Ask and ye shall receive (eventually).
My votes:
1) Bobby Conn (S/T)
2) Space Needle - Moray Eel Eats the Space Needle
Omissions:
Bobby Conn * Bobby Conn (Truckstop)
Laika * Sounds of the Satellites (Too Pure)
Walt Mink * Colossus (Deep Elm)
Arto Lindsay * Mundo Civilizado (Bar/None)
Amon Tobin * Bricolage (Ninja Tune)
Cornershop * When I Was Born For the 7th Time (Luaka Bop/WB)
Los Fabulosos Cadillacs * Fabulosos Calavera (BMG)
Richard Horowitz & Susan Deyhim * Majoun (Sony Classical)
Radio Tarifa * Rumba Argelina (World Circuit)
Tortoise * Remixed (Tokuma/Thrill Jockey)
Squarepusher * Hard Normal Daddy (Warp)
Wyclef Jean * The Carnival (Columbia)
Sleater-Kinney * Dig Me Out (Kill Rock Stars)
The Flaming Lips * Zaireeka (WB)
Portishead (London)
Labradford * Mi Media Naranja (Kranky)
Buena Vista Social Club with Ry Cooder (Nonesuch)
Joseph Arthur * Big City Secrets (REal World)
Jim O'Rourke * Bad Timing (Drag City)
Natacha Atlas * Halim (Nation)
Cul De Sac & John Fahey * The Epiphany of Glenn Jones (Thirsty Ear)
Carlinhos Brown * Alfagamabetizado (Metro Blue)
Arto Lindsay * Hyper Civilizado (Gramavision)
Robert Wyatt * Shleep (Thirsty Ear)
Yo La Tengo * I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One (Matador)
Richard Buckner * Devotion + Doubt (MCA)
Stereolab * Dots And Loops (Elektra)
Susana Baca (Luaka Bop)
X-Ecutioners * X-pressions (Asphodel)
Sixteen Horsepower * Low Estate (A&M)
Patti Smith * Peace & Noise (Arista)
Mogwai * Young Team (Jetset)
Eleventh Dream Day * Eighth (Thrill Jockey)
Death In Vegas * Dead Elvis (Time Bomb)
Casolando * Iliana: Carlos Ortega & his Latin Combo (482 Music)
The Handsome Family * Through The Trees (Carrot Top)
Fernanda Abreu * Raio X: Revista E Ampliada (EMI)
The Walkabouts * Nighttown (Virgin)
Archer Prewitt * In The Sun (Carrot Top)
Pavement * Brighten The Corners (Matador)
Erykah Badu * Baduizm (Universal)
Orang' * Fields And Waves (Echo)
u-Ziq * Lunatic Harness (Astralwerks)
Cheikh Lo * Ne La Thiess (World Circuit)
Mouse On Mars * Autoditacker (Thrill Jockey)
Pram * Music For Your Movies EP (Too Pure)
Helium * The Magic City (Matador)
Super Furry Animals * Radiator (Creation)
Khaled * Sahra (Island)
Talvin Singh * Anokha: Soundz of the Asian Underground (Quango)
The Notwist * 12 (Zero Hour)
Palace Songs * Lost Blues And Other Songs (Thrill Jockey)
Blur (Virgin)
Kool Keith * Sex Style (Funky Ass Records)
DJ Krush * Milight (Mo' Wax)
Howie B * Turn the Dark Off (Elektra)
Electric Company Plays Amnesia (Supreme/Island)
Roni Size * Reprazent: New Forms (Mercury)
The Orb * Orblivion (Island)
David Holmes * Lets Get Killed (Go! Beat)
Entombed * To Ride, Shoot Straight And Speak The Truth (Music for Nations)
