Jeremy's 300 All-Time Favorite Albums: Nos. 224 to 209
- petsch6787
- Mar 5, 2017
- 17 min read
Other Pages in this list: Nos. 300-286 Nos. 285-271 Nos. 270-257 Nos. 256-241 Nos. 240-225 Nos. 208-192 Nos. 191-175 Nos. 174-158 Nos. 157-141 Nos. 140-124 Nos. 123-107 Nos. 106-91 Nos. 90-75 Nos. 74-59 Nos. 58-43 Nos. 42-27 Nos. 26-11 Nos. 10-01
Hello! It's been a minute since my last post; work got crazy last week and I was covering for the Big Boss's admin so I had to sit downstairs and I had to be alert, which also means that I didn't have the adequate amount of time to listen to each of the albums that I shall be writing about and also I was mentally burned out. I spent the weekend in a semi-coma, waking at weird times, playing Persona 4 for hours on end as a replacement for actual human interaction, dealing with a cat with a UTI, which meant that he was tracking more litter in the apartment than usual so now my home is covered in little pieces of garbage. So basically I need to clean my apartment and I need to write this post and get myself back to my normal routine along with my not so sick anymore cat. Me and Easton are on this recovery bid!
224. Rilo Kiley - Under the Blacklight
Year of Release: 2007
I have an interesting relationship with Jenny Lewis in that I hate every single piece of music that Rilo Kiley released prior to this album, and I have hated every single piece of music that she has made as a solo artist since then. But this album, Under the Blacklight, is kind of perfect. The band was moving away from the indie folk sound they had been known for previously, into a more rock-centric sound and this new direction helps me not listen to Jenny Lewis's (I'm just going to come out and say it!) boring lyrical writing. I really hate her songwriting, it's not clever, for instance "Funny thing about money for sex, You might get rich, But you die by it". Soooo clever. Anyway, I'm getting bogged down by my hatred of Jenny Lewis. The parts that I love of this album are the actual band; Blake Sennett's guitar is the leading force and it really helps. The riff that runs through Moneymaker reminds me of early Franz Ferdinand. I love this album, I hope I never have to listen to anything that Jenny Lewis is singing on that is not from this album ever again. (Editor's Note June '18: This was a really negative review of an album supposedly on a list of favorites.)
Song: The Moneymaker
223. Frankie Rose - Interstellar
Year of Release: 2012
As you may be able to garner from the title of this album, it sounds a bit like it's being recorded in space. Frankie Rose had been the drummer for a series of indie bands, but then broke away to start a solo career, and as far as I know, I think she is the only artist on this album at all. The album begins with a synth burn, similar to the heaven-esque score used in Sunshine when the astronauts are looking at the sun through the tinted window, leading into the fuzzy jangle guitar on Know Me. Most of the album sounds like an indie pop album that is slowly meandering on, as if on a ship slowly making it's way through the inky blackness, but this is broken up by the guitar explosions that punctuate Night Swim (the ship explodes), which is then followed by album standout Apples for the Sun (the afterlife) and it's repeating soft piano line that floats in and out of the song, at one point completely fading out, signalling the end of the song, until it gently comes back and builds.
Song: Night Swim
222. Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music
Year of Release: 2012
These days Killer Mike is perhaps better known for being half of the rap duo, Run the Jewels, or for being the first famous person to get on the Bernie Sanders bandwagon (Killer Mike, you are so wise), but back in 2012 Killer Mike was still mostly known as that guy who was featured on Outkast's The Whole World. Until this beauty came out. This entire album is produced adeptly by El-P (the other half of Run the Jewels), so technically this is kind of the first Run the Jewels album, and it's as political and full of anger as the collaborative albums are. Killer Mike uses his voice to explore the injustices of America, not only of the black man but of everyone. On this album he calls out Obama and Reagan alike, although Obama didn't get an entire song dedicated to him that ended in a repeated chant of "666," that was reserved special for Ronald Wilson Reagan. Killer Mike does occasionally step into light-hearted areas though, Jojo's Chillin is the story of a guy who commits a series of crimes but gets away with it all while the people around him crumble, kind of like Perfume: Story of a Murderer, Jojo gets away and then the bridge Dustin Hoffman's house is on falls into the river.
