We're half way around the sun, again, folks. It's a distance that has an uncanny effect on music nerds: we feel cosmically possessed to chronicle which albums provided the best space-travel music. In order, are my favorite records of the year so far.
1. Tune-Yards "W h o k i l l"
Merrill Garbus takes a gimmick (sampling and looping her own voice) and built actual songs with killer horns, Afropop percussion, ukulele, bass and guitar to make the half-year's best and most original album.
2. Yuck "Yuck"
UK brats use equal parts Teenage Fanclub, Pavement and Dinosaur Jr. for their debut, throwing back to a decade we all wish it still was — the '90s.
3. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart "Belong"
Twee American boys and girls move from the '80s noise pop (The Jesus and Mary Chain, Black Tambourine) of their debut to make album more indebted to the Smashing Pumpkins, without losing their earnest vulnerability. Hey remember Silversun Pickups? This is better.
4. Fleet Foxes "Helplessness Blues"
Singer-songwriter Robin Pecknold averted a sophomore slump by ditching a whole batch of songs originally penned for this album. His band kept fans on ice with the three-year gap between records, but it was wort it — "Helplessness Blues" overflows with folk mysticism and powerful vocal harmonies.
5. Smith Westerns "Dye it Blond"
Mott the Hoople's poppy brand of glam-rock is the obvious reference point for these young Chicagoans' hazy second LP.
6. The Decemberists "King is Dead"
Portland's folk-rock institution ditches their temporary foray into concept albums and prog-rock to turn in their tightest set, finding inspiration in early R.E.M, Tom Petty and country.
7. The Antlers "Burst Apart"
Like "Hospice," the band's 2009 opus on loss and coping, "Burst Apart" is an atmospheric slow-burn built around swirling keyboards, subtle guitarwork and singer Peter Silberman's heartbreaking falsetto. It's best enjoyed with headphones.
8. Wye Oak "Civilian"
9. Toro Y Moi "Underneath the Pine"
Chazwick Bundick brings the disco-and-funk indebted dance jams via live instrumentation, largely leaving behind the synthesizers of his debut.
10. Kurt Vile "Smoke Ring For My Halo"
Scraggly singer-songwriter Kurt Vile has a knack for burrowing in over time, and is lucky to inherit the quiet sneer handed down by Bob Dylan and Lou Reed. This record's a grower, but you'll keep coming back once the melodies reveal themselves.
11. Fucked Up "David Comes To Life"
Pink Eyes and crew turn out another set of intelligent hardcore. The new record is a concept album. Like the best concept albums, the individual songs don't collapse under the weight of the central conceit.
The best of the rest
J. Mascis "Several Shades of Why"
Radiohead "The King of Limbs"
Panda Bear "Tomboy"
Need more time
Okkervil River "I Am Very Far"
Iron & Wine "Kiss Each Other Clean"
Out soon
Black Lips "Arabia Mountain"
Cults "Cults"
My Morning Jacket "Circuital"
Bon Iver "Bon Iver"
Haven't heard yet
R.E.M. "Collapse into Now"
Ponytail "Do Whatever You Want All The Time"
TV On The Radio "Nine Types of Light"
Showing posts with label fleet foxes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fleet foxes. Show all posts
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Favorite albums of the decade
Tell me why I'm wrong/what's missing in the comments section.
It'd always be preferable, obviously, to say things were better off exiting the decade than entering. But my generation's first decade with a (nearly) grown brain was one of disappointment — the country, the world, etc. It's like everyone was handed a Faberge egg in 2000, told to look after it, and instead used it as a drink shaker for Jeppson's Mallort and pyrite.
While our country was raging war across the globe, weathering one recession and entering another, I had some of the best years of my life. (Insert white guilt here.) Senior year of high school, all of college and every summer in between was like my own carefree icing on top of the world's fresh-shit cake.
Am I better off (life's achievements relative to age) now than I was at the dawn of the century? The jury's still out.
Attempting to choose even just one infinitesimal aspect of human life from the decade — music — and decide if it took a leap or a plunge as a whole is a similarly maddening experience. Picking what was the "best" will fail by definition. My first CD as an 8-year-old was Niel Diamond's "Greatest Hits," so we'll just go ahead and assume some of these albums will be slightly embarrassing in 15 years. Trends and (non) trends come and go. What appeared to be a cutting-edge melding of two seemingly disparate genres in the year 2007 could easily sound fool-hearty and painfully dated in the year 2020. But, listing arcane knowledge helps my brain keep it all organized for my own future listening pleasure, and that's the real point, right?
