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I...didn't know. Apologies to all. Not for the Rapture thing, but the rest, yeah.
TONS I haven't heard yet, but here's my top, let's say 25, as of Dec. 1. 1. Waxahatchee - Saint Cloud 2. Jessie Ware - What's Your Pleasure? 3. Oranssi Pazuzu - Mestarin Kynsi That's three 10s off the top. Those things are hard to call the year of, but I couldn't deny them. What's most astonishing is that with two of the artists, I never really cared for their work previous, and with the third - Waxahatchee - I enjoyed, but assumed had a lower ceiling. She shattered it with this one. 4. RTJ - RTJ4 5. Pinegrove - Marigold (sorry, I still roll with Pinegrove) 6. Jeff Rosenstock - No Dream 7. Gulch - Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress 8. Westside Gunn - WHO MADE THE SUNSHINE (West's best) 9. Jeff Parker - Suite For Max Brown 10. Ben Seretan - Youth Pastoral 11. Daniel Romano - "How Ill Thy World Is Formed" 12. Potion - Cemetary EP (just heard it yesterday, but what the hell, I'm putting it here) 13. Lydia Loveless - Daughter (the best Neko Case album not made by Neko Case) 14. 2nd Grade - Hit To Hit 15. Jay Electronica - A Written Testimony 16. Code Orange - Underneath (so wonderfully dumb) 17. CHIKA - INDUSTRY GAMES 18. Adrianne Lenker - songs/instrumentals 19. Coriky - Coriky 20. DRAIN - California Cursed 21. Those Dirty Projectors EPs 22. Elder - Omens (the vocals are meh, but man the band do some incredible things here) 23. Mil-Spec - World House (a nice space filler when waiting for a new Propagandhi) 24. Sam Hunt - SOUTHSIDE (sometimes I love it) 25. Fiona Apple - Fetch The Bolt Cutters (Fiona never came naturally to me...I'm still working on it).
Ooh, this Potion is scratching a big John Zorn - Naked City itch. Love it!
Great story. I had my own emotional SD story from just the last week. It was my birthday last Sunday and my 10-year-old came up to me and told me that he had learned a song on the piano for my birthday. I had no idea he was doing this. He sat down at the piano and told me to turn around so I couldn't see his sheet music. He then started playing "Peg." I recognized it immediately, obviously. I watched in tears as my son, who's 10 and should not be thinking "I want to learn a Steely Dan song for my dad's birthday," hunkered down and beautifully played this fucking HARD song. I literally wept.
This is a good list.
Love it too. If Aja has an overlooked classic, this is it.
I'm 38 too! I started with Thrill and Aja and worked toward the middle (which meant it took me much longer to get into Gaucho). But I think going chronologically is a good way of not being overwhelmed by the encroaching jazz elements. The first album is smart classic rock, but it's relatively straight. Each subsequent album adds a subtle wrinkle before the scales start to tip the other way on Katy Lied. Enjoy one album at a time and by the time you get to Aja you might not even realize you've become an insufferable audiophile.
Honestly, just start with Can't Buy A Thrill and enjoy a perfect classic rock album. This is one band where chronological discovery really helps.
There is no consensus. That's antithetical to the Dan's ethos.
Pretzel Logic has some absolutely classic cuts, but it seems a little padded out with old cuts, blues vamps and the Ellington cover. I love it like I love ever Dan album of this era, but it feels the least inspired.
"Deacon Blues" is killer and a very definitive song for the Dan, but even on Aja I think I've only got it in fifth place. Though that's more of an indicator of that album's incredible strength.
OK, read the list. Half of mine made it, pretty good. "Doctor Wu," "Black Cow" and "Babylon Sisters" are also splendid choices. "Black Friday" is good too, but by the time Katy Lied gets to its third perfunctory blues cut, the opener's quality is sort of compromised. Love that Gaucho came in at No. 1, even if my 1 and 2 are possibly the greatest songs anyone anywhere has written. If you only know the hits, please check out "Sign In Stranger" and "Your Gold Teeth II," two of the most inexplicably overlooked songs in the Dan's catalogue.
Skipped the article and went straight to the comments to express that I know this list is going to break my heart. They just have too many great songs. So before I go back and read, here is my list of *gulp* just 10: 1. Sign In Stranger 2. Your Gold Teeth II 3. Peg 4. Aja 5. My OId School 6. Gaucho 7. Kid Charlemagne 8. Kings 9. Any Major Dude 10. FM Worst songs (classic era): 1. Do It Again 2. Daddy Don't Live In New York City No More 3. Chain Lightning 4. East St. Louis Toodle-oo 5. Pretzel Logic
Of course Bill Callahan is the perfect guy for this song. In its own way, Dongs of Sevotion is a Steely Dan record.
