List some of your favorite records that turn 20 this year

This thread can be revived yearly

Ropers - All The Time
Poole - Alaska Days
Space Needle - Voyager
18th Dye - Tribute to a Bus
Belreve - Belreve
Red House Painters - Ocean Beach
Silkworm - Firewater
Spiritualized - Pure Phase
Versus - Dead Leaves

Albums with conflicting release date info (94 vs. 95):

Milf - Antidope
Lilys - Eccsame the Photon Band

Biggest 2 for me by far:

Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime
Polvo - Celebrate The New Dark Age

Basically set me on a new path musically when I heard them.

PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love

Polvo - Celebrate The New Dark Age

Would have included this but it's yet another I thought came out in 94.

Hah!!!! I am still living in 2014. Crap, scratch both of my suggestions.

Will have to go with:

Polvo - This Eclipse

Damn, where does the time go.

Ha! As long as there is a Polvo record to list, it will be listed.

None of the records in my list aged a bit to me (except arguably Poole- kinda has a Polaris version 90s jangle vibe at times).

Such a fantasic year, and super influential for me.

Royal Trux - Thank You
Secret Square - S/T
Juliana Hatfield - Only Everything (a serious grower that I didn't properly love back in the day)
GBV - Alien Lanes
Oval - 94 Diskont
Aphex Twin - I Care Because You Do
Pavement - Wowee Zowee
The Amps - Pacer
Elastica - S/T
Kids OST
Yo La Tengo - Electr-O-Pura
Bjork - Post
Tricky - Maxinquaye
Foo Fighters - S/T
Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie
The Softies - It's Love

Oh darn... Alien Lanes WAS 95, wasn't it? I was mindlessly checking dates against discogs and that's one they had wrong.

Archers of Loaf--Vee Vee

Swans - The Great Annihilator
Slowdive - Pygmalion
Scott Walker - Tilt
Tindersticks - 2
Pulp - Different Class
Bruce Springsteen - The Ghost of Tom Joad

Liquid Swords
Only Built 4 Cuban Linx
Return to the 36 Chambers

Oh shit, yeah Different Class is an amazing record

Forgot the Wu follow-ups. Good call.

urge overkill - exit the dragon

still love this.

Soul Food
Dah Shinin'

Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie

First album I ever bought. Bloody hell 20 years

Good year for roots rock

Son Volt - Trace
Wilco - AM
Jayhawks - Tomorrow the Green Grass
Vulgar Boatmen - The Opposite Sex

I used to make top ten lists and kept copies. Here's what I wrote in 1995:

Blue Aeroplanes, Rough Music
Throwing Muses, University
Sleeper, Smart
del Amitri, Twisted
Drywall, Work the Dumb Oracle
The The, Hanky Panky
Radiohead, The Bends
Ivy, Realistic
The Bats, Couchmaster
Sidi Bou Said, Bodies

Misc:
Robyn Hitchcock, You & Oblivion
Microdisney, Big Sleeping House
Laurie Anderson, The Ugly One With the Jewels
The Wonderstuff, Live In Manchester

Scarce - Deadsexy
Spain - The Blue Moods Of

Has your opinion changed since 1995?

Yeah, I should've qualified that list. I'd rather listen to those early Sleeper singles than the rerecorded version on the album. That Del Amitri album has it's moments but, meh. I don't ever need to listen to "The Bends" again, it's well played out for me. I listened to a track from Sidi Bou Said yesterday and can't understand my enthusiasm. Otherwise I still rate the rest very highly.

The Bats never ever get old for me I'm with you on that one.

Of stuff already mentioned, I own:

Ropers - All The Time
Versus - Dead Leaves
Scott Walker - Tilt
Son Volt - Trace
Wilco - AM

And rate them all as well but probably didn't get them until after 1995. Of these I'd have to add "Tilt" to my all-time-1995 list.

Part of why I started this thread was because I was listening to Poole - Alaska Days again. Such a great record. So I just want to emphasize that one since it's one of the least talked about.

Method Man - Tical
Redman - Dare Iz A Darkside
Scarface - The Diary
Hard 2 Obtain - Ism & Blues
Mouse On Mars ‎– Iaora Tahiti
Palace Music - Viva Last Blues
Felix da Housecat - Metropolis Present Day? Thee Album!

these are the last group of albums I bought on vinyl

It's threads like these that make me want to go through my digital library and make sure the correct year is attached to each album. But, ugh, what a chore...

Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante

Not to mention Faith No More King For A Day...

Too $hort - Cocktails

great year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJaKr3qMaqc

oh shit its 95 now

i mean 2015

20 years for this miscreant

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX7n7bJJw10

Tragic Kingdom by No Doubt

this thread is depressing

have there been any '20 years since Romo' pieces yet?

this thread is depressing

― they TRY to look like GOOD people (soref),

Next year is even worse, will be 20 years since the last Taylor Swift record

I listened to a track from Sidi Bou Said yesterday and can't understand my enthusiasm.

I ripped all my CDs over the last year or so and make randomised playlists for commuting/listening at work etc and some songs from that album came up recently and I had the opposite reaction - haven't listened to that album in years but I thought it held up pretty well (or at least the songs I listened to, maybe I just got lucky)

Its 20 years this year since the last socially conscious rappers walked the earth, nowadays they just take to twitter and drink fine wines

Neil Young & Pearl Jam - Mirror Ball

kornrulez I was thinking the same thing, that it seems like 1995 was the peak of the No Depression-era (which was the year the magazine launched as well). Certainly not the beginning of country rock, but I love how pop constantly recycles the canon.

Freakwater - Old Paint

Cardiacs - Sing to God
Echolyn - As the World..
The Orb - Orbus Terrarum
P-Model - Fune
The Sea and Cake - The Biz
Susumu Hirasawa - Sim City
Ruins - Hyderomastigronigem
Daler Mehndi - Bolo Ta Ra Ra
Autechre - Tri Repeatae
Aphex Twin - I Care Because You Do...

LOTS OF GREAT STUFF THAT YEAR!

two Momus albums - The Philosophy Of Momus and Slender Sherbet

My retrospective 1995 EOY ballot would likely be:

Basic Channel - BCD
Cocteau Twins - Otherness ep
Coil - orship the Glitch
Vanessa Daou - Zipless
Arnold Dreyblatt - Animal Magnetism
Elastica - Elastica
Elysium - Glysten
FSOL - ISDN
Hallucinogen - Twisted
Higher Intelligence Agency - Freefloater
Shelly Hirsch - O Little Town of East New York
Alan Lamb - Archival Recordings: Primal Image / Beauty
Lech Jankowski - Intitute Benjamenta
Mojave 3 - Ask Me Tomorrow
Mouse on Mars - Iaora Tahiti
Robert Rich & Lustmord - Stalker
Tricky - Maxinequaye
Scott Walker - Tilt
Woob - Emit4495

Regarding Sidi Bou Said, Col. Poo said:
I ripped all my CDs over the last year or so and make randomised playlists for commuting/listening at work etc and some songs from that album came up recently and I had the opposite reaction - haven't listened to that album in years but I thought it held up pretty well (or at least the songs I listened to, maybe I just got lucky)

In 1995 I was deeply into Throwing Muses - it helped that I live in Boston and got to see Kristin with and without the band a number of times. Sidi Bou Said shared a similar sound and I went gaga for them at the time but haven't revisited them in yonks, I will rectify that shortly.

Regarding 1995 being the peak of No Depression, I'd argue 1998 was the peak when the Billy Bragg/Wilco collaboration came out - that's certainly what grabbed my attention and brought the scene significant notice.

Tomorrow the Green Grass, the Jayhawks
Trace, Son Volt
One Track Mind, Railroad Jerk
Faithless Street, Whiskeytown
Wreck Your Life, the Old 97's

Basically, 1995 was the year I discovered roots music.

The Infamous
Dah Shinin'
Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous

Belly - King
Roy Montgomery - Scenes from the South Island
ST37 - Glare
Gravitar - Gravitar
Polara - Polara
Boredoms - Super Roots 5
King Black Acid - Womb Star Sessions

Polara!

Source of Light is still one of my favorite pop songs.

A Guy Called Gerald - Black Secret Technology
Ani DiFranco - Not A Pretty Girl
Omni Trio - The Deepest Cut Vol. 1

Thought of another:

Lida Husik - Joyride

Maria - Jane Siberry

Had an old list ready and this is on it but pretty sure its missing a stuff i bought/liked that year.
Aphex Twin - ...I Care Because You Do ,
Autechre - Tri repetae ,
Blonde Redhead - Blonde Redhead,
Blonde Redhead - La Mia Vita Violenta,
Don Caballero - Don Caballero 2 ,
Earth - Pentastar.
Faith No More - King For A Day ... Fool For A Lifetime ,
Flaming Lips - Clouds Taste Metallic,
Foo Fighters - Foo Fighters ,
Front Line Assembly - Hard Wired,
Fugazi - Red Medicine
Goldie - Timeless
In the Woods... - HEart of the Ages ,
Kyuss - ...And the Circus Leaves Town ,
Laika - Silver Apples of the Moon,
Leftfield - Leftism,
Mercury Rev - See You on the Other Side,
Monster Magnet - Dopes To Infinity,
Mouse On Mars - Iahora Tahiti,
Neil Young - Mirrorball
Palace Music - Viva Last Blues,
Pavement- Wowee Zowee,
PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love,
Radiohead - The Bends,
Rocket From The Crypt - Hot Charity,
Scott Walker - Tilt,
Shack - Waterpistol,
Skepticism - Stormcrowfleet ,
Sonic Youth - Washing Machine
Smog - Wild Love,
Son Volt- Trace,
Spiritualized - Pure Phase ,
ST37 - Glare,
Supergrass - Supergrass
Swans - the great annihilator.,
Techno Animal - Re-Entry
The Chemical Brothers - Exit Planet Dust,
The Heads - Relaxing With... ?
The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness ,
The Verve - A Northern Soul,
The Wildhearts - P.H.U.Q.
The Young Gods - Only Heaven ,
Tricky - Maxinquaye,
Ulver - Bergtatt: Et eeventyr i 5 capitler ,
Urge Overkill - Exit The Dragon.
Unsane - Scattered, Smothered and Covered ,
Unwound - The Future Of What,
Wagon Christ - Throbbing Punch,
Whiskeytown - Faithless Street.

Karp - Suplex
Teengenerate - Smash Hits!
Monoshock - Walk to the Fire
Roky Erickson - All That May Do My Rhyme
Rocket from the Crypt - Scream, Dracula, Scream! & Hot Charity
Lazy Cowgirls - Ragged Soul
Sonic Youth - Washing Machine
D'Angelo - Brown Sugar
Dissection - Storm of the Light's Bane
Immortal - Battles in the North
Caspar Brotzmann Massaker - Home
Dirty Three - Dirty Three (s/t)
Bardo Pond - Bufo Alvarius, Amen 29:15
Mobb Deep - The Infamous
E-40 - In a Major Way
Monster Magnet - Dopes to Infinity
Death - Symbolic
Blut Aus Nord - Ultima Thulee
No Means No - The Worldhood of the World (As Such)
The Wildhearts - P.H.U.Q.
Elliott Smith - Elliott Smith (s/t)
Chris Knox - Songs of You and Me
Flying Saucer Attack - Further
Teenage Fanclub - Grand Prix
Oblivians - Soul Food [with one regret...]
DJ Quik - Safe + Sound
E. 1999 Eternal - Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
Vader - De Profundis
Suffocation - Pierced from Within
Absu - The Sun of Tiphareth
Chrome Cranks - Dead Cool
Cheater Slicks - Don't Like You
Helium - The Dirt of Luck
Magic Hour - Will They Turn You on or Will They Turn on You
Earth - Phase 3: Thrones & Dominions
The Mountain Goats - Sweden
Angel'in Heavy Syrup - III
Gravitar - Gravitaativarravitar
Masada - Hei & Vav
R.L. Burnside - Mississippi Hill Country Blues
Ulver - Bergtatt
Saint Vitus - Die Healing
Old - Formula
Spiritualized - Pure Phase
Palace Music - Viva Last Blues
Six Finger Satellite - Severe Exposure
CMX - Rautakantele
Red Red Meat - Bunny Gets Paid

Ah damn, some overlap with cosmic slop there. Was trying to list only stuff not yet mentioned. Also, Drugs A. Money OTM abt that King Black Acid album. Be a keeper just for "Alone on Mars".

you managed to list a few I had forgot

pavement - wowee zowee
guided - alien lanes
fugazi - red medicine

thank you rateyourmusic

the RYM list is weird compared to most here http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/1990sndx.htm

Maria - Jane Siberry

― they TRY to look like GOOD people (soref), Monday, January 12, 2015 10:44 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oh yeah! This is one of the albums that I listen to most but would probably never remember to think of as an outstanding album.

