FREEFORM 1990's ALTERNATIVE ALBUM POLL - THE RECKONING (TOP TEN COUNTING DOWN NOW)

You're right, I was replying to davek and got lost in xps

i am a lone voice in the wilderness that still thinks that "temple of low men" was their finest hour

Temple has some great songs, but the s/t and Woodface are overflowing with them.

I'm guessing Peng is the only one from my ballot that makes it. Probably.

People's individual ballots will certainly be interesting to see.

i am a lone voice in the wilderness that still thinks that "temple of low men" was their finest hour

― Q: What's brown and Sticky? A: The insect that lives in your stomach (jjjusten), Monday, April 26, 2010 7:49 PM (48 seconds ago) Bookmark

I would agree with this. Sister Madly might be my favourite song of theirs.

97 Sonic Youth - Washing Machine
32 points
4 votes
0 first-place votes
Greatest contributor: Jesse

http://images.uulyrics.com/cover/s/sonic-youth/album-washing-machine.jpg

GREAT record. Made me a total believer again after the nightmare of Dirty / EJST&NS.

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 06:33 (4 years ago)

"The Diamond Sea" alone makes it worth it. Totally epic. One of SY's greatest songs.

Also, I've always loved the amazing "meta" uber-reflexive cover featuring pimply Lollapalooza teens wearing SY "washing machine" t-shirts.

― Jacobo Rock (jacobo rock), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 06:56 (4 years ago)

you're all OTM. one of my favorite SY records. someone gimme a vinyl compy so i can be a jerkoff. did it ever come out on LP? i love these songs: becuz, the diamond sea, saucer-like, skip tracer, washing machine (which has some intentionally brutal vocals but descends into gorgeous guitar jamz), little trouble girl...

fuckin classic.

― Special Agent Dale Koopa (orion), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 14:42 (4 years ago)

Classic. Only clunker is indeed "Panty Lies" which I hate more than almost any other SY song. The solo in the middle of "Washing Machine" is up in the stratosphere, and "Unwind" is one of the most beautiful songs I know.

― sleeve (sleeve), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 20:23 (4 years ago)

This is one of my favorite SY records. Probably my most favorite.

― Marty Innerlogic, Wednesday, 9 July 2008 18:18 (1 year ago)

KILL YOURSELF NYC DOUCHEBAG

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 7 December 2005 06:24 (4 years ago)

From 1995, btw.

ah yes

Three words we will never see in this thread:

Greatest contributor: ilxor

That said, I voted for Stereolab, XTC *and* De La Soul among my ~195 albums, and if that helped put them into the top 102 over the fuck knows how many albums received 30 points, then I've done my job already.

The great thing about SY is that, even though all their albums are tangentially similar, everyone is passionate about their own favorite. Me? I could care less about Washing Machine, but I know several people who swear by it.

It's all about "Skip Tracer" and "The Diamond Sea," surely I'm not the only one who swears by these tunes (even though the full album's a bit of a mess).

ilxor I can confirm that those three contributions were vital, and that you/pfunkboy together heaved Washing Machine into the top 100

xp JF otm, I think Sonic Nurse is the best they've ever been.

Woodface is near perfect.

Back in the 90s I had Peng w/ Switched On on one 90 min. cassette. What a perfect combo. Even now I keep those albums in one playlist and listen to them together.

And I think Sonic Nurse is second only to NYC Ghosts as their low point of the 00s. Funny how that works! xp

ilxor I can confirm that those three contributions were vital, and that you/pfunkboy together heaved Washing Machine into the top 100

Gerrin there!

i had washing machine @ #10 on my ballot fyi. its really p blissed out imo + "diamond sea" is like weather

"diamond sea" is like weather

:D this is kinda awesome and true

96 Björk - Debut (1993)
32 points
5 votes
0 first-place votes
Greatest contributor: Alex B

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qIDBF62jwRo/SdSy48PwEKI/AAAAAAAAB24/tU4RoMqbB_k/s400/bjork-debut.jpg

i love the songwriting on debut! and i love the production, how clean it is, crisp yet detailed.

