1995 1995

Man, looking at my RYM list, I'm kind of taken aback by how much great shit came out this year.

I don't see anything particularly obscure among my highest rated stuff, though, so I'm just gonna run through favorites, especially since some of these are among my favorites of the '90s and of all time.

For starters:

Flaming Lips - Clouds Taste Metallic

The best Flaming Lips album, from when they were still a great guitar band. They don't seem able to recapture whatever it was they had going on here, even when they try to get back to psyche-rock like they did on Embryonic.


Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante

The weirdest, craziest, and best Mr. Bungle album.

Yeah, I've got a few favorites from this year, but I'll go for something slightly more obscure.

This is good old fashioned Dirty South, southern-fried ghettomusic. Appearances by Big Boi, Andree 3000, Sleepy Brown...and for those who like Cee-Lo Green/Gnarlys Barkley...this is where Cee-Lo got his start, as a rapper.


Goodie Mob - Soul Food

Mark Linkous debut and an incredible listening experience.



While not quite as consistent as later releases, Rick's debut packs a visceral punch.



Must be the year of the formal entrance. Top 50 all time.

I bought that Goodie Mob tape when I was 10 years old.

I'm a pretty incredible person.

I love the horrible typography on that Goodie Mob cover. Some of the worst in all of hip-hop, and that's saying something.

But yeah, I have that album, and it's great. Haven't listened to it in years, though.

Rancid - And Out Came the Wolves

By far the best album Rancid ever released and probably the only one I really like almost every song on. This might be my favorite album from the 90's.



Great power pop, nearly as good as "Girlfriend." My friends and I used to put "Sick of Myself" on repeat as a rally tune before hitting the bars.



Morphine - Yes

Not quite as good as "Cure for Pain" but this was my introduction to them and it came via a CMJ sampler. I probably subscribed to CMJ for a couple of years after i stopped liking it just hoping for another find like this. Still haven't ever found any other band that scratches the same itch and provides the same mood.



Gene - Olympian

Of all the bands that got tagged with the next Smiths in the early 90's, Gene seemed most deserving. Unfortunately, they only had a few good albums. I played the hell out of this one though.

this is awesome.

I listened to A LOT Freshman year in college. Along with that Rancid Album and:

Scary american blues filtered through a fuzz buzz coupled with biblical imagery, loss and Captain Beefheart references. Whoa.



As an aside, I've tried numerous times to get into her new record. It's well executed and the songs are decent but I have no real desire to put it on. I don't mind dreary but 'Let England Shake' turns me into a formless somnambulistic being.

+1 on the Matt Sweet.

Amazing year, as already evidenced above. I'm sure I can add to this when I get a chance to reflect.

Rocket From The Crypt - Scream, Dracula, Scream!

I think RFTC reached their peak with this record. Just a great set of straight ahead (albeit with horns) rock tunes.

^yes

also:



Still have yet to hear Tilt, but thanks to toot's thread, I've been getting back into listening to Scott Walker lately.

Also those Sparklehorse, Son Volt, and PJ Harvey albums are favorites.


Edit: and I meant to quote Chavez and Mike Watt from Dave's post, too.

Phew. Not much to add. Started a never-ending divorce that year, so my attention was focused elsewhere. ShaMoxie just put up one of 3 that I would mention, so the other 2 are:



Vic Chesnutt/ Is The Actor Happy?-Maybe his strongest total album.



Bottle Rockets/ The Brooklyn Side- Worth it for $1,000 Car alone, the rest of the album is grab-a-bottle-of-Jim-Beam- and-get-your-ass-up terrific.

(that last one is Sons of Freedom Tex - an odds 'n' ends collection)

Ian Hunter's Dirty Laundry

Hunter's first foray in the studio following the death of Mick Ronson, this was more a band project than a solo album despite the name in the title. Featuring the Sex Pistols' Glen Matlock, the Boys' Casino Steel and Honest John Plain, and the UK Subs/Godfathers/Dogs D'Amour's Darrel Bath, with Hunter singing lead on only half of the songs, this was great, Stonesy rock n roll album that deserved much wider circulation.

And while I'm speaking of "Stonesy"....



The Chesterfield Kings - Let's Go Get Stoned

Sometimes the line between homage and parody is as blurred as Let's Go Get Stoned's cover art. Chesterfield Kings singer Greg Prevost does a deadly accurate Mick Jagger imitation, mixed with such exaggerated helpings of funny and cruel that it's hard to untangle his intent. But the music behind him (Nuggets-worthy R&B-based garage rock vainly grasping for the stars) kicks as hard as the Stones in '66, so his intentions get to have it both ways: tribute and parody. Come to think of it, the greatest moments of the Stones themselves tend to straddle that same fence. Nicely done.

In my all-time top ten. Wonderful and diverse and warm and cool and EVERYTHING all in one album.

I'm sure I'm in the minority, but this has become the Wilco record I reach for most.



Toze - +1 on The Bottle Rockets & VChesnutt

Rads - Thanks. I need to investigate The Chesterfield Kings

On the one hand I don't know if it's essential because I think the 2nd half of the album coasts to the finish line. On the other hand the first half is gem after gem - some of the best "alternative rock" the 90s had to offer.

and i'll throw in one more because i'm feeling nostalgia about my college radio days:

That Moby album is pretty much the epitome of all of the electronic music that I hate.

On the other hand, 1995 was ground zero for some excellent electronic stuff:


Aphex Twin - I Care Because You Do
Mouse on Mars - Iaora Tahiti
Autechre - Tri Repetae
µ-Ziq - In Pine Effect
Boards of Canada - Twoism

I dig all those Drinky, though i much prefer U-ziq's Lunatic Harness/Brace Yourself releases that come out a few years after.

Yeah, in the case of all of those, I think they were improved upon by their follow-ups, but they're great in their own right, too.

That's what I meant by "ground zero". I didn't want to say it, but it's sort of the birth of IDM. Squarepusher's first release, the Conumber EP also came out that year as did Wagon Christ's Throbbing Pouch and the three Plug EPs which are all awesome. I've always heard those as part of the compiled Drum'n'Bass for Papa so I didn't have them listed as '95.