The Top 50 Albums Of 1998-A Response To Pitchfork
Much in the same way I made a list responding the Northwest Indie Rock list last year, this will be the same thing just in responding to Pitchfork's top 50 albums from 1998 this time around. So buckle up and see what my responses are to what Pitchfork deems the best albums of 1998, sometimes we agree and a lot of times we don't. Check out the spotify list below!
50. Devin The Dude-The Dude(Rap-A-Lot/Interface)
Genre: Southern Hip Hop
This is slightly above average chilled out 90s Hip Hop, nothing really to write home about. Not sure why they picked this. This did not make my list.
49. Windy & Carl-Depths(Kranky)
Genre: Drone, Space Rock, Ambient
This is decent ambient drone from a group that is pretty consistently good at making ambient drone style music. This is one of their best. This did not make my list.
48. RZA-Bobby Digital In Stereo(Gee Street/V2)
Genre: East Coast Hip Hop, Hardcore Hip Hop, Abstract Hip Hop, Experimental Hip Hop
On one hand you can call this album underrated since a lot of other Wu Tang solo projects overshadow this one consistently. On the other hand, the fact that this album is on this list and other critics lists, one can easily make the argument that this average album is completely overrated also. This album did not make my list.
47. Bright Eyes-Letting Off The Happiness(Saddle Creek)
Genre: Singer/Songwriter, LO-FI, Midwest Emo, Indie Folk, Contemporary Folk
A solid beginning to a very prolific career. He would go on to make much better albums than this. This is far from bad and has a few really great moments. A couple years later he would start making his masterpieces. Not a bad pick for best albums of 1998. This album did not make my list.
46. Blonde Redhead-In An Expression Of The Inexpressible(Touch And Go)
Genre: Noise Rock, Indie Rock, Experimental Rock, Art Rock
Never really liked their noisier earlier stuff. Didn't much care for their later dream pop stuff either. I only really liked their album from 2000 that bridged the gap between these two styles. This isn't a horrible album I just would have picked a better noise rock album like Hum's "Downward Is Heavenward" or Tripping Daisy's "Jesus Hits Like The Atom Bomb". This album was not on my list.
45. GAS-Konigsforst(Mille Plateaux)
Genre: Ambient Techno, Minimal Techno, Ambient
Great example of slow glacial paced minimal ambient techno. Should be higher. This reached number 17 on my list.
44. Theo Parrish-First Floor(Peacefrog)
Genre: Deep House, Micro House, Downtempo
I haven't heard this album. So therefore no comment.
43. Maxwell-Embrya(Columbia)
Genre: Neo-Soul, Contemporary R&B, Smooth Soul, Dub
This album is not good. Even in high school when I saw this on the shelves at Tower Records and Moby Disc I knew to stay away. Years later I heard it and it pretty much fits the Neo Soul tag perfectly, but unlike the pioneers of that genre like Prince, this just kind of sucks. Despite what Pitchfork says this is not interesting or stretching the genre in new ways. This is no D'Angelo(who did redefine what you could and should do with this genre in 2000). I definitely did not put this on my list.
42. Mouse On Mars-Glam(Sonig)
Genre: IDM, Ambient, Dub Techno
Not their finest outing but still better than a lot of what came out in 1998. Not the best place to start for Mouse On Mars. This did not make my list.
41. Jeff Buckley-Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk(Columbia)
Genre: Alternative Rock, Singer/Songwriter
For the amount of hype this guy receives I am always blown away. It's not the worst thing to listen to but it sure is overrated. His debut was also overrated and this isn't as good as it. This was released after he died and is the result of an aborted recording session to the follow up of the debut. The rest were lost tracks his mom found amongst his personal belongings. This album did not make my list.
40. The Smashing Pumpkins-Adore(Virgin)
Genre: Alternative Rock, Dream Pop, Electronic, Gothic Rock
Hahahahaha. This album is terrible. This should not be on anyone's list. I admit that back in 1998 I was intrigued at the prospect of a mostly electronic based Smashing Pumpkins album. What they put out was a horridly misguided attempt at bridging their sound with the newly hyped downtempo electronic scene. The singles were like a 5 out of 10 the non singles were basically 1-3 out of 10s. This was the perfect example of musicians who were mediocre at one thing stepping out and being even worse at something else. This album definitely did NOT make my list.
39. A Tribe Called Quest-The Love Movement(Jive)
Genre: East Coast Hip Hop, Jazz Rap, Boom Bap
Their most mellow outing. Also their most boring outing. This is probably Tribe's worst album. I don't care about the Dilla production. If 1998 wasn't so bad for rap this album wouldn't be on this list. This album is not on my list.
38. Gastr Del Sol-Camoufleur(Drag City)
Genre: Post-Rock, Experimental Rock, American Primitivism, Art Pop, Glitch
Somewhat boring, somewhat pretentious, kind of awesome in a good amount of ways. This was rock music stretched and deconstructed to as far as the eye could see until it resembled something that had nothing to do with rock music. This album is a little too boring for me and thus...This album did not make my list.