So, here's the familiar cop out — these are my favorite albums of the decade. The best as viewed through my prism of experience.
In 2000, I was 14, and my tastes were mostly defined by classic rock, grunge and blues. The newer stuff I did listen to sided towards alternative (when that word meant something) from the '90s — Beck, Cake, the Eels. I was also starting to find something considered "indie" interesting, which was difficult without an older sibling or a college radio station in my home town. That was also the year I saw a CD burner for the first time, and Napster. And with the added access, came more new music than I ever would have discovered otherwise.
Runners-up:
The Walkmen - "You & Me," My Morning Jacket - "It Still Moves," Vampire Weekend - "Vampire Weekend," Modest Mouse - "Good News for People that Love Bad News," The Go Team - "Thunder Lightening Strike, " The Streets - "Original Pirate Material," Bob Dylan - "Modern Times," Okkervil River - "The Stage Names," M83 - "Before the Dawn Heals Us," The New Pornographers - "Twin Cinema," Lupe Fiasco - "Food and Liquor," Black Lips - "Good Bad Not Evil," Rjd2 - "Deadringer," The Postal Service - "Give Up," People Under the Stairs - "OST," Band of Horses - "Everything all the Time"
29. The Avalanches - Since I Left You (2001)
Key track: "Frontier Psychologist"
28. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002)
Key tracks: "Do You Realize," "Fight Test"
27. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black (2007)
Key track: "Me and Mr. Jones"
26. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)
Key tracks: "Summertime Clothes," "My Girls," "Brothersport"
25. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (2009)
Key tracks: "Lisztomania," "1901," "Love Like a Sunset (parts I and II)"
24. Eels - Daisies of the Galaxy (2000)
Key tracks: "Grace Kelly Blues," "It's a Motherfucker," "A Daisy Through Concrete"
23. Blackalicious - Blazing Arrow (2002)
Key track: "Blazing Arrow"
22. Kanye West - Late Registration (2005) - I guess being crass isn't always so bad, especially when it's this fun.
Key track: you know which ones
21. Panda Bear - Person Pitch (2007)
Key track: all of them
20. Decemberists - The Crane Wife (2006)
Here's some escapism, if killer children and sharpened bayonets ingrained in a Japanese folk tale are your idea of a pleasant distraction.
Key tracks: "The Crane Wife 3," "O Valencia!," "Shankhill Butchers"
19. The Thermals - The Body the Blood the Machine (2006)
Key tracks: "Here's Your Future," "A Pillar of Salt," "Returning to the Fold," "St. Rosa & the Swollows"
18. M. Ward - Post War (2006)
A warm blast of reverb and Americana when my cornfield-lined routes needed it the most. I absolutely wore out this record after finding it used at Co-op.
Key tracks: "To Go Home," "Requiem," "Chinese Translation"
17. The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow (2003)
"Oh, Inverted World" got all the attention, but this is where I got into the Shins, and looking back, most agree this is the superior record ... driving to Andiamos during high school for Thursday open mic night, sneaking a cigarette on the ride down, staying too late, and listening to "Chutes Too Narrow" both ways for several months.
Key tracks: All of um
16. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (2007)
A cold sound for a cold year. Iraq was still dragging into civil war, and "the surge" had not yet quelled partisan fighting. The housing market was starting to plunge, and deep down everyone (hopefully) knew the economy wasn't actually healthy. But cognitive dissonance can be a powerful thing. Famous for its party's over vibe and lyrics of the lead single, I can't think of a better record to play when the concrete walls finally close in, and you know, we have to fight the symbiotic robots wearing red Elephant patches. I'll play "Get Innocuous" when Pfizer pays the FDA to approve Soma and Monsanto runs the USDA.
