Spring 2023

If the soundtrack to the middling 1995 movie Hideaway hadn't been so good, I might never have discovered this incredible album. Artfully blending gothic madrigal singing with driving industrial rock makes for a kind of crazy drama that I am very here for. More classically trained artists should dabble in pop. Track recommendation: Cut

On my first listen, I fell in love with how this album made me feel and didn't look back. The high-concept lyrics detract from the whole and, in my opinion, the album shines brighter when they're ignored. Drab Majesty does their best to push themselves beyond an 80's pastiche and mostly succeed. Track recommendation: Dot in the Sky

This is the closest version to the original 1991 release, "The White Room" that you can find streaming. I remember buying it for my best friend's birthday that year and we listened to it over many hours of Street Fighter II. I was far too young at the time to know of or understand any of the band's self-hating shenanigans and took their music at face value. I'm all the better for it because several of their tracks were instrumental in getting me further into the new electronic sounds coming from England. Track recommendation: 3AM Eternal

I don't know why The Japanese House's sound is so cathartic for me but here I am again with this album on repeat. What I do know is their music resonates with the excitedly optomistic part of me that's still unsure about how other people's brains work. We're all still figuring life out. Track recommendation: Maybe You're the Reason

A surprising combination of experimental beats with a winning sound. This is the sound of a band refusing to give in and push themselves past the safe sounds that made them famous. Track recommendation: Romeo

Many convention-breaking details have kept this album elevated past the decade it was created in. Have I really been listening to this album for nearly 30 years!? Track recommendation: Kiss from a Rose (of course)

This is the musical version of a lush, blue sky summer break where few things can break into your little world of chilling with friends in the sun. The possibility of a new love. Easy come, easy go. Driving is more important than where you end up. Track recommendation: Tek It

There's much to enjoy about hearing the birth of a new sound and this album definitively birthed the early goth music sound. As a teenager I found it too cheesy but I've come around to appreciating it. Track recommendation: Bella Lugosi's Dead

There are feelings and emotions rooted in the deeper, darker heart of ourselves that can only be touched by diving below our surface. Music is a frequent guide to accessing this unexplored territory and helping us explore what we don't have words to express. This album has become one such guide for me. Track recommendation: Stars