Apples in Stereo - Fun Trick Noisemaker - (discovered via Beck's "best of '95 list in Rolling Stone, iirc)
Ben Folds Five - Ben Folds Five - (their debut is great)
Blue Mountain - Dog Days - (more good roots rock)
Green Day - Insomniac - (I still think it's their last good record)
Jawbreaker - Dear You - (is it not cool to like this?)
The Muffs - Blonder and Blonder (probably my most-listened-to record of '95)
Noise Addict - Meet the Real You (this album rules)
Old 97's - Wreck Your Life - (more good roots rock)
Rancid - ...And Out Come the Wolves (never liked anything else of theirs)
The Sea & Cake - Nassau
Superdrag - The Fabulous 8-track Sounds of Superdrag
Matthew Sweet - 100% Fun (for "Sick of Myself" if nothing else)
That Dog. - Totally Crushed Out!
Zumpano - Look What the Rookie Did (for "The Party Rages On" if nothing else)

stuff already mentioned: Amps, GBV, Foos, Softies, Pavement, Red Red Meat, Teenage Fanclub, Elliott, SV/Wilco, Space Needle, Cuban Linx/Liquid Swords

To clarify, these are all records that are still favorites- right? Not just records enjoyed at the time

(question to everyone)

some are ones i discovered later but i still like the ones i listed that i liked at the time.

basically the black metal albums on my list I discovered later (early part of the 00s?)

Oh fucking hell, we're going to get a lot of pieces on (What's The Story) Morning Glory? this year, aren't we?

Mariah carey - daydream
Bjork - post
Smashing pumpkins - mellon collie and the infinite sadness
Mobb deep - the infamous
Sparklehorse - Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot

tbh, i was probably a little loose with my list, xxxxpost...i just kinda went with "records i like(d) from '95" not so much "still favorites," which would probably knock a half-dozen or so off the list.

Harry Partch - 17 Lyrics of Li Po (Tzadik)

Yeah I'm going for more "still favorites". It's interesting to see what stays a favorite after all this time for you OR stays fresh enough to become one later on, even 20 years later.

To clarify, these are all records that are still favorites- right? Not just records enjoyed at the time

(question to everyone)

― Evan, Monday, January 12, 2015 5:01 PM (3 hours ago)

The long and perhaps self-indulgent list I posted earlier is a combination of true favorites and albums I have at one time or another counted among them. The mid-90s were a furiously active period in the development of garage & noise rock, black & death metal, gangsta rap, indie rock and abstract psychedelia of every sort. Given that creative ferment, it shouldn't come as a surprise that each of those niches might kick up 5-10 amazing albums, most now largely forgotten (and perhaps of little interest outside fan circles). Not to mention mainstream pop, the experimental avant-garde and what we'd be calling "electronica" in a few years, genres with which I'm not as deeply engaged. A more ruthlessly restricted list would be somewhat shorter, but 30-40 would still make the cut. And I'm sure I'm leaving quite a bit out...

OMG can't believe I forgot:

The Black Dog - Spanners

Moloko - Do You Like My Tight Sweater?
Smith & Mighty - Bass Is Maternal
Macro Dub Infection, Vol. One
Pram - Sargasso Sea
Long Fin Killie - Houdini
Sufi - Life's Rising
Arto Lindsay - Aggregates 1-26
Tim Berne's Bloodcount - Lowlife
U.S. Maple - Long Hair in Three Stages
Antioch Arrow - Gems of Masochism
Stanford Prison Experiment - The Gato Hunch
S.F. Seals - Truth Walks in Sleepy Shadows
Suddenly Tammy! - We Get There When We Do
Lizard Music - Fashionably Lame
Eric Matthews - It's Heavy in Here

Just to be difficult:

Sterolab - Refried Ectoplasm: Switched On Volume 2
Spacemen 3 - Live in Europe 1989
Moodymann - "The Day We Lost the Soul" and "Inspirations From A Small Black Church On The Eastside Of Detroit" 12s
Fudge Tunnel - Hate Songs in E Minor
The Abyss - The Other Side
Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments - Bait & Switch
Bassholes - Haunted Hill!

wow, the TJSA album is great! i totally forgot about that one

yeah, i hadn't heard it in forever. listening now. flat duo jets had a great album that year, too.

wow, Space Needle is the 3rd album listed in this thread. did not expect that at all.

Elastica self-titled
Hum - You'd Prefer an Astronaut
Self - Subliminal Plastic Motives

Fudge Tunnel - Hate Songs in E Minor

Great album but it came out in 1991.

Supergrass - Supergrass

Didn't really like this much but it came out in 1999 anyway. Did you mean I Should Coco?

Sorry I have nothing to add but pedantry this morning.

the dead c - the whitehouse

Great album but it came out in 1991.

lol, never trust a id3

looking at people's lists, I realize that 1995 was the year I stopped paying attention to Indie Rock. I don't think I listened to anything but hip hop that year.

Yeah but that's not necessarily the exercise. I was going for: Of your favorite records in general, which ones turn 20 this year?

Or I guess you meant it as a side note anyway.

1994 had most of the anniversaries important to me, the following year is a big drop-off. that said -

mobb deep - the infamous
gza- liquid swords
raekwon - only built 4 cuban linx
ODB - return to the 36 chambers
emmylou harris - wrecking ball

Lots of good nominations so far, surprised this one has been yet:

Shellac - At Action Park

I can think of a reason why it hasn't been nominated.

I need to find a better use of my time.

My favourite 1995 albums:

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Merriweather Post Pavilion
Hit Me Baby One More Time
Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Hey! Bo Diddley

MBDTF is '94

xxp lol stuck in 2014, sorry everyone!

Probably the two I still listen to most often:

Sundial - Acid Yantra
Mojave 3 - Ask Me Tomorrow

I haven't listened to these in years but think I'd still like:

Brian Jonestown Massacre - Methodrone
Flying Saucer Attack - Further
Lovesliescrushing - Bloweyelashwish
Swervedriver - Ejector Seat Reservation
Thurston Moore - Psychic Hearts
Moose - Live a Little Love a Lot
Comsat Angels - The Glamour
Magnetic Fields - Get Lost

I've been meaning to check out those Poole and Space Needle albums for 20 years; will try to remember to do it this year.

OH you really should!

OMG can't believe I forgot:

The Black Dog - Spanners

― Tim F,

god,me too

yeah I forgot it as well, strange because I've always thought it was one of the best of the whole Warp scene, though it definitely goes 10 minutes too long

Angel Corpus Christi - White Courtesy Phone
Marilyn Crispell/Peter Brötzmann/Hamid Drake - Hyperion
Wayne Kramer - The Hard Stuff
NoMeansNo - The Worldhood of the World (As Such)
The Tea Party - The Edges of Twilight (yeah I still stand by this)
Apples In Stereo - Fun Trick Noisemaker
Chemical Brothers - Exit Planet Dust
John Coltrane - Stellar Regions

Beatles Anthology 1
Page & Plant
Pink Floyd - Pulse

Van Halen - Balance
Slash's Snakepit
Eagles - Hell Freezes Over
Frampton Comes Alive 2

Man, 1995 was a great year.

The Orb - Orbus Terrarum

still awesome

At Action Park was 94, wasn't it?

Buju Banton - Til Shiloh

Alien Lanes, Pollard's true(st) masterpiece

'BINI GAME SHANI DAVIS

I have got 99 items in the database, the faves of this great year are:

Air Miami - Me, Me, Me
BMX Bandits - Gettin' Dirty
Bruce Springteen - The Ghost of tom Joad
Chris Whitley - Din of Ecstasy (RIP)
Elastica - s/t
Giant Sand - Goods and Services
Goran Bregovic - Underground
Hole - Live through this
Ivan Kral - Nostalgia
Laurie Anderson - The Ugly One with the Jewels (more storytelling than music)
Lloyd Cole - Love Story
Luna - Penthouse
Madredeus - Ainda
Mick Harvey - Intoxicated Man
Miossec - Boire
Mojave 3 - Ask Me Tomorrow
Murat - Live
Oregon - Beyond Words
Palace Music - Viva Last Blues
Passengers - Original Soundtracks Vol. 1
PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love
Poe - Hello
Rainer Ptacek - Nocturnes (RIP)
Red House Painters - Ocean Beach
Mike Scott - Bring 'em all in
Sonic Youth - Washing Machine
Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie...
Spain - The Blue Moods of Spain
Sparklehorse - Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot (RIP, my fave of 1995)
Teenage Fan Club - Grand Prix
Throwing Muses - University
Tindersticks - 2
Various - Help
Vic Chesnutt - Is the Actor Happy? (RIP)
Yo La Tengo - Electropura (my fave album of my ex-fave band but only #2 in 1995)
Young Gods - TV Sky

There are more on the ipod, eg Pavement - Wowee Zowee

Yo La Tengo - Electropura (my fave album of my ex-fave band but only #2 in 1995)

Huh, forgot this came out in '95, for some reason. HUGE record for me.

yeah, total classic

Less interesting list this year for me:

Tobin Sprout - Carnival Boy
Lilys - Better Can't Make Your Life Better
Swirlies - They Spent Their Wild Youthful Days in the Glittering World of the Salons
Bedhead - Transaction De Novo
Polvo - Exploded Drawing
Guided By Voices - Under The Bushes Under The Stars
burger/ink ‎– [Las Vegas]
East River Pipe ‎– Mel
Red House Painters ‎– Songs For A Blue Guitar

Stina Nordenstam - Dynamite
Tuscadero - The Pink Album
Mazzy Star - Among My Swan

Afghan Whigs - Black Love
Patty Griffin - Living w/ Ghosts
Wrens - Secaucus

Just realized- how did I forget Lida Husik last year? :(

DJ Shadow - Endtroducing
Jay-Z - Reasonable Doubt
Tortoise - Millions Now Living
De La Soul - Stakes is High
Silver Jews - Natural Bridge
Neil Young - Dead Man stk

Bedhead - Transaction De Novo

Another oops, that was supposed to be Beheaded. Got mixed up.

Cocteau Twins - Milk & Kisses
Lovesliescrushing - Xuvetyn
Windy & Carl - Drawing of Sound
Roy Montgomery - Temple IV
Orbital - In Sides
Tori Amos - Boys for Pele
Long Fin Killie - Valentino
Olivia Tremor Control - Dusk at Cubist Castle
Screaming Trees - Dust
Velocity Girl - Gilded Stars and Zealous Hearts
Walkabouts - Devil's Road

FSOL - Dead Cities
EBTG - Walking Wounded

katherine's display name following my list...

Swirlies being the semi-exception!

This thread is making me feel all sorts of old and uncool

I get the old part, but why uncool?

same diff?

All this music is "cool" again

I know the aforementioned Tindersticks, Luna, Oval, Slowdive, Pulp and Wu-Tang releases sound pretty good these days (because I have actually heard them recently) but I'm realising there are huge number of other things I've been resisting revisiting at all, fairly or not! (Despite them sitting on a shelf, just metres away, in many instances.)

Top 5:

Sing to God
Second Toughest in the Infants
Factory Showroom
Richard D James Album
Irresistible Bliss

Jack Frost - Snow Job
Martin Newell - The Off White Album
Sleeper - The It Girl
Animals That Swim - I Was The King...
Whipping Boy - Heartburn
Able Tasmans - Store In A Cool Place
A House - No More Apologies
Strangelove - Love & Other Demons
Superette - Tiger
Puressence - Puressence
Gene - To See The Lights

Of these, I haven't listened to Whipping Boy, Puressence, Gene, Sleeper and Superette in over a decade but I'd still enjoy those albums.

