Picks of the year... Every Year...
YOU CAN CLICK ON A TITLE TO LISTEN TO OR BUY IT
| Year | T&A | Commentary |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 |
To be determined.
Contenders: |
Alanis Morrisette: "Under Rug Swept", The Shroud: "In the Garden" |
2001 |
The Sleepover Disaster Staring at Nothing |
A hard decision this year: new music from New Order, Tool, Bjork, Depeche Mode, and more. Ultimately, thehyaena pick 2001 falls to a local Fresno band, whose music and scene has literally changed my life. Staring at Nothing is the best group of songs I've listened to this year. The fact that I've heard it all live time and again just makes it all the more intriguing and sexy. These guys are gonna be huge. You MUST own it! |
2000 | Deftones White Pony | The album's more than a year old, but still on heavy rotation on my player. I've got a major crush on Chino Moreno, and I think his voice is one of the most increadible in showbiz. O yes, he WILL be mine one day... |
1999 | Rinocerose Installation Sonore | House music made without a single keyboard. Extremely refreshing - perfect background music for my road trips. I saw them at Area:One with NewOrder in July, where they opened up main stage. Kicked Ass. |
1998 | Tom Waits Beautiful Maladies | Inspired to include this on heavy rotation by my visit to Monterey, where Waits and Steinbeck just seem to fit like a glove. Waits has a unique talent for avoiding all the cutesy park-like themes present in so much modern music. He needs to tour again... |
| 1997 | Just Desserts Give Up the Ghost | After I saw "Habit", the indie vampire flick by Larry Fessenden, I just fell in love with this disc. Sounds like a cross between coffee shop rock and Tom Waits shitkickin'. Some of the most impressive songwriting I've heard. |
1996 | Tool Aenima | This was the year I fell in love with Tool. Although I was never a very big fan of metal or hard rock, this disc saved the genre for me, and inspired me to seek out the sharper side of the music industry. I think Tool are so great because they are obviously a metal band, but accessable enough to avoid any sort of narrow subculture endoresement. This has definately paid off commercially for them. Stand-out track: "Hooker with a Penis": 'All you know about me's what I sold you/Dumb fuck/I sold out long before you ever even heard my name/I sold my soul to make a record/Dip shit/And you bought one...' |
| 1995 | Adham Shaikh Journey to the Sun | Part of the 1995 Instinct Ambient monthly series. My favorite disc from the series. It's the perfect trance album, and like much of the old Instinct line, is refreshingly devoit of anything resembling techno. |
1994 | Everything but the Girl Amplified Heart | Lots of people say EBTG sold out when they commissioned the remix of "Missing." I think it did wonders for them. This is the disc that started it all. Listening to it, you would never know that one of London's most influential and successful DJs would emerge from the humble acoustic facade of songs like "Rollercoaster" and (my favorite) "Walking to You". Even after nearly losing his life to Churg-Strauss Syndrome, Ben Watt maintains that beautiful, sweet melancholy which will always be the characteristic EBTG trademark. |
1993 | New Order Republic | Most New Order fans point to Republic as the least charateristic and most unlistenable New Order disc. But for some reason, it's my favorite. This disc solidified my love for New Order and confirmed that they were, are, and always will be my favorite band. "Liar" is the standout track, with its acidic references to the economic and emotional ruin which resulted from the deceptive and doomed life of Factory Records. A very 90s disc. |
1992 | Sugar Copper Blue | The first album I ever heard from the Bob Mould camp. I think Sugar had the best material Bob Mould ever put out, though Black Sheets of Rain is on my heavy rotation list as well. Copper Blue is a very Summer disc for me, and makes great traveling music. |
1991 | Electonic Electronic | Despite appearances by Pet Shop Boys on one of the tracks, this is a very good album. Bernard Sumner (and definately Johnny Marr) explore some of their most "dancey" material ever. However, I never really thought of the Electronic as a dance or techno band, and this has really been proven with their two subsequent studio endeavors. "Reality" remains my favorite track. 'I don't need you anymore/I'm not the man you're looking for' ad infinitum. |
1990 | Depeche Mode Violator | The disc that ended New Wave. Thank Gawd. Because they were sort of the figureheads of New Wave, the genre tended to mimick DM, and with Violator, they took a departure from the glammed up 80s style for a bit gothier/rockier road. Thus those who couldn't follow such a path simply fizzled out. I think this is also about the time that MTV stopped playing music videos. Coincidence? I think not. |
