The Blue Album... 30 years... Anyone who's followed Luke O'Neil's writing should be well familiar with his BTTBA threads, assessing whether or not a given album is Better Than The Blue Album. There's a reason for the comparison. 30 years later and every single track just goes...
I still remember gushing about it at lunch in high school - one of those "it's not just singles" moments. All these years later it's still a perfect listen.
#WhereIWuz 40 Yrs Ago Tonight
In an old furniture store rebilled as a cultural center in downtown DC, the same spot minor threat had played their final show a few weeks earlier.
Back in the #aughts I spent a lot of time on eMusic - more on that later - and discovered a lot of great #music during the time.
The Oranges Band's debut All Around, was a major one. Catchy as hell indie pop/rock with a bit of punk and jangle, it was probably one of the first I bothered to burn to CD so I could listen in the car. It came right on the heels of my love of power pop.
They dropped this gem 20 years ago #YesterdayNotToday and I still love "My Street".
Almost missed this one yesterday - 30 years since the release of B12's Electro-soma. Oft overlooked compared to many of their contemporaries (such as Aphex Twin), B12 put out an excellent collection of ambient techno as a part of Warp's Artificial Intelligence movement.
Well worth a re-visit as it holds up remarkably well.
Back in 2008 AOL (yes, that AOL) started streaming a selection of new releases each week on the Spinner website. I still remember pressing play on Cut Copy's sophomore effort and being blown away by what a cohesive dance album it was.
Stellar track after track that melded indie rock, synthpop, and dance all perfectly tied together. It remains one of my most played albums 15 years after its release (well, in Australia - came to the US a couple weeks later).
20 years ago today Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello teamed up (with support from Jenny Lewis) to release a defining indie pop record of the aughts - The Postal Service's Give Up.
This is a biggie for me. Still in my top 10 most played albums on last.fm despite being in heavy CD rotation at the time. The kind of album where almost every track has been an obsession of mine at some time.
10 track album
Ani DiFranco's Little Plastic Castle was released 25 years ago today. Dilate first introduced me to her, and then I dove into her back catalog. But this is the one I got to look forward to.
The opening combo of Little Plastic Castle/Fuel/Gravel still holds up and Pulse brings it all to an beautiful close.
https://anidifranco.bandcamp.com/album/little-plastic-castle
12 track album
THOMnottom
LilMikeSF
The Pixilated Path