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A Flock of Seagulls ‘A Flock of Seagulls’ (1982)
When you think of 1980’s New Wave music the song “I Ran (So Far Away)” is pretty much required to pop into your head. A Flock of Seagulls, the British rocker’s debut album, was a defining moment for New Wave as a whole and is chock full of all the things that make the genre…
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Rainbow Kitten Surprise ‘RKS’ (2015)
Rainbow Kitten Surprise was quite the surprise (yes, pun intended) for me when I flipped on their album RKS yesterday. It was suggested to me by someone in January when I was collecting album recommendations for my one album per day listening project and ended up on a spreadsheet unattributed. Put another way, I have…
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Blink-182 ‘One More Time…’ (2023)
Yesterday Blink-182 released One More Time…, their first album with Tom Delonge since 2011’s Neighborhoods, closing a 12-year hiatus that saw the band go through a rather tumultuous breakup that roiled through the music industry. The personal challenges between Delonge and bassist Mark Hoppus and drummer Travis Barker have been well chronicled, but effectively the…
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The Streets ‘Original Pirate Material’ (2002)
British hip hop has always been a sort of guilty pleasure of mine. As a high schooler my brother and I had a side project called “The Wankers” where we threw down silly rhymes and rapped in faux British accents, a project based off our shared love for the wonderfulness of the British accent and…
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Nina Simone ‘Wild Is The Wind’ (1966)
When I first heard Wild Is The Wind it caught me completely off-guard. It was a beautiful summer morning in sunny Northern California, I was driving the kids to daycare, and they were in an exceptionally good mood giggling in the backseat. I was feeling inspired after a night out where I met about 30…
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Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats ‘Self-Titled’ (2015)
I’ve mentioned before my love for Nathaniel Rateliff and his booming baritone and why it’s made him one of my most beloved contemporary singers. His solo album And It’s Still Alright from 2020 was a pivotal pandemic album for me that helped get through all the wild ass confusion that swallowed us all during that…
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Cartel ‘Chroma’ (2005)
The late 90’s through the mid aughts were a five year period that defined pop punk. You had Blink 182’s Enema of the State, Sum 41’s All Killer No Filler, and Green Day’s Dookie that by and large defined the genre, and then the variety of subsequent offshoots which took that formula and tweaked it…
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Harry Styles ‘Harry’s House’ (2022)
Members of boy-bands going on to illustrious solo careers is somewhat of a rare bird. You have some standout examples like Michael Jackson (Jackson 5), Justin Timberlake (*N Sync), and George Michael (Wham!) who went on to be megastars that made people forget they were ever anything but a solo artist, but in general it’s…
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The Detroit Cobras ‘Mink, Rat or Rabbit’ (1998)
The Detroit Cobras were part of the wave of Detroit garage rock that exploded in 2001 when The White Stripes released White Blood Cells and brought that glorious back-to-basics fuzz all over the world. The Detroit Cobras were a similar throwback. Comprised entirely of cover songs from America’s golden age of rock and roll during…
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Cat Stevens ‘Tea for the Tillerman’ (1970)
Cat Stevens (now known as Yusuf Islam) is a pivotal figure in folk rock history, both for his serene songwriting compositions as well as his decision in 1979 to leave his musical career at its zenith and devote himself to educational and philanthropic causes in the Muslim community after converting to the religion two years…
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George Strait ‘Strait From The Heart’ (1982)
George Strait is the epitome of old school classic country. Possessing a crystal clear voice and a backing band that’s solid as nails, Strait rolls through his vintage brand of country music effortlessly during 10 songs that span an efficient 29 minute runtime on Strait From The Heart. This was the album that put Strait…
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Goose ‘Dripfield’ (2022)
It’s rare that a jam band can translate what makes them special throughout the course of an entire studio album. There’s something that is indelible about witnessing a live performance from a band like Goose or Grateful Dead that transcends the experience of listening of music through headphones– the buzz of spontaneity that permeates the…
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Will Smith ‘Big Willie Style’ (1997)
