10(ish) Influential Albums

..but with some explanation and not on facebag.

Never an easy task coming up with a list such as this but hells yeh I’m going to try. Some cheating in that golden year of music, 2005 and the years around that era, and as always, this list will be in chronological order.

1993.

’Siamese Dream’
Smashing Pumpkins

Timeless hooks and the perfect soundtrack to my angsty teenage years, somehow tinged with bubble gum.

1994.

‘Grace’

Jeff Buckley

You gave me more to live for, more than you’ll ever know.

1996.

’No Code’
Pearl Jam

Eddie and band went from great to transcendental with the release of their 4th studio album. No wonder The Last Dance chose to end with a track from ‘No Code’. Still got it. Still got it.

2001.
’Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’
Wilco

Tweedy at the absolute height of his powers with exotic layered melodies and how is it possible that it gets better every year?

2004.

’Funeral’
Arcade Fire

It quite literally changed everything.

The 2005 Bloc.

‘Silent Alarm’ | Bloc Party
’Black Sheep Boy’ | Okkervil River
’Gimme Fiction’ | Spoon
’Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’ | self-titled
’Twin Cinema’ | The New Pornographers
’Apologies to the Queen Mary’ | Wolf Parade

2007.
’Shut Up I Am Dreaming’
Sunset Rubdown

Be careful what you wish for.

2007.
’Mirrored’

Battles

Rhythm and maths.

2007.
’Boxer’
The National

Tired and wired, we ruin too easy.

2007.
’Sound of Silver’
LCD Soundsystem

Did music stop 13 years ago? It certainly appears so.

Wherever You Land

A few people have asked me what the outro music of the podcast was. I have no clue how the idea came to me when it did, but somehow the Nels Cline 4-minute guitar solo during Wilco's Impossible Germany seemed to, and perhaps always will, be the perfect outro for anything, ever.

Each episode of the podcast ends with us giving some calls to action to follow and subscribe to our little side project called The Lazy Couch podcast - this, along with any reflective thoughts about what we had just discussed over the past 45 minutes. Having this track played in the background while doing so just works.

It's wild how expressive Nels can get with the guitar in hand and I can only imagine what sort of flow he needs to experience, before he can string those buttery notes together. Rolling Stone once ranked him the 82nd best guitarist ever, but Nels - you are indeed my number one.

To promote their upcoming tour, Wilco posted footage of said song performed on KCRW last year. It prompted me to re-post here - because some things are just too perfect not to share.