Key tracks: "All My Friends," "Get Innocuous"
15. Black Keys - Rubber Factory (2004)
Key track: "10 A.M. Automatic,"
14. Arcade Fire - Funeral and Neon Bible (2004, 2007)
Key track: "Wake Up"
13. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (2008)
Key tracks: "White Winter Hymnal," "Ragged Wood"
12. My Morning Jacket - Z (2005)
Key tracks: "Wordless Chorus," "Off the Record," "Gideon"
11. Radiohead - Kid A (2000)
Key tracks: "Everything in its Right Place," "The National Anthem"
10. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (2005)
Key tracks: "Jacksonville," "Decatur," "Chicago," "John Wayne Gacy, Jr."
9. Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America (2006)
Key tracks: "Stuck Between Stations," "Hot Soft Light,""South Town Girls," "You Can Make Him Like You," "Massive Nights"
5-8. Spoon - Gimme Fiction/ ga ga ga ga ga/Girls Can Tell/Kill The Moonlight (2000-2007) I couldn't pick one of these four above the others. The band is unstoppable. Look forward to Transference next month.
Key tracks: all of um
3 and 4. White Stripes - Elephant (2003) and White Blood Cells (2001)
Jack White has participated in a great album every year this decade except one (EVERY YEAR!), be it with the Raconteurs, Loretta Lynn, the Deadweather or his marquee group, The White Stripes. Guitars and feedback and rock and roll vocals hadn't sounded this fresh in decades. The visceral, lo-fi punch of "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" is when I first fell in love with the White Stripes' bursting energy and childlike enthusiasm for the blues and rock 'n' roll, and White hasn't let up steam since.
Key tracks: all of um
1 and 2. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2001) and A Ghost is Born (2004)
I have nearly nothing to say. This is my favorite two album stretch by Wilco (and almost any other band). These songs made sense to me, mystified me, challenged me as a 16 year old and a 19 year old, and they make even more sense in different ways as a 24-year-old. They soundtracked the brooding moments in the bedroom after arguments with friends and family, they soundtracked sunny road trips to visit friends at other colleges, they soundtracked both get-togethers in college and meditative moments of solitude in the dorm room, and they soundtracked my first two years on the job. Let's hope Tweedy and Co. continue to soundtrack the rest of our journey.
Key tracks: all of um
It'd always be preferable, obviously, to say things were better off exiting the decade than entering. But my generation's first decade with a (nearly) grown brain was one of disappointment — the country, the world, etc. It's like everyone was handed a Faberge egg in 2000, told to look after it, and instead used it as a drink shaker for Jeppson's Mallort and pyrite.
While our country was raging war across the globe, weathering one recession and entering another, I had some of the best years of my life. (Insert white guilt here.) Senior year of high school, all of college and every summer in between was like my own carefree icing on top of the world's fresh-shit cake.
Am I better off (life's achievements relative to age) now than I was at the dawn of the century? The jury's still out.
Attempting to choose even just one infinitesimal aspect of human life from the decade — music — and decide if it took a leap or a plunge as a whole is a similarly maddening experience. Picking what was the "best" will fail by definition. My first CD as an 8-year-old was Niel Diamond's "Greatest Hits," so we'll just go ahead and assume some of these albums will be slightly embarrassing in 15 years. Trends and (non) trends come and go. What appeared to be a cutting-edge melding of two seemingly disparate genres in the year 2007 could easily sound fool-hearty and painfully dated in the year 2020. But, listing arcane knowledge helps my brain keep it all organized for my own future listening pleasure, and that's the real point, right?
So, here's the familiar cop out — these are my favorite albums of the decade. The best as viewed through my prism of experience.
In 2000, I was 14, and my tastes were mostly defined by classic rock, grunge and blues. The newer stuff I did listen to sided towards alternative (when that word meant something) from the '90s — Beck, Cake, the Eels. I was also starting to find something considered "indie" interesting, which was difficult without an older sibling or a college radio station in my home town. That was also the year I saw a CD burner for the first time, and Napster. And with the added access, came more new music than I ever would have discovered otherwise.