Ellery Eskelin - The Sun Died
UGK - Ridin' Dirty

Such a huuuuge year for me. Lots of the stuff already mentioned (Polvo, Mazzy Star, DJ Shadow, Tortoise, Cocteau Twins, Orbital, Tori Amos, Olivia Tremor Control, Future Sound Of London, Aphex Twin, Underworld, Wu Tang Clan), plus:

Bardo Pond - Amanita
Cibo Matto - Viva! La Woman
Dirty Three - Horse Stories
Dr. Octagon - Dr. Octagonecologyst
Gastr Del Sol - Upgrade & Afterlife
Lisa Germano - Excerpts From A Love Circus
Go Sailor - S/T
High Llamas - Hawaii
Illyah Kuryahkin - Count No Count
Luscious Jackson - Fever In Fever Out
Microstoria - SND
Takako Minekawa - Roomic Cube
Neutral Milk Hotel - On Avery Island (the album I prefer)
Ninety Nine - S/T
Rachel's - The Sea and Bells
The Raincoats - Looking In The Shadows
REM - New Adventures In Hi-Fi
Retsin - Egg Fusion
Rome - S/T
Royal Trux - Sweet Sixteen
Sammy - Tales Of Great Neck Glory
Sebadoh - Harmacy
The Sonora Pine - S/T
Spinanes - Strand
Sugar Plant - Cage Of The Sun and After After Hours
Superdrag - Regretfully Yours
Tricky - Pre-Millennium Tension and Nearly God
Veruca Salt - Blow It Out Your Ass, It's Veruca Salt

And the Trainspotting soundtrack was a huge deal then, as well, despite being a comp of mostly older material. And those are just the ones I reeeeally liked.

I never miss an opportunity to mention

Possum Dixon - Star Maps

How did I forget Chavez both this year and last? Well anyway, Chavez.

I never checked out Retsin, any recommendation beyond the album you listed?

Yes, I would recommend any Retsin album you can track down. I guess Cabin In The Woods, if I had to narrow it down to one? But if you like Tara Jane O'Neil's other work, you won't be disappointed (see also: Sonora Pine from my list above). And if you aren't familiar with Tara Jane O'Neil, it's worth familiarizing yourself.

oh wow, I forgot about In Sides...sorry!!

Agreed on GBV, Afghan Whigs, DJ Shadow, Jay-Z, OTC, Underworld, Aphex, REM, Tori Amos, Orbital, Silver Jews... Would also add:

Tool - Aenima
Ghostface Killah - Ironman
Texas Is the Reason - Do You Know Who You Are?
OutKast - ATLiens

And including comps:

LTJ Bukem - Logical Progression
Metalheadz - Platinum Breakz

Thanks for the Retsin rec!

Also, that Spinanes album has always been tough for me. I love the one before and the one after, but that one just floats out the window every time I try.

Ah, and that's my favorite Lisa Germano record basically due to the song Bruises alone. Sometimes her albums as a whole really bring me down, and I thrive on melancholy music so it's significant. Perhaps it'd be fresh again for me now, though.

xpost Yeah, my Spinanes feelings pretty much sync up with yours (with added love for solo Rebecca and EXTRA love for Imp Years). Strand is my least favorite but it's still Spinanes.

Yes, Imp Years is fantastic!

LFO - Advance
Jedi Knights - New School Science
Motorbass - Pansoul
John Beltran - Ten Days Of Blue
Boards Of Canada - Boc Maxima
Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup

Lots of great stuff that year, but the ones I couldn't live without:

Too Much Joy - ...finally
The Loud Family - Interbabe Concern
Dar Williams - Mortal City
DJ Shadow - Endtroducing

Orbital - Insides
Gas - Gas

Ah, 96, the year I got my first paying job. I basically listened to just three new albums that year, besides shit I already owned from years past:

2Pac - All Eyez on Me
Mazzy Star - Among My Swan
Outkast - ATLiens

I spent most of the 90s just checking out whatever was playing on the radio.

That this is 20 years ago is faintly petrifying.

this is a better year than i thought

Good records have no age because they existed since the beginning of time it was just a question of when someone got round to recording and releasing them

Glenn had a good year that year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZcbdEElEVs

they dont belong in the past though, belong in the present along with the sycamores and the oaks

Though she died 4 years ago, I am still haunted by her music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwHM3jHUpjI

Good lord, I never heard that she died.

earl brutus - your majesty .. we are here.
compulsion - the future is medium.
2 badcard - hustling ability.

My top ten for 1997:

1. Adrian Borland - 5:00 am
2. Radiohead - OK Computer
3. Bike - Take In The Sun
4. Gene - Drawn To The Deep End
5. China Drum - Self Made Maniac
6. Frank & Walters - The Grand Parade
7. Love Spit Love - Trysome Eatone
8. Prolapse - The Italian Flag
9. Luna - Pup Tent
10. Hugh Cornwell - Guilty

That was a really good year, I love all those albums still, though the Radiohead is a bit played out for me.

There is an internet rumour a teenage Zlatan played on this before signing for Malmo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Uo6qMnIFTQ

Supa Dupa Fly

BAD TIMING - Jim O'Rourke
TYCHO MAGNETIC ANOMALY - The Azusa Plane
DOTS AND LOOPS - Stereolab
COME TO DADDY - Aphex Twin
EITHER/OR - Elliott Smith
DUDE RANCH - blink-182
WORK AND NON WORK - Broadcast
THE LONESOME CROWDED WEST - Modest Mouse
OK COMPUTER - Radiohead
FINAL FANTASY VII OST - Nobuo Uematsu

Acrimony - Tumuli Shroomaroom ,
Bardo Pond - Lapsed,
Blonde Redhead - Fake Can Be Just as Good
Blur – Blur
Built To Spill - Perfect From Now On,
Corrupted - Paso inferior ,
Daft Punk – Homework
Death In Vegas – Dead Elvis
Electric Wizard - Come My Fanatics... ,
Emperor - Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk ,
Entombed - To Ride, Shoot Straight And Speak The Truth
Enslaved - Eld,
Faith No More - Album Of The Year
Ghost - Temple Stone,
Grandaddy – Under The Western Freeway
Iron Monkey - Iron Monkey ,
Karma To Burn - S/t
Michael Head Introducing The Strands – The Magical World Of The Strands
Modest Mouse - The Lonesome Crowded West,
Mogwai – Mogwai Young Team
Pavement - Brighten The Corners,
Portishead – Portishead,
Primal Scream – Vanishing Point
Radiohead – Ok Computer,
Robert Wyatt - Shleep
Skepticism - Lead and Aether ,
Spiritualized – Ladies And Gentleman We Are Floating In Space,
Squarepusher – Hard Normal Daddy,
Super Furry Animals – Radiator
Supergrass – In It For The Money
The American Analog Set - From Our Living Room to Yours ,
The Chemical Brothers – Dig Your Own Hole
The Verve – Urban Hymns,
Three Mile Pilot - Another Desert, Another Sea,
Today Is The Day - Temple Of The Morning Star
Ulver - Nattens madrigal: Aatte hymne til ulven i manden ,
Wu-Tang Clan – Wu-Tang Forever
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One

Bjork - Homogenic
Blur - Blur
Daft Punk - Homework
David Bowie - Earthling
Deftones - Around the Fur
Depeche Mode - Ultra
Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine: Biomech
Erasure - Cowboy
Foo Fighters - The Colour and the Shape
Gary Numan - Exile
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - Barafundle
Green Day - Nimrod
Hugh Cornwell - Guilty
James - Whiplash
Jean Michel Jarre - Oxygene 7-13
Laika - Sounds of the Satellites
Mansun - Attack of the Grey Lantern
Oasis - Be Here Now
Paul McCartney - Flaming Pie
Paul Weller - Heavy Soul
Pavement - Brighten the Corners
Portishead - Portishead
Primal Scream - Vanishing Point
Radiohead - OK Computer
Recoil - Unsound Methods
Roni Size/Reprazent - New Forms
Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space
Stereolab - Dots and Loops
Super Furry Animals - Radiator
Supergrass - In It For The Money
Teenage Fanclub - Songs From Northern Britain
The Chemical Brothers - Dig Your Own Hole
The Prodigy - The Fat of the Land
The Verve - Urban Hymns

re: McBoing-Boing's list -- I suspect I'm not the only one who was reading The Big Takeover in 1997? That China Drum album has been sitting in my "to sell" pile for 20 years. Maybe I'll give it one more chance...

Great year, no real order:

Larry Heard ‎– Dance 2000
Paul W. Teebrooke ‎– Connections
Alpha ‎– Come From Heaven
Sluts'n'Strings & 909 ‎– Carrera
Chris Brann ‎– Deep Fall
Stereolab ‎– Dots And Loops
Aquarhythms ‎– Greetings From Deepest America
Baby Ford ‎– Headphoneasy Rider
Björk ‎– Homogenic
Gemini ‎– In And Out Of Fog And Lights
Gemini ‎– In Neutral
The Timewriter ‎– Letters From The Jester
Christian Morgenstern ‎– Miscellaneous
Carl Craig ‎– More Songs About Food And Revolutionary Art
The Advent ‎– New Beginnings
Various ‎– Objets D'art III
Faze Action ‎– Plans & Designs
Speedy J ‎– Public Energy No.1
Moodymann ‎– Silentintroduction
Placid Angles ‎– The Cry
Morgan Geist ‎– The Driving Memoirs
Jaime Read ‎– The End Of The Beginning
Various ‎– The Lords Of Svek Vol. 2
Jeff Mills ‎– The Other Day (Axis Compilation)
Various ‎– The Seductive Sounds Of Teknotika
Gerd ‎– This Touch Is Greater Than Moods

Must have listened to each of these hundreds of times

cosign on Shleep and YLT

these stand out for me when I look through my physical copies:

Ø - Tulkinta
Nick Cave - Boatman's Call
Muslimgauze - Farouk Enjineer (the best noisy one IMO)
Geraldine Fibbers - Butch
Atari Teenage Riot - Burn Berlin Burn
Alvarius B. - S/T 2LP

Not already listed from 1997:

Bad Brains - The Omega Sessions
Buena Vista Social Club - st
Company Flow - Funcrusher Plus
Cornelius - Fantasma
G. Love & Special Sauce - Yeah, It's That Easy
Lambchop - Thriller
Nick Cave - The Boatman's Call
Plaid - Not for Threes
Plug - Drum 'n' Bass for Papa
SMOG – Red Apple Falls
Ween - The Mollusk
Will Oldham - Joya
Windy & Carl - Antarctica: The Bliss Out, Vol. 2

Extra shout-out to Plug -- yet another nom de plume of the criminally underrated Luke Vibert...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE-IQAKR3U8&index=2&list=PL5hZAMEzIDkHlmh2bucwhKC5NA3m88gEO

Built to Spill - Perfect From Now On
Ulver - Nattens Madrigal
The Van Pelt - Sultans of Sentiment
GYBE - F#A#∞

Not mentioned so far

David Devant & His Spirit Wife - Work, Lovelife, Miscellaneous
David Holmes - Let's Get Killed
Dawn of the Replicants - One Head, Two Arms, Two Legs
Kenickie - At The Club
Minty - Open Wide
Quickspace - Supo Spot
Silver Sun - Silver Sun
Strangelove - Strangelove
The Delgados - Domestiques
The Yummy Fur - Kinky Cinema

Fantasma is 20! Jesus Christ!

Other favorites from '97: The Mollusk (absolutely classic), Chiastic Slide, Denki Groove's A, Motorpsycho's Angels & Daemons at Play, and Subterranea by IQ

Bardo Pond - Lapsed
Chiastic Slide

Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out

Bloody hell. Young Team is 20 yrs old. I wrote a prentious review of that at the time that contained passages about how I wished I was young again. I was 20.

Sp. Pretentious obv.

