#MWE

Outkast "Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik" (1994)

The only Outkast album I hadn't heard yet. It's definitely of its time, but even at 18 years old each, Big Boi and Andre are solidifying their formula. The concepts that would make them the Outkast we know and love would come later, but this already shows the architecture it hangs on.

#MWE

2. Blues Traveler "Four" (1994)

This shit rips harder than you'd suspect. There's pretty technical shredding from all four (no pun intended) band members here (especially John Popper and Chad Kinchla); "Brother John" especially is a scorcher. But the big hits "Hook" and "Run-Around" are still awesome too.

#MWE

3. The Fixx "React" (1987)

An odd bird: An EP stapled onto a live album. Absolutely love the version of "Built For The Future" on here. "Chase The Fire"'s pretty dope too. An interesting set from a band in flux (and getting out of their deal with MCA by releasing this).

#MWE

4. Glass Jelly Soufflé "Battle Of Heroes - OST (2020)"

A curiosity from the merch table my friend laid out at our bands' last show. The concept is this is a soundtrack to an obscure Russian (Soviet?) video game lost to time that the band were able to re-discover and upload through Bandcamp. If you like mid-90s midi, this might be for you. Respect the kayfabe, though.

#MWE

5. Mastodon "Medium Rarities" (2020)

Extremely inessential. There's 7 songs out of 16 that aren't just instrumental or live versions. And only 4 of those are worth more than a listen. If you're a super Mastodon fan, you've probably already heard this.

#MWE

6. Paul McCartney "McCartney II" (1980)

See, now this is interesting: one of the biggest artists in history doing some of his weirdest shit. Experience was enhanced by the bonus disc, which has the colossal jam "Secret Friend" on it. It's a bedroom pop album done in 1980, with a lot of the pop elbowed out for some strangeness. And it's done in the bedroom of a Beatle.

#MWE

7. Suze DeMarchi "Telelove" (1999)

The singer from Baby Animals strikes out on her own with help from her then husband Nuno Bettencourt. It's fine for what it is, but it sounds a bit dated for 1999. Maybe 1996 this would've hit better. Not much caught my ear.

#MWE

8. Metric "Pagans In Vegas" (2015)

Man, there's not much to say about this. Perfectly fine, but utterly forgettable.

#MWE

9. Bobby McFerrin "Medicine Music" (1990)

It's such a simple seeming thing; all you gotta do is have good rhythm and good harmony. Completely acapella, only two songs have any other voices on them; he even makes percussion by clapping, snapping and hitting his chest. Imagine one guy singing all four parts of Boyz II Men, and doing the drums. That's this. It just washes over you; the lyrics kind of don't even matter because the atmosphere is so delicious.

#MWE

10. Decibully "City Of Festivals" (2003)

Really ramshackle and too loose to stay on beat in places. A couple of songs worked, but really wasn't my thing. It was ahead of the curve on being emo and hipster, but being right too early is just being wrong at the time sometimes.

#MWE

11. Textures "Genotype" (2026)

NEVER thought I'd hear this. This was announced ten years ago, then the band broke up before it came out. Now, out of NOWHERE, here it is. Sort of. It's an album called "Genotype", but they wrote this one from scratch. Which I can believe, but find strange, because like its predecessor Phenotype I only like half of it. If you took the front half of Phenotype and the back half of Genotype, you'd get a pretty good album.

#MWE

12. Morphine "The Night" (2000)

Had no idea until the last song when I was reading the booklet that the singer had died *before* the album came out (a song with the chorus "Take me with you when you go"). A slanky, low end heavy collection of tunes, like lounge music from hell.

#MWE

13. Donovan "Sutras" (1996)

Rick Rubin tries to resurrect another guy w/ acoustic guitar's career, but unlike Johnny Cash, Donovan strikes out. There's three songs worth hearing here, the rest is idea-less, meandering solo guy w/ acoustic guitar bullshit.

#MWE

14. Ozzy Osbourne "Bark At The Moon" (1983)

I skimmed this album 20 or more years ago, but not enough to count as a listen. Really only connected w the title track and "You're No Different". This time around? The closer "Spiders" is worth listening to, but the rest is really meh. One cut reminded me of The Outfield's "I just wanna use your love toniiiigh" song, and not in a good way. I suppose I liked it more overall than 2000s me, but it's an upgrade from "trash" to "eh, whatever".