Modest Mouse * The Lonesome Crowded West (Up)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds * The Boatman's Call (Reprise)
The Lonesome Organist * Collector of Cactus Echo Bags (Thrill Jockey)
Aphex Twin * Come To Daddy (Sire)
Trans Am * Surrender To The Night (Touch & Go)
Godflesh * Love And Hate In Dub (Earache)
The Delta 72 * The Soul of a New Machine (Touch & Go)
Cash Money * Black Hearts and Broken Wills (Touch & Go)
Kid Loco * A Grand Love Story (Yellow/East)
The Flaming Stars * Sell Your Soul To The Flaming Stars (Vinyl Japan)
Vinicius Cantuaria * Sol Na Cara (Rykodisc)
Gravediggaz * The Pick, the Sickle and the Shovel (Gee Street)
Red Red Meat * There's A Star Above The Manger Tonight (Sub Pop)
Mick Harvey * Pink Elephants (Mute)
Rex * Rex 3 (Southern)
Emperor * Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk (Century Media)
Grandaddy * Under The Western Freeway (Will/V2)
The Dismemberment Plan * Is Terrified (de Soto)
Timbaland & Magoo * Welcome To Our World (Atlantic)
The Wedding Present * Singles 1995-97 (Cooking Vinyl/spinART)
Lake of Dracula (Skin Graft)
Lambchop * Thriller (Merge)
Cesaria Evora * Cabo Verde (Nonesuch)
Virginia Rodrigues * Sol Negro (Natasha)
Jim White * Wrong-Eyed Jesus (Luaka Bop)
Royal Trux * Sweet Sixteen (Virgin)
Dimmu Borgir * Enthrone Darkness Triumphant (Century Media)
The Gothic Archies (Magnetic Fields) * The New Despair EP (Merge)
Rainer Maria * Past Worn Searching (Polyvinyl)
Today Is The Day * Temple Of The Morning Star (Amphetamine Reptile)
Ganger * Fore (Domino)
The Bottle Rockets * 24 Hours A Day (Atlantic)
Space Needle * The Moray Eels Eat the Space Needle (Valley)
The Sea And Cake * The Fawn (Thrill Jockey)
Primal Scream * Echo Dek (Reprise)
Primal Scream * Vanishing Point (Reprise)
Catherine Wheel * Adam and Eve (Mercury)
P.W. Long's Reelfoot * We Didn't See You On Sunday (Touch & Go)
Badawi * Jerusalem Under Fire (ROIR)
Belle & Sebastion * If You're Feeling Sinister (The Enclave)
Buddy Miller * Poison Love (Hightone)
Beth Orton * Trailer Park (Dedicated)
Bis * The New Transistor Heroes (Grand Royal)
Dinosaur Jr. * Hand It Over (Reprise)
Carlos Vives * Tengo Fe (EMI Latin)
Stars of the Lid * The Ballasted Orchestra (Kranky)
Teenage Fanclub * Songs From Northern Britain (Columbia)
The Verve * Urban Hymns (Virgin)
Fatboy Slim * Better Living Through Chemistry (Astralwerks)
Erykah Badu * Baduizm (Universal)
Helium * No Guitars EP (Matador)
Photek * Risk Vs. Reward (Virgin)
Autechre * Chiastic Slide (Warp)
Te Vaka * Pacific Music (Arc)
Boymerang * Balance Of The Force (Astralwerks)
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci * Barafundle (Mercury)
Banco de Gaia * Big Men Cry (Planet Dog/Mammoth)
The Apples In Stereo * Tone Soul Evolution (spinART/Sire)