Some 2017 Albums I Enjoy

Assück - Misery Index
Brutal Truth - Sounds of the Animal Kingdom
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Boatman's Call
Deceased - Fearless Undead Machines
Bruce Dickinson - Accident of Birth
Electric Wizard - Come My Fanatics...
Foo Fighters - The Colour and the Shape
Immortal - Blizzard Beasts
Judas Priest - Jugulator
KARP - Self Titled LP
Orange Goblin - Frequencies From Planet Ten
Saxon - Unleash the Beast
Southern Culture on the Skids - Plastic Seat Sweat

T'wasn't a great year. I mean, a Foo Fighters album made the list.

Disclaimer: I worked for the label that did the Dickinson & Priest albums. Jugulator is likely a result of that (though I still love "Bullet Train") but I'll rep for the Bruce solo record.

The last great Pavement album, Robert Wyatt's best, some excellent work from the Ellery Eskelin/Andrea Parkins/Jim Black trio, then... I don't know, maybe the US Maple album?

A few more not mentioned so far:

The Apples in Stereo - Tone Soul Evolution
Bikeride - Here Comes the Summer!
The Hives- Barely Legal
k.d. lang - Drag
Low - Songs for a Dead Pilot
Papas Fritas - Helioself
Matthew Sweet - Blue Sky on Mars
Tindersticks - Curtains
Whiskeytown - Strangers Almanac

Chemical Brothers - Dig Your Own Hole
Daft Punk - Homework
Smog - Red Apple Falls
Sea and Cake - The Fawn
Modest Mouse - Lonesome Crowded West
Will Oldham - Joya
Photek - Modus Operandi
Gravatar - Now the Road of Knives

selected faves, courtesy of my id3 tags, which may be wrong:

the conet project
cornelius - fantasma
gary lucas - evangeline
ground zero - plays standards
hedningarna - hippjokk
jimi tenor - intervision
los fabulosos cadillacs - fabulosos calavera
robert wyatt - shleep
surgeon - basictonalvocabulary
that dog. - retreat from the sun
toenut - two in the pinata

and ok, yeah, also ok computer and the mollusk

v/a - Deutscher Funk (Caipirinha Productions)

[Pluramon, Workshop, Beige, Mouse On Mars, Nonplace Urban Field, Pole, The Bionaut, Mao II, F.X. Randomiz, General Magic & Pita, Mono™ etc.]

Not sure how into it all I'd be now (some tracks remain classic) but it does represent a big part of 1997 for me.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. s/t CD also epochal.

My faves, I don't think 1997 was an amazing year, it was ok but not more. The Robert Wyatt is still my #1.

Chris Cacavas - Anonymous
The Dandy Warhols - The Dandy Warhols Come Down
Depeche Mode - Ultra
Bob Dylan - Time Out Of Mind
Mark Eitzel - West
Rickie Lee Jones - Ghostyhead
OP8 - Slush
Primal Scream - Echo Dek
Swell - Too Many Days Without Thinking
Robert Wyatt - Shleep
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One

Top 10 for '97:

Bjork - Homogenic
Notorious B.I.G. - Life After Death
Supergrass - In It for the Money
Radiohead - OK Computer
Guided by Voices - Mag Earwhig!
Karate - In Place of Real Insight
Wu-Tang Clan - Wu-Tang Forever
Jay-Z - In My Lifetime, Vol. 1
Foo Fighters - The Colour & the Shape
Stereolab - Dots and Loops

Definitely want to check out some stuff from mmmm's list - I like the ones I know on there.

Extra shout-out to Plug -- yet another nom de plume of the criminally underrated Luke Vibert...

This is a really good album and deserved a lot more interest than I recall it receiving...

The Plug album came out in 1996 in the UK. It did get a fair bit of attention in 'leftfield electronica' circles.

The US version bundled three preceding EPs and changed the main track listing.

Relatedly, Luke Slater's dope techno album Freek Funk came out 20 years ago this week.

My top 10 for 97

1. Bjork - Homogenic
2. Supergrass - In It For The Money
3. Kenickie - At The Club
4. Missy Elliott - Supa Dupa Fly
5. Stereolab - Dots & Loops
6. Billy Mackenzie - Beyond The Sun
7. SFA - Radiator
8. Janet Jackson - The Velvet Rope
9. Erykah Badu - Badusim
10. Teenage Fanclub - Songs From Northern Britain

Loved Drum n Bass for Papa. Also Autoditaker (Mouse on Mars), Busy, Curious, Thirsty (Spring Heel Jack), Not For Threes (Plaid), among others. Banging year for electronic music.

In addition to the already-mentioned Primal Scream, Dandy Warhols, Spiritualized, Yo La Tengo, Frank & Walters, Sleater-Kinney, Death in Vegas, Teenage Fanclub -

Geneva - Further
Catherine Wheel - Adam and Eve

Doesn't really count but I'm sure I listened to Suede's Sci-Fi Lullabies more than any of the above that year.

I suspect I'm not the only one who was reading The Big Takeover in 1997? That China Drum album has been sitting in my "to sell" pile for 20 years. Maybe I'll give it one more chance...

Haha, guilty as charged! The Big Takeover was my main source for recommendations in the 90s - I occasionally look at a new issue but it's just not the same (my music consumption, that is, the magazine is still a great read).

Re: that self-titled Strangelove album mentioned by Camaraderie at Arms Length: it was a huge disappointment at the time, coming after two stellar albums (that get zero love around here). Now I think it's about half good but, still, the drugs were clearly in charge on that one.

Turrican - good call on Laika! They also need more love.

Oh crap, that Catherine Wheel album is from 97? Should've been on my list!

Dig Your Own Hole especially, I love that record. Recently had a coming home experience with it.

Dig Your Own Hole probably would have been my #1 at the time (I hadn't heard most of the things on my list back then). It is a great record.

In the spirit of my original underlying intention of this thread... are many of these considered your favorites still? Question to everyone.

Actually I didn't really think about it from my perspective in 1997. It's hard for me to remember what I was listening to at the time that was from the same year. I do remember that I got really into the Jurassic 5 EP, and now I don't care for it much. OTOH Jay-Z In My Lifetime wasn't something I cared about much at the time and now I'd call it a favorite.

Also I didn't get into Smog or Oldham until a year or two later, but Dig Your Own Hole was definitely one of my most played albums that year and I still love it.

I also listed records that i still listen to.

xps yeah I still totally dig the ones I posted

Although I guess everything I listed was something I got into within a few years of 1997.

TOP 5 (then and now):
Built to Spill - Perfect From Now On
Blonde Redhead - Fake Can Be Just As Good
Autechre - Chiastic Slide
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One
Motorpsycho - Angels and Daemons at Play

Some other favorites not yet mentioned:
Eric's Trip - Long Day's Ride Till Tomorrow
Folk Implosion - Dare to Be Surprised
The Get Up Kids - Four Minute Mile
Hazel - Airiana EP
Helium - The Magic City
Knapsack - Day Three of My New Life
Lamb - S/T
Philip Glass - Kundun OST
Silkworm - Developer
Sonic Youth - SYR 1

Lamb's first LP came out in '96, didn't it!?

I love Autoditacter like 10 times more now than when i first heard it, definitely my favorite of theirs these days

current top 10 for 1997:

1. Pierre-Laurent Aimard - György Ligeti Edition 3: Works for Piano
2. Takács Quartet - Bela Bartok: The 6 String Quartets
3. Ground Zero - Consume Red
4. Bjork - Homogenic
5. Happy Family - Toscco
6. Christoph de Babalon - If You're Into It, I'm Out of It
7. Paul McCartney - Flaming Pie
8. Stereolab - Dots & Loops
9. Ø - Tulkinta
10. 5uus - Crisis in Clay

oh yeah I forgot abt that Christoph de Babalon record, good stuff!

Lamb's first LP came out in '96, didn't it!?

Yes, you're right. For some reason my mp3s were tagged with the US release date. I thought it was weird that nobody had mentioned the album yet.

The Book of Secrets by Loreena McKennitt is a guilty pleasure from 1997. This one is great:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI_PMcFnZZw

stuff I listened to a lot back in '97:

OC- Jewelz
Camp Lo- Uptown Saturday Night
Latyrx- The Album
Organized Konfusion- The Equinox
Common- One Day It'll All Make Sense
Capone-n-Noreaga- The War Report

MOST OF THESE ARE UNBEARABLY TWEE

Plumtree - Predicts the Future
Rocketship - A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness
The Sun Sawed in ½ - Fizzy Lift
Terry Hall - Laugh
Gas - Zauberberg
Adventures in Stereo - the blue album
Takemura - Child & Magic
Long Fin Killie - Amelia
Takako Minekawa - Cloudy Cloud Calculator
Movietone - Day and Night
Lhasa - La llorona

Kylie - Impossible Princess

I dig that Long Fin Killie album but I came to it many years later.

Keyes - good call on that Latryx album

Rocketship - A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness

yes!!

My top 10 (compiled in 2005!) (bolded are so far unmentioned):
Sleater-Kinney, Dig Me Out
Bardo Pond, Lapsed
Labradford, Mi Media Naranja
autechre, Chiastic Slide
Mogwai, Ten Rapid
Portishead, Portishead
Dubstar, Goodbye (UK release)
Amon Tobin, Bricolage
Spiritualized, Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space
Sneaker Pimps, Becoming X

in the aeroplane over the sea, mezzanine, music has the right to children, aquemini & moon safari all turn 20 this year!

but more importantly, what are you favourite records of 1998?

22 Pistepirkko - Eleven
The Afghan Whigs - 1965
Arab Strap - Philophobia
Autechre - LP5
Blonde Redhead - In an Expression of the Inexpressible
Brandtson - Letterbox
The Cardigans - Gran Turismo
Death Cab for Cutie - Something About Airplanes
Gas - Zauberberg
Godspeed You Black Emperor! - F♯A♯∞
I-F - Fucking Consumer
Jen Wood - No More Wading
Knapsack - This Conversation is Ending Starting Right Now
The Lapse - Betrayal!
Motorpsycho - Trust Us
Pedro the Lion - It's Hard to Find a Friend
Pole - 1
Scumbucket - Batuu
Shellac - Terraform
Sonic Youth - A Thousand Leaves
Sophia - The Infinite Circle
Stina Nordenstam - People Are Strange
Sunny Day Real Estate - How It Feels to Be Something On
The Smashing Pumpkins - Adore
Tortoise - TNT
Underworld - Beaucoup Fish
Unsane - Occupational Hazard
Unwound - Challenge for a Civilized Society
Urusei Yatsura - Slain By Urusei Yatsura
Zbigniew Preisner - Requiem for My Friend

Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty
Boo Radleys - Kingsize
Autechre - LP5
Boards of Canada - Music Has The Right To Children

We are all very very old

We are all very very old

^ very otm

think beaucoup fish is 1999 but tbh it's the best album of every year

best fugazi, jay-z, pj harvey albums out that year

best fugazi

Yes! Just listened to End Hits again recently, so good.

xxp - Yes, you're right. I went by the tags in my media library, and this is from Wikipedia: "Due to delays, the packaging incorrectly lists 1998 as the release year."

Blackstar
Mezzanine
MHTRTC
Three EPs
Jurassic 5
Hello Nasty
Music Sounds Better With You

Lucinda Williams – Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Peter Hammill – This
Mark Hollis – s/t
Godspeed You Black Emperor! – F♯A♯∞
Current 93 – Soft Black Stars
Cowboy Junkies – Miles From Our Home
The Tragically Hip – Phantom Power
Mercury Rev – Deserter's Songs
Gillian Welch – Hell Among the Yearlings

xxxp love how it approaches falling apart at times; my dumb take is it's their jazz record

Top Ten 1998:
Cat Power - Moon Pix
Mark Hollis - Mark Hollis
Silver Jews - American Water
Nada Surf - The Proximity Effect
Stina Nordenstam - People Are Strange
Arab Strap - Philophobia
Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children
Beck - Mutations
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
22 Pistepirkko - Eleven

Jeeze.
Cat Power - Moon Pix
Bedhead - Transaction de Novo
Sonic Youth - Silver Sessions
P J Harvey - Is This Desire?
and of course LP5, MHTRTC, Mezzanine.
Some real touchstones there. And the first year of my marriage.

