Do It Again by Röyksopp and Robyn
Do It Again
Röyksopp, Robyn
2014
Hey, somebody got their chocolate in my peanut butter! As a fan of their prior collaboration in “The Girl and the Robot," hearing them together again really showcases how strong they sound together. This collaboration limits both acts tendency to produce navel-gaze tracks and more confidently express the best parts of themselves. I can only hope they meet up in this way again.
Recommended Track: Do It Again
Bodyparts by Dragonette
Bodyparts
Dragonette
2012
The exuberance, passions, and myopia of youth. Finally being out in the world, making your own decisions. Your body is new and yearning for you to get out there and use it. You will always have things this together. This can’t possibly end. None of this will end.
Recommended Track: Giddy Up
Limits of Desire by Small Black
Limits of Desire
Small Black
2013
This album feels like the quiet, internal rush of discovering a new love. Even though your head is swirling, your senses are heightened and you can’t keep them out of your thoughts. Have you hit the relationship jackpot? When can you see them next? Have you finally found someone thinking the same about you?
Recommended Track: Free at Dawn
Evergreen by BROODS
Evergreen
BROODS
2014
When the outside world is frozen over with winter, it’s comforting to have music that matches. Evergreen’s icy pop pairs perfectly with long walks through the snow, alone with the difficult thoughts you meant to explore once you had the time.
Recommended Track: L.A.F.
After Laughter by Paramore
After Laughter
Paramore
2017
Never have sad lyrics sounded so peppy and exciting. Like Neko Case and Rachael Price, Hayley Williams has a super-powered voice that transforms and elevates even the most middling of tracks into something special. I couldn’t care less about the drama around Paramore and just enjoy their musical experimentation.
Recommended Track: Rose Colored Boy
Hallucinating Love by Maribou State
Hallucinating Love
Maribou State
2005
I bask in the heartfelt joy radiating from this album. It is a sunset walk through the neighborhood, cars and pedestrians zipping by, as you enjoy the sun playing off of the trees as you walk under them. As its moods swing from shuffling dance rhythms to slower introspections, the vibe insists that everything is gonna be alright.
Recommended Track: Otherside
A La Sala by Khruangbin
A La Sala
Khruangbin
2024
This album is contemplation in the half-light between moments of the day. The sounds of your mind facing inward as your eyes look out to something beautiful that stopped you in your tracks and caused you to reflect for a time. As someone who doesn’t really care about lyrics, Khruangbin is a band I wish I had discovered sooner.
Recommended Track: May Ninth
EUSEXUA by FKA twigs
EUSEXUA
FKA twigs
2025
Apparently conceived during her exploration of Prague’s nightclubs, Twigs has created an album that is creative and fresh. The production work is where this album really soars, reaching back farther than her contemporaries for pop and electronic influences and weaving each track into surprisingly different directions. The best compliment I can give this album is that, whenever I dip back in to listen to a track, I always end up listening to the whole album from wherever I started.
Recommended Track: Girl Feels Good
Aja by Steely Dan
Aja
Steely Dan
1976
There comes a time in every middle-aged, music loving, dad’s life where he has to admit, even if begrudgingly, that Steely Dan made some pretty great music. Their new affection might stop at one or two tracks but, if they are like me, they will find this entire album to be a tight seven-track masterpiece. Each track is pop enough to keep them accessible but jazz enough to reward deeper listenings.
Recommended Track: Peg
Antisocialites by Alvvays
Antisocialites
Alvvays
2017
This sophomore album is a continuation of the same propulsive energy that drew me into their sound. The shoegaze-like distortion from their first album has been pulled back to reveal more of Molly Rankin’s beautiful vocals and the album is all the better for it. I will always make time for earnest pop like this.
Recommended Track: Hey
Flying Away by Smoke City
Flying Away
Smoke City
1997
I somehow missed this excellent bossa-nova and trip-hop mashup that was released when I was graduating high school. This album is a classic for many great reasons and listening I can hear the origin of many other bands. I’m sad that it’s only one of two they released before disbanding.
Recommended Track: Jamie Pan
Now More Than Ever by Logistics
Now More Than Ever
Logistics
2006
Like his contemporaries High Contrast and London Electricity, Logistics helped evolve the drum and bass scene out of an era of technical exercises by adding melody and playfulness to the sound. With 24 tracks spread across two albums, they can’t all be bangers. However, when his tracks do hit, they sure are enjoyable!
Recommended Track: Winter Blues
Beasts of Burgundy by Squirrel Nut Zippers
Beasts of Burgundy
Squirrel Nut Zippers
2018
This album is a joyous celebration of New Orleans and the musical stew that formed the backbone of America’s homegrown musical cultures. Like a Mardi Gras night, high and low share dances through the dangerous strangeness that comes when nobody present is actually from here.
Recommended Track: Karnival Joe (From Kokomo)
Lost Songs of Doc Souchon by Squirrel Nut Zippers
Lost Songs of Doc Souchon
Squirrel Nut Zippers
2020
This album is proof that Jimbo Mathus still has the essential contrarian fire of a real artist blazing deep down in his belly. You can almost feel him resisting a peer pressure to backslide into rockabilly commercialism and it saves this album. The grit is essential and his refusal to polish it off infuses the tracks with a humanity that keeps me listening again and again.
Recommended Track: Purim Nigun
Apocalypso by The Presets
Apocalypso
The Presets
2008
Before EDM consumed the heart of electronic music, musicians were still experimenting with how to weave their humanity through synths. Rather than evoke a 1980’s pastiche, The Presets arrange the instrumentation of previous decades into an emotional thrill of ecstasy and aggression.
Recommended Track: This Boy’s in Love
Bloom by Beach House
Bloom
Beach House
2012
This is the sonic version of dense white mists quietly obscuring the landscape and unifying multiple views into a moody whole. The view pulls us outward in an invitation to wander and re-explore places we thought we already knew.
Recommended Track: Lazuli
Jump Rope Gazers by The Beths
Jump Rope Gazers
The Beths
2020
Ballads may be popular but they suck the uniqueness from many bands and weigh them down. I miss the raw, youthful punch of The Beths first album. Their sophomore effort includes just enough energetic tracks to save it but the energy drain is palpable. I’m rooting for their third album to be a rediscovery.
Recommended Track: Dying to Believe
Expert In A Dying Field by The Beths
Expert In A Dying Field
The Beths
2022
This album is a breath of fresh air. The Beths have crawled their way out of the boring balladry in their sophomore album and recentered themselves into the energy that made their original so compelling. They’re not regressing either as these tracks mature their sound into more complex arrangements. More like this please!
Recommended Track: Silence Is Golden
One Second by Yello
One Second (Remastered 2005)
Yello
1987
Less wandering than their previous albums, this is where Yello truly found their focus and created a masterpiece. Entirely separate bands can trace their sounds to individual tracks from this album. (For example: KMFDM and the track Si Señor The Hairy Grill)
Recommended Track: Hawaiian Chance
Technique by New Order
Technique
New Order
1989
When the former members of Joy Division were becoming New Order, they spent significant time taking in the new sounds coming out of New York City’s club scene to transform their sound. It makes sense that, at the end of that decade, they would choose to evolve again by soaking in the Ibiza club scene to find their sound of the next decade. The result was a blend of fresh house beats and alternative rock that I repeatedly come back to.
Recommended Track: Fine Time