Runners-up:
The Walkmen - "You & Me," My Morning Jacket - "It Still Moves," Vampire Weekend - "Vampire Weekend," Modest Mouse - "Good News for People that Love Bad News," The Go Team - "Thunder Lightening Strike, " The Streets - "Original Pirate Material," Bob Dylan - "Modern Times," Okkervil River - "The Stage Names," M83 - "Before the Dawn Heals Us," The New Pornographers - "Twin Cinema," Lupe Fiasco - "Food and Liquor," Black Lips - "Good Bad Not Evil," Rjd2 - "Deadringer," The Postal Service - "Give Up," People Under the Stairs - "OST," Band of Horses - "Everything all the Time"
29. The Avalanches - Since I Left You (2001)
Key track: "Frontier Psychologist"
28. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002)
Key tracks: "Do You Realize," "Fight Test"
27. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black (2007)
Key track: "Me and Mr. Jones"
26. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)
Key tracks: "Summertime Clothes," "My Girls," "Brothersport"
25. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (2009)
Key tracks: "Lisztomania," "1901," "Love Like a Sunset (parts I and II)"
24. Eels - Daisies of the Galaxy (2000)
Key tracks: "Grace Kelly Blues," "It's a Motherfucker," "A Daisy Through Concrete"
23. Blackalicious - Blazing Arrow (2002)
Key track: "Blazing Arrow"
22. Kanye West - Late Registration (2005) - I guess being crass isn't always so bad, especially when it's this fun.
Key track: you know which ones
21. Panda Bear - Person Pitch (2007)
Key track: all of them
20. Decemberists - The Crane Wife (2006)
Here's some escapism, if killer children and sharpened bayonets ingrained in a Japanese folk tale are your idea of a pleasant distraction.
Key tracks: "The Crane Wife 3," "O Valencia!," "Shankhill Butchers"
19. The Thermals - The Body the Blood the Machine (2006)
Key tracks: "Here's Your Future," "A Pillar of Salt," "Returning to the Fold," "St. Rosa & the Swollows"
18. M. Ward - Post War (2006)
A warm blast of reverb and Americana when my cornfield-lined routes needed it the most. I absolutely wore out this record after finding it used at Co-op.
Key tracks: "To Go Home," "Requiem," "Chinese Translation"
17. The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow (2003)
"Oh, Inverted World" got all the attention, but this is where I got into the Shins, and looking back, most agree this is the superior record ... driving to Andiamos during high school for Thursday open mic night, sneaking a cigarette on the ride down, staying too late, and listening to "Chutes Too Narrow" both ways for several months.
Key tracks: All of um
16. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (2007)
A cold sound for a cold year. Iraq was still dragging into civil war, and "the surge" had not yet quelled partisan fighting. The housing market was starting to plunge, and deep down everyone (hopefully) knew the economy wasn't actually healthy. But cognitive dissonance can be a powerful thing. Famous for its party's over vibe and lyrics of the lead single, I can't think of a better record to play when the concrete walls finally close in, and you know, we have to fight the symbiotic robots wearing red Elephant patches. I'll play "Get Innocuous" when Pfizer pays the FDA to approve Soma and Monsanto runs the USDA.
Key tracks: "All My Friends," "Get Innocuous"
15. Black Keys - Rubber Factory (2004)
Key track: "10 A.M. Automatic,"
14. Arcade Fire - Funeral and Neon Bible (2004, 2007)
Key track: "Wake Up"
13. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (2008)
Key tracks: "White Winter Hymnal," "Ragged Wood"
12. My Morning Jacket - Z (2005)
Key tracks: "Wordless Chorus," "Off the Record," "Gideon"
11. Radiohead - Kid A (2000)
Key tracks: "Everything in its Right Place," "The National Anthem"
10. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (2005)
Key tracks: "Jacksonville," "Decatur," "Chicago," "John Wayne Gacy, Jr."
9. Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America (2006)
Key tracks: "Stuck Between Stations," "Hot Soft Light,""South Town Girls," "You Can Make Him Like You," "Massive Nights"
5-8. Spoon - Gimme Fiction/ ga ga ga ga ga/Girls Can Tell/Kill The Moonlight (2000-2007) I couldn't pick one of these four above the others. The band is unstoppable. Look forward to Transference next month.
Key tracks: all of um
3 and 4. White Stripes - Elephant (2003) and White Blood Cells (2001)
Jack White has participated in a great album every year this decade except one (EVERY YEAR!), be it with the Raconteurs, Loretta Lynn, the Deadweather or his marquee group, The White Stripes. Guitars and feedback and rock and roll vocals hadn't sounded this fresh in decades. The visceral, lo-fi punch of "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" is when I first fell in love with the White Stripes' bursting energy and childlike enthusiasm for the blues and rock 'n' roll, and White hasn't let up steam since.
