Unknown Incredible Albums

These albums are gems that you might never have heard of. You should. Everyone should. These albums are close to perfection, and I have weeded out any album that has more than one song that I don't care for. I have removed any album that more than five people in a given group have heard of. Distilled here are albums you should purchase immediately. They are in no particular order; the fact that any made the list is a testament to the greatness they are.

1. Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane over the Sea

This triumph will blow you over on how creative musicians can still be. Most of the album is about Anne Frank, and has more singing saw than you have ever heard.

2. The Giraffes - 13 Other Dimensions

Chris Ballew put this one out with no admission it was him until years later. It barely came in a CD sleeve, and was recorded on a cassette eight track in a basement. Light hearted fun, and it is outstanding.

3. Beulah - When Your Heartstrings Break

I think they are the least know of the Elephant 6 collective, and it is a shame that Miles K.'s music isn't on every radio station. Very heady music with lots of horns, and big instrumentation. Everyone makes Pet Sounds comparisons, but these guys really make their music triumphant.

4. (tie) Eels - Electro-Shock Blues / Eels - Daises of the Galaxy

More than five is the criteria, remember, and these albums are simply amazing. Electro-Shock blues is an album that deals with E's mother dying of cancer and his sister killing herself. It is a bleak look at the human condition, and it ends with a triumph of the human spirit. Daises of the Galaxy was suppose to be a happier album, but I think that's just on the surface. It's songs are about cracked lives and their ability to cope with that.

5. (tie) Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin / Flaming Lips - Clouds Taste Metallic

Wayne and his boys make some of the most inventive rock around, and they are basically known as a novelty act because of their only hit "She Don't Use Jelly". The Soft Bulletin is simply an epic that is amazing in every sense of the word, and Clouds Taste Metallic is such a balance of noise and poetry that I recommend either.

6. Dump - A Plea for Tenderness

James McNew is barely known in his full-time band, Yo La Tengo, but makes only a slight blip on the radar screen with his bedroom recording project, Dump. A shame, because this album of touching songs from the heart should be in every record collection, when feeling melancholy or just in the dumps.

7. Eric Matthews - The Lateness of the Hour

How I found this gem, I can't remember, but I am glad. Perhaps it found me. Unfortunately, this was his last release, and he has since disappeared into the ether. It was a critical success, and one listen and you will know why; lush orchestrations, smooth voice, great songcrafting.

8. (tie) The Apples in Stereo - Tone Soul Evolution / The Apples in Stereo - The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone

I am copping out by this tie thing again, but I do flip-flop on which is best. I read a story on how these guys can barely live making a music, and they are one of the best bands on the planet right now. Rob Schneider is a true talent, and either of these albums are a testament to his 60's pop/90's indie song stylings.

9. Jason Falkner - Present Author Unknown

Jason is great at making straightforward power pop, and this album is a miracle of rock. It is unknown by anybody other than those who are hip.

10. Richard X. Heyman - Cornerstone

Richard X. Heyman is another power power/Big Star lover and this album has no fat on it, it is perfect, and I am ashamed that the big labels haven't scooped up this great musician and promoted him to the stars.

11. The High Llamas - Gideon Gaye

If you took the Beach Boys and put them in Ireland, this is what you would get.

12. Sparklehorse - Vivadixietransmissionplot

It is the strongest (so far) of the albums made by Mark Linkous, and I recommend it for those who don't need upbeat tempos in their rock.

13. Spain - She Haunts My Dreams

Same as the above, but this music is downbeat and jazzy in the same breath. It is all about love lost, and sounds it.

14. Of Montreal - The Gay Parade

This isn't their best album, but it there is no fat on any of it. Imagine you took Sgt. Pepper and mixed in songs from the 30's, the heart of Jonathan Richman, and blended them all together, you would get this piece of magnificence.

15. (tie) that dog. - Totally Crushed Out / that dog. - Retreat From the Sun

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