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The Libertines ‘The Libertines’ (2004)
The Libertines are one of those bands that basically were a live reality show that could have aired on Bravo during the mid-2000’s. Dual frontmen Carl Barât and Pete Doherty, whose intense and often volatile creative partnership was the heart of the band, gave us some great garage rock songwriting which has stood the test…
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Dr. Dre ‘2001’ (1999)
Everyone (and I mean everyone) in my age group got a massive hit of nostalgia as soon as they saw this album cover come across their internet browser. To say 2001 was a formative album for anyone in their mid-30’s to their late-40’s is an understatement. This was the album that served as a soundtrack…
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The Lumineers ‘The Lumineers’ (2012)
The Lumineers have had some pretty massive global success over the years (especially with “Ho Hey” off this debut album) and for all intents and purposes they’re massive superstars. The whole Boom-Clap suspendercore genre has been a go-to formula for artists in the last decade, combining the sentiments of mustachio’d Brooklyn hipsters riding unicycles around…
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Midnight Oil ‘Diesel And Dust’ (1987)
I was taking a sauna with my dad earlier today and got to chatting about some of his favorite bands from the 80’s. He mentioned Midnight Oil as one of those bands that sort of flew under the radar commercially in Minnesota at the time but one that he always connected with on both a…
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Pantera ‘Vulgar Display of Power’ (1992)
I’ll be seeing Metallica live at Levi’s Stadium tonight with 55,000 other people (stoked) and one of the openers will be heavy metal legends Pantera. The band’s current incarnation is unfortunately without the services of Dimebag Darrell after he was shot and killed onstage in 2004 by a mentally ill fan during a live show…
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George Harrison ‘All Things Must Pass’ (1970)
Forever known as “The Quiet Beatle” George Harrison’s contributions to rock music over the years are stunning in their thoughtfulness. Less gregarious than Ringo Starr, less prolific than Paul McCartney, less iconic than John Lennon, Harrison is oft-forgotten from a commercial perspective. But I’ve always found his solo work post-Beatles to be the best of…
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Bilmuri ‘American Motor Sports’ (2024)
Bilmuri’s American Motor Sports is far from the most interesting conglomeration of music genres I’ve listened to over the past three years (that honor would go to Carmen’s 1973 album Fandangos In Space which blended flamenco music with prog-rock sensibilities) but it’s certainly an album that has stuck with me in a similar fashion. American…
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The Lookouts ‘Spy Rock Road’ (1989)
The Lookouts were known for a couple of things in their brief history as a band. For starters, the band was based in Laytonville which is basically a remote mountain community on the outskirts of Mendocino County in California. To give you some context, the 2020 census was 1,200 people which certainly doesn’t scream “punk…
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Alexisonfire ‘Watch Out!’ (2004)
Alexisonfire was a defining band in the post-hardcore scene for me during my high school years. I loved (and still love) their melodic meets murderous dual vocal approach. George Pettit’s raw, aggressive screams pair perfectly with Dallas Green’s soaring clean vocals that creates a powerful contrast that feels so damn grandiose and epic every time…
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The Dave Brubeck Quartet ‘Time Out’ (1959)
As we mentioned during our review of Thelonious Monk’s brilliant album Brilliant Corners (yes, the pun was intended, yes, I know I’m annoying) only five jazz musicians have ever graced the cover of TIME magazine. Dave Brubeck was one of them, a savant pianist and composer who rose to prominence during the 50’s. He is…
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The Record Company ‘Give It Back To You’ (2016)
I love a good album story as much as the next guy and The Record Company’s Give It Back To You has a pretty darn good one. The band wrote, recorded, and mixed their debut in the same living room where the band was formed, which is a pretty poetic way to go about things.…
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Mission Of Burma ‘Signals, Calls and Marches’ (1981)
In the early 80’s Mission of Burma was known for their intense, angular sound that blended punk energy with experimental noise and art-rock sensibilities. This combination played no small part in crystallizing the American post-punk movement. They stood out from a lot of their contemporaries in the space by using atypical sounds like tape loops…
