Your top 10 albums of a particular type of music.

[The Plaque Goblin]

Here's a list thread that should actually be useful. I want to use it to help me explore more kinds of music.

The idea is to pick your favourite ten albums from not just a general type of music but a particular style or subgenre.

For example, instead of a bunch of albums that are generally of a dancey/electronicy type of thing, how about some Techno lists, Ambient ones (Ambient Techno?), a House list or two, an Acid House one, (Ambient House?) IDM ones, and Jungle ones too?

Or for rock music, lists that cover Glam, Shoegazer, Industrial, Psychobilly, Thrash, Psychedelic, Country (Honky Tonk? Bluegrass? Western Swing? Nashville Sound?), etc. etc...

They should be albums that are readily available on CD.

You don't have to add explanations and links, a simple list will do. Here's mine...

Garage Punk

For me, this isn't just another subgenre, it's where the very best in contemporary rock'n'roll music is to be found. Sure, a lot of the stuff that gains this label sounds too garage or too punk, or just too damn trad/retro overall, but there are a lot of bands that come up with something that is distinctive and exciting.

So, as stated above, this isn't THE established canon but my personal favourites of the albums I've heard (It'll probably get edited):

- Fireballs Of Freedom ~ Total Fucking Blowout (2000, Estrus) Link Link
- Bantam Rooster ~ Deal Me In (1997, Crypt) Link
- The Lost Sounds ~ st (2004, In The Red) DL: track 2: 'Destructo Comet' (2.47Mb)
- New Bomb Turks ~ Information Highway Revisited (1994, Crypt) Link
- Oblivians ~ Popular Favorites (1996, Crypt) Link
- Fatal Flying Guilloteens ~ The Now Hustle For New Diaboliks (2000, Estrus) Link
- Mistreaters ~ Playa Hated To The Fullest (2003, Estrus) Link
- Hunches ~ Yes, No, Shut It! (2003, In The Red) Link Link
- Sludgefeast ~ Noise Action Noise (2003, Must Destroy) Link
- Supersuckers ~ The Evil Powers of Rock 'N' Roll (1999, Koch) DL: track 6: Stuff 'N' Nonsense (2.95Mb)

[The Man With Brass Eyes]

Garage Punk

Yeah, that's one of my favourite "genres" of late.  I'm a big fan of the Sonics.  Is that the same era as those??  Psycho Sonic is just a best of really - but there's a heap of good stuff on there.

I guess you could put the Stooges, the Velvet Underground and the Rolling Stones in the same catagory.  even the Kinks maybe?

[The Man With Brass Eyes]

Some of that garage stuff reminds me of this band Untitled Music Project.  They are my new favaourite band.  I saw them the other day & they were just blistering.  Lead singer is wired.

[Ciarán2]

A synth pop Top er, 12. Sorry, I couldn't slim it down.

Kraftwerk "Computer World" (1981)
The Human League "Dare" (1981)
Pet Shop Boys "Very" (1993)
Depeche Mode "Violator" (1990)
Future Bible Heroes "Memories Of Love" (1998)
John Foxx "Metamatic" (1980)
Soft Cell "The Art Of Falling Apart" (1983)
Erasure "I Say, I Say, I Say" (1994)
Orchestral Manouevres In The Dark "Architecture and Morality" (1981)
New Order "Power Corruption and Lies" (1983)
Sparks "Number One In Heaven" (1979)
Gary Numan "The Pleasure Principle" (1979)

Top 10 pop albums if you're into old synths but not "synth pop" as such.