Song: Big Beast
221. New Radicals - Maybe You've Been Brainwashed, Too
Year of Release: 1998
New Radicals consists of only Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisbois, and they only put out one album before Alexander decided that being in front of the microphone was not his favorite way to contribute to the music scene, but this album is a doozy. As different as the two popular singles, You Get What You Give and Someday We'll Know, were from each other in style is as different as the rest of the songs were as well. Mother We Just Can't Get Enough opens the album with Brisbois shouting "Make my nipples hard, let's go!" and that song is an explosion of energy and good times. I Hope I Didn't Just Give Away the Ending is a meandering tale that ends in the singer making a porno film to buy some more cocaine. The summer between freshman and sophomore years of high school, I went to Branson with my friend Kyle's family. We rode down in their SUV with a boat attached to the back of it, but we left at like three in the morning, so I was laying in the back of the SUV, half sleeping, listening to this album, when the clasp that held the boat to the car broke, and Kyle's dad, Todd, navigated that SUV with a not properly attached boat to the side of the highway, he called OnStar, and we were back on the move before the sun came up. This album always, always reminds me of that awesome trip to Branson.
Song: Mother We Just Can't Get Enough
220. Pixies - Doolittle
Year of Release: 1989
My first introduction to the Pixies was through their first album, Surfer Rosa, which is a masterpiece, so then I moved onto their second album, Doolittle, which was hailed as their best work; needless to say I was pumped to check it out. But when I listened to this album for the first time (and the second time, and the hundredth time) I found it lacking in the spontaneity and fire of the first. So I moved onto their third album, Bossanova, which has already appeared on this list. But, then my friends had Rock Band 2 in their basement during the last year of college, and when I graduated I bought Rock Band 2 also, and one of the purchasable downloads is this entire album. So, being the Pixies fan that I am, I purchased Doolittle for Rock Band 2, and when you only have a limited amount of songs to play from, you start to appreciate them all. I now know every nook and cranny of this album, and it still has its flaws. But the tracks that are amazing on this one (Monkey Gone to Heaven, La La Love You, I Bleed) are definitely the best work the Pixies ever did. I especially love the guitar outro to No. 13 Baby, it's repetitive but it's a freaking jam to workout your fingers to in Rock Band 2.
Song: I Bleed
219. Fiona Apple - When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks like a King What He Knows Throws the Blows When He Goes to the Fight and He'll Win the Whole Thing 'fore He Enters the Ring There's No Body to Batter When Your Mind Is Your Might so When You Go Solo, You Hold Your Own Hand and Remember That Depth Is the Greatest of Heights and If You Know Where You Stand, Then You Know Where to Land and If You Fall It Won't Matter, Cuz You'll Know That You're Right
Year of Release: 1999
That's a long album title. Mew is probably ashamed that No More Stories... is a trifle title compared to this Fiona Apple mouthful. Apple's second album wasn't as popular as her first album, primarily because none of the singles reached the precipice that Criminal reached, but the album is just as good as her debut, especially with Jon Brion producing this time around. This is a breakup album, written in the aftermath of Apple's relationship with PT Anderson, and some of these songs are really brutal towards him, for instance Limp's chorus "And when I think of it, my fingers turn to fists, I never did anything to you, man, But no matter what I try, You'll beat me with your bitter lies, So call me crazy, hold me down, Make me cry; get off now, baby, It wont be long till you'll be lying limp in your own hand." It took me a lot longer to get into this album than Tidal, but it was worth the work. Also, when Fiona Apple made her comeback a couple of years ago with The Idler Wheel..., I saw her at Lincoln Hall (Tiny Venue!) on her first stop on her trial run tour, she only performed for an hour, but it was magical. That concert was so good that it kind of spawned my relationship with Kaley, the person I attended that concert with.