37. Death Cab For Cutie-Something About Airplanes(Barsuk/Elsinor)
Genre: Indie Rock, Indie Pop, Midwest Emo
They would get much better and also much worse as time went on. Not a bad choice but not a great one either. I would have picked something like Quasi's "Featuring Birds", Halo Benders "Rebel's Not In" or Eels "Electro Shock Blues"....and I did. This album did not make my list.
36. Spoon-A Series Of Sneaks(Elektra)
Genre: Indie Rock, Post-Punk, Indie Pop
One of the better albums pitchfork picked for this list. One of Spoon's better albums. Probably their second best. This did not make my list.
35. JAY-Z-Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life(Roc-A-Fella)
Genre: East Coast Hip Hop, Hardcore Hip Hop, Pop Rap, Gangsta Rap
Nope. Can't stand JAY-Z and this album is not different. Would definitely picked something different like The Coup's "Steal This Album". 1998 was not the best year for great Hip Hop albums and this album certainly is not a great hip hop album. This album did not make my list.
34. Plastikman-Consumed(Novamute)
Genre: Minimal Techno, Ambient Techno, Dark Ambient, Acid Techno
Classic album of minimal techno that was one of the first electronic albums I ever heard as it came out. I had gone back and listened to earlier Aphex Twin but this one I bought the first day it came out. It was extremely hyped up at the time and I am glad I followed that hype train. This was my first introduction into extremely minimal techno. This album came in at #26 on my list.
33. DMX-It's Dark And Hell Is Hot(Rush Associated Labels/Def Jam)
Genre: Hardcore Hip Hop, East Coast Hip Hop, Horrorcore
I haven't heard this album. So therefore no comment.
32. Sunny Day Real Estate-How It Feels To Be Something On(Sub Pop)
Genre: Alternative Rock, Midwest Emo, Indie Rock
There is something about this album that I just couldn't fully get into. It's not bad by any means. The music especially is very well written. I always feel like the lyrics just kind of get lost on this album. I'm either bored by them or just never connected with them. The album is a beast to get through. This is by far their best album. This album did not make my list.
31. Juvenile-400 Degreez(Cash Money)
Genre: Gangsta Rap, Dirty South, Southern Hip Hop
I haven't heard this album. So therefore no comment.
30. Refused-The Shape Of Punk To Come(Burning Heart/Startracks)
Genre: Post-Hardcore, Hardcore Punk, Art Punk
Even though I do enjoy a decent amount of this album, this album could easily be on an all time most overrated albums list. There are some perfect songs on it, but there is a lot of filler and just by shoving other musical genres into punk does not make it a masterpiece. A lot of times this album sounds very clunky in both sound and in execution of genre mashing attempts. This album did not make my list.
29. Royal Trux-Accelerator(Drag City)
Genre: Noise Rock, Indie Rock, LO-FI
The first appearance of a truly great album from 1998 to make this list. This should be much higher up on the list. This is by far my favorite Royal Trux album. It perfectly captures their old scuzzy style with their newer more refined rock sound all the while adding a newfound experimental phase for them in the post production. This is trash rock n roll at it's best. This was #5 on my list.
28. Sonic Youth-A Thousand Leaves(DGC)
Genre: Experimental Rock, Noise Rock, Alternative Rock, Art Rock, Post-Rock
I haven't heard this album. So therefore no comment.
27. Mercury Rev-Deserter's Songs(V2)
Genre: Chamber Pop, Neo Psychedelia, Dream Pop, Psychedelic Pop
Another amazing classic album from 1998. This should also be much higher. Without this album I don't think we would have had the incredible change The Flaming Lips made with "The Soft Bulletin" I'm actually not presupposing this, The Flaming Lips have said this album was a direct influence on their own album. I feel the whole shift towards symphonic song structure in indie rock in the early 00s would not have happened without this album. This album is incredibly important to the evolution of indie rock. This album was #9 on my list.
26. Big Pun-Capital Punishment(Loud)
Genre: East Coast Hip Hop, Boom Bap, Gangsta Rap, Hardcore Rap, Pop Rap
I haven't heard this album. So therefore no comment.
25. Hole-Celebrity Skin(DGC)
Genre: Alternative Rock, Power Pop, Grunge, Pop Rock
Not a horrible album, but not an amazing one either. The singles were top notch and if you look at this album as a power pop album it's gems are revealed a little easier. I don't think there is enough strong material on the whole album to put this on a list of the best albums from 1998 but a couple of the singles would definitely make it pretty high up on a songs list from 1998. This album did not make my list.
24. Fugazi-End Hits(Dischord)
Genre: Post Hardcore, Experimental Rock
I haven't heard this album. So therefore no comment.
23. Sparklehorse-Good Morning Spider(Capital)
Genre: Indie Rock, LO-FI, Alt-Country
A fantastic album I should have put on my list a year ago, I think I fully absorbed it last year. There is a lot to discover on this album. #23 seems like a pretty good spot for it. This album did not make my list(but it should have).