HIM * Interpretive Belief System (WordSound)
Bardo Pond * Lapsed (Matador)
Kid Loco * A Grand Love Story (Yellow)
Doldrums * Acupuncture (Kranky)
Spectrum * Forever Alien (Space Age)
Daft Punk * Homework (Virgin)
Amp * astralmoonbeamprojections (Kranky)
Luna * Pup Tent (Elektra)
Tranquility Bass * Let The Freak Flag Fly (Astralwerks)
The Jayhawks * Sound Of Lies (American)
Hurricane #1 (Creation/Sire)
Steve Earle * El Corazon (WB)
Various * Spawn The Album (Immortal/Epic)
DJ Food * Refried Food (Shadow)
Atari Teenage Riot * Burn, Berlin, Burn (Grand Royal)
Tindersticks * Curtains (London)
Mike Nicolai (Tramp Art)
Moloko * Do You Like My Tight Sweater? (WB/Echo)
Moby (Voodoo Child) * The End Of Everything (Elektra)
Rockers Hi-Fi * Mish Mash (WB)
Panasonic * Kulma (Blast First)
Common * One Day It Will All Make Sense (Relativity)
Company Flow * Funcrusher Plus (Official/Rawkus)
Prodigy * The Fat Of The Land (Maverick)
Polvo * Shapes (Touch & Go)
Ani Difranco * Living In Clip (Righteous Babe)
The High Llamas * Hawaii (V2)
The Chemical Brothers * Dig Your Own Hole (Astralwerks)
Claw Hammer * Hold Your Tongue (and say apple) (Interscope)
Bob Dylan * Time Out Of Mind (Columbia)
Busta Rhymes * When Disaster Strikes (Elektra)
Ry Cooder * The End of Violence Soundtrack (Outpost)
Spanish Fly * Fly By Night (Accurate)
Souled American * Notes Campfire (MoII)
Whiskeytown * Strangers Almanac
Run On * No Way (Matador)
Wabi Sabi (a-Musik)
Wuhling * Extra 6 (Touch & Go)
The Bottle Rockets * 24 Hours A Day (Atlantic)
Dwindle * Recently Okay (Guilt Ridden Pop)
Rainer Maria EP (Polyvinyl)
Scorn * [zAndEr] (Invisible)
The Grifters * Full Blown Possession (Sub Pop)
Faith No More * Album Of The Year (Slash/Reprise)
Mahmoud Ahmed * Soul Of Addis (Earthworks)
Ween * The Mollusk (Elektra)
Low * Songs for a Dead Pilot EP (Kranky)
Harmony Rockets * Golden Ticket EP (Big Cat)
BMX Bandits * Theme Park (Creation)
Dirty Old Man River (Radial)
Slipstream * Be Groovy Or Leave (Primary/Che)
A New January * After Clothes (Negative Nine)
Cranes * Population Four (Dedicated)
Sneaker Pimps * Becoming X (Virgin)
Cibo Matto * Super Relax EP (WB)
Fleetwood Mac * The Dance (Reprise)
Waco Brothers * Cowboy In Flames (Bloodshot)
Waco Brothers * Do You Think About Me? (Bloodshot)
Kim Richey * Bitter Sweet (Mercury)
Travis * Good Feeling (Independente/Epic)
Shaggy * Midnite Lover (Virgin)
Polara * C'est La Vie (Interscope)
Acron 2 * The Beckoning (Reinforced)
The Apples In Stereo * Tone Soul Evolution (spinART)
Bad Livers * Hogs on the Highway (Sugar Hill)
Baltier Space * Capsul (Turnbuckle)
Banyan (Cyberoctive)
Blowpipe * First Circle (Needlework)
Bowery Electric * Vertigo (Beggars Banquet)
The Brian Jonestown Massacre * Give It Back! (Tangible/Bomp!)
