All Time Gold Albums

Aesop Rock was possibly my first favorite rapper. And his first album is a lot of fun. My favorite song on it is the title track "Float"

This was the first album of his I heard. I was a freshman in high school when I heard "Daylight" for the first time. I still see the sun rising from the bus to school in the morning when I hear its beat. This song gave little me hope somehow. It also instilled a deep longing to be a rapper myself.

I listened to this one up and down the summer it came out. Not a bad track in it.

When the music video for "I Stay Away" came on the TV for the first time when I was an adolescent I was transfixed by its morbid and beautiful claymation. I remember it felt inappropriate to watch, like a view of a world I shouldn't be seeing. Much like how people describe seeing car accidents. I loved it, it reached into a deep pit within me and pulled out something writhing in pain, longing to be seen.

I heard "Rocky Raccoon" for the first time in a sleepy late night car ride home with my mom when I was young. The song, so warm and haunting seemed to cradle me as it felt like it would never end.

This might be the darkest in tone album on my list. It displays carnal flaws and violent trauma with unwavering eye contact.
"stooplights" is the most blunt and accurate description of alcoholism I've ever heard. I feel this song in the trenches of heart and black spots in my mind.

At some point in my youth I got really into 90's Alt Rock. This album is one of my favorites from that era. "Good" is an iconic track, how I found the band. The whole album is very comfortable to me. "Rosealia" Might be my favorite off the album as a whole.

Thank got for funny music that is actually good music too.
I had "The Inevitable Return Of The Great White Dope" download on my knock-off mp3 player I got through the Scholastic book flyers we'd get at school. This is hilariously the first rap song I learned all the words too. I certainly didn't understand 90% of what they were talking about but I loved it anyway.

I fucking love BROCKHAMPTON. I saw them preform "District" on some late night talk show and was absolutely floored by their stage presences and performance.
I remember walking in the rain on Halloween at 20 years old. Dressed in full goth girl with a wig and everything. Waiting for my friend to get out of the bar. I knew there was something up with me. No one just dresses as a "Goth Girl" for Halloween, especially not a "Boy". I remember the looks I got. Rockland, Maine is not a welcoming place for people experimenting with gender.

I don't speak Italian but I feel like I get the vibe of this artist and album. The few songs I've translated have lots of lines that make me laugh. The sound of this album is fantastic, I enjoy its funkiness and also a few songs that seem to swell feeling big and meaningful to my ears.

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Somehow this entire album works. To me it's a masterpiece. It's an insanely layered catastrophe of sound, shooting you with music and rubbing you ears in the blood. My favorite chapter off this work is "Vapid Feels Ain't Vapid" Truly though the entire thing excels as a through listen.

For me this work is peace incarnate.
"Sligo River Blues" is a perfect song and it makes me feel at ease whenever I hear it.

I saw Leon preform on the SNL season 1 DVD set that I watched repeatedly as a kid. I've always loved his voice. This album though holds duel significance for me because the art for it inspired me artistically for a long stretch in me early 20's. The orange/blue combo because a strong motif in my work during that time. My favorite track is still the one he did on SNL "My Walking Stick"

I often say this is my favorite album of all time. I've loved it for so long. It's a perfect album to me in every way. From the sound design to the lyrical design. I know all the words and all the transitions.

This album came at the perfect time in my life. A year after a break up I was not over, and a month after 2 more. I was ready to feel and identify with all of it. I remember when the single for "The Letters, Etc" came out, and I had just come off a months of trying to think of the perfect letter to sent my ex so that she'd take me back. Thank god for this album.

Every so often I listen to every album by an artist. I was listening to every Why? album as they are one of my favorites. I don't think I would've ever found this album otherwise. I love the story it tells. The lyric seem simple at first but evolve on re-listens into a concise and modern tapestry of a story.