22. Autechre-LP5(Warp)
Genre: IDM, Glitch
I haven't heard this album. So therefore no comment.
21. Mark Hollis-Self Titled(Polydor)
Genre: Singer/Songwriter, Ambient Pop, Chamber Jazz, Chamber Pop, Post-Rock, Art Rock, Progressive Folk
Definitely not anywhere near as good as his work in late period Talk Talk. But, this does have it's own merit. It is very slow, quiet and quite frankly kind of boring. There is something there but I just wouldn't bring myself to putting it on a list for 1998. This album did not make my list.
20. Beastie Boys-Hello Nasty(Grand Royal)
Genre: East Coast Hip Hop, Instrumental Hip Hop, Abstract Hip Hop, Turntablism, Electro
Definitely not their best(that would be Paul's Boutique). This would probably rank as my 3rd or 4th favorite Beastie Boys album. There is a lot to love with this album, the production is extremely varied and they sound like they are really having the time of their lives making it. This one was #32 on my list.
19. Madonna-Ray Of Light(Maverick/Warner Bros.)
Genre: Pop, Downtempo, Trip Hop, Vocal Trance, Ambient Pop, Art Pop, Electronic
This is the best Madonna album. That's like holding up a piece of shit and saying "this is my best shit". Madonna is not good. She is less bad when she embraces downtempo techno. She is still not good on this album. This thing is cheesy, boring, pretentious and just no thank you. This album will never be on a list of mine.
18. Tortoise-TNT(Thrill Jockey)
Genre: Post-Rock, Experimental Rock, Jazz-Rock, Dub, Minimalism, Krautrock
Easily my second favorite Tortoise album behind "Millions Now Living Will Never Die". This one is longer and more expansive than that album. I feel the dub influence is much higher. This is one of the best Post-Rock albums to ever come out. This album was #28 on my list.
17. Lucinda Williams-Car Wheels On A Gravel Road(Mercury)
Genre: Alt-Country, Americana, Singer/Songwriter, Country Rock, Roots Rock
Very solid alt-country album that did very well commercially. To be honest probably a little too well given the way it sounds. This is not a sleight, I just think music this good in a genre like old country usually doesn't sell this well. This is one of the best country albums of the 90s. This album was #25 on my list.
16. Gang Starr-Moment Of Truth(Noo Trybe)
Genre: East Coast Hip Hop, Boom Bap, Conscious Hip Hop
Not the best showing by Gang Starr but also a pretty solid Hip Hop album. Can't really complain too much about this one, decent slot for it. This album was not on my list.
15. Pulp-This Is Hardcore(Island)
Genre: Art Rock, Chamber Pop, Britpop
Not as good as different class but pretty decent. Need to listen to this more. This was not on my list.
14. Beck-Mutations(DGC)
Genre: Folk Rock, Alternative Rock, Neo Psychedelia, Contemporary Folk, Alt Country
I'll admit, this is one of my favorite albums of all time. This is Beck at his most serious and the only time he was really good at it(so far). Every single song on this album is excellent and the way he comfortably drifts in and out between full on country and folk is masterful. This album was # 8 on my list.
13. Black Star-Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star(Rawkus)
Genre: East Coast Hip Hop, Conscious Hip Hop, Boom Bap, Jazz Rap, Political Hip Hop, Neo-Soul
Not the worst album ever but insanely overrated. This is pinnacle backpacker hip hop. Very easy to enjoy, very political but just very overrated. This album did not make my list.
12. Silver Jews-American Water(Drag City)
Genre: Indie Rock, Alt-Country, Americana, Folk Rock
One of the most overrated albums in all of indie rock, well maybe it's just Pitchfork. They seem to love this album. They loved it when it came out and they love it to this day. I find it very middle of the road for indie rock, his lyrics are pretty good, the music is decent but #12 it is not. This album did not make my list.
11. Belle And Sebastian-The Boy With The Arab Strap(Jeepster)
Genre: Twee Pop, Indie Pop, Chamber Pop, Folk Rock
What the nice turnaround for Pitchfork. They originally gave this a 0.8 when they reviewed it in 1998. For some reason the review is gone, no longer there. You can find links to archived pages proving they shit all over this very good album when it first came out. I personally find not much wrong with this album and it's a very logical evolution from "If You're Feeling Sinister" to this one. This album did not make my list.
10. PJ Harvey-Is This Desire?(Island)
Genre: Alternative Rock, Singer/Songwriter, Trip Hop, Electronic
This is my 2nd least favorite PJ Harvey album(the least favorite would be "Stories From The City". This is PJ taking her newfound somewhat gothic tinged writing from the previous album(To Bring You My Love-which is great btw) and pushing it out into unwanted territory. Her strong suit was her guitar work and nail biting rage found on her first two releases. She took the most tame aspect of the album before it and made an album using that style almost completely. One of the more boring entries in her career. This album was not on my list.