In Flames * Whoracle (Nuclear Blast)
Broadcast * Work And Non Work (Warp)
Bush Tetras * Beauty Lies (Mercury)
Neal Casal * The Sun Rises Here (Glitterhouse)
Children Of Dub * ESP (Magick Eye)
Chocolate In The Sun * Snowpony EP (GoAhead)
Coldcut * Let Us Play! (Ninja Tune)
Carl Craig * More Songs About Food & Revolutionary Art (Planet)
Crescent * Electric Sound Constructions (Touch & Go)
Los Crudos * Canciones Para Liberar Nuestras
The Crystal Method * Vegas (Outpost)
Catie Curtis (Guardian)
Dead C * Tusk (Siltbreeze)
Bill Dixon * Vade Mecum II (Soul Note)
DJ Muggs * Presents The Soul Assassins
Johnny Dowd * Wrong Side of Memphis
Alec Empire * Destroyer (Cargo)
John Fahey * City Of Refuge (Tim/Kerr)
John Fahey * Womblife (Table of the Elements)
The Fall * Levitate (Artful)
Lee Feldman * Living It All Wrong (Pure/Mercury)
The Firm All Stars (Aftermath/Interscope)
Flying Saucer Attack * New Lands (Drag City)
Foetus Symphony Orchestra & Lydia Lunch * York (Thirsty Ear)
The Frogs * Starjob EP (Mercury)
Frontier * Heater (Southern)
Edith Frost * Calling Over Time (Drag City)
Funky Porcini * Let's See What Carmen Can Do (Ninja Tune)
Fushitsusha * The Time Is Nigh/A Death Never to Be Complete (Tokuma)
Warren G * Take a Look Over Your Shoulder (Def Jam)
Geraldine Fibbers * Butch (Valley)
Grooverider * Diverse Artiesten (Prototype)
Ground Zero * Null & Void (Nani)
David Grubbs * Banana Cabbage, Potato Lettuce, Onion Orange (Table of the Elements)
Guided By Voices * Mag Earwhig! (Matador)
Half Japanese * Bone Head (Alternative Tentacles)
The Halo Benders * The Rebel's Not In (K)
The High Fidelity Orchestra (Wayside)
Hovercraft * Akathisia (Blast First/Mute)
Danielle Howle & The Tantrums * Do a Two Sable
Huffamoose * We've Been Had Again (Interscope)
Huun Huur Tu * If I'd Been Born An Eagle (Shanachie)
Isotope 217 * The Unstable Molecule (Thrill Jockey)
Ivy * Apartment Life (Atlantic)
Jessamine * Another Fictionalized History (Histronic)
Jhelisa * Language Electric (Dorado)
Jungle Brothers * Raw Deluxe (Gee Street)
Paul K & the Weathermen * Life's A Gas (Alias)
Iman Khanbangeshi * Debut Recording
David Kilgour And the Heavy Eights (Flying Nun)
Kid Koala * Scratchhappyland (Ninja Tune)
King Cobb Steelie * Junior Relaxer
King Kong * Kingdom of Kong (Drag City)
Kumari * Irogami (Radio Argot)
Bill Laswell * City Of Light (Sub Rosa)
Lukas Ligeti & Beta Foly (Intuition/Allegro)
Licorice Roots * Melodeon (MoodFood)
Locust * Morvis Light (Seefeel)
Lotus Crown * Chokin' On the Jokes (Reprise)
J Majik * Slow Motion (Infra Red)
Man Or Astro-Man? * Made From Technetium (Touch & Go)
Barbara Manning * 1212 (Matador)
Eric Matthews * The Lateness Of The Hour (Sub Pop)
Kaffe Matthews * cdAnn (Annette Works)
Medeski, Martin and Wood * Shack-Man (Gramavision)
Medeski, Martin and Wood * Bubblehouse (Gramavision)
The Melvins * Honky (Amphetamine Reptile)
Baader Meinhof (Hut/Caroline)
Method Man * T2 (Def Jam)
Microstoria * _snd (Thrill Jockey/Mille Plateaux)
Microstoria * Reprovisers (Thrill Jockey)
Paul D Miller * Viral Sonata (Asphodel)
Mr. Quintron * The First Two Records (Bulb)
MJG * No More Glory (Suave/Universal)
The Mommyheads (DGC)
The Monorchid * Let Them Eat the Monorchid (Dischord)
Roy Montgomery * Winter Songs (RB)
R.B. Morris * Take That Ride (Oh Boy)
The Mountain Goats * Full Force Galesburg (Emperor Jones)
Mouse On Mars * Cache Coeur Naif EP (Thrill Jockey)
Movietone * Day And Night (Drag City)
Number One Cup * Wrecked By Lions (Flydaddy)
Oblivions * Play 9 Songs with Mr. Quintron (Crypt)
Will Oldham * Joya (Drag City)
Oxbow * Serenade in Red (SST)
Panacea * Low Profile Darkness (Force Inc.)
