List some of your favorite records that turn 20 this year

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