1989 | The Cure Disintegration | The best album ever by the Cure. I doubt you'll find a Cure fan who thinks otherwise. The emotional intensity of the disc and the track-to-track cohesiveness are unmatched on any other Cure album, and few other bands can even compete with the composing talents and broad imagery of such tracks as "Lullaby" and "Homesick". |
1988 | Morrissey Viva Hate | Morrissey's debut as a Professional Bastard. Morrissey is one of the few artists who can be mysterious, ironic, smart, deviant, snobbish, and self-effacing all at once, and not seem n any way pretentious. Actually, I think the fact that he's obviously being pretentious is why he commands such respect. It's hard to make fun of someone who's their own worst critic. |
1987 | New Order Substance | An essential part of any real music fan's catalogue. All of the most influential New Order tracks from 1981-1987, along with their b-sides on the second CD. I would say "Thieves Like Us" is my favorite, but then I realize that it's actually "True Faith", but then I realize that it's actually "Blue Monday", but then I realize that it's actually "Temptation".... |
1986 | The Smiths The Queen is Dead | It came out about 7 years before the fact, but this is the soundtrack to my First Love (and, consequently, my first rejection). I'll always be a bit hung up on that period in my life, unapologetically. It's such a personal album that I don't really feel that I have to explain much why I'm including it as a DID. It's still my favorite Smiths disc. I doubt it will ever have any competition. |
1985 | Einsturzende Neubauten Halber Mensch | Neubauten has a very interesting musical history. Despite their influence, they are relatively unknown, except around the real hardcore punks or krautrock crowds. This is their masterpiece, though I didn't discover it until I'd heard several other discs by them. However, Ende Neu definately offered immense competition. |
1984 | Everything but the Girl Eden | The debut from the pairing of Ben watt and Tracy Thorn. The lyrics throughout the album are very self-reassuring and liberating. I think this is the perfect soundtrack to a break-up, especially a mutual or self-initiated one. |
1983 | Bauhaus Burning from the Inside | An original of the species, Bauhaus demonstrates a culmination of the darker side of the late '70s goth-punk contingent. Nine Inch Nails managed to reproduce the effect to a small extent in the '90s. I think the music of this period and genre speaks for itself in terms of its impact on the listener. Those who don't go for it won't understand the profound effect it has on its true fans (but they're not hopeless - I've definately turned a few people on to Bauhaus/Joy Div/Banshees stuff - you must have to be ruthless about it!). |
1982 | Tracy Thorn A Distant Shore | Sparse and dreamy, you can combine this disc with Ben Watt's solo effort (North Marine Drive) and the Marine Girls tunes into a seaside soundtrack. Albiet for the cold seas. Thorn's acoustic deadpan rendition of the Velvet Underground's "Femme Fatale" is definately special enough to buy the disc for all by itself. |
1981 | The Cure Faith | Nothing could compete with Faith until Disintegration came along, as far as the Cure are concerned. "All Cats Are Grey" displays Robert Smith at his vocal and lyrical best, and the atmospheric superiority of the album is unique and very difficult to match for anything in the early '80s. |
1980 | The Specials More Specials | The Specials were among my first exposure to Ska. I think Let's Go Bowling does a better job at the genre, and in fact are themselves superior to genre-ism, but the Specials are somewhat a signature band for ska and the times it makes me remeniscent of. |
1979 | Joy Division Unknown Pleasures | What would become one of history's most legendary bands debuted when I was only 2 years old. Joy Division also contained three of the four members of what would end up my favorite band of all time: New Order. I'd point to Shadowplay as the stand-out track, though the whole disc is very cohesive and still listenable. |
1978 | Siouxsie & the Banshees The Scream | What I would consider the best disc to come out of Bromley's whole punk clan. Forget the Sex Pistols. This has not only the characteristic Brit-punk sound, but a darker and more refined aroma of talent - something noticebly lacking in much of the punk scene. Punks don't tend to mind this, but that's why I'm not a punk. |
1977 | Pink Floyd Animals | I was just born, but many years later I would realise that this was the best record released that fateful year. It remains my favorite Floyd disc. Dogs and Pigs have some of the most inspired lyrics ever written. |