As of February 2023, I’ve listened to over 4,200 albums according to my RateYourMusic.com profile. Here’s some of my favorites:
TOP 100:
100.
Young Oceans
Advent (2012)
Christian Rock, Alternative Rock
Track ratings:
1 All Who Hear 5.00 stars
2 Come to Us O Lord 4.00 stars
3 My All in Thee 5.00 stars
4 The Gates 4.00 stars
5 Scattered Stones 4.00 stars
6 To Thee We Run 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Beautifully written and produced worship songs with a dream pop atmosphere.
99.
.
P.O.D.
Satellite (2001)
Track ratings:
1 Set It Off 4.50 stars
2 Alive 4.50 stars
3 Boom 4.50 stars
4 Youth of the Nation 4.50 stars
5 Celestial 3.50 stars
6 Satellite 4.50 stars
7 Ridiculous 3.50 stars
8 The Messenjah 5.00 stars
9 Guitarras de amor 3.50 stars
10 Anything Right 4.50 stars
11 Ghetto 4.50 stars
12 Masterpiece Conspiracy 3.50 stars
13 Without Jah, Nothin’ 3.50 stars
14 Thinking About Forever 4.00 stars
15 Portrait 3.50 stars
What I Like Most About It:
More atmospheric sounding than most nu-metal. Lots of fun song, but also plenty of serious ones.
98.
Falling Up
Silver City (2013)
Track ratings:
1 Intro / Jingle Bells 4.00 stars
2 Carol of the Bells 4.00 stars
3 Emanuel 5.00 stars
4 Silent Night 4.50 stars
5 Oh Holy Night 4.50 stars
6 Oh Holy Night Reprise 5.00 stars
7 Sugar Plum Fairy 4.00 stars
8 Song in the Air 5.00 stars
9 Silver City 4.00 stars
10 The Little Robot 5.00 stars
11 Silver City Sleeps 4.00 stars
Average: 4.45
What I Like Most About It:
It just sounds like a real soundtrack to Christmas
97.
Gemma Hayes
Bones + Longing (2014)
Track ratings:
1 Laughter 4.00 stars
2 Dreamt You Were Fine 5.00 stars
3 Iona 3.50 stars
4 Joy 4.00 stars
5 Dark Moon 4.00 stars
6 Palomino 5.00 stars
7 To Be Your Honey 4.50 stars
8 Chasing 5.00 stars
9 Making My Way Back 5.00 stars
10 Caught 4.00 stars
11 Bones and Longing 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Gemma’s voice is one of my favorites and several of her best songs are here.
96.
Relient K
Forget and Not Slow Down (2009)
Power Pop, Piano Rock, Emo-Pop, Indie Pop, Americana
Track ratings:
1 Forget and Not Slow Down 5.00 stars
2 I Don’t Need a Soul 4.50 stars
3 Candlelight 4.00 stars
4 Flare (Outro) 3.50 stars
5 Part of It 4.00 stars
6 (Outro) 3.50 stars
7 Therapy 5.00 stars
8 Over It 4.00 stars
9 Sahara 4.00 stars
10 Oasis (Intro) 3.50 stars
11 Savannah 4.00 stars
12 Baby (Outro) 3.50 stars
13 If You Believe Me 4.50 stars
14 This Is the End 5.00 stars
15 (If You Want It) 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
The warm, summer evening vibe and the most well-crafted songs of RK’s career.
95.
Copeland
You Are My Sunshine (2008)
Track ratings:
1 Should You Return 5.00 stars
2 The Grey Man 5.00 stars
3 Chin Up 5.00 stars
4 Good Morning Fire Eater 4.00 stars
5 To Be Happy Now 4.00 stars
6 The Day I Lost My Voice (The Suitcase Song) 3.50 stars
7 On the Safest Ledge 4.50 stars
8 Not Allowed 4.00 stars
9 Strange and Unprepared 4.00 stars
10 What Do I Know? 4.50 stars
11 Not So Tough Found Out 3.50 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Very soothing, chill, and artistic.
94.
The Cardigans
Long Gone Before Daylight (2003)
Track ratings:
1 Communication 5.00 stars
2 You’re the Storm 4.50 stars
3 A Good Horse 3.00 stars
4 And Then You Kissed Me 4.50 stars
5 Couldn’t Care Less 4.00 stars
6 Please Sister 3.50 stars
7 For What It’s Worth 3.50 stars
8 Lead Me Into the Night 4.50 stars
9 Live and Learn 4.50 stars
10 Feathers and Down 5.00 stars
11 03.45: No Sleep 3.50 stars
12 Hold Me – Mini Version 3.00 stars
13. If There is a Chance 5.00 Stars
What I Like Most About It:
The beautiful songs are really beautiful.
93.
Deserta
Black Aura My Sun (2020)
Track ratings:
1 Save Me 4.00 stars
2 Paradiso 4.00 stars
3 Monica 4.50 stars
4 Hide 5.00 stars
5 Be So Blue 4.50 stars
6 I’ll Be Gone 4.00 stars
7 Black Aura 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Incredibly chill and trippy vibe.
92.