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Wolfmother ‘Wolfmother’ (2005)
Doing the whole “turn back the clock to 1973 and sound like Led Zeppelin” thing was very much in vogue during the mid-2000’s, but few bands did it better and with more chutzpah than Wolfmother. Their debut album was an absolute banger that not only put them on the map but also solidified vintage classic…
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The Beach Boys ‘L.A. (Light Album)’ (1979)
Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys just passed away this week so I thought it fitting to listen to The Beach Boys almost universally panned album L.A. (Light Album). This is a far jump from the sheer brilliance of Wilson’s 1966 magnum opus Pet Sounds, and for good reason. In the late 1970s The Beach…
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Sam Cooke ‘One Night Stand: Live At The Harlem Square Club’ (1963)
Sam Cooke is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most versatile vocalists of all time. You don’t get the nickname “The King of Soul” for nothing. His velvety tenor voice, remarkable pitch, and effortlessly soulful delivery that could soar to a high falsetto and then quickly pivot to a distinctive rasp in the…
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Nada Surf ‘High/Low’ (1996)
Nada Surf’s High/Low is one of those albums that sound nostalgic as soon as you hear it. Produced by Ric Ocasek, the album captures the band’s knack for writing emotionally direct songs wrapped in fuzzy guitars and simple arrangements where nary a note is wasted. While “Popular” became the breakout hit thanks to its sarcastic…
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Wale ‘The Gifted’ (2013)
The internet is ablaze today after streamer Kai Cenat snubbed Wale at the BET Awards and mispronounced his name “Wally” before being corrected by his fans. It’s a silly thing of course but also shows just how quickly your time in the sun can come and go. So inevitably I decided to take a bit…
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Adam Lambert ‘For Your Entertainment’ (2009)
I vividly remember watching Adam Lambert during his run on American Idol in 2009. My mom and I watched that show almost religiously during high school and I carried on that tradition during my college years. The dude was absolutely dynamite in all of the best ways— impeccable vocal range, quality song choices, and a…
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Commodores ‘Commodores’ (1977)
“That’s why I’m easy, easy like Sunday morning” is a vocal line that lives in my head rent free (and probably yours as well). To say it’s an iconic song is probably an understatement. It’s pretty much the defining song on any Sunday morning playlist anyone (including myself) have put together since March 30, 1977.…
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Hüsker Dü ‘Zen Arcade’ (1984)
In the canon of American underground hardcore music few bands have cast a shadow as long and as quietly commanding as Hüsker Dü. These dudes basically wrote the playbook for hardcore punk becoming commercially viable, transitioning into a more alternative-focused band in the 80’s based off the sheer strength of the songwriting from guitarist/vocalist Bob…
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Them Crooked Vultures ‘Them Crooked Vultures’ (2009)
Them Crooked Vultures is the holiest of holy rock alliances, bringing together some of rock and roll’s most legendary figures over the five decades. Any time you have Dave Grohl (Nirvana/Foo Fighters), Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) in the same room together playing some good old fashioned…
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Spanish Love Songs ‘Brave Faces Everyone’ (2020)
Spanish Love Songs isn’t for everyone. But they certainly are for me. I love their Americana-tinged pop punk, the raw vocals from lead singer Dylan Slocum, and the honesty in which they approach their songwriting. Every song is a story that comes from a place of honesty. While Slocum’s harsh “yell-sing” vocals may be grating…
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The 1975 ‘The 1975’ (2013)
I hadn’t gotten too deep into The 1975 until a few weekends ago when me and the family were driving home from a weekend in Chico. It’s a three hour drive which certainly lends enough time to get a few full album listens in. With my wife being a huge Taylor Swift fan it made…
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Wild Cherry ‘Wild Cherry’ (1976)
If you’ve ever turned on a radio in your life you’ve no doubt heard Wild Cherry’s claim to fame “Play That Funky Music”. It’s an absolute heater of a track that describes a real-life challenges the band had in adapting to the disco era. Wild Cherry actually a hard rock cover band early in their…
