The Smiths
Sonic Youth
Pavement
Blur
Stereolab
Spacemen 3
Pulp
Asobi Seksu
Tool
Machinefabriek
Gang of Four
Guided By Voices
Bjork
Arctic Monkeys
The Black Keys (something other than Brothers)
Tom Waits
REM
Mogwai
The Smiths
Sonic Youth
Pavement
Blur
Stereolab
Spacemen 3
Pulp
Asobi Seksu
Tool
Machinefabriek
Gang of Four
Guided By Voices
Bjork
Arctic Monkeys
The Black Keys (something other than Brothers)
Tom Waits
REM
Mogwai
Last edited by seandlr; 11-30-2010 at 12:35 AM.
Sonic Youth => Daydream Nation
Sonic Youth-The Eternal, Dirty, Sonic Nurse,Evol
Pavement- Slanted and every other release.
Tool - Lateralus
The Smiths-The Queen is Dead
It's the most cohestive Smiths album, despite not having their biggest hits. It flows really well and gives you a good idea of the breadth of their music. Also, it's got some of Moz's least cringe-worthy lyrics.
Sonic Youth-Sister
Daydream Nation is their best album, but it's not the best place to start because it's so dense and long and consuming. Sister is probably a better way to go because it shows the freeness and weird sort of atonal-yet-melodic stuff that they are so incredible at. It was the precursor to Daydream, yet it stands up as a true classic in its own right.
Pavement-Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Slanted and Enchanted is better, but CR,CR is more accessible, more fully made and more clean. The songs on here are all classic, and they're not quite as fuzz-bombed as Slanted, which can be off-putting to new ears.
Stereolab-Emperor Tomato Ketchup
I'd call it the quintessential Stereolab album. It covers most of the huge range of sounds that they played with, and it also has some of their absolute best songs, including Metronome Underground, which is my favorite thing they've done. If you don't like this, you won't like Stereolab
Spacemen 3-The Perfect Prescription
They have two classics, but The Perfect Prescription is the better one to start with. They're working as a band here, and they do so in a great manner. Again, it has some of their best work, but this one is really notable for being the best place to hear two geniuses working together on some truly spectacular psychedelic music.
Asobi Seksu-Citrus
They seem like the outlier on your list in that they're the only band who isn't great. Citrus isn't a great album, but it's their best. They do cool, shoegazey stuff and this is the one that stands up best from front to back.
Tool-AEnima
I think it's the perfect midpoint between their dark and eerie stuff and more hard rocking material. The transitions are cool, they have a really ominous and creepy mood that they keep up through the whole album, and the album art is pretty fantastic. If you like the less hard-rock songs, move forward in their catalog, and if you prefer the rockers, go back to Undertow.
C'mon guys, recommend AN album.
My gateway to Bjork was Post. It strikes a nice balance between her more experimental tendencies and her straightforward stuff.
Arctic Monkeys = Whatever People Say I Am...
Their first, and still their best. The subsequent albums are really good too.
The Black Keys = Thickfreakness
Still my favorite Black Keys. Also my gateway into them back in 03 or 04 or whenever it came out. They have gotten much more proficient in the studio, and much more poppy as songwriters, but if you don't like this you won't like the rest of it. So many killer jams on here.
Pulp - Different Class is the most accessible album and it's pretty much perfect. But some of their most exciting stuff is that which alienates, so keep an open mind when listening to Different Class and especially when pursuing their other works.
Asobi Seksu - Citrus, because it's a middle point between their shoegazetastic debut and their softer, dreamier third album. Impeccable pop sensibilities and walls of sounds both devastating and beautiful; it offers the best of both worlds in terms of shoegaze/dream pop and infectious pop.
Oh good I tried this in another thread to no avail. I love Getz/Gilberto and haven't been exposed to comparable bossa nova
Bjork - Homogenic.
It's just damn near perfect. Not one bad song. It's the one I always go back to the most for repeat listens.
Originally Posted by stinkbutt
Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
Because every asshole will name Whatever People Say...
...no offense if you used that one.
"It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge"
Tom Waits![]()
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
"HIGH END RAP MUSIC! GHETTO STADIUM SHIT! THEY AIN'T WANT US AT THE FESTIVALS
NOW WE WILL RUN THEM!"
-Kanye West
REM: Reckoning
also, the advice above on Sonic Youth, Tom Waits, and Gang of Four is all very sound.
+ 1 to Lateralus for Tool and Thickfreakness for the black keys
in my opinion the only black keys album to skip is their first album the big come up. i don't care for that one. this is how i would go through the black keys discography as a newcomer:
1. Thickfreakness
2. Attack and Release
3. Rubber Factory
4. Magic Potion
5. Brothers
6. Chulahoma (covers of junior kimbrough tracks, really an EP)
thick, rubber, a&r, and magic are all GENIUS records and really are the "black keys sound." don't get me wrong i love brothers, but its not really a duo album unlike all their previous stuff. a&r has a lot of non duo stuff on it but not to the extent that brothers does.
and for tool
1. lateralus
2. aenima
3. 10 K days
4. undertow
5. opiate
6. salival
1. Kid A
2. In Rainbows
3. Amnesiac
4. Ok Computer
5. HTTT
6. The Bends
7. Pablo Honey
RAPE STOVE
white power?!
ahahahahhaha
The Replacements
Beck (something other than Modern Guilt)
The Kinks
The Replacements - Let it Be
They were more shambolic and loose before this album, after this one they got almost too professional and skillful sounding. Let it Be is their best work, and one of the best albums around. It's just a spectacular glimpse of a band at the top of their game.
Beck - Odelay
Might not be fair considering you'll recognize most of the songs on here, but it's Beck's most cohesive statement. He's got the psychedelic sample blending, the seemingly effortless genre-hopping, insanely catchy hooks, cool little clips and phrases of pop culture that pop up throughout, two turntables and a microphone. He has other fantastic albums, but many of them focus on one aspect of his work, whereas Odelay covers most of the spectrum in a spectacular way.
The Kinks - Are the Village Green Preservation Society
I really wanted to suggest something else that would have some of their early, well known singles, but really this is the Kinks album that you have to hear. The lyrics are strong, yearning for a simpler life while at the same time acknowledging the inevitable force of change. There aren't any hits off of this, but every song is great and catchy and memorable, and somehow they are made even better when listened to as a whole. I love listening to this album during Fall/Winter months, as it perfectly captures the sad nostalgia that those seasons inspire in me.
I actually have a hard time getting through Village Green Preservation Society for some reason. Something Else was the one that really got me into the Kinks. Every single song is great and there's a diversity to the tracks that doesn't undercut the album's overall cohesiveness.
Moon Pix is probably the standard Cat Power intro record. It's pretty subdued and melancholy, more so than her later stuff, but the songwriting is ace throughout. "No Sense" gets me every time. The Covers Record might be a good alternate introduction since you'll be familiar with a lot of the songs but she really makes them her own.