My Favorite Albums of All Time

One of my most cherished albums. When I was first getting into The High Llamas, I was stuck in my Pet Sounds phase. Their previous album, Hawaii, scratched that itch, but Buzzle Bee stood out for it's weird production and child-like songs. I only played it once and I didn't touch it again for a while. That changed when I listened to The Beach Boys "Love You" which enamored me with it's zany production and child-like lyrics. I gave Buzzle Bee another shot and I fell deeply in love. It absolutely sounds like a sequel to Love You with much more modern production (Although the lyrics are way too abstract from what Brian would write.) Sean O'Hagan, The High Llamas frontman, was a former member of Stereolab and this album could almost be mistaken as one of theirs, but the difference is that this album sounds way more pastoral than anything they could make. Sean took very heavy influence from Brian Wilson and a lot of the sunshine pop groups of the 60's. "Get into The Gallery Shop" demonstrates this best as it sounds like a long lost Brian Wilson demo. I once read the perfect description of this album from a comment from RYM (I think) and it said "this sounds a Stereolab album produced by Brian Wilson." Buzzle Bee is a unique album that takes a few listens to click, but once it does, it'll never escape your brain!

I don't know the person who broke Jim O'Rourke's heart, but I'd like to thank them for inspiring Jim to make his best album within the "Drag City" era of his work. "Insignificance" is a scathing, toxic album about love and it couldn't sound any more beautiful than this. O'Rourke brings in Jeff Tweedy and Glen Kotche of the band "Wilco" to bring in a harder, more rock-oriented feel into his arrangement. It fits very well with the lyrics which, again, are scathing and vile. "Memory Lame" is a good example as it is so filled with hate and contempt, but the music is incredible.

They say that the best engineers also make the best producers and Airplay's debut album best demonstrates that. Airplay are Jay Graydon and David Foster, two of the most in-demand producers/ session players of the 70's and 80's. By this point in their careers, they wanted to be try being the stars for once, so they got to work on a whole bunch of demos made for other artist and claimed it as their own. Most famously, Jay Graydon's song "After the Love was Gone" was given to the band Earth, Wind and Fire right before Airplay was released and it went on to be a mega hit in 1979. The true version of that songs appears here. The album absolutely rules if you love that late 70's/early 80's AOR that was dominating the charts at the time. It's a fantastic record and I think it's a shame that they didn't continue on as a group, but I'm happy they were able to continue their careers helping other artists bring out their best performances

Apartment Life is one of the albums that best encapsulates the sound of the NYC indie pop scene of the late 90's. A sophisticated, breezy and witty album that transport you back to being a bright eye college kid living in NYC during the turn of the century. This type of feeling is something you will never experience since the world has become a lot (I mean A LOT) more depressing since this album was released, but if you're feeling nostalgic, I think that "Apartment Life" is as close to experiencing time travel as one could get.

There has been a recent resurgence of The Beach Boys later albums and I'm incredibly happy to see it. Love You is a very strange album if you don't have any prior knowledge of the mythical history of this band and it's front-man, Brian Wilson, but It's very much worth listening to. To sum it up, Love You is the last great works by one of the most innovating producers of the 1960's. By 1977, Brian Wilson was in his middle age suffering through addiction and mental health issues, but he was able to conjure up a synth-pop album (in 1977!) that tries to hearkens back to days when he was in his prime. The result is some of the weirdest, but most heartfelt music a popular group could ever release. It's child-like and innocent in a way that only Brian Wilson could ever pull off. The synths used throughout the album sound crude and crunchy, yet the compositions and of course, the vocals sound as great as ever (even if you can hear how much older everyone is.) Despite all the fucked up shit Brian has been through, he demonstrated that he's still has it even after all these years. Love you is an album that I cherish deeply (Just like with Pet Sounds) and It'll continue to influence me for years to come!

Steely Dan's best album in my opinion (a hot take, I know!), but I wouldn't say that it's my most favorite out of their discography. Everything about this album has already been said to death, but I will add that any dan-head worth their salt should go hunting for some of the outtakes from this album. "Stand by the Seawall" is an interesting song that demonstrates that even when they're fucking around, Steely Dan can make a phenomenal song.