Blog post 3 of 10 below. The albums keep getting better, but I keep staying the same age...
If you are jumping into the list here and want to enjoy from the beginning, the countdown starts here.
40. Fever Ray - Fever RayI've had less than a year to fall in love with this album, but I feel because of it's roots, it's been with me for decades. Do you remember the first time you heard Depeche Mode's Violator? I do. I was a freshmen in high school, and was hanging out with a bunch of older band kids that took me under their wing. We were in Bryan Whitley's maroon mini-van with the wood paneling, and purposely driving down farm roads near Westerville Ohio in the dark while listening to DM to try and scare ourselves. Powerful memory because that remains fresh to this day because of just how good that album is (one of my favorites of all time). Well, this album by Fever Ray reminds me so much of it. In fact, I think you could hand it off to Dave Gahan to provide vocals, and it would become Depeche Mode's best since Violator. The music sends you to a dark, warm place - sad, but not depressing. It's meant to be listened to alone. While you're at work today, put your headphones on, and listen to Keep The Streets Empty For Me. "We Were Hungry Before We Were Born" indeed.
39. Shootennany! - EelsFull disclosure. Mark Oliver Everett is one of my favorite artists. I always am shocked when I meet someone who loves the same music I do, but has never even heard of Eels. Sometimes I think I live in a completely alternate universe where I get to fall in love with great artists like this, but I can't take them back to the real universe and share them with the masses. But what the heck, here's one more try.
Shootennany! may have a big, boisterous name, but it's probably the simplest Eels record (not a song over 4 minutes). The songs are very grown up, and they hit me at the point in my life where I was trying to grow up as much as I'm capable of. Songs like Rock Hard Times and The Good Old Days use simple words to tell the complex feelings of long term love. And Saturday Morning runs through my head every weekend morning when Caleb jumps into bed with Me'Cheal and begs us to go downstairs to begin our day. The Eels make a fantastic soundtrack for the every-man's life.
38. Hell Hath No Fury - Clipse
Throughout the early '00s, nothing made me happier than mixing Neptunes songs at bars and parties. They made amazingly crazy pop hip-hop songs. That's what makes this album so strange. There is nothing pop about this album. It is bleak coke rap. The stories are dark, the rhythms are sharp, and the colors are vibrant. It's my favorite gangsta album of all time because of the realism. The heros of these stories aren't heros. They know they are in a losing game. But they'll keep boasting about their fishscale until the casket drops.
37. Sea Change - Beck
The chameleon of our generation. He transforms himself with each album, always showing off music's wittiest mind. But this is his only album that really gives you a glimpse into his soul. It's a great breakup album. The strings are so expansive that you can feel just how far his heartache can travel. Then the whisper of a lyric comes in to light the cave with a single candle. I'm so glad he had this heartache to share, but I'm also glad that he only shared it once. It makes for a much more intimate experience each time I put this on. It's a chance to sit in his dressing room after the crazy fun show where he tells us about the girl who got away.
The chameleon of our generation. He transforms himself with each album, always showing off music's wittiest mind. But this is his only album that really gives you a glimpse into his soul. It's a great breakup album. The strings are so expansive that you can feel just how far his heartache can travel. Then the whisper of a lyric comes in to light the cave with a single candle. I'm so glad he had this heartache to share, but I'm also glad that he only shared it once. It makes for a much more intimate experience each time I put this on. It's a chance to sit in his dressing room after the crazy fun show where he tells us about the girl who got away.
36. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
This is the album that showed me the power of the internet and led the path to success for so many of my favorite new artists of the second half of the decade. Can you believe they released this on their own? It came from nowhere to dominate my car stereo for a season. An absolutely ridiculously fun record with the fresh hint of the best Talking Heads ever did. The best songs like Let The Cool Goddess and Yellow Country Teeth are some of the best indie dance tracks ever. Sure the lead singer's voice is as whiney as Lindsay Lohan when her coke dealer doesn't show up, but it fits within the puzzle so perfectly. Smiles always ensue.
This is the album that showed me the power of the internet and led the path to success for so many of my favorite new artists of the second half of the decade. Can you believe they released this on their own? It came from nowhere to dominate my car stereo for a season. An absolutely ridiculously fun record with the fresh hint of the best Talking Heads ever did. The best songs like Let The Cool Goddess and Yellow Country Teeth are some of the best indie dance tracks ever. Sure the lead singer's voice is as whiney as Lindsay Lohan when her coke dealer doesn't show up, but it fits within the puzzle so perfectly. Smiles always ensue.
On top of that, when I went to go see them live while touring on this album, I picked up the greatest concert T of all time. It's just a simple American Apparel brown T with the band's name in pink type on the front. To this day when I wear it to the mall, at least one person will walk past and actually clap and say yeah. And it cracks me up every time. I would love this band forever just because of this simple pleasure.
Check out the next 5 albums in the countdown here.
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