Long before Will Smith became infamous for losing his mind and slapping Chris Rock onstage at the Academy Awards, he had cultivated a public persona of being a gentle soul and a generally stand-up guy. All those things can be true at the same time of course (as Walt Whitman once said “I am large,…
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James Bay ‘Chaos And The Calm’ (2014)
James Bay’s Chaos And The Calm was seemingly everywhere during the mid 2010’s– his husky emotive voice, dreamy clean guitars, and comfortably simple arrangements made him a household name, especially once “Hold Back The River” hit radio airwaves and launched him into a full blown superstar at the age of 24 years old. Bay isn’t…
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James Brown ‘Live At the Apollo’ (1963)
For decades James Brown was America’s preeminent showman and The Apollo Theater in Harlem was America’s preeminent live music venue. It’s only natural that these would come together in the fall of 1962 for Brown’s first live album and the first live album ever recorded at the Apollo. It’s soul dynamite packed into a tidy…
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Lou Reed ‘Transformer’ (1972)
Few artists have embodied the essence of New York cool in the way Lou Reed did. With a deadpan delivery espoused subject matter which challenged society’s conventions at every turn, Reed’s brand of sex, drugs, and rock n roll always felt like a bit of an art project put on by a neurotic socially awkward…
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Zach Bryan ‘American Heartbreak’ (2022)
It’s not often you get a non-compilation triple album, but there’s nothing really normal about Zach Bryan’s rise to fame. A U.S. Navy veteran who enlisted at the age of 17, Bryan rose to prominence five years ago the way so many breakthrough artists are nowadays– through a viral YouTube video. This led to his…
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Korn ‘Follow The Leader’ (1998)
There was a moment in music history where Korn owned the MTV airwaves alongside fellow nu-metal compatriots Limp Bizkit. So it only makes sense that Korn’s breakout album Follow The Leader (which celebrated its 25th anniversary last month) would feature none other than the red backwards hat wearing Fred Durst on “All In The Family”,…
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The War and Treaty ‘Healing Tide’ (2018)
The War and Treaty is a a wife-husband duo comprised of Tanya Trotter and Michael Trotter Jr. Their debut album Healing Tide is a wonderful throwback to traditional country music with elements of Memphis soul and blues music blended into their sound. The vocal performance of Tanya and Michael is the true highlight of this…
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Elvin Bishop ‘Struttin’ My Stuff’ (1975)
Elvin Bishop has a long and storied history in the blues genre, sharing the stage with such icons such as The Allman Brothers Band and The Grateful Dead. An original member of Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Bishop was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the 2015 class as a member of…
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Minutemen ‘Double Nickels on the Dime’ (1984)
Double Nickels on the Dime is a massive album comprised of 45 songs. Yes, you read that correctly. And as you’d expect with such a prolific output it covers a wide range of influences from hardcore punk to jazz to funk. The best way I can describe them to people unfamiliar with their material is…
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Del Water Gap ‘Del Water Gap’ (2021)
Del Water Gap is the solo project of Brooklyn based musician Samuel Jaffe. His self-titled debut is a nostalgia-soaked collection of 12 songs that delights in surprising you at every turn in a charming way that Indie Pop is known for. There’s a slight 90’s alternative hum buzzing underneath the surface that finds its way…
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Local H ‘As Good as Dead’ (1996)
Local H is predominantly known for their smash 90’s alternative rock single “Bound For The Floor” which is about as mid-90’s grunge as you can get– staccato downstroke guitar punches interspersed with lyrics that detail the weight of depression and a feeling that the feeling is inevitable without escape. It still sounds as good as…
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Merle Haggard & The Strangers ‘Mama Tried’ (1968)
“Mama Tried” is the song country legend Merle Haggard is best known for and it’s actually a semi-autobiographical one. At the age of nine years old Haggard’s father died of a brain hemorrhage, a moment that had a materical impact on the young Haggard. With the absence of a father figure in his life Haggard…
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John Mellencamp ‘Scarecrow’ (1985)
No artist in the 80’s represented heartland rock in the way that John Mellencamp did. 1982’s American Fool is his best-selling album due to its inclusion of smash hits “Jack & Diane” and “Hurts So Good”, but Mellencamp really began to find his feet as a songwriter during 1985’s Scarecrow which has always to me…