I only feel comfortable talking about Norm in this thread because he was Billy Joe's best friend, but yeah, NML is the best podcast in the world and I hate having to scour the dark web for episodes. Also, Norm stole Shaver's "old chunk of coal" routine.
Oh man, RIP to a real one. Sorry, THE real one. Honkey Tonk Heroes is essential and Shaver's own work is damn integral to the outlaw country movement. Watch his episode of Norm Macdonald Has A Show right now. It's incredible.
Great album, but it's thoroughly "touchable"
I mean, yeah, they were kind of a schlocky band, but they had some SONGS - "Runnin' With The Devil," "Panama," "Ain't Talkin' Bout Love," "Jamie's Cryin'" The first album alone is just stacked with hits. It's a 10.
Oh shit, I'm one listen in, but is this the best Griselda album? I think, at the very least, it's Westside's best. Lots to love here.
1. The Plugs I Met 2. Supreme Blientele 3. LULU 4. The Liz 5. Pray For Paris
Modern indie wouldn't know what to do with "Daisy Glaze."
Start with the peak of his Smog era - which is Knock Knock and Dongs of Sevotion. Then feel free to move around from there. His albums under his own name are all very good, but Apocalypse and Dream River are the best.
Agreed, there’s an EP’s worth of food songs there. But there experimental bent is not ted Leo’s strong suit.
Tej leo(?), Rx/pharmacists - 3 Tyranny - 9 Hearts of Oak - 8 Shake the sheets - 10 Living with the living - 5 Brutalist Bricks - 8 The Both - 8 The Hanged Man - 6
Start with the Tyranny of Distance And go from there. Shake The Sheets is his best though.
A very good cover of the single best song of the 70s.
I see your Mclusky and raise you a Propagandhi. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p3I5zGspda0
No, I'm with you. It's a far more dynamic album, less conservative than the first two. Maybe it's just that plain-ass doom records bore the hell out of me, but Heartless felt like an adventurous step in a new direction.
Here's something weird about me: Heartless is the ONLY Pallbearer album I like. I think I just tire of doom metal for doom metal's sake. I found Heartless much more dynamic. Interested to see where this new one goes.
A special shout out to Dongs of Sevotion. Still my favorite of his despite multiple masterpieces (though I was a little cool on the last one).
I'm completely confused how someone who enjoyed the White Album would hate this song.
Welcome to the "Actually, Dolly Parton Was A Total Albums Artist" thread. Here are my top 10 Parton albums: 1. New Harvest...First Gathering (1977) - Dolly's first pop crossover and her masterpiece. An absolute 10. 2. Coat Of Many Colors (1971) - The best of early country Dolly. A fabulous collection of songs. 3. Just Between You and Me (1968) - the first with Porter. Includes some of the most sad-ass songs Dolly ever penned. 4. Jolene (1974) - You've got the two pillars, but the rest is a delight too. 5. Just Because I'm A Woman (1968) - Fixes everything that didn't quite work on her debut. Some seriously sad-ass songs. 6. Trio (1987) - Devastating harmonies with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt 7. All I Can Do (1976) - The last Dolly solo effort to involve Wagoner. You can see the underpinnings of her pop crossover momentum. An underrated gem. 8. My Tennessee Mountain Home (1973) - Dolly at peak mythmaking. 9. 9 To 5 And Odd Jobs (1980) - The big hit, but choice deep cuts as well. 10. Dolly Dolly Dolly (1980) - Dolly's yacht rock album. Jeff Baxter, Lenny Castro, Abe Laboriel, Jay Graydon - in a certain set of eyes, this is a legendary album.
My choice was a bunch of "new Weezer" songs that turned out to be old Pavement songs. It was a solid joke.
I'm on the fence about 1 and 4. Both are terrible songs with some really cool moments.
dadguitar is right. Is This It is very good, but Room On Fire improves on it in every regard. The only thing Is This It has over Room On Fire is the sense of newness and hype. But anyone coming to The Strokes for the first time now would probably find more to like on Room On Fire.
The Red Album has an EP's worth of GREAT ideas. Unfortunately, it has several LPs worth of terrible ideas.