Song: To Your Love
218. Todd Terje - It's Album Time
Year of Release: 2014
Todd Terje's debut album is appropriately named; it is, in fact, album time. Terje specializes in disco electronica, which sounds a bit like if a disco party broke out at a tropical beach resort. Half of this album is new tracks, and half previously released tracks (a fact Terje contributed to his wife getting pregnant while he was writing the album), but actually this was kind of a blessing in disguise because in order to fill in the rest of the space, Terje used two songs from a previous EP (the two part Swing Star) and two previous singles (Strandbar and Inspector Norse). Both of these singles are among the best tracks on the album, especially Inspector Norse which is my effing jam. I'm going to put Inspector Norse as the song in the video below, seriously play that thing and tell me you don't want to start dancing immediately. Terje is adept at taking a bass line and a piano line and then building around them. On Strandbar, he layers small electronic sound effects over his instruments until they reach a peak and then Terje dives into the keyboard line. I am of the Chris Lowe mindset that if you find a musical section that creates euphoria, it's ok to dive into that section and just repeat it until the sun explodes, this applies to the breakdown on the second half of Strandbar, when Terje just churns out the same dancey piano line over and over. This is an extremely danceable album, and if you happen to have a fruity drink in your hand, it might just be a good day.
Song: Inspector Norse
217. The Horrors - Primary Colours
Year of Release: 2009
It took me more than one go around before I finally started to get into this album. The year Primary Colours was released, NME ranked it as their number one album of the year, so I was like "Ok, I've got to check this band out" and when I listened to them the first time, I was like "Why are the guitars so shrill? There's so much noise all over the place and the singer sounds like he's been drinking cough syrup while working on his British accent!" and then I deleted the album and moved on with my life. BUT! I tried again. I think it was when Skying came out, and it was getting love from all the music publications, that I gave it another shot and I'm glad that I did because what, at first listen, sounded shrill now sounded sublime. Music is weird like that; I could listen to the same album at different times in the same day and come out from it feeling two completely different ways, which is why I always pick out what I'm listening to by matching it with my mood. Primary Colours marries the goth sound that The Horrors were once known for with shoegaze and psychadelia, and the results are pretty stellar. On some tracks, they can be explosive like on New Ice Age or on my favorite song of the album, the Joy Division on speed I Can't Control Myself. This album will always bring me back to delivering pizzas at Leona's, RIP my little Sebring. I hope your parts are being used in a functioning automobile and not just rotting in a dump.
Song: I Can't Control Myself
216. Sonic Youth - EVOL
Year of Release: 1986
I am of the mindset, both in music and in films, that if a million critics are saying that they like something, then there is probably something there. People that automatically don't like a band because everyone else does are the same kind of people that watch the Oscars and root against Manchester By the Sea despite not seeing it simply because everyone else likes it. Go see it, it's good! That's why it got so many accolades! (This applies to most Best Picture runners-up, not just Manchester, for instance Room was also pretty great last year). So I usually try to give the big names a try, it's the reason I listened to the Pixies the first time, or why when I went to college, I decided it was time to further explore The Beatles (not that I hadn't listened to them before, I was raised in a house of music, I just wanted to get into the deeper cuts), and it's the reason I downloaded Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth at least four different times. But it never hit with me, in fact I never liked anything by Sonic Youth until I was downloading albums from a Best Albums of the 80's list and came across EVOL, the album that Sonic Youth made right before anyone started recognizing them for being amazing. This album finds that place between the insane art music that proceeded this album (or as Juno once said "It's just noise") and the long form pop deconstruction that was their later work. Also, Tom Violence is one of my all-time favorite album openers, if I was in High Fidelity, it would make my desert island top five album openers list (that's an actual list from both the movie and the book). I may not like any of their other albums, but I do love this one.
Song: Tom Violence
215. Screaming Females - What If Someone Is Watching Their T.V.?
Year of Release: 2007
Full Disclosure: I only started listening to Screaming Females about a year ago, and I have to imagine that if I was making this list a year from now, that it would contain at least two more of their albums and this one would be noticeably higher than two hundred fifteen, but alas the time is now and this is where they find themselves. This is technically their second album, but the first sounds mostly like a demo, so I consider this to be their first full length proper, and it is a freaking rawk show! Marisa Paternoster plays the guitar like her fingers are on fire and this album was when her singing voice was still half scream and she would warble on the extended notes (her voice is slightly more refined now, but I have to admit that I miss the raw emotion of these olden days, I like yelling when it's used properly). Starve the Beat breaks down into a guitar churning crunch numerous times before spooling back up and destroying your eardrums, and Girlfriend has me screaming "Is that your boyfriend, is that your girlfriend, with all this nonsense, prevent confusion" as I am walking back from the Red Line at the end of many a work day before Paternoster rips the song apart and repeatedly screams "As you sit on the fence, I will burn in Hell!" When I turn forty, and I make a list of my four hundred favorite albums, do not be surprised to find this one in the top fifty. (Editor's Note June '18: Lol. Ambitious statement right there.)
