My top 20 albums of all time.

Here we are again, more music recs! Well....technically this is MY list but hopefully you guys like some of the stuff on it. This is only part one of the blog, expect 2-3 more soon! Just spacing them out because you don't want to sit here for 15 minutes reading the entire thing.

Let's get started!

20.) A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders


A tribe called quest is probably my favorite hip-hop group, beating out Bone Thugs 'N Harmony by just a hair! This album is probably the only Tribe that will make it into my top 20, though. The tracks on this cd are, for the most part, much more relaxed than on The Low End Theory, which contained one of my favorite songs of all time: Check The Rhime. Double Bass and Rhodes electric piano mixed with slow break-beats permeate tracks like Electric Relaxation and Clap Your Hands while the beginning of Sucka Nigga can be seen as sort of a precursor to the chopped and screwed style of hip-hop.
Tracks to watch out for: Electric Relaxtion, Award Tour, Lyrics To Go
Other good albums by this artist: Beats, Rhymes, and Life, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, The Low End Theory

19.) Ahmad Jamal - Crystal


Ahmad Jamal has been critically lauded for his landmark recording At The Pershing: But Not For Me and his piano playing has been praised by Miles Davis. This album of his, however, doesn't seem to be liked by too many people that I've talked to. It's very light and is, at points, a bit all over the place, but I can't get enough of this album's serene piano sounds.
Tracks to watch out for: Quest For Light, Swahililand

18.) My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
 

Shoegazer rock at it's finest! This album is easily  the best of it's kind  due to Kevin Shields' dreamy use of the guitar and the wonderfully hipnotic female vocals. The drums on this album are always present but never at the forefront, leading the album to seem more ethereal than rocky.
Tracks to watch out for: Blown a Wish, When You Sleep, I Only Said

17.) Ken Ishii - Flatspin


This is probably the only album by an Asian-based artist that will make it on to this list. Why is this significant? I dunno....Anyway, great album by Japanese techno (proper techno, not "everything made with synthesizers you hear is techno." Ishii is the real deal when it comes to techno!) artist. While many will tell you that Jelly Tones is better I like this one simply for the fact that Ishii explores his boundaries a bit more. Ice Blink, the masterpiece of the album, is a very poppy techno track with an amazing bassline, while Gap Accelerator touches on breaks, and his Flatspinning Loops are pure experimentation. Mirage is actually a track I've modeled a few songs after.
Tracks to watch out for: Iceblink, Grab It Attack It, Mirage
Other good albums by this artist: Jelly Tones, Sunriser, Metal Blue America

16.) Nirvana - Nevermind
 

There are soooooo many good tracks on this album that it had to be included. This is definitely the best grunge album that I've ever heard and what needs to be said about it has probably been said a million times over!
Tracks to watch out for: In Bloom, Come As You Are, Lithium, Breed, Smells Like Teen Spirit
Other good albums by this artist: In Utero

15.) High Contrast - High Society


High Contrast, up until his last album (entitled Tough Guys Don't Dance), was my favorite Drum n Bass artist. His blend of 175 bpm break-beats, disco, soul and pulsating basslines made for a real treat to listen to. Hopefully Lincoln is hard at work on new material that touches on his old style. Anyway, I feel that this album was his last good, complete thought. There are no tracks that seem misplaced, which I can't say for his first album, True Colours. True Colours had stronger tracks, but it lacked the cohesion that High Society has.
Tracks to watch out for: High Society, Tutti Frutti, Brief Encounter, Racing Green, Twilight's Last Gleaming
Other good albums by this artist: True Colours


This is where part one ends! Will blog part 2 soon hopefully, feel free to add your musical recs in the comments.