Simple Minds "New Gold Dream 81-82-83-84" (1982)
David Bowie "Low" (1977)
Steve Winwood "Talking Back To The Night" (1982)
Stevie Wonder "Innervisions" (1973)
E.L.O. "Discovery" (1979)
Squeeze "Argy Bargy" (1980)
ABBA "Voulez Vous" (1979)
Roxy Music "For Your Pleasure" (1973)
Paul McCartney "McCartney II" (1980)
Japan "Gentlemen Take Polaroids" (1980)

[Sovereign]

top 10 1980's thrash metal albums

1. Slayer - Reign in Blood
2. Metallica - Master of Puppets
3. Sepultura - Schizophrenia
4. Metallica - Ride The Lightning
5. Exodus - bonded by Blood
6. Anthrax - Among The Living
7. Megadeth - So Far, So Good, So What?
8. Metallica - Kill 'Em All
9. Testament - The Legacy
10. Slayer - Hell Awaits

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Top Ten Ambient Albums: (Trying to be as ambient as possible)

1) Vir Unis- Everything Seeks Balance
2) Aphex Twin- Selected Ambient Works II
3) The Orb- The Orbs Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld
4) Tangerine Dream- Phaedra
5) Vir Unis- The Drift Inside
6) Tangerine Dream- Rubycon
7) The Starseeds- Parallel Life
8) The KLF- Chill Out
9) Brian Eno- Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks
10) Terry Riley- A Rainbow of Curved Air

SPECIAL SUPER #11) Steve Roach: The Ambient Expanse

[waste of chops]

Years ago, I went on a youth club trip to London. As a present for my Dad, I decided to buy him a copy of Chill Out, as I was really into The KLF at the time and I was certain I'd read that the album was a bit Pink Floyd-ish so it was a win-win situation as far as I was concerned.

When I got back home, I handed it over with a triumphant smile on my face. His smile was less certain but he promised to put it on straight away so I left him to it.

About quarter of an hour later, my Dad popped upstairs to thank me very much for the CD but he thought I'd get more enjoyment out of it, what with me being a KLF fan and all. After listening to the album, I realised how wrong I'd been to buy it for him -- but on the other hand, I'd gained an awesome album in the process so it wasn't all bad.

I loved that album. I used to put it on repeat play and fall asleep to it. I wrote a little piece about ambient a few months ago and didn't mention it for some unfathomable reason; I mentioned UFOrb and that Shamen remix album with a bunch of ambient tracks on it but not a word about Chill Out, which is mighty strange given that it's one of my favouritest albums ever, but never mind.

I downloaded a shitload of KLF a few months ago; I think I now own virtually everything ever recorded and have their entire back catalogue to choose from (including unreleased stuff like the original version of The White Room). I keep going back to Chill Out though, and fall asleep to it at least once a week. Happy days.

[Al Tha Funkee Homosapien]

Top Ten Hippity-Hoppity Albums

1. Nas - Illmatic
2. Souls Of Mischief - '93 'Til Infinity
3. A Tribe Called Quest - People's Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm
4. Wu Tang Clan - 36 Chambers
5. Company Flow - Funcrusher Plus
6. El-P - Fantastic Damage
7. GZA - Liquid Swords
8. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx
9. Dr. Octagon - Dr. Octagonecologyst
10. Cannibal Ox - The Cold Vein

[Marty McFly]

top ten geek rock albums. in no particular order.

1. weezer - the blue album
2. fountains of wayne - self titled
3. ben kweller - sha sha
4. nerf herder - how to meet girls
5. the get up kids - something to write home about
6. the rentals - return of the rentals
7. silver sun - self titled
8. ozma - rock and roll part three
9. ben folds five - whatever and ever amen
10. weezer - pinkerton

[Uzi Lover]

That's a great list Al. I'd personally say

1. Nas - Illmatic
2. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx
3. GZA - Liquid Swords
4. Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die
5. Mos Def & Talib Kweli - Black Star
6. Wu-Tang Clan - 36 Chambers
7. Dr. Dre - The Chronic
8. Ice Cube - Death Certificate
9. Outkast - Aquemini
10. Notorious B.I.G. - Life After Death

[trotsky assortment]

Good call on that Supersuckers album, Mr Goblin!