Key tracks: all of um
1 and 2. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2001) and A Ghost is Born (2004)
I have nearly nothing to say. This is my favorite two album stretch by Wilco (and almost any other band). These songs made sense to me, mystified me, challenged me as a 16 year old and a 19 year old, and they make even more sense in different ways as a 24-year-old. They soundtracked the brooding moments in the bedroom after arguments with friends and family, they soundtracked sunny road trips to visit friends at other colleges, they soundtracked both get-togethers in college and meditative moments of solitude in the dorm room, and they soundtracked my first two years on the job. Let's hope Tweedy and Co. continue to soundtrack the rest of our journey.
Key tracks: all of um
Thursday, December 18, 2008
2008: The Crappening (updated again on 12/28 I keep remembering things I forgot to add)
I spent a good amount of this year catching up on some of 2006 and 2007's albums that I didn't grab the first time around. 2006, in particular, was an awesome year for music. I finally listened to "The Crane Wife" by The Decemberists, "The Loon" by Tapes n Tapes and "Boys and Girls in America" by the Hold Steady. I also bought "Boxer" by the National, one of '07s best records.
2. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
4. The Walkmen - You and Me
Biggest Disappointment:
Though it can't compete with the last two years, music fared better than film in 2008, and did do an OK job fulfilling its most useful purpose — distracting me from everything happening outside my front door. Some of my favorite bands released overhyped and underwhelming records (My Morning Jacket, Black Keys, Beck, Kings of Leon) but the year stayed afloat thanks to a handful of promising debuts. In fact, 2008 churned out the best crop of indie freshman in recent memory. Haunting folk by Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver hung like a thick fog, slowing down my daily chores with heavy reverb and timeless harmonies.
Vampire Weekend succeeded in reinventing the wheel, making ska and African rhythms sound fresh 25 years after art-damaged kids and popsters alike turned the same trick.
And, with the year's best singles, MGMT brought danceable Psychedelic glam-rock into dorm rooms everywhere.
Favorite albums:
1. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Youtube video is the track "White Winter Hymnal"
2. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
Youtube track is "Cape Cod Kwasa Kwasa"
3. Bon Iver - For Emma, forever ago
Youtube video is "Skinny Love"
4. The Walkmen - You and Me
Youtube video is "In the New Year"
5. Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
Video is "Play Your part (Pt. 1)"
6. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
5. Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
Video is "Play Your part (Pt. 1)"
6. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
Video is "Time to Pretend"
7. Dr. Dog - Fate
Video is "The Breeze"
8. Deerhunter - Microcastle
8. Deerhunter - Microcastle
Video is "Agoraphobia"
9. Blitzen Trapper - Furr
9. Blitzen Trapper - Furr
Video is "Furr"
10. The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
10. The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
"Solute Your Solution"
11. Black Keys - Attack and Release
11. Black Keys - Attack and Release
"I Got Mine"
12. Ponytail - Ice Cream Spiritual
"Beg Waves"
13. Hold Steady - Stay Positive
12. Ponytail - Ice Cream Spiritual
"Beg Waves"
13. Hold Steady - Stay Positive
"Sequestered in Memphis"
14. TV on the Radio - Dear Science
14. TV on the Radio - Dear Science
"Dancing Choose"
15. Black Mountain - In the Future
"Wucan"
15. Black Mountain - In the Future
"Wucan"
Biggest Disappointment:
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
Moderate Disappointments:
Beck - Modern Guilt
Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple
Kings of Leon - Only By the Night
Kanye West - 808s and Heartbreak
Lil' Wayne - Tha Carter III
Cold War Kids - Loyalty to Loyalty
Albums yet to be fully digested that could possibly make the list:
Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
Portishead - Third
WHY? - Alopecia
Spiritualized - Songs in A and E
Magnetic Fields - Distortion
No Age - Nouns
The Knux - Remind Me in 3 Days
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Real Emotional Trash
Department of Eagles - In Ear Park
Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Real Emotional Trash
Department of Eagles - In Ear Park
Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
Albums I didn't even get to:
She and Him - Vol. 1
The Kills - Midnight Boom
The Bug - London Zoo
Randy Newman - Hearts and Angels
Q Tip - The Renaissance
People Under the Stairs - Fun DMC
Heralded albums that I could give two shits about:
Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair
Fucked Up - Chemistry of Common Life
Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
Coldplay - Viva La Vida
FILM
2007, and 2006, were probably the two strongest years of the decade for film. Last year had prestige films actually worthy of prestige in "No Country for Old Men," "There Will be Blood" and Zodiac, a comedy classic in "Superbad" and a good comedy in "Knocked Up."