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Aesop Rock ‘None Shall Pass’ (2007)
Aesop Rock has been a fixture on the alternative/underground hip hop scene for years. His 2007 album None Shall Pass lays out all the traits that have made him such a fixture in that scene– his cavernous vocabulary, dense musical arrangements, and production style that mimics the sound of an artist recording alone in their…
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Måneskin ‘RUSH!’ (2023)
Måneskin makes me feel old and out of touch. Even more than I usually feel. The best way I can describe them is an Italian glam rock version of Royal Blood whose sole goal is to make songs that sound as massive and as danceable as possible. And since all the band members are in…
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Charles Mingus ‘Mingus Ah Um’ (1959)
Charles Mingus is one of the greatest jazz musicians and composers in history, an American icon in the genre whose legacy has lived on long after his death in 1979. A fiercely passionate artist, Mingus was known for being religiously uncompromising with his compositions, prone to violent eruptions (he once punched renowned trombonist Jimmy Knepper…
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Cream ‘Disraeli Gears’ (1967)
Cream’s Disraeli Gears has stood the test of time as a key album in the late 60’s psychedelic era. The legendary three piece featured Eric Clapton (vocals/guitar), Jack Bruce (vocals/bass), and the iconic Ginger Baker (percussion/vocals). It’s almost hard to imagine a three-piece could create a sound so heavy and big as Cream, but the…
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Circle Jerks ‘Group Sex’ (1980)
If you’re looking for nuance or subtlety you’ve arrived at the wrong album. Circle Jerks 1980 cut Group Sex is a landmark album in the American hardcore punk scene for a variety of reasons— its anti-establishment screeds, double-time blitzkrieg, and nearly unintelligible perspective on life. But mostly Group Sex is known for its impressively succinct…
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Maggie Rogers ‘Heard It In A Past Life’ (2019)
Just about everybody and their mother has seen the video of Maggie Rogers sitting down with Pharrell Williams and listening to her song “Alaska”. Rogers was a college music student at the time, Pharrell was invited to the class to critique and offer feedback, and after listening to the track he simply says “Wow” and…
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Melvins ‘Houdini’ (1993)
Melvins are perhaps known best for their influence on Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain, who frequently cited the group as one of his largest musical inspirations during his lifetime, as well as its influence on contemporary sludge metal virtuosos Mastodon (drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor cites this album as a massive influence as well). Cobain was actually…
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Carole King ‘Tapestry’ (1971)
No list of the greatest songwriters of all-time is complete (or even worth reading) without a mention of Carole King. She is one of the most successful female songwriters in history, writing 118 hits that cracked the Billboard Hot 100 over her sixty-year career, earning her two separate inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall…
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Fleet Foxes ‘Shore’ (2020)
Known for their majestic four-piece harmonies and folk wistfulness, Fleet Foxes is an indie rock darling in my group of friends. They are a band that has orbited around the sun of commercial success while never quite finding their way onto the surface, but that hasn’t kept them from weaving their way into my life…
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Roxy Music ‘Avalon’ (1982)
Roxy Music had long moved past its early 70’s art rock phase with Brian Eno by the time the early 80’s rolled around, but the band’s deep and rich history of avant garde synth pop is still present underneath all the wonderfully manicured pop sheen found littered throughout Avalon. From the sultry saxaphones to the…
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Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings ‘Soul of a Woman’ (2017)
The youngest of six children, Sharon Jones was an American soul singer from Brooklyn. Throughout her life she spent a lot of time in the gospel choir at church and did some session work for various artists but never gained any real traction in her music career, leading her to jobs like serving as a…
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About the Author
Jason Matthew Plank listens to copious amounts of music and writes about one album each day. He is currently active in the bands Related to Strangers (post-hardcore) and Kindergarten Cartel (punk covers of children’s nursery rhymes).
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