Papas Fritas * Helioself (Minty Fresh)
William Parker & The Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra * Sunrise in the Tone World (Aum Fidelity)
Pegboy * Cha-Cha Damore (Touch & Go)
Photek * Modus Operandi (Virgin)
Plaid * Not For Threes (Warp)
Portastatic * The Nature Of Sap (Merge)
Praxis * Transmutation Live (Douglas)
Req * One (Skint)
Reservoir * Pink Machine (Zero Hour)
Salaryman (City Slang)
Salt Licks * Trust Your Body (Entropic)
Savage Aural Hotbed * Pressure Of Silence (UltraModern)
Scanner * Delivery (Earache)
Paul Schutze * Nine Songs from the Garden of Welcome Lies (Tone Casualties)
The Scissor Girls * Here Is The "Is-Not" (Atavistic)
The Sea And Cake * Two Gentlemen EP (Thrill Jockey)
Seely * Seconds (Too Pure)
Silkworm * Developer (Sub Pop)
Luke Slater * Freek Funk (Novamute)
Slobberbone * Barrel Chested (Sonic Rendezvous)
Smog * Red Apple Falls (Touch & Go)
Son Volt * Straightaways (WB)
Songs * Ohia (Carrot Top)
Space Explosion (Captain Trip)
Tobin Sprout * Moonflower Plastic (Welcome To My Wigwam) (Matador)
Storm & Stress (Touch & Go)
Sub Dub (Instinct)
Sub Dub * Dancehall Malfunction (Asphodel)
Swell * Too Many Days Without Thinking (Beggars Banquet)
Third Eye Foundation * Ghost (Touch & Go)
Tone Rec * Thugny-Trugny (Sub Rosa)
To Rococo Rot * Veiclulu (City Slang)
Transient Waves (Che)
Jen Trynin * Gun Shy Trigger Happy (Squint/WB)
Tsunami * A Brilliant Mistake (Simple Machines)
U.S. Maple * Sang Phat Editor (Touch & Go)
Vainqueur * Elevations (Chain Reaction)
Various * Pakistani Soul Music
Volebeats * Sky and the Ocean (Safe House)
We * As Is (Asphodel)
Wellwater Conspiracy * Declaration Of Conformity (Third Gear)
Windy & Carl * Antarctica: The Bliss Out Vol. 2 (Darla)
Radiohead - Ok Computer
Quote:
Using the textured soundscapes of The Bends as a launching pad, Radiohead delivered another startlingly accomplished set of modern guitar rock with OK Computer. The anthemic guitar heroics present on Pablo Honey and even The Bends are nowhere to be heard here. Radiohead have stripped away many of the obvious elements of guitar rock, creating music that is subtle and textured yet still has the feeling of rock & roll. Even at its most adventurous — such as the complex, multi-segmented "Paranoid Android" — the band is tight, melodic, and muscular, and Thom Yorke's voice effortlessly shifts from a sweet falsetto to vicious snarls. It's a thoroughly astonishing demonstration of musical virtuosity and becomes even more impressive with repeated listens, which reveal subtleties like electronica rhythms, eerie keyboards, odd time signatures, and complex syncopations. Yet all of this would simply be showmanship if the songs weren't strong in themselves, and OK Computer is filled with moody masterpieces, from the shimmering "Subterranean Homesick Alien" and the sighing "Karma Police" to the gothic crawl of "Exit Music (For a Film)." OK Computer is the album that establishes Radiohead as one of the most inventive and rewarding guitar rock bands of the '90s.