9. Boredoms Super AE(W.E.A. Japan/A.K.A.)
Genre: Experimental Rock, Noise Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Krautrock, Space Rock
This album is a masterpiece. I got a tattoo based off a portion of the album artwork(the cd itself). There is not one bad note on this. This album represents complete and total artistic freedom. This album will melt your face off while it pats your belly. This album was #1 on my list.
8. Air-Moon Safari(Source/Virgin)
Genre: Downtempo, Ambient Pop, French Pop, Neo Psychedelia
Even though my admiration has waned a bit since this first came out(I started liking their 2nd album "10,000 Hz Legend" a lot more) I still consider this somewhat of a landmark electronic album. It really brought to the forefront a certain style of 60s pop that had long been forgotten and definitely not in the eyes of the young folk circa 98'. This album oozed cool. It was the album equivalent of a chill out lounge. Basically in 1998 if you were over 16 and owned this album you were cool. Or at least you thought you were the coolest kid in the room. This was #19 on my list.
7. Massive Attack-Mezzanine(Circa/Virgin)
Genre: Trip Hop, Downtempo, Dub, Post-Industrial
Another one, much like the Air album above. Same kind of vibe. This album equals chilling out. It's incredibly subdued and in my opinion much better than their "landmark" album "Blue Lines". They cut out the crappy soul vocals, ditched the clubby tendencies embraced their dubby side and got real dark and sparse and created this downtempo masterpiece. This was #23 on my list.
6. Cat Power-Moon Pix(Matador)
Genre: Singer/Songwriter, Slowcore, Indie Folk
Probably her 2nd best album. Definitely nowhere near this high, I wouldnt put her best album "You Are Free" this high either. This album is a solid quiet singer/songwriter album. Nothing really spectacular about it other than it kickstarted her career. I did not put this album on my list.
5. Boards Of Canada-Music Has The Right To Children(Warp/Skam)
Genre: IDM, Downtempo, Ambient
I respect this album. Do I love it? No. Have I tried to love it based on the heaps and heaps of critical praise piled upon it? You bet. Does it get any better with time? Not really. Is it shitty? No, not really. It's actually very good, very well constructed, very well considered yet on a gut level I have never loved it. This was #15 on my list.
4. Neutral Milk Hotel-In The Aeroplane Over The Sea(Merge)
Genre: Indie Folk, Indie Rock, Psychedelic Folk, Singer/Songwriter, LO-FI, Brass Band
This is a stone cold classic. I agree with it's placement on this list. If you haven't heard this than you need to. This was #3 on my list.
3. Elliott Smith-XO(Dreamworks)
Genre: Singer/Songwriter, Indie Pop, Chamber Pop, Indie Folk
Another classic of modern folk. The Jon Brion orchestration is beautiful, his singing is amazing, his fingerpicked guitar is mindblowing. This was Elliott's masterpiece. I cant disagree with this placement. This was #6 on my list.
2. Lauryn Hill-The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill(Ruffhouse/Columbia)
Genre: Neo-Soul, Contemporary R&B, Conscious Hip Hop, Boom Bap
It's stronger now than I remember when it first came out. I pretty much hated it when it first came out. I wasn't a Fugees fan either. Over time though I gained a greater appreciation for Hip Hop, Soul and Funk and came to like a lot of this album. I don't love it, but I like it. Enough to put it on a list? No not really. This was not on my list.
1. Outkast-Aquemini(LaFace)
Genre: Southern Hip Hop, Conscious Hip Hop, Neo-Soul, Funk, Experimental Hip Hop, Hardcore Hip Hop
A lot of people love this album. I fail to see it's awesomeness but I can tell it's their. It just doesnt have the same amount of insanity that "Stankonia" had or even that Big Boi's debut had. It's almost their. As an heir to the Sly and the Family Stone or Funkadelic throne it does an excellent job. As a record I want to keep in my record collection, it doesn't. This was not on my list.
In alphabetical order, these are the albums that Pitchfork biffed it in not including on their list:
Billy Bragg and Wilco-Mermaid Avenue(Elektra)
Local H-Pack Up the Cats(Island)
50. Devin The Dude-The Dude(Rap-A-Lot/Interface)
Genre: Southern Hip Hop
This is slightly above average chilled out 90s Hip Hop, nothing really to write home about. Not sure why they picked this. This did not make my list.
49. Windy & Carl-Depths(Kranky)
Genre: Drone, Space Rock, Ambient
This is decent ambient drone from a group that is pretty consistently good at making ambient drone style music. This is one of their best. This did not make my list.
48. RZA-Bobby Digital In Stereo(Gee Street/V2)
Genre: East Coast Hip Hop, Hardcore Hip Hop, Abstract Hip Hop, Experimental Hip Hop
On one hand you can call this album underrated since a lot of other Wu Tang solo projects overshadow this one consistently. On the other hand, the fact that this album is on this list and other critics lists, one can easily make the argument that this average album is completely overrated also. This album did not make my list.
