Albums To Live By

Mogwai - Young Team
It'd be worth it just for "Mogwai Fear Satan," a song that, when I first heard it, seemed to encapsulate exactly the kind of music I always wanted to hear - murderously rocking, unrelenting, noisy, but also painfully beautiful and imbued with a sense of urgency that makes you want to quit your job and run down the street yelling with joy. But in addition you get all the peaks and valleys you could ever want; fucked-up, stereo panning noise experiments, delicate guitar & glockenspiel ballads, and of course "Like Herod," the aural equivalent of some shock scene in a Japanese horror film. This album makes the guitar interesting again, always an impressive feat.

Primal Scream - XTRMNTR
In 2000 I was an exhausted, drugged-up, heart-broken college freshman. This record gave me a reason to exist. It perfectly expressed all my disgust and contempt for the people, beauracracies and institutions around me, and within a sonic template that was nothing short of revolutionary - danceable, textured, aggressive and alive. I remember walking through Central Park some murky March afternoon listening to "Swastika Eyes" over and over again, as if its lazer-sighted aggro-disco could somehow will Spring into existence and kill evil men all at once.

Sonic Youth - Sister
I'm still amazed at how fresh and great this is. I bought it (on cassette!) because Kurt Cobain name-dropped them in that Come As You Are book. But my ears were infantile then! It all sounded a strange, horrible mess coming out of my Walkmen headphones, albeit with some queer, undeniable allure. By the time I gave it a serious second chance, Kurt was dead and I had exhausted the re-playability of "Insecticide." But funny things can happen given time! Suddenly it all made sense, the melody coming through the mayhem, the sheer inventiveness of the guitar playing, and don't forget the goddamn rawk! of it all. Soon I was downloading SY tunings from OLGA (anyone remember that shit?) and buying everything they put out. I still own all their albums and will continue buying whatever they put out until I (or they) die.

Smashing Pumpkins - Pisces Iscariot
It's not even a proper album, but something about it captures the essence of a particular period of time, of my youth, of summers without care, all the agony and ecstasy of those mangled years from 13-17. Back then Billy Corgan and Co. were like the Super Band of all bands, playing all the right cards and with a seemingly limitless stylistic breadth. The girly vocals over skull-crushing guitars and assault rifle drums were sweet revenge for anyone ever called "fag" in high school, and it was heartening to see a band so odd achieve mega-success. Certainly there's nobody fucking like that around today. Unlike a lot of people, I really like "Mellon Collie" and the stuff that came afterward, but in my heart I do wish they had followed down the path so promisingly outlined here.