fave albums, 95-91
#95 Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
I first discovered Bloc Party from them being on the Burnout: Revenge soundtrack. After sampling the rest of their music and getting their album, I got really really into them. Until this point I hadn't really gotten into a lot of the new wave of dance-punk indie-rock bands (Interpol, The Killers, The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand) but Bloc Party drew me in. Every now and then you'll find that one album that opens you up to an entire new genre that you had brushed off, that's what Silent Alarm did for me.
#94 Cave In - Jupiter
This was a strange album for me. At one point, I just had a single Cave In song that I had probably stolen off limewire at some point and I only listened to it in passing, as my wimamp moved from Cascade In Blue to The Chemical Brothers. The more I heard it, the more I liked and I slowwwwwly acquired the entire album. To this day, I've still never heard a band that sounds anything like Cave In. They take the best elements of alternative rock but change the structure around and add just enough texture to make something new. I would put them under the larger blanket of "space music" due to the album title and the huge open sound that the guitars make, but that would be selling them short. Soft and brutal at the same time, Jupiter was an album that showed me that presentation goes a long way, it's all about the details with this one.
#93 Jason Mraz - Waiting For My Rocket To Come
We all heard The Remedy, Jason Mraz's somewhat catchy single off this album. I tried to ignore it and simply brushed it off as "stupid radio music" but then You and I Both came out and I found myself unable to resist. Trying to still rebel as much as possible, I downloaded the album instead of purchasing it (bet you'll miss those $10 Jason!) and sat down and gave it a spin. It's good. This is a good CD. Jason Mraz is a different kind of songwriter. As someone whose spent more time than I'd care to talk about sitting in my room alone with a guitar in my hands, I can sympathize with the plight and difficulty of writing songs by yourself. As much freedom as you have, you lose so much without the compilation of other musicians. On Waiting For My Rocket To Come, every song is different and unique not just from each other but from all other singer-songwriters out there. Jason Mraz sometimes comes across as someone who might have succeeded better in the world of hip-hop had he picked up some turntables instead of an acoustic. The silly type of rapping he does has actually influenced me as a songwriter more than I'd like to admit, and while you guys will never hear those songs, they're out there.
#92 ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Worlds Apart
With their excessively long band name and instrument swapping antics, ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead are anything but your average rock band. There are hints of radio friendly melodies on here, but there's a lot more going on here. This is an album that speaks volumes of the collaborative process. With every song you can hear how this was unequivocally written as a group, as one being would have a hard time creating a catalog so diverse and multi-layered. To me, this was an album that made me curious to see how this band would perform live, and man, what a show they put on.
#91 The Hush Sound - Like Vines
When I was attending what I still believe to be the best concert I've ever been to(Panic At The Disco and The Dresden Dolls @ 930 Club on 6/28/06), there was an opening band that I was not familiar with, this band was The Hush Sound. After being rather enthralled with their performance, despite not having any previous familiarity with music, I decided this was a band that required further investigation. The music on this album feels instantly familiar but different enough to make you say "Why don't more bands have this sound?" endlessly catchy, with sad songs still being more upbeat than your average pop song, this is an album that's pretty easy to recommend to anyone.