Stephen Hawking looks even more retarded without gravity.
1] Autolux- Future Perfect
-This album continues to blow my mind at every listen. Hands down favorite album of the decade. They don't tour very often, yet i've managed to see them almost 10 times in 4 different states. One of my favorite bands live because as painfully noisy as they can get, they always keep their mellow vocals.
2] Mastodon- Remission
-A friend turned me onto this band and I was shocked at how technical yet heavy their shit was. It was refreshing to hear a metal drummer actually bring something to the band. (Yeah, I'm talkin to you Lars Faggot) Tempo changes, weird timing, unique fills. Loved it
3] Electric Wizard- Dopethrone
- If you don't own and love this record we simply can't be friends.
4] Isis- Celestial
Overrated huh? Welp, see ya later!
5] Nine Inch Nails- With Teeth
-Who didn't see a nails record coming from me? Not my favorite album of his, but definitely a vital album for my list. I could easily go off on a tangent about this, but to sum it up this album inspired me in a million ways both musically and personally. Very important to his career and extremely inspiring to me.
6] Blink 182- Take off your pants and Jacket
- I don't care. This band got me into playing music and I will never deny that. Three best friends hanging out, skateboarding, talking about boobs? Sold! Never find myself listening to their music any more, and certainly not anything after this half assed album. When I grew up I realized quickly these guys are the definition of sell outs and my dog could write better records than them with only one paw. They also spawned about 30,402,349 shitty, awful, terrible fucking bands that I wish I never heard. That whole New Found Glory scene? Jesus christ. This band will always have a place in my cd collection.. just in a dark, very dusty corner somewhere. But they were vital to this list because they absolutely got me into playing music.
7] PJ Harvey- White Chalk
- My friend told me that if I was to check out PJ Harvey do NOT start with this album. It's too weird and unlistenable compared to her others I was told. The music on this album is outstanding. The way it was approached was perfect. Rather than staying on the instruments she was comfortable with, she strayed away and played instruments she knew nothing about, which as most musicians know picking up a new instrument is hard to put down. You can hear the excitement in learning the toys and experiments with her voice on almost every track. Just about every song made my hair stand up. I know you won't, but at least listen to album 30 times a day.
8] Tortoise- Beacons of Ancestorship
- A little embarrassing, but I knew nothing of this band until this record came out. Very inspiring musically. Saw them for free at Amoeba and was amazed. I like a band that's not afraid to not impress you right off the bat. It was almost annoying that they weren't flashy and or loud, but with this band it works out perfectly.
9] Russian Circles- Enter
-Right after hearing the first track this quickly became one of my most listened albums. Stations was cool, Geneva was.. their third record. Then about 30,492 shitty post rock bands came out. Bummer.
10] Eagles of Death Metal- Death by Sexy
- Let me stress, this list is in no order. If there was, this would be higher than 10. Jesse gave me this album personally in Cleveland after the drama from the show, along with the flamboantly wonderful DVD, Death by DVD just for recognizing him when he came into Spencers. That personal connection and interest in his project he made left me hard for weeks.
11] Queens of the Stone Age- Songs for the Deaf
-This band has continued to inspire me in ways only doctors can, yet won't explain.
12] Wire- Send
- Nothing like anything they've ever done. "Mr Marx's Table" was an instant favorite. Listened to this album a lot writing in LA.
13] Polyphonic Spree- The Beginning Stages of..
- I wish more albums flowed song to song and album to album like these records do. Can't think of many records like that. Made the listening experience an adventure. Main source of inspiration for my first album to do the same. Big thumbs up!
14] David Bowie- Reality
- Certainly not his best in my opinion, but a huge step for him musically. I own the Reality tour DVD and watch it twice a month. Best lineup of the band for both older and new material.
15] - The Bad Plus- Prog
- Fuck jazz. I don't know anything about it and I have no interest to get into it. Then I heard this band through Ryan and shit and pissed my pants instantly. Top 5 favorite drummers, hands down. Very tasteful playing all around yet still catchy and melodic. Thumbs way up
16] Municipal Waste- Hazardous Mutation
- I know I'm bummin some people out by not putting up Waste em' All instead, but on my essentials list we put things I like on it.
17] Dresden Dolls- Dresden Dolls
- My first time hearing this band was live. It was certainly a performance, which usually takes away from the music. Not with these guys. They did a cover of "war pigs" when I was there and it was awesome.
18] No Age- Losing Feeling
-This was quickly one of my favorite bands. Two piece that sounds like an 8 piece. Walls of sound and noise with catchy simply melodies. Also one of the loudest shows I've been to, which had been many.
19] Lightning Bolt- Wonderful Rainbow
- This should've been called Wonderful Album. This shit blew my mind hearing it. They blur the lines between bass guitar/synths/guitars.. all in one instrument done live. Very cool. Rob someone and use their money to buy their records.
20] Slayer- God Hates Us All
- I think this made everyones essential list. I thought I'd be the only one to have this on there because everyone calls it watered down and over produced. From start to finish this album punches you right in the throat.
21] Devo- Something for Everybody
- Title really says it all. Old and new listeners will find something to dig into on this record. I'd imagine writing new material in this band would be a task, but it's always pulled off flawlessly. I've always been into the catchy yet odd sounds and beats Devo has offered since they started off.
22] The New Regime- Coup
- I hated that I liked this as much as I did. This dudes my age and took Josh Freese's place in the last live lineup of NIN when I was living in LA and it bummed me out a lot. As lame as it sounds, it inspired me a lot and got me extremely motivated musically. Turns out he's actually extremely talented. His vocal melodies catch you off guard in a refreshing way and the songs are put together in a clever way. But I still think I'd be a better fit in nails than this dork. Cool hair, too faggot.
23] Turing Machine- A New Machine for Living
- Amazing. Each track takes you in a radically different direction entirely, within the same song. Each member can really show off, all done tastefully. A great instrumental band that sadly are no longer around after the death of their drummer Jerry Fuchs in 2009.
24] Tv Ghost- Cold Fish
- Anything on In The Red records is worth checking out. A more "known" act off the label is the Horrors. Didn't make the list but still worth checking out. This hasn't come out of the record player in my room since I purchased it. They also break tons of TVs live with mic stands. Buy their records
25] White Stripes- Elephant
- At first I didn't really get it. I had some friends into them and I really didn't give a fuck. But Jack White writes some pretty cool songs. They've mutated into something a little more epic than what they started, which defeats the purpose for me. This record kept it simple and kept the core around older blues and the instruments were very random.
This took longer than I thought.
-Novak