I'll hook you up tomorrow morning. I'm hopefully seeing them again on Saturday, fingers crossed.

Thanking you muchly :)

the plot to etc etc is one of my favorite bands, glad to see them being recognized.

It's the little interludes that do it for me, i mean Funeral Procession going into For Marcus is just inspired.
Safe to say i'm going to be listening to this a lot more, this rubbing me exactly the right way.

Stu, i bow down to you. This is one damn fucking good list.

plot to blow up the eiffel tower = awesome

great list so far, nice mix of chaotic/noisy stuff like Plot To Blow Up... and Part Chimp, and other things like Neu. Keep going!

This is a great list so far, The Cold Vein is excellent.

I'm in the middle of downloading Dissertation Honey. I'll give it a listen tomorrow.

19


I appreciate Pavement. A lot. This album is one of the best things to come out of the 90's and, whilst the band produced Wowee Zowee and Brighten The Corners are good, this is undeniably their magnum opus.

The reasons i love this album are, firstly, the lo-fi aesthetic; it gives the piece an amatuerish, personal feel that completely endears me to the music. In some parts it resembles the fall, in others the Velvet Underground, but it always retains an element of originality and dreamy pop sensibility. Its at times impassioned, at times introspective, at times aggressive, at times delicate, at times dark, at times joyous, but always compelling.

The songs are the other reason. Often i find an album gets by with the mood and/or atmosphere it conveys as a whole... the songs get lost in the entirety of it. Thats great, many musicians aim for that. But sometimes its nice to have a collection of songs that just grab you one after the other. This album does that for me, each track is strong and different, it would be silly to go selecting certain songs as highlights because each one has something to offer.

So there you have it. An album as influential as it is excellent. It opened the door for swarms of indie rock bands in the 90s, yet in its field in dont think it was surpassed and it remains a pinnacle of 90s music.

Cracking review! An album that never gets boring, to me it's like mum's cooking, everything that followed with lo-fi indie pretensions (except GBV) being equivalent to a dodgy kebab from one of those mobile trailers that park outside clubs at 3am. Really cheesy clubs too, like Oceana.

I strongly suggest you check out R. Stevie Moore, Stu, if you have't already :). The only Pavement album that comes close to this IMO is Wowee Zowee, simply for it's unhinged oddness. Oh and the two-disc reissues with booklets as thick as your arm are f*cking great.

ah Slanted, classic.

I bought the 2 disc reissue for a fiver. Money very well spent.

18


I've had this album for a while now. And i can safely say i havent once become tired of a single song from it.

Gospel are a band that, with this 2005 album, unleashed a brand of post-hardcore that completely blew me away on first listen. It is, in essence, lo-fi prog rock, which in itself is a compelling enough reason as to why you need to give this a listen. I dare you to find an album as relentlessy intense as this, its as if the whole album is building up to something bigger, it's a head-splatteringly heavy listen, yet also beautifully textured.

I feel the musicianship should be highlighted here. The drummer, for one, is insanely good. The band as a whole are technically masterful, its amazing listening to the instruments weaving around one another, occasionally colliding in a huge burst of aggression before dripping into an ethereal, instrumentally soft atmosphere.

There are certain songs that adhere to a more straight-forward hardcore formula, such as Paper Tigon and Redemption Fills The Emptiest of Hearts, whilst Golden Dawn is just a nine minute prog treat. Throughout the album though the bands skill and composition of the tracks just completely engrosses you.

Dense, technical and yet raw as fuck, this really is a gem of an album that, underpinned with the emotional aggression prevalent throughout the entire piece, deserves to be seen as a classic not only in its field, but generally. Probably wont be though unfortunately. They unfortunately broke up after its release but just think yourselves lucky they left this behind.

First listen and i've enjoyed it quite alot. However, i also sense i have a definite grower on my hands here. Nice.

just got round to checking out the Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower's Dissertation, Honey, i need loads more music like this - literate, spastic, progressive post-hardcore! The closest albums I have to this are Plague Soundscapes by the Locust and some ATDI, but that's about it. And even they don't have these amazing jazz interludes! I zaloot you sir Stu.

edit: the Kailani Amerson readings bookending the album... buenissimo!

Yeah, that was tight.

You should totally get Ultra Dolphins from the page before. (saw them last night, amazing.)

Yep Mar is excellent

will check them out!

On a different note I'm really anxious to see what the other albums are going to be, still quite a way to go! Chop chop, Stu

Gospel rule, shame they split up. Good work!

17


The reasons as to why i love this album are manifold. Released in 2003, i bought it unwittingly the same year. I'll be honest, the reason i got it in the first place was the front cover and the small description the seller had stuck in the corner. I was 16 at the time, musically ignorant to an extent and head-deep in a Libertines phase. I was becoming increasingly disenchanted to the music i was listening to so thought '**** it, lets take a chance with this, might be amazing'.

When i first listened to it, i hated it. Thought it was incoherent, sloppy and uninspiring crap. It wasnt until about a year later that i really got it. I began listening to it more and more until, one fateful day, i realised it was awesome. It consequently opened me up to a whole new avenue of music i'd constantly overlooked.

