Damn straight! Maybe my #2 behind Life’s Rich Pageant.

Haha! I think you replied to me by mistake.

Yes, this. So much character. Gould was an amazing pianist!

I’ve tried so hard to like Modest Mouse, but they just don’t do it for me and I don’t know why.

I was listening to Cobalt today! Gin. I didn’t know he died. That sucks. I like the double album he did after Gin, too, but I don’t come back to it nearly as often as Gin.)

One is impossible.

• Rush - Grace Under Pressure (Moving Pictures is fantastic and the cliche choice, but there’s something about this one I love.)
• The Knife - Silent Shout (Some reviewer called it “Haunted House” and that is the perfect descriptor. Eerie and intriguing electronic music.)
• The For Carnation - The For Carnation (What became of Slint after Spiderland. This one doesn’t get anywhere near as much recognition, but I think it’s the more mature work overall. Groovy, minimalist post-rock.)
• The Delgados - The Great Eastern (Hard to choose between their albums, too, but I think this one was a perfect straddling of their rockier bits and their symphonic dreampop that they leaned hard into later on. Great band!)
• R.E.M. - Life’s Rich Pageant (This one or its followup: Document which won them more accolades, but I think is slightly less consistent. Their peak-songwriting, IMO.)
• Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children (I know a lot of people love everything they’ve done, but I think they’ve never really topped the atmosphere of this one.)
• Cocteau Twins - Treasure (At the time there was nothing else like it. There still isn’t quite.)
• The Afghan Whigs - 1965 (One of their less-popular albums, but I think Dulli and co nailed the RnB rock formula with this one. Their newer stuff is also pretty great.)
• Basement Jaxx - Rooty (I’m torn between this and Kish Kash. Rooty is maybe slightly more consistent. Wall-to-wall banging big beat pop tunes. Fantastic production.)
• Vektor - Terminal Redux (I went through a metal phase for some years, and this one still stands out. Amazing thrash-prog with a vocalist who sounds like a banshee from outer space. Amazing stuff!)
• Skeletonwitch - Devouring Radiant Light (Gonna catch hell for this one. They were a very popular thrash band, then they fired their singer and went black metal. It was an unpopular decision with most of their fans. I think they knocked it out of the park. They haven’t made an album since, though…)
• Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot - The Son of Chico Dusty (The [somewhat] underrated member of Outkast. This album goes hard. Lots of interesting collabs, too.)
• Blackalicious - Blazing Arrow (Peak alt-hip-hop IMO. RIP Gift of Gab)
• Glenn Gould’s recording of the Goldberg Variations.

I’d better stop…

I remember frequenting MOOs and IRC, and downloading guitar tabs and chords off OLGA using clients in DOS back in the early 90s. Over 30 years ago. The Internet today is unrecognizable by comparison.

Exact same thing that happened with No Man’s Sky. That first trailer was so obviously curated out-the-wazoo, and I remember people insisting it was the last game they’d ever need to play based on it alone. And we all know what happened when that one came out.