking that this was a 1970s band. So if their goal was to record "more of the same old, played out country", I'd call it a success. Not for me though.

80s new wave albums try to be anything more than "Two pretty good singles and ten more of the most boring songs you've ever heard in your life" challenge (IMPOSSIBLE)

Pretty cool Avant-Folk. A bit too samey though. "Ogre" was great. Above all else, I am very fond of the funny red creature on the album cover.

Switches between "generic pop" and "ethereal forest music" like a metronome. I think I liked it?

Scientifically proven, you can't get more Australian than this before imploding into a black hole. 4/5

Reminds me a bit of drowning in mud.

Listening to this is feels like inhaling tonnes of microplastics and preservatives. All the songs are either the guy singing like he's getting chased by a Scooby Doo monster over FL Studio preset trap beats, or the obligatory "obvious radio hit bait". Not a fan.

A brave cross between Swedish folk music and the Hampster Dance.

"Chamberlain came crawling from Munich, with one piece of paper..." Feels weird listening to this today. Feels weird acknowledging how weird it is. ...And that's about all the emotions I got from this. Rest's the usual jangle pop dross. Singer sounds like all the Beatles at once, but with the cadence of Bob Dylan.

Some amazing lyricism, also has the sound quality of a 1900s telephone broadcast from across the Atlantic - which is actually a positive thing. Heard some stuff about this album and band before, but never listened to it. As it turns out, it's really good. 4/5.

Not as good as "How It Feels to Be Something On", but still a milestone Emo record that should definitely have been on the list. Also one of the rare albums where some of the best songs are the bonus tracks. Very much worth it to stick around for "8" and "9". Strong 4/5.

Actually mindblowingly incredible, holy shit. So far my winner for the best new album I've discovered through the user submissions by several orders of magnitude. Now I have to go on a Dub binge.

Weakest of the three big modern psych acts (King Gizz, Oh Sees, this), but still enjoyable. Vocals all over the place, shit travels into the nightmare dimension in the last couple of songs. Weird. 3/5?

+50 points right off the bat for the gall to submit an avant-garde metal album. Never heard of this, but I'm super intrigued. Wow, incredible. An insane blend of metal, post-rock, jazz and a whole bunch of other stuff that the album cycles between before any of them can get stale. Probably a really unusual comparison to make, but the band that this reminded the most of would be Talk Talk. Spirit of Eden/Laughing Stock, Metal edition? I hope everybody gives this the fair shot it deserves and doesn't immediately get scared away by the Wikipedia tags or song lengths, since it's not even all that inaccessible all things considered. Fantastic pick, 5/5.

I really can't take Steven Wilson's lyrics seriously in Porcupine Tree or his solo work, but the guy can compose a fine ass tune. Somebody should tell him to finally bite the bullet and become a full-time "JRPG final boss battle theme" writer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5pEFAm63NM

Cute finger food album. Not what I was expecting from the album cover at all. Hard to hate. 3/5.

No idea what this is. Haven't even heard "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and that's got like 200 million streams. Did I just slip into a different dimension? Extremely similar to Genesis. Formed in the same year. Seems like one of those things where if a butterfly flapped its wings on a random day in 1967, we would have had the drummer of Procol Harum doing the Tarzan soundtrack instead. Anyways, pretty good, but not something I'd ever return to.

Well, they don't exactly call it "Easy Listening" for its depth and complexity. Great music for when I'm deviously setting up Rube Goldberg traps in my home to catch a stripey-shirted robber with a burlap sack on his back.

John Mayer seems like the type of guy to find mayonnaise too spicy.

This album sounds like it's violently fighting against every interesting idea that pops into its head.

Very unusual pick for a TMBG album. I think most people would go for "Flood" or "Lincoln" instead, but hey, it's a free country. Pretty good. Has that same nerdy quirkiness of their older stuff, just not as tight of a package with no real standout tracks. 3/5.

Like listening to a divorce.

As a connoisseur of silly creatures, I have to begin by saying that I am a big fan of the silly creature on the album cover. Whoa, this is awesome. It's like zoomer sophisti-pop. Very reminiscent of, and I also imagine, very inspired by various video game soundtracks such as the "Earthbound-like indie RPG scene" and Persona. Maybe it doesn't flow the best and should have probably been like 20 minutes shorter, but I was fully in the zone. Strong 4/5, maybe even a 5/5. Depends how I'm feeling tomorrow. Update: Alright fine. It's a 5/5. This is an immaculate vibe. Also remembered I am legally not allowed to complain about album lengths after submitting the Cardiacs album.

Enormous sound. Reminded me a bit of both The Decemberists and Mars Volta, which probably sounds like the most fucked up Venn diagram known to man. Theatrical and over the top, which isn't a bad thing in my book. Feels weird to be thrown into the fourth part of a massive six-part story, but then again, not like it makes this much more incoherent than your average prog rock concept album.

Just some more alt rock for the alt rock pile. Not bad, not great. Whatever, man.

Norwegian penis music.

This is my third time hearing this album and I've only just realized that there is no woman involved in this. That's a man's voice through a filter. All of it. What the fuck. Anyways, it's alright. Porter Robinson is more of a singles artist to me. One or two songs in a while is fine, but an entire album's worth of this stuff is too much for me. I've tried to get this to grow on me, but it never goes past "that was pretty good, I guess".

