Discussion about all things music, music production, and the music industry. Your own music is also acceptable here.
This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
A few of my favorite classics:
And for newer stuff, I'd go with Anno Domini High Definition by Riverside and English Electric by Big Big Train
Not Breakfast in America?
I'm late to the party but couldn't miss putting Daily Bread's album Invisible Cinema in the thread
There isn't a note I'd change on any of those albums.
i listen to a lot of songs from albums that have a lot of filler on them, but the one i always listen to straight through is born to run. thunder road is how every album should start, every side flip should be rewarded with born to run, and every album should end with jungleland.
throw-in: the sound of three fans clapping to welcome thunder road was also the perfect way to start the live set.
Radiohead's Kid A has no filler tracks. Anyone who thinks Treefingers is filler is wrong
Do people think Treefingers is filler? Wtf, that track is fucking awesome and a much needed breather for that album
Jeff Rosenstock's WORRY. is a 10/10 masterpiece that hits just as hard every time I put it on
A few I can think of right now:
AC/DC - If You Want Blood (maybe cheating a bit because it's a compilation of songs from different albums, but it's the best live album of all time to me and AC/DC at their rockingest.)
All Them Witches - Dying Surfer Meets His Maker or Nothing A The Ideal (both albums warrant a full playthrough almost always.)
Elephant Tree - Elephant Tree (my favorite album of the last decade)
Elder - Dead Roots Stirring (although Elder keep getting better and better, and are ever more amazing live, this album has a special place in my heart)
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (masterpiece from beginning to end.)
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco
Twin Fantasy - Car Seat Headrest
Perfect from Now On - Built to Spill
+1 for Twin Fantasy. I haven't listened to a lot of CSH's discography but man that album... every time I hear a song I'm pulled back in and end up listening to the whole thing. It's amazing how quickly those 15 minute songs seem to end.
I know I am alone on this but,
my chemical romance - three cheers for sweet revenge
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the aeroplane over the sea
Circa Survive - Blue Sky Noise
BTBAM - Colors
I have loads of albums, and it depends on my mood as to what I think is perfect at a certain time. Some of mine are, and in no particular order;
Sparks - Kimono In My House
Bowie - Blackstar
Bowie - Earthling
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Pet Shop Boys - Actually
Blur - Modern Life is Rubbish
Pixies - Doolittle
De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising
Divine Comedy - Casanova
The Rezillos - I Can't Stand The Rezillos
Madness - Keep Moving
The Beloved - X
Adam and The Ants - Prince Charming
The Who - Who Are You
Lush - Lovelife
Sleeper - Smart
Echobelly - Everyone's Got One
Pulp - His n' Hers
Oh, I will stop, I could go on for ages.
Nirvana - Nevermind
Revolver by the Beatles
Blackwater Park - Opeth
Ok, now that more people have posted long lists, I don’t feel so bad about mine ;)
German:
Some may be an acquired taste (PSB?, also I know that The Libertines’ is not everyone’s favorite – but it’s mine :). The Arcade Fire, even though I don’t listen to them these days that much, is decade-defining for me, as is Radiohead’s OK Computer (together with Nevermind, although for some reason it didn’t make this list).
Tool - Aenima
Sky Cries Mary - A Return to the Inner Experience
Dead Can Dance - Spirit chaser
Depeche Mode - Violator
Faith No More - The Real Thing.
Discovery by Daft Punk is a no skip for me. Also food and liquor by lupe fiasco.
I agree with a lot of what people have already mentioned, so I'll add a few I haven't seen yet
This will probably get buried in the comments, but Lohio by Ass Ponys is a really solid album. Just banger after banger.
Ott - Mir The Oh Hellos - Through the Deep Dark Valley Electric Light Orchestra - Time Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz
Here we go, brace yourselves
Against The Current - Past Lives
Can't Swim - This Too Won't Pass
Chief State - Tough Love [EP]
Before I Turn - Lovelorn
Bearings - Hello, It's You
Dorothy - Gifts From The Holy Ghost
Four Year Strong - Brain Pain
Greta Van Fleet - The Battle At Garden's Gate
Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction
Intervals - The Shape Of Colours [instrumental, heavenly]
I Prevail - TRUE POWER
Knuckle Puck - While I Stay Secluded [EP]
Knuckle Puck - 20_20
Mayday Parade - Sunnyland
Micheal Jackson - Thriller
Movements - Feel Something
Neck Deep - All Distortions Are Intentional
Neck Deep - The Peace And The Panic
Neck Deep - Life's Not Out To Get You
Nothing But Thieves - Moral Panic
Palaye Royale - Fever Dream
Paramore - Brand New Eyes
Paramore - Paramore
Paramore - After Laughter
Seaway - Big Vibe
Seaway - Vacation
Sleeping With Sirens - How It Feels To Be Lost
Sleeping With Sirens - Madness
State Champs - Kings Of The New Age
The Story So Far - The Story So Far
The Story So Far - What You Don't See
The Structs - YOUNG&DANGEROUS
Tiny Moving Parts - Pleasant Living
Yonaka - Don't Wait Till Tomorrow
Yonaka - Sieze The Power
Yours Truly - Self Care
Yours Truly - Afterglow [EP]
Thats about it, those are some of my favourite/[near-]perfect albums/EPs.
