brand
The Greatest (non-mainstream) Albums of All Time

The Greatest (non-mainstream) Albums of All Time

Other people have opinions, I have taste.
FortMatilda 25 Apr 2015   ⋅   2,545 views   ⋅  1 favorite
 Add to Favorites

Items

5

Comments

0

Photos

5

5 Items

  • Frightened Rabbit, Midnight Organ Fight

    Frightened Rabbit, based in Glasgow via the Scottish Borders, wear their hearts on their sleeve with powerful, often brutal, lyrics describing inner pain or outer squalor (listen to the fantastic more recent single, 'State Hospital'). This album is their masterpiece, at times truly uplifting despite the subject matter (suicide, atheism, depression, and of course failed romance). The title is a euphemism for drunk sex, the album a much more profound body of work. Oh, and the music is great!
    25 Apr 2015 ⋅ 0 comments ⋅ 1 photo ⋅ 459 views
    View item

  • Magnolia Electric Co., 'Josephine'

    Magnolia Electric Co. formed when Jason Molina's alt country / folk / rock band Songs:Ohia changed both their direction and their name, adding a new electric muscle to their sound. Molina's story is a tragic one, alcoholism cutting his life short at the age of 39, something he appears to foretell on an earlier Magnolia song, the haunting 'North Star' ("I heard the North Star saying, 'kid you're so lost even I can't bring you home"). Josephine was their last album before Molina's death and is a beautiful, painful record with the title character appearing in 3 songs as a forlorn shadow, a lost love of the singer, never coming back. The album loses a little bite in the back half but the opening 6 tracks are as good as anything I've ever listened to.
    25 Apr 2015 ⋅ 0 comments ⋅ 1 photo ⋅ 552 views
    View item

  • The Hold Steady, Separation Sunday

    The Hold Steady are a Brooklyn-based 'bar band', driven by the lyrical storytelling of front man Craig Finn. In the early days of the band, Finn would half speak, half shout his beat poem lyrics over the classic rock hooks from the band. This album is their fullest concept record, about a girl named Holly, the ne'er-do-wells she hangs out with, and the parties and the scene they inhabit. Holly's misadventures are set alongside her Catholicism as the album reaches it's epic closer, 'How a Resurrection Really Feels'. 'The Cattle and the Creeping Things' is another stand out track in an album full of them; one of the best bands of the last 10 years.
    25 Apr 2015 ⋅ 0 comments ⋅ 1 photo ⋅ 514 views
    View item

  • The Thermals, 'The Body, The Blood, The Machine'

    The Body, The Blood, The Machine is another concept album, this time a ripping retelling of a future Bible in a manner few Christians would approve; a violent dystopia ruled by religious fascists. On "Here's Your Future" lead singer Hutch Harris seethes with rage as he opens with God threatening Noah with a reminder that no one can breathe under water. "Save your babies, Here's Your Future". "We're gonna create a new Master Race because we're so pure..." he continues and the rest of the album does not let up in terms of pace, soaring chords, and apocalyptic lyrics (the next track is called 'I Might Need to Kill You'). A head banging around the living room experience for all the family!
    25 Apr 2015 ⋅ 0 comments ⋅ 1 photo ⋅ 387 views
    View item

  • Titus Andronicus - The Monitor

    A sprawling conceptual epic, a messy masterpiece, and a sublime orchestral punk racket, New Jersey's Titus Andronicus top my list of greatest albums. The album reflects on the state of modern day New Jersey while at the same time taking the listener back to the Civil War (the title is the name of a Union battleship) with between-song spoken word quotes from Abraham Lincoln and Walt Whitman. The standard T.A. themes of nihilism, drunkenness, and self-loathing all appear but often with a healthy dose of jet black humour. The album closes with the 14 minute, 'The Battle of Hampton Roads', a song that has to be experienced to be believed. Incredible.
    25 Apr 2015 ⋅ 0 comments ⋅ 1 photo ⋅ 755 views
    View item

Like this List? Get started and create your own!

About Us ⋅ Contact ⋅ Terms ⋅ User Guide ⋅ Featured Lists ⋅ Users