Not many 1998 albums that I consider classic...
Maybe Moon Safari for personal memories.
Mezzanine, This is Hardcore and Hard Knock Life could be included too.
And Celebrity Skin (but I only got to like it much later).

The Friend I Once had by Club 8
Glee by Bran Van 3000
The Boy with the Arab Strap by Belle and Sebastian
Peloton by The Delgados
Music Has the Right to Children by Boards of Canada
RAFI's Revenge by Asian Dub Foundation
Good Humour by Saint Etienne
England Made Me by Black Box Recorder
Ray of Light by Madonna
Steal This Album by The Coup

er, Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

richard buckner - since
dj quik - rhythm-al-ism
death - the sound of perseverence

Some good stuff mentioned already. Some additions:

Ed Rush & Optical, 'Wormhole'
J Majik, 'Slow Motion'
Gas, 'Zauberberg'
Stars of the Lid, 'Per Aspera Ad Astra'
The Azusa Plane, 'America Is Dreaming of Universal String Theory'

Time Machines - Time Machines
Rapoon - The Fires Of The Borderlands
Lull - Moments
James Plotkin / Mark Spybey - A Peripheral Blur
The Aeolian String Ensemble - Lassithi / Elysium
Thomas Köner - Kaamos
Ambre - Enclave
Steven R. Smith - Autumn Is The End
Squarepusher - Music Is Rotted One Note

Plastikman - Consumed
ISAN - Beautronics
Common Factor - Dreams Of Elsewhere
Dave Angel - 39 Flavours Of Tech Funk

love how it approaches falling apart at times; my dumb take is it's their jazz record

― lowercase (eric), Wednesday, February 7, 2018 10:42 AM (one hour ago)

no thats how i look at it too

Yeah that definitely makes sense to me.

...Baby One More Time

Taking a quick glance through '98 releases here...

My top five:
Royal Trux - Accelerator
Spinanes - Arches and Aisles
Sugar Plant - Happy
Tortoise - TNT
800 Cherries - Romantico

And the rest:
Cat Power - Moon Pix
Fantastic Plastic Machine - Luxury
Gastr Del Sol - Camoufleur
Mahogany - The Dream of a Modern Day
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Mouse on Mars - Glam
Pullman - Turnstyles & Junkpiles
Retsin - Sweet Luck of Amaryllis
Solex - vs. the Hitmeister
Spoon - A Series of Sneaks
Zeek Sheck - Good Luck Suckers

Yes, Solex!

And the mention of Wormhole reminded me of Photek's Form & Function.

Ah yes, good mention. 1998 was about the last year dnb/jungle was good.

Gah, and TNT. And Hollis. And Camoufleur. Quite a year.

Hello Nasty is 20! God damn

Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty
Cake - Prolonging the Magic
Fatboy Slim - You've Come a Long Way, Baby
They Might be Giants - Severe Tire Damage

Not necessarily my favorite albums of the year (though Hello Nasty still sounds great and is probably my favorite of theirs), but I bought all these as a 12 year old and have probably played each one a hundred times.

Also have to shout out "Tunak Tunak Tun" here, the first "viral" video I was ever made aware of, also 20 this year.

1998 was about the last year dnb/jungle was good.

― Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, February 7, 2018 7:33 AM (nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Thank you for reminding me to include Goldie - Saturnz Return

And yes, I'm serious. Seriously.

Ha. Never got why that one was panned the way it was tbh.

Me neither! And if you're looking for some real challops, I might prefer it to Timeless.

Easy now ;) Timeless is a stone cold classic imo, but SR is not that far behind.

A few people haven't mentioned yet

Juvenile - 400 Degreez
Big Pun - Capital Punishment
Boredoms - Super Ae
Calexico - The Black Light
Pulp - This is Hardcore (someone mentioned it as 'maybe classic,' so here's me mentioning it as 'definitely classic')

Muzik magazine's best albums of 1998:

1. Air: Moon Safari
2. Beastie Boys: Hello Nasty
3. The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill
4. Jurassic 5 EP
5. Deep Dish: Junk Science
6. Leila: Like Weather
7. Fatboy Slim: You've Come A Long Way, Baby
8. Danny Tengalia: Tourism
9. Propellorheads: Decksanddrumsandrockandroll
10. Maxwell: Embrya
11. Beta Band: Three EPs
12. Rae & Christian: Northen Sulphuric Soul
13. Black Eyed Peas: Behind The Front
14. Faithless: Sunday 8 PM
15. Sizzla: Black Woman & Child
16. Vegas Soul: Pure
17. Groove Armada: Northern Star
18. Herbert: Around The House
19. Boards Of Canada: Music Has The Right To Children
20. Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star
21. Freestylers: We Rock Hard
22. Massive Attack: Mezzanine
23. Red Snapper: Making Bones
24. Morcheeba: Dead Calm
25. House Of 909: The Children We Were
26. Unkle: Psyence Fiction
27. Swayzak: Snowboarding In Argentina
28. Grooverider: Mysteries Of Funk
29. Lo Fidelity Allstars: How To Operate With A Blown Mind
30. Ed Rush & Optical: Wormhole
31. Asian Dub Foundation: Rafi's Revenge
32. Beck: Mutations
33. A Man Called Adam: Duende
34. 4 Hero: Two Pages
35. Envoy: Where There's Life
36. Fila Brazilla: Power Clown
37. John B: Visions
38. Rza Starring As Bobby Digital
39. Monkey Mafia: Shoot The Boss
40. Ian Pooley: Meridian
41. The Aloof: Seeking Pleasure
42. Total: Kima Keisha & Pam
43. Method Man: Tical 2000: Judgment Day
44. Justice: Viewpoints
45. Skinny: Weekend
46. 16b: Sounds From Another Room
47. Jeff Mills: Purpose Maker Compilation
48. Wamdue Project: Program Yourself
49. Thievery Corporation: Sounds From The Thievery Hi-Fi
50. Waiwan: Distraction
51. Common Ground
52. Mercury Rev: Deserter's Songs
53. E Dancer: Heavenly
54. Derrick May: Innovator
55. Terry Callier: Timepiece
56. Lionrock: City Delirious
57. Money Mark: Push The Button
58. Tortoise: Tnt
59. King Britt/Sylk 130: When The Funk Hits The Fan
60. The Wiseguys: The Antidote
61. Plantastik: Wak'd
62. Black Jazz Chronicles: Future Ju Ju
63. Deejay Punk-Roc: Chicken Eye
64. R. Kelly: R
65. Gang Starr: Moment Of Truth
66. Jephte Guillaume: Voyage Of Dreams
67. Terry Callier: First Light
68. James Ruskin: Further Design
69. Donna Dee: Spellbound
70. Plastikman: Artifacts B.C.
71. Jori Hulkonnen: The Spirits Inside Me
72. Beverly Knight: Prodigal Sista
73. Madonna: Ray Of Light
74. Baby Mammoth: Another Day At The Orifice
75. Klute: Casual Bodies

And NME's:

1. Mercury Rev – Deserters Songs
2. Beastie Boys – Hello Nasty
3. Beck – Mutations
4. Air – Moon Safari
5. Massive Attack – Mezzanine
6. Elliott Smith – Either Or
7. Pulp – This Is Hardcore
8. Royal Trux – Accelerator
9. Jurassic 5 – Jurassic 5
10. Leila – Like Weather
11. Sparklehorse – Good Morning Spider
12. Embrace – The Good Will Out
13. Six By Seven – The Things We Make
14. Babybird – There’s Something Going On
15. Belle & Sebastian – The Boy With The Arab Strap
16. Boards Of Canada – Music Has The Right To Children
17. Arab Strap – Philophobia
18. Quasi – Featuring Birds
19. The Afghan Whigs – 1965
20. Fatboy Slim – You’ve Come A Long Way Baby
21. Lo-Fidelity Allstars – How To Operate With A Blown Mind
22. Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill
23. Idlewild – Hope Is Important
24. Manic Street Preachers – This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours
25. Placebo – Without You I’m Nothing
26. R.E.M. – Up
27. Madonna – Ray Of Light
28. Spritualized - Live At The Royal Albert Hall
29. Bob Dylan – Live 1966:The Royal Albert Hall Concert
30. Catatonia – International Velvet
31. Black Box Recorder – England Made Me
32. Elliott Smith – Xo
33. Quickspace – Precious Falling
34. Jeff Buckley – Sketches (For My Sweetheart The Drunk)
35. Hole – Celebrity Skin
36. Kid Loco – A Grand Love Story
37. The Third Eye Foundation – You Guys Kill Me
38. Unkle – Psyence Fiction
39. The Boo Radleys – Kingsize
40. Sonic Youth – A Thousand Leaves
41. Tarwater – Silur
42. Ash – Nu-Clear Sounds
43. Mkd – Open Transport
44. Goodspeed You Black Emperor – F#A#00
45. Garbage – Version 2
46. Fugazi – End Hits
47. Hefner – Breaking Gods Heart
48. Gomez – Bring It On
49. Mansun – Six
50. Robbie Williams – I’ve Been Expecting You

Oh, yeah, that Money Mark album is good stuff. And I really like the posthumous Jeff Buckley release but I guess I don't think of it as an 'album' per se.

Just realizing ITT that I still haven't heard Hello Nasty in its entirety over the course of twenty years.

god I still remember biking down to the CD store to pick that up and hearing "Super Disco Breakin" for the first time. life changing moment

aw the black eyed peas were already making nuisance in 98 ?

I think this was the last year with any meaningful overlap between my tastes and the NME's.

It's sort of funny now to see Robbie Williams in the token #50 spot, as if they weren't yet sure whether it was cool to like him.

It was a big year for roots rock, with Mermaid Avenue by Billy Bragg and Wilco, and Car Wheels on a Gravel Road by Lucinda Williams.

I'll stick to 10:

Air - Moon Safari
Amon Tobin - Permutation
Anouar Brahem - Thimar
Autechre - LP5
Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children
Gorguts - Obscura
John Zorn - The Circle Maker
Mark Hollis - Mark Hollis
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Outkast - Aquemini

aw the black eyed peas were already making nuisance in 98 ?

they had a totally different style, more similar to jurassic five than to their radio conquering '00s sound

Black Eyed Peas were making fairly okay rappity-rap in the style of Dilated Peoples, Pharcyde etc before they went down a more pop route on Elephunk.

1998 was all about scratching wasn't it? Even all the Britpop bands recruited a 'turntablist' to perform with them at Reading in a bid to stay relevant.

That NME list actually has a lot of albums I was into at the time. Always held 1998 in mind as a bit of a noesdivey year for music but clearly that's not true. The Mercury Rev album was great at the time too. Really original-sounding, although it and AOTS laid the template for a lot of Amerindie to come

Yeah, used to like that BEP album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5x_dmI9e6Y

"Music Sounds Better With You" >>>>>> any 1998 album

Here's what I picked at the time, I was just expanding beyond indie rock and especially digging into alt-country.

LPs:
Billy Bragg/Wilco - Mermaid Ave.
Jack - The Jazz Age
Spinanes - Arches & Aisles
Unbelievable Truth - Almost Here
Versus - Two Cents Plus Tax
Beekeepers - Third Party, Fear And Theft
Foil - Spread It All Around
Bap Kennedy - Domestic Blues
Statuesque - Arbiters Anonymous
Puressence - Only Forever
Snow Patrol - Songs For Polarbears

Singles:
Annie Christian - The Other Way
Polak - 2 Minutes 45
Pharmacy - Shine
The Creatures - Razor Cuts
Unbelievable Truth - Higher Than Reason

20 years on, my enthusiasm for Unbelievable Truth has long faded, and I probably haven't listened to that Puressence album since then. Beepkeepers & Foil are fun neo-punk, I listened to them last year. That Bap Kennedy album has probably had the most plays since then, an utter classic afaic.

Also dig:
Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels On A Gravel Road
Pernice Brothers - Overcome By Happiness
The Handsome Family - Through The Trees
Neil Finn - Try Whistling This
Firewater - The Ponzi Scheme
New Model Army - Strange Brotherhood
REM - Up

1998 was all about scratching wasn't it? Even all the Britpop bands recruited a 'turntablist' to perform with them at Reading in a bid to stay relevant.