2006 was worth it of not just for "Children of Men" and "Pan's Labyrinth." Admittedly, I didn't see many of this year's films, spent most of my Netflix que catching up on classic and obscure old movies. But, 2008 did have two of the strongest summer blockbusters in recent memory with "The Dark Knight" and "Wall-E." Other than that, the year was grim.
Favorite films of '08
1. Wall-E
2. The Dark Knight
3. Burn After Reading
3. Burn After Reading
4. Tropic Thunder
... and that's it
Best comedy that wasn't Tropic Thunder
Role Models
Biggest surprises
The Bank Job
In Bruges
The Foot Fist Way
Guilty Pleasure
Hitman
Guilty Pleasure
Hitman
Disappointments
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
W
Yet to see
Slumdog Millionaire
Pineapple Express
Man on Wire
W
Yet to see
Slumdog Millionaire
Pineapple Express
Man on Wire
Monday, July 21, 2008
An Album for Every Year
This is an interesting excercise that has been making the blog circles. Pick the best album from every year you have been alive. The 2000s and '90s were easy.
But my '80s music knowledge is pretty spotty. I know the albums by my favorite groups and the pop and new wave singles, but as for what was then called "College rock" I don't know more than few songs by The Jesus and Mary Chain, Cure, Smiths, Pogues, Nick Cave, Pixies, Husker Du, etc. Same goes with some of the critically acclaimed pop artists like Prince and Paul Simon, who supposedly have solid albums to back up the singles. I only have two ears, and it takes plenty of energy keeping up with all the new stuff, let alone continue to educate my self on the '80s.
If only I could write this list going back to the 70s and 60s, I could have a more informed selection.
The next installment will be an album for every year before I was born.
1985 Talking Heads - Little Creatures
1986 Beastie Boys - License to Ill
1987 REM - Document
1988 N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton
1989 Black Crowes - Shake your money Maker
Close Second - Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
Honorable Mention - Red Hot Chili Peppers - Mother's Milk
1990 A Tribe Called Quest - People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
1991 Nirvana - Nevermind
Close Second - Pearl Jam - Ten (of course)
1992 R.E.M. - Automatic for the People
Close Second - Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine
Honorable Mention - Eric Clapton - Unplugged
1993 Wu Tang Clan - Enter the 36 Chambers
Close Second - Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
Honorable Mentions - Nirvana - In Utero
Pearl Jam - Vs.
Snoop Doggy Dog - Doggystyle
1994 Weezer - (Blue Album)
Close Second - Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
Honorable Mention - Beck - Mellow Gold
1995 Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Close Second - Radiohead - the Bends
Honorable Mention - Ben Folds Five - Ben Folds Five
1996 Beck - Odeley
Close Second - Eels - Beautiful Freak
Honorable Mentions - Cake - Fashion Nugget
Wilco - Being There
Weezer - Pinkerton
Rage Against The Machine - Evil Empire
1997 Radiohead - OK Computer
1998 Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Honorable Mentions - Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Beck - Mutations
1999 Wilco - Summerteeth
2000 Deltron - Deltron 3030
Honorable Mention - Radiohead - Kid A
2001 Spoon - Girls Can Tell
Honorable Mention - Ryan Adams - Gold
2002 Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Close Second - People under the Stairs - O.S.T.
Honorable Mention - White Stripes - White Blood Cells
The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Black Keys - Big Come Up
Blackalicious - Blazing Arrow
2003 White Stripes - Elephant
Close Second - The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
Honorable Mention - Kings of Leon - Youth & Young Manhood
2004 Black Keys - Rubber Factory
Close Second - Wilco - A Ghost is Born
2005 My Morning Jacket - Z
Honorable Mentions - Kings of leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
2006 Bob Dylan - Modern Times
Honorable Mentions - The Black Angels - Passover
Tapes n Tapes - The Loon
Decemberists - The Crane Wife
2007 Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Honorable Mentions - Radiohead - In Rainbows
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Okkervil River - The Stage Names
Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
Panda Bear - Person Pitch
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
2008 Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
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