Best indie rock album 1995 - 2004

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i think you guys were right about indie

do you guys die if your bodies don't release snark every 42 seconds?

Sorry, either you have to love every single album on that list or think the entire list is terrible. This is ILM, there is no in-between.

was a time i'd ride heavily for three-quarters of that list, but looking at it now i just feel tired. changing tastes sunrise sunset etc etc

DIG. ME. OUT.

rejoicing in the hands is alright but like most guys i prefer rejoicing in the mouth

either nmh or interpol

i'll go w/ nmh

Lifting skinny fists is alright sure but like most guys i prefer fisting skinny lifts

tbh and not really snarky i guess if you want to think about the virtues and successes of indie as a genre you'd best avoid the most popular indie records of any era

DIG. ME. OUT.

― Little GTFO (contenderizer), Tuesday, 17 January 2012 00:18 (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

sung tongs is alright but like most guys i prefer hung mongs

[ducks]

I'd be pretty OK with hearing Le Tigre, either S-K or Alien Lanes in a public place in 2012.

The only two I listen to now are NMH and Le Tigre so those.

Neon Golden

Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One

not to be a pain in the ass but this poll crosses two eras that are pretty distinct in my mind

but also i love lots of these so it will be hard to pick for that reason too

i know very few of the albums in the second era, so voting on that part would be hard -- i'd probably go with cat power.

or the ratpure; that was a great record.

top ten for me

Dig Me Out
Electr-O-Pura
The Argument
LeTigre
Turn On The Bright Lights
Franz Ferdinand
Wowee Zowee
I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One
Alien Lanes
Internal Wrangler

not as invested in hating my past self as a lot of people itt, most of these albums are good

whoops, missed girls can tell. would put that between heart and alien

oh! and destijl should be in there too. Plenty of chewy personal canon goodness here.

NMH then wowee

Franz Ferdinand

Hmm, probably NMH, but I haven't listened to that in a few years. I think the one I've played most recently is "Lift Yr Skinny Fists".

Like or even love a bunch of these albums, though many of my onetime favorites have dulled through overfamiliarity. For every De Stijl or Alien Lanes that I'll probably leave unplayed another half decade, there's a Neon Golden or Le Tigre that I'd be happy to hear right now.

the postal service, easy

my pox: emergency & i, one chord to another, either/or, red medicine, in the aeroplane, mass romantic, wowee zowee, moon pix, dig me out, the argument

Own:
Calexico - The Black Light
Clinic - Internal Wrangler
Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
Yo La Tengo - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out

Own bits on a compilation:
Guided by Voices - Alien Lanes
The New Pornographers - Mass Romantic
Yo La Tengo - Elect-O-Pura
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One

Sold:
Sloan - One Chord to Another

I went with Clinic as it was the one I was most excited by at the time and has had the most repeat plays I imagine.

No 69 Love Songs, no credibility.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Excellent list. Wowee Zowee.

This is de Stijl vs. Internal Wrangler for me

Will have to think about this.

albums I can be all "oh ho hum INDIE. SIGH." about on this list, either due to ignorance or to actual disdain: Dusk At Cubist Castle, NMH, both Mogwais, Calexico, Godspeed, New Pornographers, Notwist, Animal Collective, Devendra. Everything else I dig at least one song from, though Red Medicine is my least favorite Fugazi album and the cult around The Microphones baffles me beyond some neat production and "The Moon".

Dismemberment Plan.

For the drums alone.

otm

this is where i'm obligated to say that album has aged horribly :(

love the argument
wouldn't mind listening to de stijl or Interpol or low
lol u can tell when I started listening to indie

my shortlist:

b&s - sinister
ylt - i can hear the heart
s/k - dig me out
mogwai young team
clinic - wrangler
new porn - mass romantic
spoon - gct
interpol - bright lights

a lot of these albums, even some of the better ones, have aged horribly. this whole period of indie was full of production styles that only seemed like a particularly good idea for like 2 years.

i don't think it was production--i just cannot deal with travis anymore

yeah i mean i can see that too -- i feel more that way about malkmus personally

lot of frontmen are like that friend from high school who seemed really funny and smart at the time but now you're like oh my god how do you not shut up

hahah yup.