This isn't just nonsense, it's an actual lie. Ash did it on perhaps two tracks on their album that year, and that's about it. It was a different story in nu-metal, obviously.

1998 felt like a bit of a transitional year for music even at the time - to me, at least. In hindsight, it was a much stronger year for music than I thought at the time.

there's this thing called hyperbole

Nope, literally *all* Britpop acts did this. At Reading. I was there when that Ocean Colour Scene guy was spinning the decks.

I believe there was a scratching mandate which some Britpop bands are still imprisoned to this day for having flaunted.

I remember this as a year of not-as-great-as-before Wu Tang solo and affiliates records:

Killah Priest- Heavy Mental
Killarmy- Dirty Weaponry
Cappadonna- The Pillage
RZA- Bobby Digital in Stereo
Sunz of Man- The Last Shall Be First
Wu Tang Killa Bees: The Swarm Vol.1
Method Man- Tical 2000: Judgment Day
GP Wu- Don't Go Against the Grain

re:brit bands/relevance, that was the year Suede tried to go "electro". a bad idea it was.

oh no, wait, that was in 99.

there's this thing called hyperbole

― Badgers (dog latin), Wednesday, February 7, 2018 3:15 PM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Of course there is - I've seen you use it repeatedly in Animal Collective threads. Your post above was stupidity.

I remember this as a year of not-as-great-as-before Wu Tang solo and affiliates records:

― President Keyes, Wednesday, February 7, 2018 9:33 AM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

OTM. I was wondering where all of the Wu-related joints were in people's lists and then I saw the perfunctory inclusions on that Muzik list and said oh yeah. I think there may be a direct correlation between the level of general musical quality of any given year during the '90s and the strength of that year's Wu Tang releases.

yes you're right Turrican I honestly believe that literally every band that played at Reading 98 had a scratch DJ

Careful, the employment of 'literally' without a #sarcasm hashtag for the sake of clarity will just stoke his ire all over again.

Ash added a live DJ for a year, but are from Northern Ireland, so Turrican has been exposed as a racist

Eh!?!

I mean, I'm aware that Ash are from Northern Ireland, but you might want to point fingers elsewhere as to how they ended up lumped in with certain other bands.

I was 12 in 1998 and loved spending every weekend in the record store in my city listening to every new release. I guess the staff hated me... they kept opening cds for me and I very rarely bought them... these are 10 albums I did end up buying and the ones I listened to the most that year. Most of them have aged well and I still love them:

Boards of Canada - Music has the right to children
John Sims - Palomino
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Pole - CD1
Quickspace - Precious Falling
Supersilent - 4
Taku Sugimoto - Opposite
William Parker - Peach Orchard
Yummy Fur - Sexy World

The three last ones I actually heard when I was older. I was a cool teen but I wasn’t that cool.

Still fucking cool. I was 17 and I think this was the year I went full music geek I guess. discovering the Beastie Boys and Warp Records and older music after years in a Britpop/grunge wilderness was very exciting

Oh I’m missing Amon Tobin - Permutation on that top 10.

I discovered Ninjatune and Warp in either 1997 or 1998 and I was obsessed with their catalogue. me and a friend bought almost everything by them we could get our hands on. Living in Mexico this meant we only got the big releases so any weird 7” or EP we had to wait a couple of years until Napster appeared.

My music life before the internet feels so distant.

Also downloading mp3 with dialup was a joke. We’d wait for like 3 hours or more to download and listen to this obscure AFX track only to discover it was fake.

The Azusa Plane, 'America Is Dreaming of Universal String Theory'

― Le Bateau Ivre

<3

Feeling the love, Flappy <3 He's criminally underrated.

Come - Gently Down the Stream

WTF at P J Harvey absent from both those 1998 best-of lists. It's her best album, and she towers over most of the artists on those lists.

Jeez, 1998 - the last year of the pre-Napster era. Feels like it should be more monumental than it is. If this was the state of the recording industry before the internet killed it, then maybe it was euthanasia. Sorry, maybe that's a bit harsh. Anyway, not much I love from this year. The Ethopiques comps that were dribbling out that year were pretty cool.

Here are twenty of mine:

The Boo Radleys - Kingsize

Spoon - A Series of Sneaks
Pedro the Lion - It's Hard to Find a Friend
Mercury Rev – Deserter's Songs
Silver Jews - American Water
Arab Strap - Philophobia
Beck - Mutations
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Bedhead - Transaction de Novo
P J Harvey - Is This Desire?
Pulp - This is Hardcore
Air - Moon Safari
Sparklehorse – Good Morning Spider
Embrace – The Good Will Out
The Afghan Whigs – 1965
Idlewild – Hope Is Important
Manic Street Preachers – This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours
Placebo – Without You I’m Nothing
Mansun – Six
Unbelievable Truth - Almost Here

That space was not on purpose but still somehow works. Just went down what was posted in this thread and picked out some.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HH-SyqBJs4

15

Air - Moon Safari
UNKLE - Psyence Fiction
Portishead - Roseland, NYC live
Autechre - LP5
boredoms - super ae
Neutral Milk hotel - in an aeroplane over the sea
massive attack - mezzanine
boards of canada - music has the right to children
eels - electro shock blues
pj harvey - is this desire
tori amos - from the choirgirl hotel
amon tobin - permutation
dirty three - ocean songs
sparklehorse - good morning spider
beck - mutations

Albums I Liked from 1998

Angelcorpse - Exterminate
Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty
Dälek - Negro Necro Nekros
Bruce Dickinson - The Chemical Wedding
Johnny Dowd - Wrong Side of Memphis
Firewater - The Ponzi Scheme
Lacuna Coil - Lacuna Coil
Melt-Banana - "Charlie"
Metallica - Garage Inc.
Monster Magnet - Powertrip
Nashville Pussy - Let Them Eat Pussy
New Bomb Turks - At Rope's End
Nile - Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka
Liz Phair - Whitechocolatespaceegg
Placebo - Without You I'm Nothing
Queens of the Stone Age - Queens of the Stone Age
Refused - The Shape of Punk to Come
Shellac - Terraform
System of a Down - System of a Down
Theatre of Tragedy - Aégis
Turbonegro - Apocalypse Dudes

Also downloading mp3 with dialup was a joke. We’d wait for like 3 hours or more to download and listen to this obscure AFX track only to discover it was fake.

Ha! Remember being in some Audiogalaxy groups that shared DJ mixes and you'd have to leave your computer on overnight for them to download

good times

The intentional omission of In The Aeroplane... from my list isn't revisionist reactivity, btw. Love the first album and any number of other Elephant Six releases, but I saw them perform that material (in like late '97/early '98) before I ever heard the album and the recorded versions are weak tea in comparison. Mangum was channeling some shit.

I was trying to describe dial-up to the ten-year-old I tutor and it makes no sense to him whatsoever. TBF, it doesn't make much sense to me now, either.

Oh, the fights with my parents over the phone bill. Trying to download a GBV song that took 45 minutes, only for my brother to pick up the phone downstairs when it was nearly in, ruining the download. Good times.

friends and family telling me they could never get through to me on the phone because it was constantly engaged

I don't think I knew what an mp3 was until at least 2000. I remember uploading some tunes I'd been working on to my Angelfire site and only being able to do 30 second snippet previews as it was all in WAV

While we're drifting away from the thread mandate: I remember being so impressed in the mid-80s by a file that we had for our Commodore 64 which played a fifteen-second, extremely low-quality snippet of 'Rock Me Amadeus'. Felt like I was living in a sci-fi novel.

10 obscure/underrated indie rock favorites from 1998:

The Glands - Double Thriller
Myracle Brah - Life on Planet Eartsnop
Quasi - Featuring "Birds"
Black Box Recorder - England Made Me
Rancid - Life Won't Wait
Silkworm - Blueblood
Sarge - The Glass Intact
The Pernice Brothers - Overcome By Happiness
Drive-By Truckers - Gangstabilly
Grant Lee Buffalo - Jubilee

I loved when Napster had to block certain names upon request so everyone had to figure out "alternate" artist names to share stuff under (I don't think there was a centralized forum to do this, you just had to guess). I still have MP3s by "Imenim", "They Might B Gaints", and "9 Inch Nials"

Will rep for Grant Lee Buffalo's entire output.

wow, time is merciless.

cat power
mercury rev
lauryn hill
at the drive-in
beastie boys
royal trux
r.l. burnside
third eye foundation
neutral milk hotel
boards of canada
air
black star
juniour kimbrough
lucinda williams
make up
jon spencer blues explosion

i stil pull all these out at least once a year every year

roy montgomery, and now the rain sounds like life is falling down through it
BoC, MhTrTc
pj harvey, is this desire?!
plastikman, consumed
burger/ink, las vegas knights
theo parrish, first floor
tarwater, silur
monorchid, who put out the fire
horace andy, mr. bassie

sorry

burger/ink, las vegas GOLDEN knights

fucked up my joek

Oh Cat Power! I bought Moon Pix two years later but she was my spirit animal that year.

98 was my favorite year for rap releases.

Spinanes - Arches & Aisles

Great disc, gotta give it a fresh spin.

Jennifer Paige "Crush"
Britney Spears "Baby One More Time"
Aaliyah "Are You That Somebody"

Get ready to cash in on your thinkpieces.

Will rep for Grant Lee Buffalo's entire output.

Used to listen to the album that had The Hook on it a lot but don't think I've heard any of the others.

i remember Xmas of '98 and smoking decent weed for the first time and listening to Mezzanine - "inertia creeps" in particular

i was just listening to the mark hollis the other day and thinking that it's been 20 years since he's released anything

here's some of my favorite '98s (as always my tags could be wrong):

accordion tribe - s/t
all natural lemon and lime flavors - turning into small
balcony - 777
bob dylan - live 1966
elaine radigue - trilogie de la mort
g-da-man - "stack yo greens"
gastr del sol - camofleur
gorky's zygotic mynci - gorky 5
hiroki kikuta - soukaigi
kirinji - paperdriversmusic
koji kondo - ocarina of time
komeda - what makes it go?
mark hollis - s/t
oranger - circle gets the square
plush - more you becomes you
salt city orchestra - pagan thing
thinking plague - in extremis
tortoise - tnt
"v/a" - chill out vol. 2 - voyages into trance and ambient

what a strange year

i was listening to a lot of man or astroman? around this time but i don't know that they released anything in '98! was that the year of the clone tours?

While we're drifting away from the thread mandate: I remember being so impressed in the mid-80s by a file that we had for our Commodore 64 which played a fifteen-second, extremely low-quality snippet of 'Rock Me Amadeus'. Felt like I was living in a sci-fi novel.

― I'm very active in the pegasus community (Old Lunch)

in the early '90s i did the bbs thing and somebody actually took the time to record, of all things, the spin doctors' "two princes" into their computer as 8khz voc (a voc was like a wav, this was way before mp3s) and uploaded it to a bbs. it was 3 megabytes, which even at 14.4 (that was "high speed" back in those days) was ridiculously huge. my entire hard drive was only 20 megabytes.

Spinanes - Arches & Aisles

Great disc, gotta give it a fresh spin.

― that's not my post, Friday, February 9, 2018 1:27 AM (seven hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Coincidentally, I'm currently giving it a fresh spin and can confirm that it is a great disc by a great band. I went to a Decemberists show once specifically because Rebecca Gates was opening for them (no one else seemed to care, sadly).

Jennifer Paige "Crush"
Britney Spears "Baby One More Time"
Aaliyah "Are You That Somebody"

Get ready to cash in on your thinkpieces.

― billstevejim

Ah when it comes to pop singles it was a great year too.

Wasn’t Stardust - Music Sounds Better With You relessed this year? I was obsessed with that one. Also that Jennifer Paige one was great.

https://pitchfork.com/news/announcing-pitchforks-50-best-albums-of-1998/

I hope #1 is Ocarina of Time or Something About Mary! Last season of Seinfeld is underrated as well.