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WILLOW ’empathogen’ (2024)
I was in downtown Palo Alto last night for a Thai cooking class with my mom at Sur La Table. It was a great time, and as we were exiting the store we realized we were a block away from the Coldplay concert at Stanford Stadium and had to juggle our way through all the…
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Nickelback ‘All The Right Reasons’ (2005)
Nickelback is often tied to “butt rock”, a perjorative slang for the subgenre of post-grunge and hard rock that is known for it’s mainstream success while lacking artistic merit. Critics slammed them for being formulaic and the name itself became shorthand for rock that plays on stations with “nothing but rock.” Alongside bands like Creed…
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WSTR ‘Red, Green Or Inbetween’ (2017)
Pop punk has historically been by and large dominated by American bands for it’s entire lifespan. That’s starting to change a bit, with British acts (like WSTR) beginning to gain more and more prominence. Their debut full-length album Red, Green Or Inbetween is a fun romp through all of the tropes that make pop punk…
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Foo Fighters ‘Foo Fighters’ (1995)
Dave Grohl was at a personal and career crossroads when he went into record Foo Fighters debut album all by himself. Six days later, the foundation for one of rock’s most enduring bands was born.
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Knuckle Puck ‘Copacetic’ (2015)
Sometimes you want to listen to a record that doesn’t overthink things, especially in the pop punk genre. No frills. No gimmicks. Just heart-on-your-sleeve hooks delivered with conviction until your voice is completely shredded by the time you hit track four. Knuckle Puck’s debut album Copacetic is just that. The Chicago quintet carved out their…
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Marshall Crenshaw ‘Marshall Crenshaw’ (1982)
Marshall Crenshaw channels classic influences like Buddy Holly and the Beatles without sounding overly derivative. It’s a fun little jangle pop record, filled with crisp guitar work and tightly structured songs that do their damnedest not to overstay their welcome. There’s actually a good amount of complexity swirling underneath in both the vocal melodies and…
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The Vandals ‘Look What I Almost Stepped In’ (2000)
The Vandals are one of those bands I loved before I had any idea of their significance in the punk rock genre. I first stumbled upon this album during middle school when I was basically mainlining punk records directly into my veins and it stood out for a couple of reasons. The first was how…
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Faith Hill ‘Faith’ (1998)
I had the opportunity to catch Faith Hill perform live alongside Tim McGraw a few years back during their 2017 Soul2Soul tour. And with all due respect to Tim (whom I absolutely adore) the term “better half” could never have been more appropriate during that show. Faith absolutely crushed every single song she sang that…
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Architects ‘For Those That Wish To Exist’ (2021)
For Those That Wish to Exist is basically a metal pop album. Arena-friendly and radio-ready filled with a collection of bangers that dip their toes into the heavy-heavy and melodic side of metal. Drummer Dan Searle remains the band’s anchor and secret weapon. He’s a total bad ass with his polyrhythmic fills and crushing double-kick…
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The Band CAMINO ‘tryhard’ (2019)
I remember hearing the opening guitar riff of “Daphne Blue” for the first time a few years ago and being totally blown away how fricking gorgeous it sounded. The hazy distortion, the reverb, the sweet delays, all vintage 80’s fare meets modern pop production until everything sounds massive. It was one of those songs that…
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KISS ‘Kiss’ (1974)
KISS’ career has seen its fair share of twists and turns, from the bizarre pop metal and grunge era in the 80’s and 90’s respectively, and the band has never really gotten the respect for hardcore music fans that they deserved. But whether you’ve seen them as a Halloween-esque caricature or one of the early…
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Vitamin C ‘Vitamin C’ (1999)
Vitamin C’s “Graduation (Friends Forever)” is one of those songs that has stuck with me ever since I heard it. I think the first time I heard it must have been my 8th grade graduation (of course!) and I’ve played it at numerous events since as sort of a sentimental tongue in cheek nod to…
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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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