47. Bright Eyes-Letting Off The Happiness(Saddle Creek)
Genre: Singer/Songwriter, LO-FI, Midwest Emo, Indie Folk, Contemporary Folk
A solid beginning to a very prolific career. He would go on to make much better albums than this. This is far from bad and has a few really great moments. A couple years later he would start making his masterpieces. Not a bad pick for best albums of 1998. This album did not make my list.
46. Blonde Redhead-In An Expression Of The Inexpressible(Touch And Go)
Genre: Noise Rock, Indie Rock, Experimental Rock, Art Rock
Never really liked their noisier earlier stuff. Didn't much care for their later dream pop stuff either. I only really liked their album from 2000 that bridged the gap between these two styles. This isn't a horrible album I just would have picked a better noise rock album like Hum's "Downward Is Heavenward" or Tripping Daisy's "Jesus Hits Like The Atom Bomb". This album was not on my list.
45. GAS-Konigsforst(Mille Plateaux)
Genre: Ambient Techno, Minimal Techno, Ambient
Great example of slow glacial paced minimal ambient techno. Should be higher. This reached number 17 on my list.
44. Theo Parrish-First Floor(Peacefrog)
Genre: Deep House, Micro House, Downtempo
I haven't heard this album. So therefore no comment.
43. Maxwell-Embrya(Columbia)
Genre: Neo-Soul, Contemporary R&B, Smooth Soul, Dub
This album is not good. Even in high school when I saw this on the shelves at Tower Records and Moby Disc I knew to stay away. Years later I heard it and it pretty much fits the Neo Soul tag perfectly, but unlike the pioneers of that genre like Prince, this just kind of sucks. Despite what Pitchfork says this is not interesting or stretching the genre in new ways. This is no D'Angelo(who did redefine what you could and should do with this genre in 2000). I definitely did not put this on my list.
42. Mouse On Mars-Glam(Sonig)
Genre: IDM, Ambient, Dub Techno
Not their finest outing but still better than a lot of what came out in 1998. Not the best place to start for Mouse On Mars. This did not make my list.
41. Jeff Buckley-Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk(Columbia)
Genre: Alternative Rock, Singer/Songwriter
For the amount of hype this guy receives I am always blown away. It's not the worst thing to listen to but it sure is overrated. His debut was also overrated and this isn't as good as it. This was released after he died and is the result of an aborted recording session to the follow up of the debut. The rest were lost tracks his mom found amongst his personal belongings. This album did not make my list.
40. The Smashing Pumpkins-Adore(Virgin)
Genre: Alternative Rock, Dream Pop, Electronic, Gothic Rock
Hahahahaha. This album is terrible. This should not be on anyone's list. I admit that back in 1998 I was intrigued at the prospect of a mostly electronic based Smashing Pumpkins album. What they put out was a horridly misguided attempt at bridging their sound with the newly hyped downtempo electronic scene. The singles were like a 5 out of 10 the non singles were basically 1-3 out of 10s. This was the perfect example of musicians who were mediocre at one thing stepping out and being even worse at something else. This album definitely did NOT make my list.
39. A Tribe Called Quest-The Love Movement(Jive)
Genre: East Coast Hip Hop, Jazz Rap, Boom Bap
Their most mellow outing. Also their most boring outing. This is probably Tribe's worst album. I don't care about the Dilla production. If 1998 wasn't so bad for rap this album wouldn't be on this list. This album is not on my list.
38. Gastr Del Sol-Camoufleur(Drag City)
Genre: Post-Rock, Experimental Rock, American Primitivism, Art Pop, Glitch
Somewhat boring, somewhat pretentious, kind of awesome in a good amount of ways. This was rock music stretched and deconstructed to as far as the eye could see until it resembled something that had nothing to do with rock music. This album is a little too boring for me and thus...This album did not make my list.
37. Death Cab For Cutie-Something About Airplanes(Barsuk/Elsinor)
Genre: Indie Rock, Indie Pop, Midwest Emo
They would get much better and also much worse as time went on. Not a bad choice but not a great one either. I would have picked something like Quasi's "Featuring Birds", Halo Benders "Rebel's Not In" or Eels "Electro Shock Blues"....and I did. This album did not make my list.
36. Spoon-A Series Of Sneaks(Elektra)
Genre: Indie Rock, Post-Punk, Indie Pop
One of the better albums pitchfork picked for this list. One of Spoon's better albums. Probably their second best. This did not make my list.
35. JAY-Z-Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life(Roc-A-Fella)
Genre: East Coast Hip Hop, Hardcore Hip Hop, Pop Rap, Gangsta Rap
Nope. Can't stand JAY-Z and this album is not different. Would definitely picked something different like The Coup's "Steal This Album". 1998 was not the best year for great Hip Hop albums and this album certainly is not a great hip hop album. This album did not make my list.