Happy to see Tiny Moving Parts getting mentioned. I actually just listened to Celebrate for the first time a week ago, and while I think it's great, Pleasant Living still edges it out. I just love Always Focused, I wish there were a lot more super-positive emo songs like that.
Curious about your thoughts on the Greta Van Fleet "they're a Zeppelin ripoff" stuff. I like their music and I'm hoping they are able to shake that reputation a bit. Also, apparently I've only listened to From The Fires and Anthem of the Peaceful Army, so apparently I've got some catching up to do.
Also, first post on lemmy, lets gooooooooo!
Am I the only who thinks they sound more like Rush than Zeppelin?? To me their singer sounds like a dead ringer for Geddy Lee
I've heard abit about this too. At the time I heard of it I'd actually never listened to a single Zeppelin track, it made me curious (who could come close to the genius of Greta!!??) . I've been listening to their albums and there is definitely a resemblance in their music styles.
At this point I can't really say that Greta "ripped off" of Led Zeppelin since I'm new to their music. But I like it so far, definitely my kind of sound.
Hah! It didn't even occur to me that someone would not have listened to Zeppelin before. They're so foundational in classic rock. Incidentally, a lot of people accused Zeppelin of ripping off earlier blues and blues rock acts when they first blew up. To me, all art is just people riffing on what came before, and you're bound to encounter artists across space and time that have very similar aesthetics to each other. No one owns an aesthetic.
To pimp a butterfly
Going by music genre:
Hip Hop: To Pimp A Butterfly (by Kendrick Lamar), The Forever Story (JID), Madvillainy (MF DOOM), Hell on Earth (Mobb Deep)
Electronic: Selected Ambient Works (Aphex Twin), Exai (Autechre), Duntisbourne Abbots Soulmate Devastation Technique (μ-Ziq)
Black Metal: Filosofem (Burzum), Panzerfaust (Darkthrone), Pure Holocaust (Immortal), Exuvia (The Ruins of Beverast)
Death Metal: Scream Bloody Gore (Death), Realm of Chaos (Bolt Thrower), Under the Sign of the Black Mark (Bathory)
Country: Southbound (Doc Watson), Poor David's Almanack (David Rawlings)
I'm just breaking into country and jazz. If anyone has some classic must-listen albums, I'd be all ears.
It's been almost a year since The Forever Story came out, but it was a classic in my mind from the first second I heard it. I haven't listened to as much hip hop these past few years but that album pulled me right back in.
I'm not the biggest fan of J Cole, but he's discovered and boosted some amazing artists.
I felt the same way. And an album hasn't stuck with me this long since To pimp a butterfly
American Football, yes!
Glass Animals ZABA. Willing to die on this hill.
Sitting on my record player as we speak! 😂
The vinyl sleeve is absolutely gorgeous.
It is incredibly coherent and each song very much fits into the theme they were building. I love the theme of the Island of Dr Moreau (sp?) and the Jabberwocky nonsense word stuff. It's very sensual. It's not mind-blowing or anything but it is a perfect album for what they were trying to accomplish (sensual, kind of dangerous but whimsical, alluring, smooth, playful, sexual). It makes a good album to buy on vinyl because with vinyl you don't really skip songs and it favours albums that are more thematically coherent like Zaba is.
This album is too sexy for vinyl - that would require flipping
Hehe. Depends on if you're too busy to flip or not. Opening up the gorgeous album with the double wide purple jungle scene and slipping the sleeves out is sexy in its own way.
Imo, Animals - Pink Floyd. And I'm also very partial to The Wall xD
The Wall is the best Pink Floyd album in terms of amount of hours you can put into dissecting every single line of lyrics and using the themes to understand why people are being radicalized into right wing authoritarian movements even in 2023... It has deep narrative staying power about the cycles of trauma, abuse, self-hatred, grief, violence, losing yourself and then the power to decide for yourself to stop hurting people and try and find your own redemption, if you can... There's almost nothing like it in existence! It also has what has been argued to be the best guitar solo of all time (in Comfortably Numb).