#MWE

15. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard “Paper Mache Dream Balloon” (2015)

A top 10 Giz album (which is high praise for a band that has almost 30). Not my favorite, but definitely could grow on me. It's one of their genre experiments that actually yields different results (it's more folky and laid back than most of their stuff, and in a good way). I suspect it'll grow on me more with time too.

#MWE

16. Willow & Jahnavi Harrison "R I S E" (2020)

Feels more like Jahnavi Harrison's project, but whatev. It sounds pretty immaculate; the production and vocal harmonies are a vibe and a half. (It does get slightly religious (non-Christian), which might be a turnoff for some; I'll be real, I was barely paying attention to the lyrics. The music was so good it went over my head.)

#MWE

17. Lola Young "This Wasn't Meant For You Anyway" (2024)

I really hope Lola Young is all right. It's precisely because she's so good at writing lyrics that makes me worried. I hear what she's saying. And I hear what she's singing, and how much of her soul is in that delivery...I suppose, her new album sounded more positive, but also talked about cocaine, so...who the hell knows. I hope she sticks around, because I think she's awesome.

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18. Steely Dan "Gaucho" (1980)

Smuuug motherfuckers. This guy's voice ruins some of these songs (and the others weren't good to begin with). They think they're too good for everything and that's why I've never been able to click w Steely Dan despite the talent they never lived up to. On top of that, this is their worst album (the 2000s ones don't even count). "Glamour Profession" gets genuinely great at the end ONCE HE STOPS SINGING LIKE AN ASSHOLE. (That one drove me up a wall.)

#MWE

19. Janet Jackson "Damita Jo" (2004)

Not quite as good as All For You, but still pretty good. I'm now fully up to date on Janet Jackson albums, and I gotta say, she has a sneaky good discography. It feels weird to say that someone who's sold over 100 million records is underrated, but that's where I'm at.

#MWE

20. Death Grips “The Powers That B” (2015)

Liked it, but this double album is the absolute limit of Death Grips I could handle in one sitting. It's also...a Death Grips album? That's kinda it. The only difference I can tell is there's more of it.

#MWE

22. Vylet Pony “Can Opener’s Notebook: Fish Whisperer” (2022)

Kind of a middle child between Cutiemarks (2021) and Carousel (2023) (which are my two favorites from VP), but Can Opener holds its own and is a worthy bridge in its own right. If you're into bedroom hyperpop with a little bit of rock thrown in and lyrics that get kinda real, this is your jam.

#MWE

22. Hawkwind "Bring Me The Head Of Yuri Gagarin" (1985)

THE worst album I've listened to for #MWE. Any year. There's several-minute long monologues that sound like acid burnouts thinking they're deep followed by music that's sub-tape recorder quality (it was bootlegged from a show in 1973). I've, no joke, made plenty of tape recordings of band practices that sound better than this album. Unlistenable.

#MWE

23. R.E.M. "Murmur" (1983)

Was bobbing along to the first three or four tracks, then everything sounded like a low rent re-tread of "Radio Free Europe". Still liked "Perfect Circle" and "West Of The Fields" after that, but R.E.M. continues to be a song band for me. C'est la vie.

#MWE

24. Arctic Monkeys "Suck It And See" (2011)

Outside of tracks 5-8 and a couple of unique lyrics, this could have been any indie band, local, national or international, in 2011. The only other time I've heard a band get "just another band"-ed so hard between records was Band Of Skulls (and that album isn't on streaming anymore, so make of that what you will).

#MWE

25. Deadly Earnest II (1980)

Two really good songs on here ("Oklahoma's A Big O.K. For Me" & "Blues At Midnight") but outside of that it's mostly the shit-kicker stereotypes that kept me from listening to country in the first place, done badly. (Opener's not bad, though; the outro has this haunting melody that's barely audible because of the fade). The two really good songs illustrate that Deadly Earnest were capable of a hell of a lot more, sonically and harmonically.