Top ten US punk discs from me:

Ramones - Leave Home
Screeching Weasel - Television City Dream
Bad Religion - Suffer
Descendents - Milo Goes To College
Mr T Experience - Big Black Bugs Bleed Blue Blood
Parasites - Punch Lines
The Queers - Love Songs For The Retarded
Riverdales - Storm The Streets
Dead Kennedys - Plastic Surgery Disasters
The Lemonheads - Hate Your Friends

[Al Tha Funkee Homosapien]

Top Ten 80s American Hardcore (No order)

1. Minor Threat - Complete Discography
2. Black Flag - Damaged
3. Gorilla Biscuits - Start Today
4. Cro-Mags - The Age Of Quarrel
5. Bad Brains - Rock For Light
6. Agnostic Front - Victim In Pain
7. Fugazi - 13 Songs
8. Circle Jerks - Group Sex
9. Suicidal Tendencies - Suicidal Tendencies
10. Dag Nasty - Can I Say

[The Plaque Goblin]

This is going quite well, lots already to look up. I fully expected to be shouted down for starting another list thread.

I've never even heard of the likes of Future Bible Heroes, Vir Unis, Souls Of Mischief, Screeching Weasel or Gorilla Biscuits.

I thought there were various styles of hip-hop, but there really aren't, are there? East Coast, West Coast, but are Rap and Hip-Hop seperate things?

[rudi]

Not strictly, although Hip Hop can refer to the whole "culture" whereas Rap is specifically the musical style (more specifically - it's describing the act of talking rather than singing).

[Murdo]

Top 10 Industrial

1. Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
2. Ministry - The land of Rape and Honey
3. Skinny Puppy - Too Dark Park
4. Lard - The Last Temptation of Reid
5. My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult - Confessions of a Knife
6. Einsturzende Neubauten - Halber Mensch
7. Throbbing Gristle - DOA The Third and Final Report
8. Coil - Horse Rotorvator
9. Front Line Assembly - Tactical Neural Implant
10. Revolting Cocks - You Goddamned Son of a Bitch

[Marty McFly]

Screeching Weasel - Television City Dream

would you honestly pick that album over my brain hurts, how to make enemies and irritate people, or bark like a dog?

i know i wouldn't!

judging from that list there you'd really love teenage bottlerocket's album "total". it's a great one!

[chand]

but are Rap and Hip-Hop seperate things?

There's various definitions, including the one that suggests hip-hop is a culture that goes beyond music into clothes, attitude, graffiti and so on. Personally I tend to think of hip-hop as the beats and rap as, well, rapping. Like, you can rap over a rock track, but it wouldn't be hip-hop. Similarly, you can have instrumental hip-hop but obviously not instrumental rap.

[The Plaque Goblin]

Whenever I hear people refer to 'rap music' I've always thought they sounded like clueless fools.

Anyways, got a list?

Screeching Weasel - Television City Dream

would you honestly pick that album over my brain hurts, how to make enemies and irritate people, or bark like a dog?

i know i wouldn't!

Excellent, a little bit of controversy.

[The Region Legion]

Lets try the hip-hop list again, because despite not knowing much about Nas, I'm confident in saying that he's not even close to having made the best hip hop album of all time.

Listen to these, you can all thank me later.

1. The Pharcyde - Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde (1992)
2. Beastie Boys - Ill Communication (1994)
3. A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory (1991)
4. Q-Tip - Kamaal The Abstract (Unreleased) (2002)
5. Busta Rhymes - The Coming (1995)
6. The Pharcyde - Labcabincalifornia (1995)
7. Dr. Dre - The Chronic (1991)
8. The Roots - Illadelph Halflife (1996)
9. Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty (1998)
10. Erykah Badu - Baduizm Live (1997)

[Darrell]

Top 10 Soundalike/Pastiche-Driven LPs
If you want to listen to some world-class faking.