i think homogenic feels more like a landscape (didn't she record it in the mountains?) and debut is more about songwriting

― surmounter (rra123), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:14 (3 years ago) Bookmark

Debut is so spare that it almost sounds like home recordings, which, in retrospect, is a large part of its charm. I love them both for different reasons but, at present, Debut ranks a bit higher because I still remember how GREAT "Big Time Sensuality" and "Violently Happy" sounded in clubs.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 25 January 2007 18:26 (3 years ago) Bookmark

Victor Scott wrote this on thread Do you ever overload on a band or artist at a particular point in your life until one day you wake up and you just can't listen to them any more? on board I Love Music on 05-Aug-2005

My girlfriend did this with Bjork the result of which is much screaming and nashing of teeth when I attempt to listen to Hyperballad or something. This resulted from a common early nineties over-indulgence by young women in too much Debut.

:D

I love Debut...contains some of her absolute best songs.

Amazed this is so low. Didn't vote for it myself and can't really justify why not - can only assume others are the same.

Yeah this should have been on my ballot.

Voted for Debut, it's the best Björk album I've heard. So many classic songs, and the beats still sound as cool and elegant as they did 16 years ago, which certainly isn't the case with most mainstream dance albums of the era.

Debut still stands up really well but I think she got better with each of the albums she put out in the 90's.

I'm surprised Post made the original list and Debut didn't. I always thought Debut was seen as a classic first album and Post was a bit of a disappointment.

I've always preferred Post to Debut, but Post was my introduction to Bjork.

I guess it was the other round for me, for a long time I would have said Debut was my favourite but there's maybe three of her albums I go back to a lot more now.

I was never that fond of debut, the odd couple of tracks aside. for me, post was where she started becoming interesting...

Debut and Post are quite uneven listens for me...two or three classics offset by pockets of duds. Although Post has this colourful eclecticism like a good Basement Jaxx album which gives it a definitive charm as an overall listen. Homogenic is top to bottom perfection, wonderful highlights yet most importantly, more than the sum of its individual components/tracks. Although I was disappointed to see the hating on Alarm Call on a recent thread..

95 Mark Eitzel - Songs Of Love (1991)
33 points
1 vote
0 first-place votes
Contributor: purrington

http://image.musicimport.biz/sdimages/disk3/201622.jpg

he's one of the greatest solo live performers ever

― ara, Friday, 12 December 2003 18:54 (6 years ago) Bookmark

Lacking sufficient data, I'll leave Hollis out of this. Kozelek vs. Eitzel, no contest: Eitzel. Anecdotally speaking, both are positively nuts, but at least Eitzel is not the sort of nuts that leads him to start totally sucking at the peak of his career (I'm talkin' bout _Songs for a Blue Guitar_ here). Eitzel's songs are usually better-filled-out and structurally sound, at least harmonically speaking-- he doesn't have to play things at 26bpm to make them sound interesting. His voice is definitely a lot stronger. And when he wallows in self-pity, it's just a bit harder to spot because he's so much more articulate than Kozelek.

I'm a huge fan of both, mind (or at least I was a fan of Kozelek to a point... and I keep hearing about Sun Kil Moon, too, which gives me hope). It should also be pointed out that, despite being a talented songwriter, Eitzel has not yet mastered the art of tuning a guitar during a performance.

― r, Friday, 12 December 2003 17:19 (6 years ago) Bookmark

also, cool thing happened at mergefest last summer - eitzel was on the bill with she & him. naturally the turnout for she & him was past-capacity & there were lots of people in the crowd, some of them friends of mine, who had no idea who eitzel was and who weren't really planning on paying a lot of attention - they were there for the marquee act. eitzel proceeded to completely blow them all away. people went from "who is this guy?" to "this is the best show of the festival!" & were talking about it forever. and some of us back-in-the-day types were like, fuck yeah, score one for our side mark

― Lee Dorrian Gray (J0hn D.), Sunday, 24 January 2010 15:32 (3 months ago) Bookmark

hi lj how long will it take you to reveal the entire list?