Regardless of genres or affiliations 'I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One' would rate highly in my personal top 20 albums from the 90s. 1997 was one of the raddest years I've experienced music-wise.

ban darin

I pulled out Internal Wrangler not long ago and was shocked by how good it still sounds. Didn't at all expect it to improve with age, but it has. I probably play other albums on this list more, but as an object to admire, I guess I go with Wrangler.

I still love Neon Golden, If You're Feeling Sinister, Oh Inverted World, and The Meadowlands. I like a bunch of the others, too. But I can't not pick NMH.

I'm seeing Jeff Mangum next week, too.

wow cool

ban darin

― HOOS steen is it anyway? (Lamp), Monday, January 16, 2012 8:03 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

?

you saved lamp's life by giving him an opportunity to release some snark

:D

lol @ noted chillwave defender lamp riding into this thread

its a dumb list and blue chip indie is like the no. 1 worst topic to discuss on ilx also i basically just did this thread on saturday so

you did?

tbh dude you should just be thankful you didn't get a lot of "ban lamp" off that thread and just keep your head down

anyway a quick pox: the glow, pt. 2 if you're feeling sinister give up F#A#∞ mass romantic things we lost in the fire internal wrangler sung tongs neon golden lift yr skinny fists...

first four are really fantastic records the last six records less so but i think those microphones cast a long shadow over the ensuing decade and unjustly overrated for how hermetic and emotionally gauche they are

the microphones successfully predicted how many horrible one-dude indie bands would come to exist although to his credit elvrum actually played music instead of dicking around on a laptop

you forgot to mention his 'annoying voice' in that super insightful post

i was hoping the guy from the Microphones name was Mike Raffonze or something

hah his voice was the least of his problems xp

anyway lamp as usual i'm slightly confused about what you meant--you're saying it's a great record despite being hermetic and emotionally gauche? (replace great with good and i'd basically agree)

well it was a confusing post bcuz its missing two or three words i meant underrated - by critics/history/ppl - because its a p boldfaced and corny record. but id argue its one of the most 'influential' records on that list and also really beautiful

oh ok yeah underrated makes a lot of sense as compared to overrated.

i would agree with all that w/out passing judgment on whether that influence turned out to be a good thing

TV On The Radio for me.

alien lanes all day every day

Things We Lost In The Water

Either Wowee Zowie or One Chord To Another even though no one will vote for either of these.

Oh wait I missed Alien Lanes

The Argument rules also.

The Postal Service can GIVE UP alright... ON LIFE.

The Shins - Oh, Inverted World
Low - Things We Lost in the Fire
Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It in People
Spoon - Kill the Moonlight

I also like these but would not vote for any of them... Interpol being the best out of these 5.

Of these, Dusk At Cubist Castle. A good number of the albums stand up fairly well today.

2004 is a good cutoff since the most heralded indie records post-2005 have been fucking awful.

Well half of them anyway.

Yeah, I felt it indie was an actual genre, then it ran it's course by 2004. In retrospect, I wish I would have done 94-03. The last 5 songs on the list feel kind of tacked on.

think either/or is the best of these by some distance

F#A#∞

This is a pretty good list, voted Alien Lanes in a heartbeat though.

There are definitely albums from the same era from some of these bands which I'd take over the choices here (e.g. Twin Cinema over Mass Romantic, Change over Emergency & I - also End Hits is far and away my favourite Fugazi album).

haha not surprised that Luna didn't make this list.

I still love a lot of these records and listen to them consistently, but for sheer front to back awesomeness it's either "Dig Me Out," "Mass Romantic" or "Kill the Moonlight."

Probably "Mass Romantic," although if it was "Electric Version" instead, it would be that in a walk.

I went with Wowee Zowee.

Interpol, Belle & Sebastian (Sinister) and Spoon (Kill The Moonlight) would be close behind.

I'm the side of ILX that went "be still my heart <3" reading some of this list. Never did get into Neutral Milk Hotel. To be contrary, and since I knew no one else would, I'll be that lone Modest Mouse vote, even if I did hover over every Belle & Sebastian nom.

Either Wowee Zowie or One Chord To Another even though no one will vote for either of these.

― billstevejim, Tuesday, January 17, 2012 1:53 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i almost voted for Sloan but yeah they're pretty underrated in this lot. you are tripping if you don't think this board isn't gonna give a lot of votes to Pavement, though.