34. Plastikman-Consumed(Novamute)
Genre: Minimal Techno, Ambient Techno, Dark Ambient, Acid Techno
Classic album of minimal techno that was one of the first electronic albums I ever heard as it came out. I had gone back and listened to earlier Aphex Twin but this one I bought the first day it came out. It was extremely hyped up at the time and I am glad I followed that hype train. This was my first introduction into extremely minimal techno. This album came in at #26 on my list.
33. DMX-It's Dark And Hell Is Hot(Rush Associated Labels/Def Jam)
Genre: Hardcore Hip Hop, East Coast Hip Hop, Horrorcore
I haven't heard this album. So therefore no comment.
32. Sunny Day Real Estate-How It Feels To Be Something On(Sub Pop)
Genre: Alternative Rock, Midwest Emo, Indie Rock
There is something about this album that I just couldn't fully get into. It's not bad by any means. The music especially is very well written. I always feel like the lyrics just kind of get lost on this album. I'm either bored by them or just never connected with them. The album is a beast to get through. This is by far their best album. This album did not make my list.
31. Juvenile-400 Degreez(Cash Money)
Genre: Gangsta Rap, Dirty South, Southern Hip Hop
I haven't heard this album. So therefore no comment.
30. Refused-The Shape Of Punk To Come(Burning Heart/Startracks)
Genre: Post-Hardcore, Hardcore Punk, Art Punk
Even though I do enjoy a decent amount of this album, this album could easily be on an all time most overrated albums list. There are some perfect songs on it, but there is a lot of filler and just by shoving other musical genres into punk does not make it a masterpiece. A lot of times this album sounds very clunky in both sound and in execution of genre mashing attempts. This album did not make my list.
29. Royal Trux-Accelerator(Drag City)
Genre: Noise Rock, Indie Rock, LO-FI
The first appearance of a truly great album from 1998 to make this list. This should be much higher up on the list. This is by far my favorite Royal Trux album. It perfectly captures their old scuzzy style with their newer more refined rock sound all the while adding a newfound experimental phase for them in the post production. This is trash rock n roll at it's best. This was #5 on my list.
28. Sonic Youth-A Thousand Leaves(DGC)
Genre: Experimental Rock, Noise Rock, Alternative Rock, Art Rock, Post-Rock
I haven't heard this album. So therefore no comment.
27. Mercury Rev-Deserter's Songs(V2)
Genre: Chamber Pop, Neo Psychedelia, Dream Pop, Psychedelic Pop
Another amazing classic album from 1998. This should also be much higher. Without this album I don't think we would have had the incredible change The Flaming Lips made with "The Soft Bulletin" I'm actually not presupposing this, The Flaming Lips have said this album was a direct influence on their own album. I feel the whole shift towards symphonic song structure in indie rock in the early 00s would not have happened without this album. This album is incredibly important to the evolution of indie rock. This album was #9 on my list.
26. Big Pun-Capital Punishment(Loud)
Genre: East Coast Hip Hop, Boom Bap, Gangsta Rap, Hardcore Rap, Pop Rap
I haven't heard this album. So therefore no comment.
25. Hole-Celebrity Skin(DGC)
Genre: Alternative Rock, Power Pop, Grunge, Pop Rock
Not a horrible album, but not an amazing one either. The singles were top notch and if you look at this album as a power pop album it's gems are revealed a little easier. I don't think there is enough strong material on the whole album to put this on a list of the best albums from 1998 but a couple of the singles would definitely make it pretty high up on a songs list from 1998. This album did not make my list.
24. Fugazi-End Hits(Dischord)
Genre: Post Hardcore, Experimental Rock
I haven't heard this album. So therefore no comment.
23. Sparklehorse-Good Morning Spider(Capital)
Genre: Indie Rock, LO-FI, Alt-Country
A fantastic album I should have put on my list a year ago, I think I fully absorbed it last year. There is a lot to discover on this album. #23 seems like a pretty good spot for it. This album did not make my list(but it should have).
22. Autechre-LP5(Warp)
Genre: IDM, Glitch
I haven't heard this album. So therefore no comment.
21. Mark Hollis-Self Titled(Polydor)
Genre: Singer/Songwriter, Ambient Pop, Chamber Jazz, Chamber Pop, Post-Rock, Art Rock, Progressive Folk
Definitely not anywhere near as good as his work in late period Talk Talk. But, this does have it's own merit. It is very slow, quiet and quite frankly kind of boring. There is something there but I just wouldn't bring myself to putting it on a list for 1998. This album did not make my list.
20. Beastie Boys-Hello Nasty(Grand Royal)
Genre: East Coast Hip Hop, Instrumental Hip Hop, Abstract Hip Hop, Turntablism, Electro
Definitely not their best(that would be Paul's Boutique). This would probably rank as my 3rd or 4th favorite Beastie Boys album. There is a lot to love with this album, the production is extremely varied and they sound like they are really having the time of their lives making it. This one was #32 on my list.
