The almost metal riffage and screeching guitars of ‘San Cristobal de Las Casas’ makes this song a particular standout and for some nice hazy, shoegazey guitar goodness feast your ears and imagination on ‘Two Girls Kissing’. Nice and simple. They do this brilliantly on the unforgettable ‘Cloudless’, ‘Stereo Honey’ and of course the beautiful and sweeping ‘Mother Ocean’. Their unhinged noise-rock sound provides the basis for frontman David Yow (who would later go on to front The Jesus Lizard) to ramble and babble like a crazed hobo. Of course when the band are playing it (almost) straight they are seriously good. It’s never too late to try and find the silver linings of a difficult time, so check out our ranking of the year’s 30 best indie albums below. Heartbreak, regret and bitterness are brilliantly portrayed across the eleven songs on offer here. Bee Thousand stands up as probably the greatest lo-fi indie album of the 90’s and it was all due to the quality of the songwriting on offer here. But despite the chaotic and unpredictable racket they still manage to produce some great songs that stick with you, such as the opener ‘Thermal Treasure’, the excellent ‘Lazy Comet’ and the strangely melodic ‘Tilebreaker’. Acoustic guitars and harmonica play a significant role especially on ‘Flowers In December’, which was a top-40 hit in the UK, and ‘I’ve Been Let Down’. Discover the best alternative records of the 2000s, selected according to the following rules: Strictly only one album per band. Their two studio albums, this and their final album One Last Laugh In a Place Of Dying, are both sprawling albums that take you on a dark and sometimes uncomfortable journey with many twists and turns and feature a well of depth. They Spent Their Wild Youthful Days in the Glittering World of the Salons. He was suddenly faced with differing political opinions as well as a sense of longing nostalgia during sunset. This album is indeed the perfect prescription if you require a dosage of feel-good, psychedelic rock. So it’s nice to see their return to anthemic form, Imploding The Mirage, getting its deserved due from both sides of the aisle, as the band smartly looked to both collaborators and their own history to craft one of the most delightful and sturdy efforts of 2020.–Philip Cosores, Khruangbin tried something different this year by linking up with Leon Bridges for the collaborative Texas Sun EP, but they had another project that was more in their traditional wheelhouse. It also broke into the dance, adult pop, and even adult contemporary charts. Across its eleven tracks, The Baby creates a world that is lush and ambient, filled with biting lyrics delivered across a spectrum of different vocal stylings that revel in the process of learning how to be yourself, with nobody’s help but your own.–Zac Gelfand, After leaving his comfortable life in the big city, Kevin Morby returned home to the suburbs of his Kansas City hometown. You also have the moody punk meets classic rock sounds of ‘Baby Takes’ and the menacing ‘Rehab Doll’ which go completely against the grain of popular 80’s music. Pouring all these emotions into a 4-track Tascam in a shed on his property, Morby successfully captured the vastness of the American landscape (political and otherwise) in his serene album Sundowner.–Carolyn Droke, Blackstarkids got signed to Dirty Hit (The 1975, Beabadoobee) just a few days after sending the label a cold email. EVOL marked the moment where Sonic Youth moved away from the less accessible experimental art-rock of their early releases Sonic Youth, Confusion Is Sex and Bad Moon Rising and onto something more coherent. The band also dip their toes into avant-garde territory with the repetition and mumbled, rambling vocals of ‘Perfect Example’ and of course the bizarre ‘How To Skin a Cat’. On “Sunblind,” the strongest song of Fleet Foxes’ storied career, he celebrates and mourns, yearns and rejoices, replete with the harmonies and meticulously constructed melodies that have carried this Seattle band from warm, bedroom folk to songwriting legacies. There’s a sense of innocence from these songs that seems so genuine and hard to find elsewhere, coupled with a youthful energy and a great sense of melody. Superfuzz Bigmuff and took the Seattle sound to the verge of mainstream acceptance. Comedy. The change was jarring in more ways than one. Pitchfork's Best Alternative Rock Albums of All Time. Popularity isn't everything. Mercury Rev on their debut album Yerself Is Steam sound like a completely different beast than on their later releases. 2000s. Belle and Sebastian arrived onto the UK indie scene in 1996 a fully formed band and released this rather excellent debut album. The album does carry a very downbeat, detached and isolated mood throughout its duration and it does an effective job of pulling you into its own little world. This collection contains some great Sabbath-influenced songs such as ‘P.C.C.’ which could have slotted seamlessly into Nirvana’s debut album Bleach or Mudhoney’s early releases. This mood is the result of a number of factors: bleak and painful lyrics, soft, quiet yet sometimes emotionally intense vocals, mournful strings, sad and beautiful pianos, and of course some wonderfully picked guitar playing. Navigated successfully throughout his career, but the New Abnormal, thankfully, is great. 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