1. The Dukes Of Stratosphear - Chips From The Chocolate Fireball
2. The Rutles - Archaeology
3. The HeeBeeGeeBees - 20 Big Number 2's
4. That Thing You Do OST
5. The Fab Four - Have Yourself A Fabulous Little Christmas
6. The High Llamas - Hawaii
7. The December People - Sounds Like Christmas
8. The HeeBeeGeeBees - 439 Golden Greats
9. Frank Zappa And The Mothers Of Invention - Cruising With Ruben And The Jets
10. The Rutles - The Rutles

[The Boston Crab]

I think what you're really saying here is that you like the live/jazzier hip-hop sound. Two Beastie Boys albums in the top ten hip-hop albums of all time? Hello Nasty? Come on! [/Gob]

The ten hip-hop albums I've got the most pleasure from over the years:

1. Wu-Tang Clan - 36 Chambers
2. Madvillain - Madvillainy
3. Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
4. GZA - Liquid Swords
5. Gravediggaz - 6 Feet Deep
6. Canibus - Can-I-Bus
7. ODB - Return To The 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version
8. Ice Cube - The Predator
9. De La Soul - Stakes Is High
10. Blackalicious - Melodica EP (ok...'Nia' LP then)

[LeboviciAB84]

Any list of the Top Ten rap-hop albums would do well to include Writer's Block (the movie) by capital D and the Molemen.[/2p]

[trotsky assortment]

Screeching Weasel - Television City Dream

would you honestly pick that album over my brain hurts, how to make enemies and irritate people, or bark like a dog?

i know i wouldn't!

judging from that list there you'd really love teenage bottlerocket's album "total". it's a great one!

Ooh - another Weasel fan.  I thought I was the only one about these parts.

I'd definitely pick 'TCD' over 'Bark Like A Dog', as I found that album a bit lightweight and unremarkable when it came out and still do (although it's far better than 'Emo').  It'd be a close run thing between the other two though.  I love 'TCD' as it goes for the throat from the off and never lets go.  Fifteen songs in just under half an hour.  Bang.

Nice to see a mention of Gorilla Biscuits too...

[Toad in the Hole]

Can't believe nobody in either of the hip-hop lists has mentioned Talib Kweli - Quality, or Mos Def - Black on Both Sides.  Or, indeed, anything by either of these two.  Mos's first album shades it for me.

[Jemble Fred]

2. The Rutles - Archaeology
10. The Rutles - The Rutles

TUT!

I love a lot of Archaeology, but ultimately it's the single biggest missed opportunity in all music publishing. From the thoughtless, bland packaging down to the inclusion of lots of revamped completely unBeatley old Innes tunes (Knicker Elastic Saleman? Them's Kinks lyrics if anything), no album could be more disappointing. An awkward knock-off that helps to make a mess of the whole Rutles legacy, no matter how great most of the individual tracks are (or how much Idle has debased the Rutles legacy since). To put it eight places above the original release is craziness itself, IMO.

[mr. nice guy]

Reggae

The Harder They Come - JIMMY CLIFF
Exodus - BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS
Two Sevens Clash - CULTURE.
Heart of the Congos - THE CONGOS
Super Ape  - THE UPSETTERS
Marcus Garvey - BURNING SPEAR
Rockin' Steady: The Best of Desmond Dekker
Tougher Than Tough: The Story of Jamaican Music
Legalize It, Equal Rights - PETER TOSH
54-35 Was My Number - MAYTALS

[Joy Nktonga]

Reggae (all flavours):
Bob Marley and the Wailers - Catch a Fire
Scratch and the Upsetters - Super Ape
The Upsetters - Blackboard Jungle Dub
Pablo Moses - Revolutionary Dream
Mad Professor Captures Pato Banton
Ini Kamoze - Ini Kamoze
Big Youth - Screaming Target
The Congos - Heart of the Congos
Lee Scratch Perry and Mad Professor - Black Ark Experryments
Spacemonkeyz Vs Gorillaz - Laika Come Home*

Dub:
Super Ape
Blackboard Jungle Dub
MP Captures PB
Black Ark Experryments
Laika Come Home
Scientist - Dub From the Ghetto
Horace Andy - Meets Mad Professor From the Roots
Scientist - The Best Dub Album in the World
Nucleus Roots - The Heart of the Matter
Prince Jammy - Kamikaze Dub

Roots:
Catch a Fire
Ini Kamoze
Revolutionary Dream
Screaming Target
Heart of the Congos
Burning Spear - Marcus Garvey
Mikey Dread - Dread at the Controls
Junior Murvin - Police and Thieves
Max Romeo - War Ina Babylon
Peter Tosh - Can't Blame the Youth


*This dub of the original has all the hallmarks of trad dub, and even injects a rootsy sound, hence its inclusion in my lists.
**Yeah, they're DJ/toaster albums, but over true roots or in the roots style.