Another reason why i love this is the constant shifting in mood and theme. One minute the album will linger, creep and solemnly coil around your ears, then suddenly, sometimes in the same song, it will without warning blossom into this sun-kissed, deeply joyous pop that cannot fail in bringing a smile to your face. Child Star for example has about 3 sections to it, beginning in a somewhat mournful, dark chord progression before exploding into an angst-fuelled crunch of distorted guitar based around a quiet-loud dynamic. It ends quite inexplicably in a dainty, summery twee pop as the dual vocalists coo their hatred for another. You never know what direction the music is going to take, it never bores nor becomes predictable; the band are masters in creating perfect pop songs, merging electronica with garage rock and twee pop which they then proceed in injecting with a myriad of moods, instruments and themes.

The thing about this album is you have to realise they're not altogether serious. It's basically a parody, but what came of it (I think unintentionally) are 13 tunes that not only passes as great pop rock, but can be further appreciated for its subtle irony, socio-cultural commentary and exploration into the human condition. Bottom line though, it's a fantastic listen for its assortment of musical stylizationm, uniqueness, catchy tunes, and strangely intelligent wit.

Good to have a new entry Stu ^^ The song 'Jellybones' is one of my favourites on a mix I received the other week, they're brilliant and I know exactly what you mean about their multi-faceted pop songs creeping up on you. Said mix also had a song by Islands who it turns out are the current incarnation of the Unicorns' drummer and frontman... they're just as good, switching between glitchy indie and baroque pop in one song. Yay!
Sort of reminds me of the Super Furries...
Bloody twee Canadians!!

Nice to see you're still doing this, never got into THe Unicorns much though. They're not terrible but I never listen to 'em.

Yeah sorry i've been so busy lately, i really do want to complete this, cant wait to get to the top 10

Not too busy to vote no for zappa!:mad:

:laughing:

You know if I did this over someone voting no on a Radiohead poll I would probably get banned from MB.

slight difference between Zappa and Radiohead

I was more so taking a shot at the double standards of MB rather than comparing the two bands.

You wouldn't get banned, but everyone would probably jump up your asshole.

Haha, needless to say you wont see any Zappa on here.

17


Released in 1980, this album has been cited as a major influence to college rock bands of the mid to late 80's, notably REM.

The appeal of this album to me is its exuberance and the sheer energy oozing from every beat and hook. The opening track, The Boy With The Perpetual Nervousness, jitters along at a frenetic pace, the crisp, clean guitar trundling along with the driving percussion to convey the nervous energy the song title is referring to.

I feel this 'nervous energy' sums the album up succinctly, throughout the piece there is an urgency and pace, but it succeeds in delivering the music to the listener in an almost relaxed, sun-kissed manner - it's surprisingly easy to listen to.

Saying that, this relentless energy and pace does not render the album monotonous and over-simple. It is beautifully layered, the guitar work measured and delicate as the percussion adds a dynamic that pushes the music on. A highlight for me is Loveless Love, a song that slowly builds from a slow, reflective tangle of guitars into a pulsating, sorrowful damnation of love, its a beautiful song with excellent guitar work.

There are clear influences from Krautrock and The Velvet Underground on this album, especially in the percussion and Mercer's vocal delivery, its an album that can go from quiet reflection to all out energetic spasm in a second - it is a hugely emotive piece. There are annoying pauses in between songs, maybe thats just my version, but overall, this is an album you can really get lost in, the twin guitar work, at times angular and at others haunting, will soothe you to the core, whilst the drumming is hypnotising... it helps that every song is a melodic gem too.

No replies? You're all losers. This album rules. I remember I found this album through this forum, probably CA, like 3 years ago and I still love it. It's damn good.

I know these guys... kinda. There's a link to this very album on this blog I've got bookmarked, just never really been sure if it's worth getting. Judging by your review I definitely should.

Some great, albums on this list - keep 'em coming

The Feelies made a cameo in the movie Something Wild as a geeky uptight High School reunion band. They were good enough to make me check out the credits at the end of the movie.

I was ready to give up on this due to the lack of replies on the Feelies lol, my love for this album transcends time and space - glad somebody bumped it

lol stop moaning and...



:p:

I will as soon as, im struggling with a dissertation at the moment so everything else is taking a back seat

i haven't been here for ages so nay reply from me, but yeah - the feelies are awesome!

Stu, this is a great list. I'm listening to The Unicorns album right now and its awesome. Exactly my kind of thing. Good luck on the dissertation

good to see someone else who appreciates this album. one of my favorites for sure.

16


The eponymous 1995 album from this band, made of members from the equally impressive ViV Akauldren, is weird and wonderful.

At times replete with aggression and verve, at other times ambient, creeping, desparate and mournful - it attains this ethereal, unsettling and strangely alluring mood throughout its duration.

I cant remember the last time i listened to an album that caused me to become so detached from my perceptions and reality - if you focus on it and nothing else it really can take you to another, sometimes perturbing place beyond the realms of the explainable.

Musically, it sounds at times like Can at their strangest, Faust and Five Feet Hoses - all the while emanating from the same strange planet as Syd Barrett.

Its impossible to pick out stand-alone tracks, the music all blends into one big phantasmagoria of distant drones and echoes from the deepest chasms of space. That said, there is a beautiful vastness to each song and melody is present throughout - it isnt merely an atonal slab of noise passed off as experimentation. I strongly recommend it to anybody who enjoys such an experience, though i cant really recommend it enough and really want to place it higher... but i cant :(