19. Madonna-Ray Of Light(Maverick/Warner Bros.)
Genre: Pop, Downtempo, Trip Hop, Vocal Trance, Ambient Pop, Art Pop, Electronic
This is the best Madonna album. That's like holding up a piece of shit and saying "this is my best shit". Madonna is not good. She is less bad when she embraces downtempo techno. She is still not good on this album. This thing is cheesy, boring, pretentious and just no thank you. This album will never be on a list of mine.
18. Tortoise-TNT(Thrill Jockey)
Genre: Post-Rock, Experimental Rock, Jazz-Rock, Dub, Minimalism, Krautrock
Easily my second favorite Tortoise album behind "Millions Now Living Will Never Die". This one is longer and more expansive than that album. I feel the dub influence is much higher. This is one of the best Post-Rock albums to ever come out. This album was #28 on my list.
17. Lucinda Williams-Car Wheels On A Gravel Road(Mercury)
Genre: Alt-Country, Americana, Singer/Songwriter, Country Rock, Roots Rock
Very solid alt-country album that did very well commercially. To be honest probably a little too well given the way it sounds. This is not a sleight, I just think music this good in a genre like old country usually doesn't sell this well. This is one of the best country albums of the 90s. This album was #25 on my list.
16. Gang Starr-Moment Of Truth(Noo Trybe)
Genre: East Coast Hip Hop, Boom Bap, Conscious Hip Hop
Not the best showing by Gang Starr but also a pretty solid Hip Hop album. Can't really complain too much about this one, decent slot for it. This album was not on my list.
15. Pulp-This Is Hardcore(Island)
Genre: Art Rock, Chamber Pop, Britpop
Not as good as different class but pretty decent. Need to listen to this more. This was not on my list.
14. Beck-Mutations(DGC)
Genre: Folk Rock, Alternative Rock, Neo Psychedelia, Contemporary Folk, Alt Country
I'll admit, this is one of my favorite albums of all time. This is Beck at his most serious and the only time he was really good at it(so far). Every single song on this album is excellent and the way he comfortably drifts in and out between full on country and folk is masterful. This album was # 8 on my list.
13. Black Star-Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star(Rawkus)
Genre: East Coast Hip Hop, Conscious Hip Hop, Boom Bap, Jazz Rap, Political Hip Hop, Neo-Soul
Not the worst album ever but insanely overrated. This is pinnacle backpacker hip hop. Very easy to enjoy, very political but just very overrated. This album did not make my list.
12. Silver Jews-American Water(Drag City)
Genre: Indie Rock, Alt-Country, Americana, Folk Rock
One of the most overrated albums in all of indie rock, well maybe it's just Pitchfork. They seem to love this album. They loved it when it came out and they love it to this day. I find it very middle of the road for indie rock, his lyrics are pretty good, the music is decent but #12 it is not. This album did not make my list.
11. Belle And Sebastian-The Boy With The Arab Strap(Jeepster)
Genre: Twee Pop, Indie Pop, Chamber Pop, Folk Rock
What the nice turnaround for Pitchfork. They originally gave this a 0.8 when they reviewed it in 1998. For some reason the review is gone, no longer there. You can find links to archived pages proving they shit all over this very good album when it first came out. I personally find not much wrong with this album and it's a very logical evolution from "If You're Feeling Sinister" to this one. This album did not make my list.
10. PJ Harvey-Is This Desire?(Island)
Genre: Alternative Rock, Singer/Songwriter, Trip Hop, Electronic
This is my 2nd least favorite PJ Harvey album(the least favorite would be "Stories From The City". This is PJ taking her newfound somewhat gothic tinged writing from the previous album(To Bring You My Love-which is great btw) and pushing it out into unwanted territory. Her strong suit was her guitar work and nail biting rage found on her first two releases. She took the most tame aspect of the album before it and made an album using that style almost completely. One of the more boring entries in her career. This album was not on my list.
9. Boredoms Super AE(W.E.A. Japan/A.K.A.)
Genre: Experimental Rock, Noise Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Krautrock, Space Rock
This album is a masterpiece. I got a tattoo based off a portion of the album artwork(the cd itself). There is not one bad note on this. This album represents complete and total artistic freedom. This album will melt your face off while it pats your belly. This album was #1 on my list.
8. Air-Moon Safari(Source/Virgin)
Genre: Downtempo, Ambient Pop, French Pop, Neo Psychedelia
Even though my admiration has waned a bit since this first came out(I started liking their 2nd album "10,000 Hz Legend" a lot more) I still consider this somewhat of a landmark electronic album. It really brought to the forefront a certain style of 60s pop that had long been forgotten and definitely not in the eyes of the young folk circa 98'. This album oozed cool. It was the album equivalent of a chill out lounge. Basically in 1998 if you were over 16 and owned this album you were cool. Or at least you thought you were the coolest kid in the room. This was #19 on my list.
7. Massive Attack-Mezzanine(Circa/Virgin)
Genre: Trip Hop, Downtempo, Dub, Post-Industrial
Another one, much like the Air album above. Same kind of vibe. This album equals chilling out. It's incredibly subdued and in my opinion much better than their "landmark" album "Blue Lines". They cut out the crappy soul vocals, ditched the clubby tendencies embraced their dubby side and got real dark and sparse and created this downtempo masterpiece. This was #23 on my list.
