Record Store Day – Part 2: All Time Favourite Albums… Ever

Whether it was the generally bewildered response to the groundbreaking release of (the absolutely superb!) Kid A by music fans and the press, or whether Radiohead really felt that the songs that came from the recording sessions for that album were just too good for only 10 tracks to see the light of day, the release of Amnesiac just eight months after Kid A’s debut was something of an oddity for a band that generally operate on release cycles of years rather than months.

And while the songs on Amnesiac are clearly cut from the same melancholy cloth as those on Kid A, there remains a distinctly more human element than its predecessor. For me, it’s a vital album from an equally vital band. Far from being a collection of offcuts, Amnesiac showcases a chameleonic band revelling in their blossoming talents, and a band for whom musical boundaries were made to be broken.

Growing up in the 90’s in the golden era of boyband and the spice girls, I’m pretty confident that most people first choice of music as a kid would be pop orientated. My sister certainly was, but that wasn’t for me. I remember being into Oasis massively in the early 90’s and then suddenly went down an entirely different route altogether. I found out about this pop-punk band called Blink 182. It was a battered copy of Dude Ranch that first got me hooked but the album that really took this infatuation to new levels was Enema of the State.

It was a breath of fresh air from the same stuff I’d hear on the radio, and even though I was not even in my teenage years, I knew this was it for me. The fast paced power chords and drum beats were just seemed to be everything I ever wanted in an album. It was upbeat, exciting and simply, just made me smile. So much so that I still listen to that same album today and I’m never bored.

Arguably one of the biggest rock bands of the last decade, Kings of Leon can now be found pumping out crowd pleasers to stadiums full of thousands of fans, bagging chart hits and Grammys whenever they release something new. However, their first album, Youth and Young Manhood, is a raw, scrappy mix of rock, country western and indie, released to great critical acclaim in 2003. Just young men at the time, their debut album reveals their Deep South roots, oozing country western and blues influences.

For me, Youth and Young Manhood is the band’s best work. Free from the pressures of pushy record labels and demanding fans, it crackles with attitude, energy and, above all, passion. It encapsulates the exciting movements made in the noughties indie scene, and is a perfect debut offering. One of my favourite albums of all time, it’s still as exciting now as it was over a decade ago. For best results, listen to this blistering album on vinyl, on a great sound system, with the volume all the way up!

Carpenter Brut is one of the pioneers when it comes to Darksynth music and someone I discovered via the Furi OST back in 2016, leading me to strive backwards and discover his excellent trilogy of EPs and pushed me to hotly anticipate his newest album Leather Teeth. Somewhat controversial of a best album choice with Synthwave fans as it looks to be his least heralded release, but for me personally the mix of pitch perfect synth nostalgia mixed with driving metal chords and a hint of cheesiness (especially “Cheerleader Effect”) gives the album a uniqueness that pushes it to the top of my everyday playlist.

My music tastes haven’t really changed much since I was about 10 years old and to be honest, I don’t really want them to. I can’t get enough of pop-punk power houses Blink 182 and on the back of their success, many bands have followed them.

One of these was the New Found Glory. They had a few early EP releases with moderate success but what really pushed them to the very echelons of the pop-punk world was their year 2000 release of their self-titled album. It was catchy, action packed and people loved it. Sure the lyrics are a bit whiny but it was just a fun album. Its stuck with me ever since and got me hooked on New Found Glory. I grew up listening to it and it and most of the New Found Glory albums are just a touch of a button away on my Spotify playlists.

Watchdogs 2 is a game that I hold dear to my heart for its sense of style humour and overall aesthetic. One of the major appeals being the amazing OST crafted by Hudson Mohawke which perfectly captures the underground 80’s/90’s hacker feel and distills it into an album that’s both cinematic and dystopian whilst never missing a beat. The computer sound effects chirping beneath an ocean of orchestral beauty or the synth flowing between the sound of altered voices a la “Ghost in the Shell” is a thing of genius and produced one of my favourite ever tracks in the absolutely perfect “Shanghaied”.