David is the most emotional guitar player of all time because he grew up listening to jazz saxophone and you can only play one note at a time on the sax - he took that philosophy to his guitar so instead of shredding he knows how to use musical phrasing to build up to just single notes that rip your heart out...
Animals is of course excellent but I find myself wanting to only listen to Sheep and Dogs more than anything else. It's like a sandwich - best stuff in the middle.
Wish You Were Here is a more perfect album than Animals imo, and probably more accessible to new listeners. Welcome to the Machine is a bit intense but if people could handle the random sounds section of Dark Side of the Moon then I'm sure they can handle it 😂 Dark Side of the Moon is overrated to me tbh. Time is one of the best songs of all... Time... For sure though. Us and Them and Great Gig in the Sky are also amazing but the rest of the album is just me waiting to hear those songs tbh. The guitar solo from Time is also one of my most favourite guitar solos - David is just finding his signature sound on that album and Time is just the perfect encapsulation of Pink Floyd's overall genre which is nostalgic grief/longing for times you can't return to. Comfortably Numb is also very heavy on those themes but the raw emotion in that one is much stronger as it is about personal grief and loss and the anguish of finally accepting/succumbing/letting go of what you can't get back. That solo is basically the musical representation of the 5 stages of grief... That's my personal interpretation at least (have a listen and let me know what you think). Childhood's End is a precursor song to that theme before they find their signature sound, and nearly the entire album of Wish You Were Here is about that same theme but from the perspective of an outsider. Later on in The Division Bell and Sorrow carry on that theme, even though the post-breakup stuff is less thematically coherent.
So far I've only listened to the Wall(like four to five times), Animals(about two) and DSOTM two. Thinking about it more I might prefer The Wall over Animals(I forgot about the Trial which has to be one of my favorite songs, ever xD). And yes, I agree the DSTOM is a bit overrated; Time, Us and Them, and Money are my favorites from there though.
The more times you listen you'll end up developing your feelings more.
Apparently according to Spotify I was in the top 2% of Pink Floyd listeners in 2022? I only listened for 751 minutes though, which isn't that much. Mostly listening to The Wall on repeat.
There is a movie that goes along with The Wall, of you didn't know. I think that it kind of narrows the ability of people to interpret the songs in their own way but it's still excellent. It's part love action part animated. If you haven't seen the hand drawn animation that goes along with Goodbye Blue Sky and The Trial, you should definitely check it out. It's absolutely insane.
My fav part of The Trial animation is when the mom is introduced with her long "baaaabbbbbyyyyyy" and she is like a fighter jet bearing down, whose wings open up into vulva and from the core an umbilical cord shoots out to grab the rag doll Pink into her arms as she embraces her son... It's just a moment but holy shit. It really adds to the scene. The ex wife is characterized as a praying mantis in two songs...
I saw The Wall Live in like 2011/2012 and it was an incredible show. The 40 foot puppets torturing Pink were awesome. The mom puppet appears in the song Mother and her eyes glow red, the words "big mother is watching you" splays across the wall set as her head swivels back and forth over the crowd...
I'm not sure if there is a Wall Live recording online but I'd really recommend watching the original movie and then watching a concert version. It's probably the most insane set ever built for a musical show (they build up the wall over the course of the first half, the last brick is placed as the character bids the audience goodbye... We return from intermission and Pink is easily corrupted by the worms into a fascist when his mind is blocked off - then they literally explode the 40 foot wall set at the end... So awesome).
Listen to Wish You Were Here! It's generally about the loss of their dear friend and band founder Syd Barrett, a musical visionary lost to the challenges of schizophrenia/the origins of the band. It's very very good. Some of David's best guitar is in the Shine On You Crazy Diamond songs.
Makoto Matsushita - First Light
Pigeons Playing Ping Pong - Psychology, Presto
Dogs in a Pile - Bloom, Not Your Average Beagle
Nautilus - Refrain
Teako Onuki - Mignonne, Sunshower
Grateful Dead - Cornell 5/8/77, American Beauty
Anthrax - Spreading the Disease
Bad Religion - No Control, The Empire Strikes First
Led Zeppelin - II, IV
Joe Satriani - Surfing With the Alien
War Bringer - Woe to the Vanquished
Havok - Conformicide
Loudness - Thunder in the East
Thank You Scientist - Maps of Non-Existent Places
Rainbow - Difficult to Cure, Straight Between the Eyes
Casiopea - CASIOPEA, Asian Dreamer, Material
Phish - Farmhouse, Hoist
Gloryhammer - Tales from the Kingdom of Fife
Might've went a bit overboard lol