Music Sounds Better With You is grade-a nightmare fuel for me, even hearing its name gives me an unpleasant feeling. Too many bad nights out in 98 and 99.

https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-50-best-albums-of-1998/

1. OutKast - Aquemini
2. Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
3. Elliott Smith - XO
4. Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
5. Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children
6. Cat Power - Moon Pix
7. Massive Attack - Mezzanine
8. Air - Moon Safari
9. Boredoms - Super Ae
10. PJ Harvey - Is This Desire?
11. Belle and Sebastian - The Boy With the Arab Strap
12. Silver Jews - American Water
13. Black Star - Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star
14. Beck - Mutations
15. Pulp - This Is Hardcore
16. Gang Starr - Moment of Truth
17. Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
18. Tortoise - TNT
19. Madonna - Ray of Light
20. Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty
21. Mark Hollis - Mark Hollis
22. Autechre - LP5
23. Sparklehorse - Good Morning Spider
24. Fugazi - End Hits
25. Hole - Celebrity Skin
26. Big Pun - Capital Punishment
27. Mercury Rev - Deserter’s Songs
28. Sonic Youth - A Thousand Leaves
29. Royal Trux - Accelerator
30. Refused - The Shape of Punk to Come (A Chimerical Bombination in 12 Bursts)
31. Juvenile - 400 Degreez
32. Sunny Day Real Estate - How It Feels to Be Something On
33. DMX - It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot
34. Plastikman - Consumed
35. JAY-Z - Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life
36. Spoon - A Series of Sneaks
37. Death Cab for Cutie - Something About Airplanes
38. Gastr Del Sol - Camoufleur
39. A Tribe Called Quest - The Love Movement
40. The Smashing Pumpkins - Adore
41. Jeff Buckley - Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk
42. Mouse on Mars - Glam
43. Maxwell - Embrya
44. Theo Parrish - First Floor
45. GAS - Königsforst
46. Blonde Redhead - In an Expression of the Inexpressible
47. Bright Eyes - Letting Off the Happiness
48. RZA - Bobby Digital in Stereo
49. Windy & Carl - Depths
50. Devin the Dude - The Dude

konigsforst TOOOO LOW

98 was the best year for rap, i dont think that tribe album would crack my top 30 rap albums for that year and that Bobby Digital album is horrible wtf.

just for the helluvit, this would be a stab at my fav raps of 98

1. Rhythmalism
2. Aquemini
3. Mobstability
4. 400 Degreez
5. It's Dark and Hell Is Hot
6. Miseducation of LH
7. Moment of Truth
8. A S.W.A.T. Healin Ritual
9. Hard Knock Life 2
10. Capital Punishment
11. The Element of Surprise
12. Ghetto Fabulous
13. Still Standing
14. Retaliation, Revenge and Get Back
15. My Balls and My Word
16. Tical 2000
17. Devin The Dude
18. Lost
19. A Book Of Human Language
20. Stupid Doo Doo Dumb
21. Blackstar
22. My Homies
23. There's One in Every Family
24. Docs Da Name 2000
25. Big Tymers
26. Steal This Album
27. 40 Dayz & 40 Nights
28. Heavy Mental
29. Flesh of My Flesh (more of a 99 album?)
30. Look What You Did to Me
31. Sunz of Man
32. The Love Movement
33. Extinction Level Event
34. First Family For Life
35. 3rd Eye Vision
36. El Nino
37. The Pillage
38. Kuruption
39. NORE
40. The Shadiest One

I need to get Rhythmalism.

good list, was a really good year. Gotta revisit that Quik album and check out the Witchdoctor

I’ve tried so hard to get that Lauryn Hill album and asides a couple of songs I find it a drag to listen to. Almost every song feels like it’s way longer than it should be there’s too many filler between songs and the chorus just get repeated over and over and over again until it’s madness.

The Pitchfork list is surprisingly good, though the love for Lauryn Hill and Neutral Milk Hotel baffles me. Things which would be in my 50: Eels, St Etienne, G!YBE, Fatboy Slim, REM, John Martyn, Momus, Arab Strap and Deep Dish.

xp agreed about the filler between songs. funnily enough, aquemini has the same problem, making it hard to safely add those amazing songs to playlists

I'm saddened by the lack of New Radicals love, that album holds up.

Yes, it does.

it's got the music in it

most of these are marginal AF:

The Necks - Piano Bass Drums
Piano Magic - Bliss Out Vol. 13: A Trick of the Sea
Tom Zé - Fabrication Defect: Com defeito de fabricação
Alain Bashung - Fantaisie Militaire
Louis Philippe - Azure
Esthero - Breath From Another
Tarnation - Mirador
Cheri Knight - The Northeast Kingdom
Mark Lanegan - Scraps at Midnight

Ah yes the Neutral Milk Hotel love has always been baffling for me too but this is a pitchfork list. No way that one wouldn’t make it in the top 10 they were the publication hyping that album the most 20 years ago and gave it a 10 score which is very rare coming from them. If anything I’m surprised it’s not their #1 album.

the neutral milk hotel album connected well with teenage angst in the same way as microphones - the glow pt 2. whether i have much use for it now...hard to say

Music Sounds Better With You is grade-a nightmare fuel for me

Aw, nothing but warm memories for me. I heard it at Nordstrom last week, made my night!

Scrawl - Nature Film
Imperial Teen - What Is Not To Love

In 1998 I was a grumpy pre-teen who felt Spacehog and Possum Dixon had been slighted by year-end listmakers. Feeling much more benign this time around.

Interesting that the Pitchfork list has the same top 3 as Spin's '98 list. Some things never change.

Neutral Milk Hotel connected with me when a teenager, but it still does. The love for it isn't baffling, as Moka says, it's completely viable. No album like that one out there. I double dare you to find one that's like it, whether you dig it or not.

I meant personally baffling as I have a strong dislike for it but obviously it’s a great and influential album for many people. I wont argue with thar... I just can’t connect with it at all...

Claro!

Without judging I am curious why you'd have a "strong dislike" for it though. Is it because of the music, or the myth?

actually think LBI is OTM

It’s the music... I don’t like how it’s produced, but then again I do love some lo-fi productions, so I guess it’s Jeff’s voice which I find grating.

And then again i like some similar sounding vocalists in indie... I don’t know what it is tbh... everytime I try to analyze why I don’t like it I end up giving up and quitting halfway through. Friends whoe music taste I respect have been hyping that album for 20 years and it does nothing for me. I do like the incorporation of horns in some songs though...

well you like what you like, all good

Piano Magic - Bliss Out Vol. 13: A Trick of the Sea
Tarnation - Mirador

both albums by friends...hard to believe it's been 20 years.

I’ve tried so hard to get that Lauryn Hill album and asides a couple of songs I find it a drag to listen to. Almost every song feels like it’s way longer than it should be there’s too many filler between songs and the chorus just get repeated over and over and over again until it’s madness.

I remember being really underwhelmed with it at the time, but also thinking that it was something wrong with me, as everybody seemed to just gush endlessly over it.

Two decades later and I can hardly remember anything from it. Looking at the tracklisting would probably remind me of some of the choruses, but yeah: can't say I ever really "got" that album. It seemed very MOR to me at the time. Which was absolutely a turn off.

xp Stardust held my #1 favorite song of 1998 for a while. I played it to death and it would probably no longer place top 20.

Today #1 would be either "Erase/Rewind" or "Crush."

1998...

Dirty Three - Ocean Songs
Pluramon - Render Bandits
Coil - Moon's Milk EPs
Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty
Aeolian String Ensemble - Lassithi/Elysium
Cat Power - Moon Pix
Ghost - Snuffbox Immanence
Donnas - S/T
Liz Phair - whitechocolatespaceegg

Sherburne with an interesting looking list:

https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/10-overlooked-electronic-albums-from-1998/

Concept - Concept 1:VR
Gescom - MiniDisc
Leila - Like Weather
Lithops - Uni Umit
Mannequin Lung - The Art of Travel
Michael Mayer - Neuhouse
Barbara Morgenstern - Vermona ET 6-1
1.8.7 - Quality Rolls
Bjørn Torske - Nedi Myra
Urban Tribe - The Collapse of Modern Culture

Boredoms - Super æ
Boredoms - Super Roots 7
Incantation - Diabolical Conquest
Jun Chikuma - Bomberman Hero
Gorguts - Obscura
Melt-Banana - Charlie
Squarepusher - Music Is Rotted One Note
Gas - Zauberberg
Ruins - Symphonica
Hive - Devious Methods
Gasp - Drome Triler of Puzzle Zoo People
John Zorn - the Circle Maker

Looking at the list, seems like a weird, but good, year. A lot of this stuff strikes me as both totally '98, and somewhat fresh, but wonder if that has to do w/the 20-year cycle thing

Damn how could I forgot music is rotted - good call

Urban Tribe - The Collapse of Modern Culture was a discovery of mine last year. love it.

Vrresto by Ruins as well, damn that's a fun one to revisit

Thought of a really good one:

Duster - Stratosphere

Albums
Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty
The Music In My Head [among other comps including the B-52s' Time Capsule]
Sonic Youth - A Thousand Leaves
Billy Bragg and Wilco - Mermaid Avenue
Marc Ribot y Los Cubanos Postizos
Outkast - Aquemini

Tracks
They Might Be Giants - "Doctor Worm"
Lyle Lovett - "Bears"
Jay-Z - "Can I Get A..."
Belle and Sebastian - "The Boy With the Arab Strap"
Dixie Chicks - "There's Your Trouble" and "Wide Open Spaces"

My favorite Swervedriver album, 99th Dream was released in 98

Urban Tribe - The Collapse of Modern Culture was a discovery of mine last year. love it.

Oh shit Vontel- Vision of a Dream came out 20 years ago

http://thequietus.com/articles/24053-madonna-ray-of-light-review-anniversary

Surrender by the Chemical Brothers. I think this was the first album I ever bought right on release. I woke up early to bike down to the shop so I could get in at 8 AM, just in case they sold out. At the time they were taking a lot of heat for abandoning Big Beat, but man, I loved it.

Middle of Nowhere by Orbital. The trumpets on the first track blew my mind. Never even considered that an "electronica" band would do something like that. In retrospect it's clear that the Hartnolls were running low on ideas but gave it everything they had for one last great LP. Like Brett Favre's 40-year old season with Minnesota. Nice

Beacoup Fish by Underworld. Still a classic. "Jumbo" was like, the defining song of my teenage years.

69 Love Songs

^^

Here's my best of 1999 at the time, will rep for all these albums today:
1. White Rose Transmission - 700 Miles Of Desert
2. Tim Keegan & Departure Lounge - Out Of Here
3. Annie Christian - Twilight
4. Robyn Hitchcock - Jewels For Sohpia
5. The Stereo Bus - Brand New
6. Frank & Walters - Beauty Becomes More Than Life
7. Stan Ridgway - Anatomy
8. The Mutton Birds - Rain, Steam & Speed
9. Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs box set
10. Wilco - Summerteeth

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4c/Basement_Jaxx_-_Remedy_album_cover.jpeg/220px-Basement_Jaxx_-_Remedy_album_cover.jpeg

xp any list containing Out of Here means I have to check out all the records (and I only know the Wilco and Magnetic Fields).

B.G. - Chopper City In The Ghetto
Wu-Tang Clan - Wu-Tang Forever
The Olivia Tremor Control - Dusk At Cubist Castle

Cheers, Chinaski!

The Olivia Tremor Control - Dusk At Cubist Castle

This came out earlier, I owned it in college(?)

Waitaminute, so did Wu-Tang Forever. What's up??

hum. apparently 99 wasn't a good music year for me... apart from Dre's 2001, I can't really think of any album I still love/find classic...

Beaucoup Fish
Black on Both Sides
Ágætis Byrjun
The Soft Bulletin
Midnite Vultures
Guerilla
I See A Darkness

Oh, and Carboot Soul

I'd be up for an expanded edition of the Soft Bulletin. My favourite Lips album.

Pinback - This Is a Pinback CD

and then

Blur - 13
Tue-Loup - La Belle Inutile
Wilco - Summerteeth

'99 was a slump in light of its before and after. I've since revised my opinion somewhat:

Manes - Under ein blodraud maane
Mr. Bungle - California
Pan Sonic - A
Paysage d'hiver - Paysage d'hiver
Stars of the Lid - Avec laudenum
Taake - Nattestid ser porten vid…
Tenhi - Kauan
Toumani Diabaté & Ballaké Sissiko - New Ancient Strings
Underworld - Beaucoup Fish

(Who am I kidding, I was listening to Enema of the State on repeat at the time.)

