On a couple of lists that I noticed and completely unknown to me prior to this was Magnolia Electric Co by Songs: Ohia. It was a pretty interesting record, definitely in the country world but also with big bits of Springsteen, The Hold Steady or even Modest Mouse in it. The lead singers voice also really reminded me of someone specifically, and I spent the whole record being unable to place it. There are lots of lovely little instrumentation flourishes here, the songs are quite ornate at times, and there’s a decent variety to them despite being fairly firmly within the Country / Folk world. There are even multiple lead vocalists here, for two songs in the middle of the album, which was a nice surprise and both very enjoyable songs. I liked this a decent amount - it’s not one I’m absolutely certain to revisit, but I thoroughly enjoyed the 45 minutes spent listening to this.
That one ended up in my top 10. If you feel the need to keep digging into his music both The Lioness and Didnt it Rain are both also great albums and may have also been on my list if I wasn’t trying to limit to one per artist. I consider Jason Molina to be one of my top 10 favorite song writers of all time, and also one of the most underrated.
Hot damn, @jorbjorb, Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Songbook is a goddamn masterpiece. I'd heard the Porter and Berlin ones before but this is the best thing I've heard from her. Just impossibly lushly orchestrated and romantic.
Young Thug - Barter 6 Future - Monster The National - Trouble Will Find Me Motion City Soundtrack - Commit This To Memory Drake - Take Care Lil Wayne - Da Drought 3 Kanye West - Yeezus The Beatles - Rubber Soul The Menzingers - On The Impossible Past The Hotelier - Home, Like NoPlace Is There Four Year Strong - Rise or Die Trying Jeff Rosenstock - Worry. The Dangerous Summer - War Paint Led Zeppelin - II Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City Jimmy Eat World - Clarity ASAP Rocky - Live.Love.A$AP Blink 182 - Self-titled Shad - TSOL Kendrick Lamar - Section 80 Young Dolph & Key Glock - Dum & Dummer Hop Along - Bark Your Head Off, Dog The Classic Crime - Albatross The Sidekicks - Runners in the Nerved World Mansions - Dig Up The Dead The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds Rich Gang - Tha Tour Part 1 SahBabii - Squidtastic Nas - Illmatic Chief Keef - Thot Breaker Radiohead - OK Computer Fleetwood Mac - Rumours Kid Cudi - Man on the Moon 2 Arctic Monkeys - AM T.I. - Paper Trail Frankie Valley & The Four Seasons - Greatest Hits Action Bronson - Blue Chips Migos - Culture Big L - Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP Say Anything - ...Is A Real Boy Joey Badass - 1999 03 Greedo - Netflix & Deal KEY! - 777 Bomb The Music Industry! - Vacation Taylor Swift - Folklore Bon Iver - 22, A Million Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory Nickelus F - Stuck Now, Now - Saved
01. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band 02. Blink 182 - Enema Of The State 03. Radiohead - In Rainbows 04. Placebo - Without You I’m Nothing 05. Blink 182 - (Untitled) 06. Thomas Newman - American Beauty (Original Score) 07. Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American 08. Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile 09. Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral 10. The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds 11. Jimmy Eat World - Futures 12. Blink 182 - Dude Ranch 13. Jimmy Eat World - Clarity 14. Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of The Moon 15. The Beatles - Abbey Road 16. Tool - Lateralus 17. 311 - Grassroots 18. Nirvana - In Utero 19. The Beatles - Revolver 20. Third Eye Blind - Blue 21. Third Eye Blind 22. Beastie Boys - Paul’s Boutique 23. Brian Wilson - SMiLE 24. A Perfect Circle - Thirteenth Step 25. Muse - Absolution 26. Grizzly Bear - Painted Ruins 27. David Bowie - The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust 28. Cursive - Happy Hollow 29. Pixies - Doolittle 30. Radiohead - Kid A 31. Finch - Say Hello To Sunshine 32. Hans Zimmer - Inception (Music From The Motion Picture) 33. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here 34. Radiohead - OK Computer 35. The Doors 36. My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge 37. Grizzly Bear - Shields 38. Coldplay - Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends 39. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion 40. Incubus - S.C.I.E.N.C.E. 41. Led Zeppelin IV 42. Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP 43. Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory 44. Green Day - Nimrod 45. Yellowcard - Lights And Sounds 46. Nine Inch Nails - The Slip 47. David Bowie - Blackstar 48. Denver Harbor - Scenic 49. Panda Bear - Person Pitch 50. 311 - Transistor A very personal list for me. Albums that have had the most effect on me growing up. Also albums where I truly like every single song. Unfortunately this list is mostly white people but I'm a poc if that even makes a difference. There are some problematic artists but I did want to be honest with myself (I did remove a certain band altogether though) Spent quite some time ranking and weighing nostalgic favorites growing up vs well known classics vs more recent material to what was the truly "better" album and it was quite the challenge.
Spun Sam Cooke live at the harlem square club and let me tell ya if you’re including live albums this is the best.
fuck yeah Clarity might actually have a shot here... gonna take a minute to rearrange my list today. want it to be as accurate as possible once counted
nothing from the ap.net scene of bands was really remotely close to cracking my list how did i find this website lol
It'll be interesting to see what of the AP "scene" has stayed and resonated with users ~15 years later and what stuff has dropped off. From the preliminary top 10 you did, and looking at lists, it looks like Gaslight, Jacks Mannequin, Jimmy Eat World & Motion City Soundtrack have had long staying power, whereas stuff like (for example) Fall Out Boy, TBS or MCR seem to be less popular. Looking forward to seeing the full list!
My taste has definitely shifted from the days when I was pretty much copying whatever was big around AP
I have a handful of ap.net-approved choices on mine (MCS, Jack's, TDS, Gaslight, FOB, Coheed) that I don't feel even a bit bad about.
I have Dude Ranch relatively high on my list, lol. It's the album that formed much of my music taste from 8 through 18. I still find enjoyment in it, even the shitty songs and even with the band doing the problematic shit they currently are.
Almost Here by The Academy Is, in my opinion, is the best album to come out of the AP "scene". A little simple unassuming dose of pop-rock perfection that maybe doesn't get the credit that it's due, partly because everything else they did was rubbish.
Almost Here is an unreal album, something about those song structures are so unique to the genre and the hooks are undeniable. Just really amazing songwriting throughout
As this is the closest thing we'll get to an El Jeffe list, I'll take this as canon, and listened to this record! Reading up a little on it, it's pretty fascinating and kind of mind blowing that this sold one million copies - it's just flutes, no vocals, no other instruments, no "big" compositions with the flutes, just mostly one solo flute track. It was pretty chilled and calming, listened to it while reading, and I bet listening to it in the dark alone would be quite meditative. There was kind of a haunting aspect to it as well, which was kind of spooky (if that's the right word). It's always interesting to hear this traditional music that I have absolutely zero awareness or pre-conceptions of too. I have absolutely no experience of music like this, so I can't say why this was "better" than the sort of music you might hear in the background in like a hippy or new age shop, but the fact it was such a big seller despite being so sparse must mean it took a hold with people. I feel like it's ideal for very certain circumstances, so if I'm ever in the mood for something like this, it's good to know it exists and it has Craig's seal of approval!
I feel exactly like this. Like, I don't know how often I'll have the urge to throw on flute music, but if I ever do, this will be the one.
couldnt sleep the other night and listened to Definitely Maybe which I had maybe never heard all the way through before? not sure. anyway be proud