[Ciarán2]

Sorry to burden you Joy, but could you recommend some Lovers' Rock? Or maybe we should take it to the Dub It Up thread... I'll track down stuff from your lists above, cheers!

[The Region Legion]

I think what you're really saying here is that you like the live/jazzier hip-hop sound.

Yes, for 'tis the best kind of hip-hop.

Two Beastie Boys albums in the top ten hip-hop albums of all time?

Well Ill Communication is clearly their masterpiece - Paul's Boutique may be better than Hello Nasty. So either way, still 2 Beasties in the top ten!

1. Wu-Tang Clan - 36 Chambers
2. Madvillain - Madvillainy
3. Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
4. GZA - Liquid Swords
5. Gravediggaz - 6 Feet Deep
6. Canibus - Can-I-Bus
7. ODB - Return To The 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version
8. Ice Cube - The Predator
9. De La Soul - Stakes Is High
10. Blackalicious - Melodica EP (ok...'Nia' LP then)

Intriguing list. Can I assume that you've heard all the albums on my list and are saying these are definately better, or can we both go away and come back having heard one off each other's list and discuss it for the good of the group?

I'll take 36 Chambers - one of those supposed classics that I've never heard.

[The Boston Crab]

Yeah, I need to go and listen to some Pharcyde and we should talk again. I was introduced to hip-hop realy by a mate who was really into the Wu-Tang/NWA/Public Enemy harder sounds so that stuck with me I guess, although ocne I started to root around myself I found I was also well into the funky loop-based stuff like De La Soul and Blackalicious.

I imagined therefore that I'd appreciate The Roots but 'twas not meant to be, I always found them boring apart from that single The Seed (is it their most 'famous' song?), which is a great pop tune. I love Q-Tip's voice but Tribe's beats were just too default-o-ma-jazz for me but that maybe comes from only hearing them years after the event when the style had been plundered by everyone and his dawg. I never consciously listened to The Pharcyde, although perhaps my pal played some which I may or may not have liked, I'll check them out.

I only got properly into the Beastie Boys later, although I remember loving Ill Communication which another mate played to death (Sure Shot, Sabotage are especially great) when we were about 13/14 but on revisiting it, christ, it gets soupy for me. I think I just can't bear that plodding smoky jazz funk stuff and I don't particularly care that they play their own instruments over the top either. Stuff like Root Down and Get It Together has me scratching my ears out, while most of the album after Sabotage is pure meandering drivel (you could argue that much of Paul's Boutique is meandering drivel but I can see more of a creative spark behind its unpredictable sample frenzy).

More recently Madvillainy has been the only hip-hop album to have captured my imagination and I think it's the 'best' hip-hop album I've ever heard, the production, wordplay, imagination and humour keep me coming back for more and I'm always finding new little touches, it's just so rich without being stodgy and has its own definite feel unlike a lot of music these days.

I just got out the 36 Chambers yesterday to confirm what I thought I knew, it's just bursting with energy. The beats are simple but effective, it sounds much cheaper now than when I first listened to it although that's not something I would have paid much attention to then, it's also quite startlingly minimal but RZA just knew what he was doing. It's also just amazing that it feels so coherent despite having all these quite different MCs stepping in, I cant imagine what it must have been like for a real hip-hop fan to hear it for the first time (I just liked what I liked). All these incredible characters coming along: GZA, Meth, ODB, et al, it sounds like a real bunch of crazy, talented and funny mates but most importantly it arrived like a fully-formed concept, bursting with confidence and energy.