Hell yeah. The most baffling exclusion from the list save for "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea". MCR is the quintessential 2000s band. When you think emo, early internet, aughties music, or literally just the concept of black clothes - this is the first thing that comes to mind. 10/10, and shame on Robert Dimery and his blatant anti-emo bias.

https://c8.alamy.com/comp/J0K9D3/group-of-old-people-supporting-you-J0K9D3.jpg

A bit like The National, but without the feeling that you just took thirty kilograms of Ambien. Not the most mindblowing thing ever made, but sometimes some "pretty good alt rock" is all you need in life.

Obligatory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SU0gFPMwP8 Jesus fucking Christ, who is the evil warlock forcing modern pop/indie artists to sing with that godforsaken affectation and how do we break his curse. Justin Vernon was pretty good though. Other than that, this is a pretty standard concept album about the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice with an Americana spin. Extremely cheesy, kinda just straight up stupid at times, but that's par for the course, I guess. Not a Musicals kind of guy. Interesting choice nonetheless. Strong 2/5.

Big fan of albums that sound like they were recorded inside a giant pressure washer. RIP Steve Albini, greatest to ever do it. Gets better with every listen.

The Sound is basically the most "good" post-punk band. Not mind-blowing, not amazing, but there isn't a bad moment on here. It's all good. Is "good" good enough? Who knows. 3/5.

This makes me feel like the walls are closing in. It's like the music's in an uncanny valley between Metal and "Ay, ay, ay, I'm your little butterfly"-ass Eurodance. So insanely over-the-top dramatic and epic, that it ends up feeling plastic, fake and annoying. The male vocalist is especially awful. Dude probably thinks he's Sephiroth. I kinda see the appeal, and "Amaranth" is a great single by them (not on this album though), but it's a 1/5 from me.

Arguably one of the most influential bands of all time? Kinda crazy this wasn't on the original list now that I think about it. It's death metal, so obviously it won't be for everyone, but I think even those people can appreciate the insane musicianship on display. Personally love it. Some of the riffs on here are genuinely some of the coolest shit I've ever heard in my life. Five outta five.

Grime is such a funny genre. Why do all of these beats sound like cartoon characters slipping on ice. Much better than that godawful Dizzee Rascal album from the original list. Actually had fun with this. A pleasant surprise.

One of those albums where you'll be saying "This reminds me of [insert indie band here]" to yourself after every song. Vaguely Middle Eastern/South Asian sounding psychedelic rock. Kind of a mixed bag with some bangers and some total misses. Second half was better than the first. I think I enjoyed it though. Interesting choice. 3/5.

Sounds like a cross between The Dismemberment Plan and Deftones. Drags on like a motherfucker by the end and kind of ruins the well knit-together first half of the album by falling into pretty generic alt rock territory (basically everything after "X-French Tee Shirt"). No issue with Post-Hardcore, in fact please inject that shit directly into my bloodstream, just kinda thought this was pretty unremarkable all things considered. Strong 2/5.

Second dub album, hell yeah. A genre that was sorely missing from the original list. Not as good as the King Tubby album I had a few weeks ago, but still - hell yeah. This ape is so super, dude.

Their best album and the album that got me into music. I still remember the first time I heard the vocals on Sheep transition into a synth, mimicking the bleat of a sheep, and realized that music is more than just fun bleeps and bloops. I've heard this probably close to a 100 times already, and it hasn't grown old or stale. A masterpiece. Thanks for submitting.

It seems like every time somebody says they don't like Sublime, it's not because of the music, but rather because they associate it with an annoying frat bro they knew named Chadley or something. Anyways, banger. Another baffling exclusion from the list. On a roll the past few days.

Eighty feral hogs are rapidly approaching your location.

Most 70s prog rock albums are 1 extremely long "best song you've ever heard in your life" and then like 4-5 throwaway garbage that sounds like third-rate Disney soundtracks. Alan Parsons says fuck that, I'm doing "best song you've ever heard in your life" 4-5 times, then 1 extremely long throwaway garbage that sounds like third-rate Disney soundtracks. Truly the Anti Tarkus. 4/5.

Ah, Fontaines D.C. Thought this was a K-Pop band for the longest time for some godforsaken reason. It's a pretty good post-punk record. Nothing mindblowing, but it gets the job done with some really thick Irish accents. 3/5.

One day I'm going to wake up and find out that somebody submitted the Tarzan soundtrack to this fucking thing. More power to you of course, but listening to this felt like slowly succumbing to "The Rot".

Crazy this wasn't on the list, since this is exactly the type of British nothing-alt rock that music journalists go crazy for. Wish I understood what makes this special.

Don't really care for Death Cab For Cutie, but this is pretty good. Opening and closing tracks especially. So many people ripped this sound off. Not this album's fault or anything, but I can't get that fucking "You would not believe your eyes, if ten million fireflies.." song out of my head while listening to this.

I can't take this band seriously, man. The Blink-182 singer is like the male version of cursive singing. Enema is better. Both kinda suck though.

Better than I expected. Worth sticking through those ungodly boring opening 3-4 tracks, because it actually gets pretty interesting after that. Once the whole band finally chimes in is when this gets good. More of that and less of Norah Jones 2.0 singing over "piano_preset.mp3".

Not gonna lie, this was fucking awesome. I was very skeptical going into this, since a French live punk album that's 70 minutes long is a totally demonic concoction, but it somehow didn't get old. It's just really solid punk rock. A lot of fun despite the fact that I have no idea what's being said. Sounds a bit like Misfits or Bad Religion.