Songs: Starve the Beat
214. Pet Shop Boys - Fundamental
Year of Release: 2006
Pet Shop Boys followed up their worst received album, Release (it already made it's appearance on this list way, way back in week one) with perhaps their most political album, Fundamental. This is seen most on the first single, I'm With Stupid, which chronicles the relationship between Tony Blair and George W. Bush as a tale of the heart wanting what the heart wants. There's some big show stoppers on this album, like the Diane Warren penned, orchestra-backed Numb or the pain of seeing your ex with their new squeeze on I Made My Excuses and Left. There's also some big time dance hits, as with all Pet Shop Boys albums other than Elysium, such as Minimal. But I think the real star of this album is the slow burning opener Psychological, which runs more than half of it's four minutes with only a drum beat, a synth beat, and Neil Tennant's voice so you think you have your headphones set to the right volume, until Tennant utters "I thought I heard a baby cry, I thought I heard a train, Down in the cemetery, Cellophane " and the full soundscape finally presents itself and you realize you need to turn it down a click or two. Also, the production on The Sodom And Gomorrah Show is as good as I've ever heard, especially the intro " Sun, sex, sin, divine intervention, Death and destruction, Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to The Sodom And Gomorrah show!"
Song: Psychological
213. Beak> - >>
Year of Release: 2012
Beak> is the side project band of Geoff Barrow, one of the members of Portishead, who actually makes quite a lot of appearances on this list, whether with one of his two bands or through production such as on The Horrors album I talked about earlier, and that's because this dude seems to think about what constitutes music differently than others. Portishead is notoriously hard to listen to during the first couple spins because the beats that Barrow plays with can be extremely obtuse, but once you crack that egg, it's beauty can be stunning. Things are a little different with this side band; while Beak> definitely still smells of Barrow's weird keyboard beats, they try to make their albums by recording a live jam session, and it's pretty amazing what the result is. You know when you awake from a dream and you are trying to remember the details but it's all fading into a weird fog? That fog permeates every song on this album; the singing isn't inaudible, per say, but so muddled under the rest of instrumentation that, similar to My Bloody Valentine, you can't even understand a single word, but this allows for the vocals to just be another instrument in the freaky jam. If you are ever tweaking out and need some music to properly accentuate your freakout, turn on Liar, you'll be checking your windows for intruders all day long. Also, the keys on Eggdog sound like the music from those old NES tower crawls, specifically Gauntlet 2, which my grandma had on her Nintendo.
Song: Liar
212. Kylie Minogue - Body Language
Year of Release: 2003
Kylie Minogue has gone through many a pop star phase, just like Madonna. And similar to Madonna, at least when it comes to my appreciation, Kylie's albums are pretty hit or miss. Body Language is the first album Kylie released after her big comeback with Can't Get You Out of My Head (the video of which helped young pubescent Jeremy discover his love for the womens, and the parts that they have. If you you've seen that video and you are under thirty, you know what I'm talking about). I actually think that Body Language far surpassed the entirety of Fever. Body Language finds Kylie's pop mixing with R&B and the result is her sexiest album by far. The opener Slow is just one whispered beckon to get on the dancefloor and get real close, bumping that junk on some other junk, but not even really bumping, more like slow grinding. I love the beats on this album, I love the Kylie on this album, and most of all, I love how empowering this album is to the female singing it. Slow is about telling someone to follow her pace, Obsession is her telling someone that he only wants to date her as a reflection of how great he is (male pronouns used simply for ease of reading, not hetro presumption), Red Blooded Woman is her telling someone that they are lucky to have her desire and not to waste it. It's a great album for dancing, prolly for getting down to, and definitely for singing along to in falsetto. If you happen to be walking behind me as I'm heading for the Red Line and I happen to turn on this album, you will definitely hear me sing out loud with no context the opening lines to Slow, "Knew you'd be here tonight, So I put my best dress on, Boy I was so right" There will only be one "Kylie" and that's Minogue.