Voted Wowee Zowee

seems funny terror twilight is on here but not Brighten the corners, thought the latter got far better press than the former.

1999 was a much weaker year than 1997 for this kind of thing, though

b-b-but the soft bulletin!

Kill The Moonlight should get a bit more love, folks.

oh wait, is this some kind of "no majors allowed" list? would explain twilight beating bulletin and Keep it Like a Secret

ah, just what i figured: Brighten The Corners is #1428 on the Acclaimed Music all-time rankings, and Terror Twilight is at #1708

hmmm so the lips, magnetic fields and bonnie prince billy are in the 1999 overall top 5, the definition of "indie rock" must be pretty strict here

also SIGUR ROS

aaaand I missed that Built To Spill was specifically named checked in the first post as disqualifed for major label status

1999 really was the first year that i really felt like 'ok this stuff is not as central to my taste as i thought a couple years ago, it's just a bunch of bands i already like past their prime and some really iffy new ones'...and then every year since then.

i always thought lambchop and tortoise were "indie rock" and would seem to qualify for Millions Now Living and Nixon but to be fair I can't tell you what either sound like now.

shari lewis was a sellout iirc

I wish somebody would explain to me Phil Elvrum the Great (and also Terrible)

I voted for Neutral Milk Hotel pretty much reflexively.

the YLT album that's spelled rong

I'd put any of these on right now and listen to them happily:

Teenage Fanclub - Grand Prix
Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One
Belle and Sebastian - The Boy with the Arab Strap
Godspeed You Black Emperor! - F#A#∞
The Dismemberment Plan - Emergency & I
Mogwai - Come on Die Young
Clinic - Internal Wrangler
Yo La Tengo - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out
Fugazi - The Argument
Spoon - Girls Can Tell
Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It in People
Spoon - Kill the Moonlight
The Notwist - Neon Golden
Cat Power - You Are Free
The Rapture - Echoes
Animal Collective - Sung Tongs

Argh, meant to delete Come On Die Young.

Voted Kill The Moonlight though, as it makes me want to strut.

stuck between Low, Fugazi, and GBV

You can definityle see this list decline as you read down.

I always get Mogwai and Fugazi confused because I really don't give a crap about either of them

captain, u will be demoted to deck hand for that

I wish somebody would explain to me Phil Elvrum the Great

This probably doesn't help a single bit, but the one time I saw Mount Eerie and there was this weedy guy singing about surviving in the wilderness and conversing with the wind and his friends the gophers and whatnot and I had a fleeting vision of this gentle warrior, Phil Elverum, as the Timothy Treadwell of indie rock.

how could you confuse mogwai w/fugazi?

guy picciotto's eyebrows make him look a little like gizmo, i guess

I had a fleeting vision of this gentle warrior, Phil Elverum, as the Timothy Treadwell of indie rock.

I think maybe what I was trying to say here was...

*ejects Microphones from cassette player*

"...you must never listen to this tape"

wait, so red medicine and the argument are here but end hits isn't?

i'll take all of the fugazi records and the meadowlands and that's it

oh, sorry, didn't read that you picked these based on ratings

probably between these three for me

Pavement - Wowee Zowee
Guided by Voices - Alien Lanes
Yo La Tengo - Elect-O-Pura

spring of 95 matador! heady days for 16 year-old me.

xppppp

I always get Fugazi and Mogwai confused because I don't remember much about either of them and their names both have 6 letters and end in 'i'

don't forget 'g' as third letter

Voted NMH because the lack of Flaming Lips albums caused me to say 'eff it'.

I have heard exactly one of these albums in its entirety

hilariously, it's a Godspeed! album

I think I would really liks Spoon from what I remember of them but the biggest problem I have with most of these bands is that I completely forget what they sound like about 10 minutes after I've heard them, unless I absolutely hate them

Phil Elverum, as the Timothy Treadwell of indie rock.

Ohhhh I see. I do recall seeing him play 'unplugged' while barefoot on top of a cinderblock while wearing dirty yellow snowpants. It didn't really turn me off the records so much, but I was relieved to see him playing with a band again.

le tigre debut still owns bones

I was gonna say Geraldine Fibbers - Lost Somewhere Between the Earth and MY Home... but it was on a major.