Peter Hammill – The Fall of the House of Usher (Deconstructed & Rebuilt)
Tindersticks – Simple Pleasure
Low – Secret Name
Magnetic Fields – 69 Love Songs
Tim Keegan & Departure Lounge – Out of Here
Bonnie Prince Billy – I See A Darkness
Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada
Dido – No Angel
Richard Thompson – Mock Tudor

(!) les rythmes digitales - darkdancer

the white stripes - s/t
le tigre - s/t
flaming lips - the soft bulletin

The Olivia Tremor Control - Dusk At Cubist Castle

This came out earlier, I owned it in college(?)

― yuh yuh (morrisp), Thursday, 21 February 2019 20:53 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You're right - Black Foliage was '99 though

I wasn't aware of any of them at the time but these really hold up, with the top 3 somewhat connected:

Cardiacs - Guns
The Monsoon Bassoon - I Dig Your Voodoo
Shrubbies - Memphis in Texas
GSYBE! - Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada
Neurosis - Times of Grace
June of 44 - Anahata

Almost forgetting my taste for daft 'avant-garde' metal somehow I'm also find of:

Dodheimsgard - 666 International
Maudlin of the Well - My Fruit Psychobells...

A retrospective top 10 (My favourite at the time would have been Mogwai's CODY, other than that I was mostly buying ultimately disappointing albums by my '90s favourites like Suede and the Chemical Brothers):

The Olivia Tremor Control - Black Foliage
Jimmy Eat World - Clarity
Built to Spill - Keep It Like a Secret
The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
Jay-Z - Vol. 3
Juno - This Is the Way It Goes and Goes and Goes
Kelis - Kaleidoscope
Hood - The Cycle of Days and Seasons
American Football - s/t
Sleater-Kinney - The Hot Rock

I hate these threads, but you forgot Spratleys Japs - Pony

xpost

lol I did think of that but the brain geniouses of RYM have it as 2001.

1999 is the best ever year for That Sort Of Thing then, which makes it classic obviously

I'll make an exception against my hatred for the threads for this one convergence of the forces of good

Looking forward to more in-thread exegeses of your hatred for threads of this nature.

Anyway, I wager Trux and US Maple own '99 for me.

Jim O'Rourke's Eureka came out 20 years ago today. 🤤🐇

Hooray! Best memories of ambling about the foothills during springtime, listening to Eureka

Talker is another top ten album for me

I'd be up for an expanded edition of the Soft Bulletin. My favourite Lips album.

they did one in 2006! but it was mostly DVD-audio or 5.1 surround.

The Promise Ring - Very Emergency

a few personal favs:

Backstreet Boys – Millennium
Britney Spears – ...Baby One More Time
Shania Twain – Come on Over
'N Sync – *NSYNC
Ricky Martin – Ricky Martin
Christina Aguilera – Christina Aguilera
Santana – Supernatural
TLC – FanMail
Kid Rock – Devil Without a Cause
Eminem – The Slim Shady LP

those are all good ones esby

also "medallion animal carpet" by bob drake

Those are certainly the most 1999 records.

Albums I like from 1999

Agalloch - Pale Folklore
Angelcorpse - The Inexorable
Cibo Matto - Stereo Type A
Johnny Dowd - Pictures From Life's Other Side
Neil Hamburger - Left for Dead in Malaysia
Kool Keith - Black Elvis / Lost in Space
Lacuna Coil - In a Reverie
MF DOOM - Operation: Doomsday
Moby - Play
Mr. Bungle - California
Neurosis - Times of Grace
Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile
Supersuckers - The Evil Powers of Rock 'n' Roll
VNV Nation - Empires
Tom Waits - Mule Variations

It was a strange year for me personally which possibly explains this strange list.

Come on Over is so 1999 it was released in 1997.

Tbh, the Dismemberment Plan's Emergency and I and Pan Sonic's A might be the only 1999 albums that stand out in my mind very strongly, although that Neurosis album was good iirc.

1999 is my favorite singles year ever. perhaps the most formative year for my taste while growing up? idk

ok here are some 1999 records i like today

ace - mawa sekai
add n to (x) - avant hard
amy x neuberg and men - sports! chips! booty!
bauer - on the move
bob drake - medallion animal carpet
cranium - speed metal sentence
daisuke tobari - guitar
deadwood forest - mellodramatic
dyzack - the rat dance refizz
french tv - the violence of amateurs
the herbie nichols project - dr. cyclops' dream
houndog - s/t
john potter - in darkness let me dwell
krang - roes
mr. bungle - california
neina - formed verse
nels cline & gregg bendian - interstellar space revisited
oidupaa vladimir oiun - divine music from a jail
the olivia tremor control - black foliage
ornatos violeta - o monstro precise de amigos
pharaohe monch - internal affairs
the solarflares - psychedelic tantrum
sore plexus - haptephobic
tom waits - the mule variations
ultrasound - everything picture
wilco - summerteeth

esby list has a 60% overlap with the billboard year-end albums chart top 10, w/ the first five being in the same order

i had a lot of those big blockbuster albums at the time b/c ppl, including my family apparently, scooped up overpriced cd's like it was nothing back then (+ many segments of the industry were trying to train white consumers especially to stop purchasing singles), but honestly i didn't like listening to any of them as full albums. i discovered napster the following year and rarely bothered to get cd's for quite a while after that.

actually now that i look at that list again i'm pretty sure i had every single one of those

imo-underappreciated pop singles from 1999 that i'm still fond of (no one needs to be reminded that "i want it that way", "say my name" et al were good songs):

blink-182 "what's my age again?"
christina aguilera "what a girl wants"
orgy "blue monday"
beth orton "central reservation"
korn "freak on a leash"
jessica simpson "i wanna love you forever"
kelis "caught out there"
donell jones "u know what's up"
mariah carey "heartbreaker"
monica "angel of mine"
brandy "almost doesn't count"
britney spears "sometimes"
juvenile "ha"
goo goo dolls "black balloon"
jordan knight "give it to you"
tlc "unpretty"
filter "take a picture"
sugar ray "someday"
nsync/gloria estefan "music of my heart"
jennifer lopez "waiting for tonight"
basement jaxx "rendez-vu"
santana "put your lights on"
nsync "i drive myself crazy"
eminem "guilty conscience"
lfo "summer girls"
matchbox 20 "back 2 good"
whitney houston "heartbreak hotel"
ginuwine "so anxious"
112 "anywhere"
mandy moore "candy"
702 "where my girls at?"
enrique iglesias "bailamos"
fastball "out of my head"
madonna "beautiful stranger"
montell jordan "get it on tonite"
faith hill "breathe"
garbage "special"
dixie chicks "ready to run"
ricky martin "she's all i ever had"
amber "sexual (li da di)"

stereolab - cobra and phases play voltage in the milky night
jim o'rourke - halfway to a threeway ep
jim o'rourke - eureka
at the drive-in - vaya ep
built to spill - keep it like a secret
blink-182 - enema of the state
boredoms - vision creation newsun
limp bizkit - significant other
sleater-kinney - the hot rock
wilco - summerteeth
eiffel 65 - europop
aimee mann - magnolia

Yeah, this is probably one of my least favourite pop years ever. I like "What's My Age Again?", though.

dEUS 'The Ideal Crash' deserves a mention

Arvo Part - Alina
Brendan Perry - Eye Of The Hunter
D. Haines - Blither
David Sylvian - Dead Bees On A Cake
Hood - The Cycle Of Days and Seasons
Jim O'Rourke - Eureka
Rowland S Howard - Teenage Snuff Film
Tim Bowness & Samuel Smiles - World Of Bright Futures
Tram - Heavy Black Frame

Immortal - At the Heart of Winter

dEUS 'The Ideal Crash' deserves a mention

a number of 1999 listicles are out lately. i know this is total pedantry but producers of such #content need to try to adhere to consistent rules as to what actually counts as being from the year they are supposedly covering. one list includes "hard knock life", which was released AND at its peak of exposure in winter '98, while another lists "big pimpin'", which was released as a single and at peak exposure in spring 2000. (apparently its parent album being commercially available for a grand total of FOUR DAYS during 1999 qualifies it as a 1999 single.)

same with, like, "thong song" and "maria maria". hardly anyone was listening to either of those songs until 2000. i understand the eagerness to write about some of these songs but really, it's okay to wait one more year, no need to pretend these were in any way part of the '99 zeitgeist.

luckily Enema of the State came out smack dab in the middle of the year so let's pay respect to the true goats

My list of favorite stuff from 2000:
New Model Army - Eight
The The - Nakedself
Radiohead - Kid A
Doves - Lost Souls
Seafood - Surviving The Quiet
Unbelievable Truth - Sorrythankyou
Blue Aeroplanes - Cavaliers & Roundheads
Clinic - Internal Wrangler
The In Out - A Living Memorial In Deutschland
Shriekback - Naked Apes & Pond Life

Will rep for all of those today though Doves is a bit played out.

Tell me about this Radiohead album

2000 was a great year for reissues and compilations. In terms of new music from that year, a great thrash album which I only recently discovered is Hypnosia's Extreme Hatred.

Pitchfork’s contemporaneous Top 20 list. I was pretty plugged in that year, but don’t recall most of these: https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/5816-top-20-albums-of-2000/

... and Rolling Stone’s highest-rated albums of that year: https://www.albumoftheyear.org/ratings/35-rolling-stone-highest-rated/2000/1

Not a year in which I can claim any “favorites,” I think!

(Kind of shocked the Death Cab and New Pornos albums didn’t make the Pitchfork list... I guess Pfork’s tastes were more “niche indie” in that time?)

Wow, no sign of D'angelo's Voodoo on any of these lists so far. Broadcast's Noise Made By People either (although maybe that one is less surprising on Rolling Stone's list). Easily my two favourites of that year.

It seems almost too convenient for a year ending in “–0” to be a “transitional year,” but 2000 really does feel that way in retrospect.

Fwiw Pfork didn’t review Mass Romantic until March ‘01. It made their 2001 top ten

Ah, thx

Internal Wrangler by Clinic is still way up there for me

boredoms - vision creation newsun
d'angelo - voodoo
deftones - white pony
eminem - the marshall mathers lp
gas - pop
isolée - rest
otomo yoshihide - cathode
outkast - stankonia
luomo - vocalcity
pj harvey - stories from the city, stories from the sea
sade - lovers rock
smashing pumpkins - machina I & II
smog - dongs of sevotion

Just going off Wikipedia's release dates:

Sleater-Kinney - All Hands on the Bad One
Aimee Mann - Bachelor No. 2
The Weakerthans - Left and Leaving
Sarah Harmer - You Were Here
Emmylou Harris - Red Dirt Girl
Radiohead - Kid A
OutKast - Stankonia
The New Pornographers - Mass Romantic
Dar Williams - The Green World
Loud Family - Attractive Nuisance

Turns out most of the albums I was thinking of for Y2K actually came out in 1999 or 2001, but Internal Wrangler was easily the disappointment of that year for me. Clinic were one of my favorite bands in 1999. As a 15 year old in America I didn't know anyone else who listened to that stuff. I'd heard somewhere that it was going to be a lot like their previous releases, but with more of a disco influence(!!)

The stylistic similarity was undeniable, but the disco was missing. Unfortunately, so was the effervescence and ghostly aura that made their early singles so appealing. Compared to Porno, Cement Mixer and Kimberly it was like a Coke can left out on the nightstand, basically the same substance but warm and flat. The 'Ornette!' cover art mirrors this flatness perfectly, just like the Xeroxes on their first three singles spoke to the way they'd appropriated influences: missing information, all the more stark and mysterious. I'd enjoyed The Second Line as a single (it's hard not to like a song whose chorus goes "diggy diggy tomommanaut"), but in the context of the album it lost dimensionality.

Of the bands I was into then, Clinic were probably the last one I exprected to release 10 albums over a 20 year career. They really seemed like a band that would do one or 2 albums then split.