My Favorite Bands

Stone Roses, Velvet Underground, the Replacements, New Order, Papa M, Teenage Fanclub, The Libertines, Wu-Tang Clan, Jesus and Mary Chain, Beach Boys, Neutral Milk Hotel, Manic Street Preachers, Angelo Badalamenti, Big Star, the Pogues, Bob Dylan, Black Tambourine, the Kinks, M. Ward, Gin Blossoms, Neil Diamond, Pharcyde, Louis Armstrong, Primal Scream, Two Ton Boa, XTC, Dukes of Stratosphear, the Bangles, the Go-Gos, Julee Cruise, Sloan, Polvo, Dinosaur Jr., Camera Obscura, Prince, Warren Zevon, Rolling Stones, Cheap Trick, (early) R.E.M., Shane MacGowan, Smoking Popes, the Ronettes, Big Black, Ian Brown, John Squire, Fountains of Wayne, Kraftwerk, Michael Jackson, Redd Kross, Dr. Dre, Nirvana, BeeQueen, the Doors, Slint, Syd Barrett, Simon and Garfunkel, Paul Simon, the Pastels, Nas, Andrew W.K., Mr. Bungle, Boxhead Ensemble, Dead Milkmen, Beatles, John Coltrane, John Zorn, Spacemen 3, (early) Weezer, Belle and Sebastian, Slowdive, Tarentel, Aphex Twin (SAWII), Brian Eno, Labradford, Aix Em Klemm, Bedhead, Bark Psychosis, Spiritualized, Windy and Carl, Zoviet France, the Strokes, Flashpapr, Mazzy Star, Talk Talk, Medicine, Thomas Koner, Stars of the Lid, Pink Floyd, I'm sure I'm forgetting a few here...

Some of My Favorite Records

Labradford - "Fixed :: Content", 2001

Quiet, eerie, and minimalist, listening to Labradford is like walking through a windy ghost town at night. Filled with scary and atmospheric ambience but simultaneously with soothing calmness, I have yet to find another band or album that can so easily capture the mood of the universe and cosmos as a whole. To me, the most impressive part about Labradford's instrumentation is that the band members know completely how to utilize space and silence. It has been said that the spaces between notes are just as important as, or perhaps more important than, the notes themselves. There is simply not another band that has understood this more fully than Labradford. Also seek out "E Luxo So" and "La Media Naranja."

Stone Roses - "Stone Roses" + B-sides, 1987-1989.

I simply can't say enough good things about the Stone Roses. It's amazing music that unfailingly lifts my mood and makes me feel happy to be alive. Their debut with the B-sides appended is quite possibly my favorite album of all time. Talk about songwriting; I think Ian Brown and John Squire could put just about any other songwriting duo or sole writer to shame. Maybe they're not the most original band in the world, but fuck it, they're my favorite. I've introduced the Roses to many of my friends, and since then, just about all of them have been obsessed with them at one time or another. For me, it's ongoing. I've been obsessed for almost 6 years now. I could listen to songs like "Mersey Paradise" and "This is the One" on repeat for hours and never get sick of them.

John Coltrane - "A Love Supreme", 1963

One of the greatest jazz records ever made. Just the first note alone sends shivers up my spine-- and I don't say that very often. I wish the vocal track had been removed though.

Slowdive - "Souvlaki", 1994

Unfairly compared to My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive is one of my favorite bands. Soft, lilting, and subtle, their songs are gorgeous, buried under layers of drone and atmosphere. All of their albums are significantly different from each other; this one is the most "song" oriented out of them, and is full of amazing and affecting tunes. However, their next and last album "Pygmalion" is also not to be missed.

Mazzy Star - "Tonight That I Might See", 1993

Incredibly beautiful and somber, this album makes me think of driving down a deserted highway at night without a care in the world. Perfect from cover to cover.

Gin Blossoms - "New Miserable Experience", 1992

People don't believe me when I say this is a great album. I think the Gin Blossoms get lumped in with bad shit from the 90s like Toad the Wet Sprocket and Candlebox, and maybe they deserved it for the follow-up to this album, but "New Miserable Experience" is a fucking great album from start to finish (one exception: "Hands are Tied"). If I were to compare this album to any season, it would definitely be fall. Something about the melancholia and the jangle. From hopeless and depressing ("Lost Horizons"), to hopeful and remorseful ("Hey Jealousy"), to sweetly melancholic ("Cajun Song"), to shameful and self-effacing ("Twenty-nine"), to angry and creepy ("Found Out About You"), to ridiculous and tongue-in-cheek ("Cheatin'"), there's a song that captures almost every mood. There's a sense of suspended adolescence here that, while encapsulating the traditionally bad qualities of high-schoolish lost-love and teenage desperation, still comes off as poignant and reflective rather than sophomoric and bratty. It's a real shame that guitarist Doug Hopkins, who wrote the best songs on the album, committed suicide shortly after the album's release-- although hearing the lyrics to "Lost Horizons," it doesn't seem all that surprising that it happened. But that's another story. Anyway, this album is awesome and don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise.

Aphex Twin - "Selected Ambient Works II", 1994

Whoa. To those who know Aphex Twin only by techno or drum and bass stuff, this is in a completely different league. Most of this is like floating in space all alone. Very ambient, sometimes unsettling, sometimes very beautiful. I read once that some people find this album unspeakably beautiful (like me), but some people find it frightening to the core of their being (some of my friends). I guess I can understand why the polarizing reaction. It's a lonely, desolate, remote, and spare album, but it's also very contemplative. Best track: "Blue Calx."