That being the case, where are Blonde Redhead and Unwound?

melody of certain damaged lemons is way better than most of these, it's true!

Agreed. Thank you.

Pavement - Wowee Zowee
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Pavement - Terror Twilight
The White Stripes - De Stijl
The Shins - Oh, Inverted World
Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It in People
Spoon - Kill the Moonlight
Arcade Fire - Funeral
Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
Animal Collective - Sung Tongs

voting Funeral

and 1B is In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

haha this is the perfect ilm poll

a) these 10 years of albums were all the same tbh
b) this stuff was okay when i was a kid; now it's so contrived
c) fucken hipsters splooging on their mensa cards amirite

like or love all these, favorite probably being YLT-ichthbao

Pavement - Wowee Zowee
Yo La Tengo - Elect-O-Pura
Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister
Belle and Sebastian - Tigermilk
Sleater-Kinney - Call the Doctor
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One
Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Belle and Sebastian - The Boy with the Arab Strap
Godspeed You Black Emperor! - F#A#∞
Le Tigre - Le Tigre
The New Pornographers - Mass Romantic
The White Stripes - De Stijl
Yo La Tengo - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out
Low - Things We Lost in the Fire

I wish somebody would explain to me Phil Elvrum the Great (and also Terrible)

he made some music

he wore snow pants

'its all a rich tapestry'

Alien Lanes vs LCW vs E&I for me, voted for LCW for purely emotional reasons. there's no sense in mulling over a poll like that. btw that list looks a bit strange imo, it would really use cutting out everything after, say, 2001

yeah, I wish I would have put some more thought in this and altered the polling years to more like a 93-02 sort of thing but here we are

I've been having fun making playlists on Spotify and listening to this stuff chronologically. You can really hear a shift in tone around 2001.

What pains me about these polls is reading everyone's favs. I keep thinking "really? How could you? How could everyone?". I know taste in music is purely subjective but that's not going to stop me from frowning when I see Pavement or NMH outrank Nirvana or Belle and Sebastian. Seeing stuff like Animal Collective getting tons of love is also one of the reasons why I hate pitchfork. (Not a good reason mind you; I should be more ashamed when I express disdain for other people's music taste. Although p4k isn't any less guilty of expressing music prejudice).

Pitchfork's slogan might as well be "Welcome to the most popular indie hangout. If pavement (or animal collective..) isn't your kind of music then you won't fit in here (or with other popular indie scenes). Our reviews provide accurate ratings because most indie fans (hipsters..) agree with us."

Now you could probably make a similar slogan for any other music review outlet but p4k has always been enveloped in an air of snottyness that makes their favoritism that much more in your face. P4k has always basked in elitism - perhaps most noticeable by their need to (non-jokingly) rank every god damn thing that comes to them

don't worry Cap, everyone thinks your taste sucks too

lol @ "or Belle and Sebastian"

xp

Let me guess, you're standing up for the 4-eyed v-necks everywhere. And by everywhere, I mean you hipster types are everywhere

And yes, if you don't like one of those B&S albums more than one of those pavement albums then congratulations you're in the 99%

Pitchfork's slogan might as well be "Welcome to the most popular indie hangout. If pavement (or animal collective..) isn't your kind of music then you won't fit in here (or with other popular indie scenes). Our reviews provide accurate ratings because most indie fans (hipsters..) agree with us."

lol well you've got to admit this is a pretty catchy slogan

more slogans should have bracketed asides running off into ellipses

Those aren'r part of the slogan. They are my asides

always fascinated by the spectacle of an indie fan berating other indie fans for being snobs

Yeah, but they're a group of snobs who agree with each other but not him. Also they have more sex and go to more parties.

And yes, if you don't like one of those B&S albums more than one of those pavement albums then congratulations you're in the 99%

i was never good at math

I think I rather occasionally chew out hipster snobs for being off the mark than having to silently take in their unbridled praisings of the utmost crap 1 more time.

hey, someone's gotta do it

Thank you. Goodnight

omg i have owned every single one of these save Sloan, Postal Service, and Death Cab.

I really loved the Microphones song 'Oh Anna,' but could never find anything else like it. Any recommendations, Pitchforkians?