A single vote? Well done that man.

About a week or so! Maybe less if I get into a groove. This week is a bit manic work-wise but tbh the more I have to do the harder I work, so this'll definitely form a substantial part of my ergonomic drive.

Anyway, this latest album. Just when you thought you were reading any old poll...

(I can confirm things are gonna get interesting, also would quite like to hear Eitzel now)

so far there's been 4 albums that i have/enjoy but didn't vote for (Buhloone, End Hits, Washing Machine and Debut). the De La just barely got cut from the end of my ballot where i gave a bunch of albums 1 point each, and i voted for different albums by Fugazi, SY and Bjork.

no wait i didn't vote for Bjork because Post was on the other list.

Spotify links:

Peng!
Apple Venus #1 - not on Spotify?
Buhloone Mind State - not there either
End Hits - nope
Woodface
Washing Machine
Debut
Songs of Love Live

Who is purrington?

strongo hulkington's cat iirc

Only one of mine so far (Peng!), presumably because the rest are in positions 1-15. Might have voted for Debut if I'd been reminded of it.

this wasn't even purrington's #1

94 Elliott Smith - Either/Or (1997)
33 points
3 votes
0 first-place votes
Greatest contributor: billstevejim

http://betterpropaganda.com/images/artwork/EitherXOr-Elliot_Smith_480.jpg

agh i cant stop listening to elliott smith agh

― 69 (plsmith), Friday, 5 January 2007 18:49 (3 years ago)

On the way to school today I sang along to Either/Or and enjoyed the hopefulness and feelings of change the songs invoke in me.

Also, everytime my thoughts return to where they were yesterday, the image of him in his last moments and how he must have felt, I'm forcing them back to happy memories like sharing a joint with him or watching him play. Today will be a better day.

I won't subject my kids to him again but I'm not ready for hip-hop. Today we're listening to Miles Davis.

― A Girl Named Sam (thatgirl), Thursday, 23 October 2003 12:01 (6 years ago) Bookmark

This is really sad... I was a fan, not so much of the last couple of records but Either/Or was the soundtrack to a really difficult time - I haven't been able to listen to it for years but maybe I should dig it out now.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 22 October 2003 07:11 (6 years ago) Bookmark

Before he got all
Chest stabby; his music was
So very pretty.

-a hoy hoy

Tough call between this and his s/t album as my favorite ES album of the '90s (and that doesn't even include Heatmiser).

first album from my ballot! i gave it 2 whole points!

2 essential points

92= The Pharcyde - Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde (1992)
33 points
4 votes
0 first-place votes
Greatest contributors: lamp, parenthetical grillz

http://lyrics.smashits.com/artwork/38/3882af189d72624b10adb186cb852670.jpg

Unbelievably, there hasn't been a thread devoted to Pharcyde, who are, in my opinion, one of the best rap groups ever. I think one listen to the first album could convince most people that this is the direction that rap music should have gone in instead of gangsta. Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde is really an amazing album. The beats, courtesy of J-Swift, are great-- fun, jazzy, and upbeat; the lyrics are funny, self-deprecating, and jocular. What's really refreshing is that Pharcyde is just good fun without all the posturing, braggadocio, and hardness that comes out of a lot of rap. Listening to the first album is like hanging out with friends, a feeling that I rarely get from music, much less rap albums. Moreover, it's actually catchy.

You can't walk away from this album without feeling good. Pharcyde is like a better version of ATCQ-- one with funnier lyrics and better production. For this album alone, I say CLASSIC, but there are a number of good tracks on the second album too.

Has anyone who has heard Pharcyde not like them?

― punis (punis), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 20:00 (3 years ago) Bookmark

C/D : Pharcyde

I just noticed that rollercoaster comes out of an iron vagina.

Or goes into one, rather.

vagina dentata, no less (gotta say I noticed as soon as I GIS'd it)

Well I'll be ... I cut it late from my ballot, probably would've been worth a point for that