148 Great Singles, in No Particular Order:

Warren Zevon - Carmelita
Bob Dylan - Just Like a Woman
Pogues - Rake at the Gates of Hell
Two Ton Boa - Have Mercy
Minders - Hooray for Tuesday
The Rentals - These Days
Polvo - Sure Shot
D12 - Shit Can Happen
Neil Halstead - I Dreamed I Saw Soldiers
The Field Mice - Emma’s House
Bangles - Be With You
Blondie - One Way or Another
The Verlaines - Joed Out
Rod Stewart - Maggie May
Neil Diamond - Red Red Wine
Linda Scott - I’ve Told Every Little Star
Glen Campbell - Rhinestone Cowboy
Belle and Sebastian - String Bean Jean
Marc Cohn - Walking in Memphis
Velvet Underground - I'll Be Your Mirror
The Libertines - Boys in the Band
My Bloody Valentine - Soft as Snow (But Warm Inside)
Mazzy Star - She’s My Baby
Ghostface Killah - All That I Got is You
Shane MacGowan and the Popes - More Pricks than Kicks
Slowdive - Alison
Lou Reed - Street Hassle
Motley Crue - Too Young to Fall in Love
Goodie Mob - Soul Food
Ghostface Killah - Maxine
Jesus and Mary Chain - Taste of Cindy
Leadbelly - Cotton Fields
Azure Ray - November
The Libertines - Time for Heroes
Queen - Killer Queen
Nas - what Goes Around
Poster Children - He’s My Star
Meat Puppets - Lost
XTC - Towers of London
Velvet Underground - Sister Ray
Dukes of Stratosphear - Pale and Precious
Sweet - Little Willy
Alex Chilton - Hey Little Child
The Verlaines - Death and the Maiden
Mum - Green Grass of Tunnel
The Rolling Stones - Angie
Jay-Z - Big Pimpin’
Black Tambourine - Can’t Explain
Black Tambourine - Drown
Stompin’ Tom Connors - Real Canadian Girl
Joy Division - Atmosphere
Pavement - Here
The Libertines - Time for Heroes
Sam Cooke - Chain Gang
Fannypack - Theme from Fannypack
The Dovers - What am I Gonna Do?
Luniz - I Got 5 on It (Extended Remix)
Smoking Popes - Megan
Sloan - The Lines You Amend
Julee Cruise - Falling
Modern Lovers - I’m Straight
Spiritualized - Don’t Just Do Something
Cheap Trick - Surrender
New Order - Run
REM - Rockville
Big Star - September Gurls
New Order - Love Vigilantes
The Specials - A Message to You Rudy
Paul Simon - Boy in the Bubble
Pogues - Haunted
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Looking Out my Back Door
The Rolling Stones - Ruby Tuesday
Yo La Tengo - Your Yellow Sarong
Pastels - Leaving this Island
Guns N’ Roses - Estranged
Doors - Alabama Song
The Sundays - Here’s Where the Story Ends
Ronettes - Be My Baby
Tool - Prison Sex
James Iha - Country Girl
Mirah - Cold Cold Water
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Cotton Fields
Syd Barrett - Effervescing Elephant
AC/DC - Dirty Deeds
Johnny Cash - I Walk the Line
Cappadonna - Run
Teenage Fanclub - Don’t Look Back
The Who - I Can See for Miles
Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge over Troubled Water
Bob Dylan - From a Buick 6
Pink Floyd - Echoes
Ol' Dirty Bastard - Snakes
Big Black - Colombian Necktie
Primal Scream - Velocity Girl
Gravediggaz - Diary of a Madman
Rick Springfield - Jessie’s Girl
Genesis - Land of Confusion
Beatles - Two of Us
Method Man and Redman - Da Rockwilda
John Squire - Time Changes Everything
Wilco - Kamera
Dusty Springfield - I Only Want
The Shins - New Slang
Matt Ward - Color of Water
Billy Joel - Piano Man
Lou Reed - The Bells
Oasis - Supersonic
Lit - My Own Worst Enemy
Slowdive - When the Sun Hits
Strokes - Hard to Explain
Warren Zevon - Mr. Bad Example
Smashing Pumpkins - 1979
Stone Roses - This is the One
Manic Street Preachers - You Stole the Sun
Beach Boys - Surf’s Up
Elvis Costello - Chelsea
Neil Diamond - Desiree
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony - Budsmokaz Only
Fountains of Wayne - Valley Winter Song
Shangri-Las - Leader of the Pack
Pulp - Common People
Wu-Tang Clan - Good Thing We Brought the Glock
Ian Brown - Set My Baby Free
The Choir - It’s Cold Outside
New Order - Ceremony
Pogues - Bottle of Smoke
Arrested Development - Mr. Wendal
2Pac - Changes
Curtis Lee - Pretty Little Angel Eyes
Big Star - Way Out West
Kraftwerk - Hall of Mirrors
Papa M - Arundel
Big Star - Ballad of El Goodo
Pastels - Rough Riders
The Teenages - Why Do Fools Fall in Love?
Beach Boys - Help Me Rhonda
Sloan - The Marquee and the Moon
Gin Blossoms - Lost Horizons
The Faces - Ooh La La
Damn Yankees - High Enough
The Replacements- Skyway
Stone Roses - Love Spreads
Def Leppard - Bringin’ on the Heartbreak
Wham! - I’m Your Man
Todd Rundgren - Zen Archer
Little Eva - Keep Your Hands Off My Baby
Poster Children - Drug I Need
Belle and Sebastian - The State that I am In

[in progress]