Song: Slow
211. Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
Year of Release: 2009
In 2007, Kings of Leon released what I consider to be a masterpiece album, Because of the Times, and then followed that up by deciding "You know, I'm tired of making original music. What if we sold out, and just made generic pop-rock tunes that stupid fucking people will play ad nauseum and then we can headline Lollapalooza every year and not have to put so much effort into making anything creative at all?" Luckily, the gents over in Kasabian decided to release the album that I had been hoping would follow Because of the Times, only replacing Kings of Leon's trademark hillbilly-esque Tennessee roots with the British equivalent: the cockney twinged accent of an Englishman. Eventually Kasabian gave into the call of the arena, as well, but we at least got this perfect gem of an album before that corruption. Where Did All the Love Go? and Fast Fuse are perfect rock songs, and when they want to slow it down they can go in the direction of the ballad Ladies & Gentleman (Roll the Dice) or they can go into the psychedelia of Swarfiga or Secret Alphabets. They even have a rip roaring song about sex called Fire, much better than the KoL equivalent. Speaking of Fire, I first learned about this band from Shazaaming Fire when a camgirl played it during a show. So, thank you Posie for introducing me to this album and thank you Internet for allowing us to do and watch whatever the hell we want until Trump's administration destroys Net Neutrality some time before the end of the year.
Song: Fast Fuse
210. New Order - Republic
Year of Release: 1993
The first New Order album after the collapse of Factory Records and the last before they took a half decade hiatus, Republic seems to be a polarizing album for New Order fans, and also for New Order themselves. I read an interview where drummer Stephen Morris ranked all of the New Order albums and he put this one last, essentially resenting it for being the first of their albums that HAD to be successful, especially in America where the real money was. However, I think this accessibility is ultimately what I like about the album. Where New Order would often lose me (post-Power, Corruption & Lies, that is) is that their beats would often stray all over the place, and I think we all know that Bernard Sumner is not even close to being a good enough lyricist to distract from wayward musical interludes. While this album may not be as original or as revolutionary as their first two albums were, I enjoy every song on it. I stick with this being New Order's most danceable album, and for that it's one of my faves, it's certainly the New Order album I listen to the most often.
Song: Spooky
209. Barenaked Ladies - Stunt
Year of Release: 1998
This album came out when I was eleven, so it has been with me for most of my "not a baby" years. I like a couple of Barenaked Ladies albums (all of them coming out before this one) but Stunt is definitely their most complete album, and it has the most emotional significance for me. Barenaked Ladies are best know for One Week, which starts this album with a goofball bang. Partially because of that song, and also partially because the band never shied away from their identity as a bunch of nerdy, white, Canadian dudes, they have always had something of a goofy disclaimer tagged to their success. However, I find that the songs that succeed the most have always been their sad songs, because underneath every joke from every comedian is a sad truth that needs to be deflected from, clowns are very rarely as happy as they seem. Call and Answer was my favorite single from this album and my two favorite tracks on this album are by far the most melancholic: I'll Be That Girl and In the Car. In the Car is about the thrill of adolescent sexual exploration but also the pang of loss from the things left unexplored simply because of inexperience or lack of interest. I'll Be That Girl has the ultimate emotional switcharoo chorus, starting with a display of romantic attention and then ending with the line that reveals that all this attention is one sided: "I'll be that girl, and you would be right over, If I were a field, you would be in clover, If I were the sun, you would be in shadow, If I had a gun, there'd be no tomorrow." When my junior year high school girlfriend Kristina was moving to Iowa to go to college, I made her a mixtape with a CD jacket that I arts and crafted together with song quotes and pictures, and then had Office Max make a big copy of, so the jacket was only one piece of paper, and In the Car was definitely on that mixtape and every time I listen to it, I remember sitting in Kristina's red Cavalier, saying goodbye. Memories.
Song: I'll Be that Girl
And with that, we find ourselves at the end of this week's albums. I had a good time writing this, I hope y'all had a good time reading it.
Much love to Malcolm Hill; MH, you deserve better than these last four years. You deserve so much more.
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