I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One over B&S.

b) this stuff was okay when i was a kid; now it's so contrived
c) fucken hipsters splooging on their mensa cards amirite

So Mookie, what is the music that speaks to you now that you're a mature adult?

Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven

Man if NMH wins this poll too...

hahaha no kidding

No worries: I'm definitely going to vote for Walt Mink!

Ok I voted Elliot Smith since Either/Or is his best album, and the only record on this list that I own or have ever owned.

Clinic.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

young team

yankee hotel foxtrot

Notwist over NMH. Also, I can't believe how many of these I still listen to.

i hear these all the time at coffee shops around pdx. i've actually picked up and left certain establishments when they started playing that NMH record. i will probably not go back to those places. also i wld prob leave if i heard death cab, bright eyes, the postal service, or the shins.

i'm pretty ok with the other stuff, voted wowee zowee cause i thought it would have a chance to take this thing but i think my favorite of this bunch is actually olivia tremor control

I will always love you:
Pavement - Wowee Zowee
Guided by Voices - Alien Lanes
Mogwai - Young Team
Godspeed You Black Emperor! - F#A#∞

These are pretty good too:
Calexico - The Black Light
Le Tigre - Le Tigre
Animal Collective - Sung Tongs
Devandra Banhart - Rejoicing in the Hands

Video Games:
The Notwist - Neon Golden (always thought it was kinda soulless and overrated)
Mogwai - Come on Die Young (massive disappointment at the time)

The rest I never got het up about either way.

A+ headers there

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

lol

eww

voted for lclinic btw

the Clinic album is at least more interesting sonically than NMH, which I pretty much never feel compelled to listen to these days

a driven farfisa compact is one of the most beautiful sounds in the world

Hundreds of votes in this thing eh?

i don't remember what i voted for -- perhaps 'i can hear the heart beating as one'? (btw 'electr-o-pura' > 'and then suddenly . . .')

'girls can tell' should have gotten a vote tho

yeah it should have

lol I was the only vote for Le Tigre.

That Clinic is good but BEST?!

I'm really surprised it got 9 votes!

list was pretty north american-centric

i'm surprised too but i can't complain--it's really good!

I saw Jeff Mangum last week and now I wish I could change my vote.

J/k, it was an emotionally conflicting experience, though.

That Clinic album? Oh it totally is. I like them a lot. They're great live too - I think I saw them 2 or 3 times.

x-post

the clinic album has aged a lot better than most of these

Just noticed no built to spill, archers, or superchunk on this list

I know ಠ_ಠ

tbf the best albums from the archers/superchunk were perhaps pre-1995

built to spill's absence is less defensible

this has been discussed, and is stated in the OP - built to spill aren't here b/c they were on a major

kinda crazy how many things got votes

Oh MP - good point.

so was the death cab album, with several matador records being iffy

nah death cab didn't go major until the album after that

results take me back to one of my first thoughts upon finding ilm: "wow, these people really like clinic"

cat power got robbed. microphones i would rep for too, but guess the weird cult has died down. that all being said i probably would have repped for d-plan

i agree that neon golden was a little dry and overrated, but i still like it

also am i seriously getting a vibe that ppl are ashamed of these albums now? for real? i find these have basically ALL aged well. i mean, nany sound dated but it's like dated in a nice way

haha all 50 of these albums have aged well?

lol i said "basically all"... some are real stinkers although probably were at the time too. the rapture, yuck. but yeah, pretty much all the albums i was a fan of at the time, i am still a fan of now.

I still fuck w the rapture

Built to spill started on C/Z and Theres Nothing Wrong With Love is better than half this list and was on Up...also the Shins signed to a major and are on this list

Also, late period archers and chunk is underrated

'there's nothing wrong with love' is from '94

late period chunk is underrated

agreed

95-onward superchunk is my shit

shins also went major well after the album on this list

huh, i'd say 1993-2000 are probably my biggest "indie" years, but i haven't even heard the godspeed, the clinic and the low albums that made the top 10.

indie rawk has just always been terrible hasn't it. i thought it was a more recent phenomenon but no. yo lo tengo, ugh!

i voted for yo la tengo, they are probably my favorite band :'(

electr-o-pura the only ylt album i really like. i voted for internal wrangler, it's a really fun record. listen to it more these days than wowee zowee, alien lanes, lonesome crowded west, which i listened to more back in the day.

am i alone in thinking that girls can tell (like most spoon albums actually) peters out terribly on side 2.

great top 2!