Built to Spill - Perfect from Now OnQuote:
Not many groups would take a major-label contract as a cue to put out an album where the shortest song is still a radio-unfriendly five minutes in length. For that listeners can thank their stars that Built to Spill isn't like many groups and Doug Martsch not like many artists. Perfect From Now On manages the amazing trick of being the band's best album to this point, Martsch and company using the opportunities for larger budgets and distribution to create an album at once inspiring and quietly emotional, not the easiest combination to pull off. With drummer Scott Plouf and bassist Brett Nelson as the other core performers, plus second guitarist Brett Netson and cellist John McMahon as key guests, the result is astounding all around. The length of the songs allows the band to create uniquely post-everything mantras, blending psych trances and drones, post-punk airiness and flow, and Martsch's affecting, tender singing and lyrics into a whole. Martsch's high tones and the guitar passion here helped fuel further comparisons to Neil Young — to pick out one moment, consider the closing minutes of "I Would Hurt a Fly," feedback peeling out over the rhythm and strings — but the Boise musician is his own man through and through. Selecting standout moments from such a solid disc almost defeats the purpose, but many examples still deserve further notice. "Stop the Show" builds to a dramatic, but not in the least bit hammy, shift from a roaring wash to a quick, clipped pace; Martsch's vocals and further sudden tempo switches are the icing on the cake. "Velvet Waltz" indeed plays at that musical pace, McMahon's playing and Martsch's heartbreaking, lovely lyrics and singing the core of a incredible song. "Untrustable/Part 2 (About Someone Else)" concludes a simply fantastic record.
Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In SpaceQuote:
Spiritualized's third collection of hypnotic headphone symphonies is their most brilliant and accessible to date. Largely forsaking the drones and minimalistic, repetitive riffs which have characterized his work since the halcyon days of Spacemen 3, Jason Pierce re-focuses here and spins off into myriad new directions; in a sense, Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, with its majestic, Spector-like glow, is his classic rock album. "Come Together" and the blistering "Electricity" are his most edgy, straightforward rockers in eons, while the stunning "I Think I'm in Love" settles into a divided-psyche call-and-response R&B groove, and the closing "Cop Shoot Cop" (with guest Dr. John) locks into a voodoo blues trance. Lyrically, Pierce is at his most open and honest: The record is a heartfelt confessional of love and loss, with redemption found only in the form of drugs — designed, no less, to look like a prescription pharmaceutical package, Ladies and Gentlemen is pointedly explicit in its description of drug use as a means of killing the pain on track after track. Conversely, never before have the literal implications of the name "Spiritualized" been explored in such earnest detail — the London Community Gospel Choir appears prominently on a number of songs, while another bears the title "No God, Only Religion," pushing the music even further toward the kind of cosmic gospel transcendence it craves. A masterpiece.
Wu-Tang Clan - Wu-Tang ForeverQuote:
The Wu-Tang Clan's long-awaited second album, Wu-Tang Forever, arrived to great anticipation, and the double-disc set does not disappoint. Where contemporaries like 2Pac and the Notorious B.I.G. issued double-discs cluttered with filler, Wu-Tang Forever is purposeful and surprisingly lean, illustrating the immense depth of producer RZA and the entire nine-piece crew. Each rapper has a different lyrical style, from Ol' Dirty Bastard's bizarre rants to Raekwon's story sketches, and RZA subtly shifts his trademark style for each song, creating an album of cinematic proportions. There are no great musical innovations on the album, since the Wu-Tang's signature blend of skeletal beats, scratchy samples, eerie pianos, and spectral strings remains intact. Yet the music is more nuanced and focused than ever before, balanced equally between scary soundscapes and darkly soulful tracks. The result is an intoxicating display of musical and lyrical virtuosity, one that reveals how bereft of imagination the Wu-Tang's contemporaries are. [Also available as an Australian import.]
The Notorious B.I.G. - Life After Death
[quote]It may have taken the Notorious B.I.G. a few years to follow up his milestone debut, Ready to Die (1994), with another album, but when he did return with Life After Death in 1997, he did so in a huge way. The ambitious album, intended as somewhat of a sequel to Ready to Die, picking up where its predecessor left off, sprawled across the span of two discs, each filled with music, 24 songs in all. You'd expect any album this sprawling to include some lackluster filler. That's not really the case with Life After Death, however. Like 2Pac's All Eyez on Me from a year before, an obvious influence, Biggie's album made extensive use of various producers — DJ Premier, Easy Mo Bee, Clark Kent, RZA, and more of New York's finest — resulting in a diverse, eclectic array of songs. Plus, Biggie similarly brought in various guest rappers — Jay-Z, Lil' Kim, Bone Thugs, 132295
