40. Toe - My Idle Plot On a Vague Anxiety
Although one may be tempted to compare Toe to their contemporaries such as American Football, Ghosts & Vodka, Pele, or Explosions in the Sky, Toe sounds undeniably distinct for the niche (somewhere along the lines of post-rock and math-rock) genre that they play. Their overall sound is incredibly open and raw, with clean and syncopated guitar and bass melodies in conjunction with torrential jazz and math rock influenced drumming. Although there is nothing abrasive or particularly overwhelming about The Book, never before have I heard the dynamics of a song utilized so effectively, even without the reliance of traditional verse-to-crescendo structure found so common in post rock these days. This sense of expansiveness in their playing is attributed heavily to their drummer, who actually writes distinct and memorable percussion that happens to be extraordinarily technical as well. Add some Rhodes, Vibes, and glitches, and you get the instrumental music you've always wanted to hear but could never find. If you're into post rock, but are tired of its dependence on crescendos, you should check this out. If you're into math rock, but are tired of its emphasis on technicality and dissonance, you should also check this out. If you're into expressive, interesting, truthful and raw-sounding music... I'll just go ahead and say that Toe is one of my top recommendations of all time. -Adrian
39. Animal Collective - Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished
I think I always had an idea in my head, a platonic segment of sound that sprang to mind anytime anyone mentioned "experimental rock", and something that I had been looking for as long as I had been looking for experimental rock. Which is to say, Spirit They're Gone is the experimental album I had always wanted to hear. It's almost painfully inaccessible in all the right and inconsistent and unpredictable ways. It dark and sad and steeped sometimes in feedback, sometimes in crashing drums, sometimes in quietness. It's passionate and violent and beautiful. It's absolutely like nothing they, or anyone else for that matter, have done since. -Stuart
38. The Angelic Process- Weighing Souls with Sand
37. Explosions in the Sky - How Strange, Innocence
How Strange, Innocence is the soundtrack to an arctic winter, with all the imagery and emotions that usually encompass it: feelings of desolation, glimmers of hope, and blasts of light during the sunrise… a visual album if you may. Lush reverbs over melodious note runs and tremolo picked guitars, drums that alternate between the force of a marching band to the tact of a classical percussionist, and occasionally bass that provides a low end rumble to the treble-saturated sound create this post rock 4-piece that enabled such a sound permeate into the mainstream, at least somewhat. Within its grandiosity there is honesty. -Adrian36. The Music Tapes – The Music Tapes for Clouds And Tornadoes
The Music Tapes weave a kind of experimentalism that is hard to define mostly because it generates a mood completely unlike most music in the genre. Its dense joyous structure doesn't quiet create the twee enthusiasm of their friends the Apples In Stereo nor does it drift close to the fuzzed directness of Julian Kostner's former employer Neutral Milk Hotel. I've tried without the faintest success to describe what this music does for a person before, so I won't try again, but the feeling this creates is magic. -Stuart
35. Queens of the Stone Age – Songs For the Deaf
Though often labeled as "hard rock"-and it's a label I won't disagree with-Queens of the Stone Age have always shot with the ferocity of a heavy metal band, and on Songs For the Deaf they focused that vicious energy into a masterpiece of radio-friendly heavy rock. From the piercing "A Song For the Dead"(which features some of Dave Grohl's best drumming) to the doomy "God is in the Radio" to instant classic "No One Knows", QOtSA pack the album full of anthems from Hell, each one more memorable than the last. Though the concept of sliding fake radio commercials into each song bespeaks a less clever version of "The Who Sell Out", you'll be air guitaring with such intensity that you'll hardly have time to notice. That's right-the guitar in this album is so awesome that it makes sound [even when you're strumming the air itself](brackets should be italicized). Songs For the Deaf is an album that belongs in any red-blooded rock and roll fan's collection. -CJ34. Converge- Jane Doe
33. Isis- Oceanic
Yes, two ocean-themed metal albums on the same list, but Leviathan and Oceanic couldn’t be more different. Instead of drawing from any existing literary themes, Isis models their opus on the deadly mystique and consuming power of the ocean itself, with long stretches of moody keyboards and hypnotic guitar balanced by movements of momentous riffs that crash down on you like a tsunami, as perfectly established by eight-minute opener “The Beginning & The End.” Every drawn out wail and indiscernible savage bark from vocalist Aaron Turner adds to the overall effect, his pipes echoing across the vast soundscapes portrayed. This album redefines “heavy” in a way no one else has since Neurosis’ Through Silver In Blood, and even manages to outdo that monstrous post-metal work on its own terms. -Stephen32. The White Stripes – Elephant
Every time we unwittingly stumble upon a Stripes' album we had not known previously, in our passionate new burst of enthusiasm at the contents we begin to recommend it with no reservations and these recommendations always end with one thing "I think it's even better than Elephant". But now with all six major albums stored away in our memories and our cd shelves something has become undeniably clear: we use this meter because Nothing is better than Elephant. Jack White discography be damned, the world be damned, Nothing - full stop - is better than Elephant. From the battle cry of the opening track to the harsh screech of Black Math to the light chant of The Air Near My Fingers, from the light teasing and innuendo of Well It's True That We Love One Another to the fuck everyone tell them to get out we'll have sex on the floor passion soaked blues churn of Ball and Biscuit that threatened to turn him into a guitar god, Nothing Is Better Than Elephant. -Stuart
31. Cynic – Traced in Air
Violent.
Gorgeous.
Necessary.
-CJ
No comments:
Post a Comment