That NMH album is interesting for me: I fucking hated it on first listen and grew to love it.

I have never heard that Neutral Milk Hotel album. I think I'll check it out.

The Microphones - The Glow, Pt. 2 0

not cool ilm, not cool

2nd half of girls can tell is great. KTM is the only spoon album where i feel like it falls off towards the end.

i voted NMH. clinic is prob my fave UK album on here, maybe young team. but i would put wowee zowee, lonesome crowded, emergency & i and poss both gybe ahead of them. the spoons, the s-ks, arcade fire, elliott smith and interpol not too far behind. will rep for cody and the glow.

I saw Jeff Mangum last week and now I wish I could change my vote.

J/k, it was an emotionally conflicting experience, though.

― St3ve Go1db3rg, Monday, January 30, 2012 7:45 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

what do you mean by that? i saw him last week too

i dont think that postal service record will ever live down its reputation but its still a solid indiepop record and im kinda glad at least one person voted for it

i dont think that postal service record will ever live down its reputation but its still a solid indiepop record and im kinda glad at least one person voted for it

it's ok. i think the track he did with styrofoam >> all the postal service stuff, maybe he should have done a whole record with the styrofoam dude

gibbard that is

what do you mean by that? i saw him last week too

Well, I wrote a lot of words about it, but I guess the TL;DR is that the songs were the same as they ever were and I still love them, and it was cool to hear Jeff play them in person, but he's older and doesn't quite have the fire that he used to, and I wish he'd had a band to carry him instead of just the massive goodwill of the audience, especially at $35 a ticket.

yeah that sounds m/l like my experience

I'm probably due for another listen to the NMH album, but yeah way stoked to see Clinic score so high

Someone has got to tell me what's the appeal of NMH. Sometimes I feel like I'm being trolled when people say they love it. Although I guess that if I didn't get it back then I wont get it now.

Also used to love the Notwist album and I really haven't felt like listening to it since... probably 2005. Everytime I try to dig it out I get bored and skip to something else.

Although that statement could apply to 80% of the albums in this list.

So here's my stupid analogy. In a way most of the albums on this list feel like past lovers. Yeah you had good moments, some of them make you feel embarassed and others genuinely happy when you bump into them in a random place but you don't really feel anything for them anymore.

Except for Clinic and Yo La Tengo. I'd definitely give them a guilt-free-reminiscing-bang whenever I get the chance.

i liked a lot of um "alternative" music in these years, particularly in the 90s, and none of it is represented here, lol. cat power is about the only artist on this list i can stand and i'm surprised those albums didn't get more votes.

Who do you like Lex?

TBF this is a very US-centric list and not my own view of indie rock in the '90s. Most of these bands I discovered in hindsight during the 2000s.

Oh I see - misread this as being a nineties-only poll. This makes more sense.

Glad to see Sung Tongs get 6 votes. Starting to think my fandom of this band hinges entirely on that one album and then a few deep cuts, mostly off of EPs. In retrospect I've really wanted to like the more recent albums but I'm starting to admit they're pretty dud. That Panda Bear album from this year was pretty good though.

Someone has got to tell me what's the appeal of NMH. Sometimes I feel like I'm being trolled when people say they love it.

This. I listened to it a couple of years ago and it sounds like a template for a load of shite awful 00s bands. So I guess it was an influential sack of crap, if nothing else.

I hated it the first time I heard it - "Sounds like a rubbish busker!" but yes it is a very powerful record and a real grower. You do have to get used to his voice, but after that there's a very emotionally charged and imaginative record bubbling near the surface. I love the use of brass and saw instruments which give it this (I'm gonna say it) "steampunk" quality. There's tracks like "Oh Comely", a very powerful song which was recorded in just one practice take but deemed good enough for the record proper. The lyrics are conceptually different from pretty much anyone before or after... I dunno, it's just a really good album that takes a few goes to get into..

this got 166 votes one of the most ever of ILM

maybe we should do more Acclaimed Music polls

Comparing this list to a 85-94 equivalent would provide some laughs

fuck, a 90-94 equivalent even

lot of closeted indie fans up in this bitch