6. Cat Power-Moon Pix(Matador)
Genre: Singer/Songwriter, Slowcore, Indie Folk
Probably her 2nd best album. Definitely nowhere near this high, I wouldnt put her best album "You Are Free" this high either. This album is a solid quiet singer/songwriter album. Nothing really spectacular about it other than it kickstarted her career. I did not put this album on my list.
5. Boards Of Canada-Music Has The Right To Children(Warp/Skam)
Genre: IDM, Downtempo, Ambient
I respect this album. Do I love it? No. Have I tried to love it based on the heaps and heaps of critical praise piled upon it? You bet. Does it get any better with time? Not really. Is it shitty? No, not really. It's actually very good, very well constructed, very well considered yet on a gut level I have never loved it. This was #15 on my list.
4. Neutral Milk Hotel-In The Aeroplane Over The Sea(Merge)
Genre: Indie Folk, Indie Rock, Psychedelic Folk, Singer/Songwriter, LO-FI, Brass Band
This is a stone cold classic. I agree with it's placement on this list. If you haven't heard this than you need to. This was #3 on my list.
3. Elliott Smith-XO(Dreamworks)
Genre: Singer/Songwriter, Indie Pop, Chamber Pop, Indie Folk
Another classic of modern folk. The Jon Brion orchestration is beautiful, his singing is amazing, his fingerpicked guitar is mindblowing. This was Elliott's masterpiece. I cant disagree with this placement. This was #6 on my list.
2. Lauryn Hill-The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill(Ruffhouse/Columbia)
Genre: Neo-Soul, Contemporary R&B, Conscious Hip Hop, Boom Bap
It's stronger now than I remember when it first came out. I pretty much hated it when it first came out. I wasn't a Fugees fan either. Over time though I gained a greater appreciation for Hip Hop, Soul and Funk and came to like a lot of this album. I don't love it, but I like it. Enough to put it on a list? No not really. This was not on my list.
1. Outkast-Aquemini(LaFace)
Genre: Southern Hip Hop, Conscious Hip Hop, Neo-Soul, Funk, Experimental Hip Hop, Hardcore Hip Hop
A lot of people love this album. I fail to see it's awesomeness but I can tell it's their. It just doesnt have the same amount of insanity that "Stankonia" had or even that Big Boi's debut had. It's almost their. As an heir to the Sly and the Family Stone or Funkadelic throne it does an excellent job. As a record I want to keep in my record collection, it doesn't. This was not on my list.
In alphabetical order, these are the albums that Pitchfork biffed it in not including on their list:
Billy Bragg and Wilco-Mermaid Avenue(Elektra)
Genre: Alt-Country, Americana, Folk Rock
The Coup-Steal This Album(Dogday/Polemic)
The Coup-Steal This Album(Dogday/Polemic)
Genre: Political Hip Hop, West Coast Hip Hop, Conscious Hip Hop, Hardcore Hip Hop, Funk
Eels-Electro Shock Blues(Dreamworks)
Eels-Electro Shock Blues(Dreamworks)
Genre: Indie Pop, Singer/Songwriter, Indie Rock, Chamber Pop
Gorguts-Obscura(Olympic/Slipdisc/Mercury)
Hum-Downward Is Heavenward(RCA)
Gorguts-Obscura(Olympic/Slipdisc/Mercury)
Genre: Technical Death Metal, Avant Garde Metal
Halo Benders-The Rebel's Not In(K)
Halo Benders-The Rebel's Not In(K)
Genre: Indie Rock
Hum-Downward Is Heavenward(RCA)
Genre: Alternative Rock, Post-Hardcore, Shoegaze, Space Rock, Math Rock
Local H-Pack Up the Cats(Island)
Genre: Alternative Rock, Hard Rock, Post-Grunge
Meshuggah-Chaosphere(Nuclear Blast)
Meshuggah-Chaosphere(Nuclear Blast)
Genre: Djent, Progressive Metal, Technical Thrash Metal
Quasi-Featuring Birds(UP!)
Genre: Indie Rock, Indie Pop
Queens Of the Stone Age-Self Titled(Man's Ruin)
Queens Of the Stone Age-Self Titled(Man's Ruin)
Genre: Stoner Rock, Hard Rock, Alternative Rock
R.E.M.-Up(Warner Bros)
Genre: Alternative Rock, Pop Rock, Art Pop
System Of A Down-Self Titled(American Recordings)
Time Machines-Self Titled(Eskaton)
R.E.M.-Up(Warner Bros)
Genre: Alternative Rock, Pop Rock, Art Pop
System Of A Down-Self Titled(American Recordings)
Genre: Alternative Metal
Time Machines-Self Titled(Eskaton)
Genre: Drone
Rufus Wainwright-Self Titled(Dreamworks)
Genre: Singer/Songwriter, Classical Crossover
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