Deas Vail
All the Houses Look the Same (2007)
Track ratings:
1 Standing 4.00 stars
2 Light as Air 4.00 stars
3 Surface 4.00 stars
4 Rewind 4.00 stars
5 Shoreline 5.00 stars
6 A Lover’s Charm 4.00 stars
7 Follow Sound 3.50 stars
8 Anything You Say 4.00 stars
9 Shadows and City Lights 4.00 stars
10 For Miles to Come 4.50 stars
11 Life in These Little Boats 3.50 stars
12 This Place Is Painted Red 5.00 stars
13 …Still 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Lots of strong melodies
91.
Holden Days
Sylvan Lands, Vol. II (2020)
Track ratings:
1 Pearls About You (Nighttime) 4.50 stars
2 Grow 4.00 stars
3 Everything Would Be Different 3.50 stars
4 Blush 4.50 stars
5 Morning Moon 5.00 stars
6 52 3.50 stars
7 Matted Rose 3.50 stars
8 Memory (Colour) 4.00 stars
9 The Sorrow of Sunny Days 4.00 stars
10 In Sylvan Land 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Gorgeous in every way.
90.
Klimt 1918
Just in Case We’ll Never Meet Again (2008)
Track ratings:
1 The Breathtaking Days (Via Lactea) 5.00 stars
2 Skygazer 4.50 stars
3 Ghost of a Tape Listener 5.00 stars
4 The Graduate 3.50 stars
5 Just an Interlude in Your Life 5.00 stars
6 Just in Case We’ll Never Meet Again 4.00 stars
7 Suspense Music 4.00 stars
8 Disco Awayness 3.50 stars
9 Atget 4.00 stars
10 All Summer Long 4.00 stars
11 True Love Is the Oldest Fear 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
The guitar tones are some of my favorite in all of music.
89.
‘Til Tuesday
Everything’s Different Now (1988)
Jangle Pop, Folk Pop, Sophisti-Pop
Track Ratings:
1 Everything’s Different Now 4.50 stars
2 Rip in Heaven 4.50 stars
3 Why Must I 4.50 stars
4 ‘J’ for Jules 5.00 stars
5 (Believed You Were) Lucky 4.50 stars
6 Limits to Love 4.00 stars
7 Long Gone (Buddy) 4.00 stars
8 The Other End (Of the Telescope) 4.50 stars
9 Crash and Burn 4.50 stars
10 How Can You Give Up? 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Brilliantly crafted melancholy pop songs.
88.
Starflyer 59
Everybody Makes Mistakes (1999)
Track ratings:
1 Play the “C” Chord 5.00 stars
2 No New Kinda Story 4.50 stars
3 20 Dollar Bills 4.50 stars
4 No More Shows 4.00 stars
5 Just Try 5.00 stars
6 My Name 4.00 stars
7 A Dethroned King 4.50 stars
8 Going Places 4.00 stars
9 The Party 4.50 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Some of the Jason Martin’s finest songs are here.
87.
Pete Stewart
Pete Stewart (1999)
Alternative Rock, Christian Rock
Track ratings:
1 Out of My Mind 4.50 stars
2 Better Off 5.00 stars
3 Uphill Battle 4.50 stars
4 Worship Song 4.00 stars
5 Little Country Church 4.00 stars
6 Don’t Underestimate 5.00 stars
7 Spinning 5.00 stars
8 Up in the Sky 4.00 stars
9 The Reason Is You 4.00 stars
10 The One 3.50 stars
11 Waiting for the Son 3.50 stars
What I Like Most About It:
I’ve always really loved Pete’s voice and it sounds great with slicker production than were on his Grammatrain albums.
86.
Gin Blossoms
New Miserable Experience (1992)
Jangle Pop, Power Pop, Alternative Rock
Track ratings:
1 Lost Horizons 5.00 stars
2 Hey Jealousy 5.00 stars
3 Mrs. Rita 4.00 stars
4 Until I Fall Away 5.00 stars
5 Hold Me Down 4.00 stars
6 Cajun Song 4.00 stars
7 Hands Are Tied 4.00 stars
8 Found Out About You 5.00 stars
9 Allison Road 4.50 stars
10 29 4.50 stars
11 Pieces of the Night 4.50 stars
12 Cheatin’ 4.00 star
What I Like Most About It:
This thing is loaded with nostalgic 90s tunes.
85.
Stavesacre
Speakeasy (1999)
Track ratings:
1 Minuteman 5.00 stars
2 Sundown Motel 5.00 stars
3 Keep Waiting 5.00 stars
4 You Know How It Is 4.00 stars
5 Rivers Underneath 4.50 stars
6 Gold and Silver 5.00 stars
7 Freefall (From Hand to Hand) 4.00 stars
8 St. Eriksplan [Part 1] 4.00 stars
9 St. Eriksplan [Part 2] 4.00 stars
10 Disquiet 4.50 stars
11 Fascination Street 4.50 stars
12 This Love 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Most of the best Stavesacre songs are here.
84.
Starflyer 59
Dial M (2008)
Track ratings:
1 Minor Keys 5.00 stars
2 The Brightest of the Head 4.50 stars
3 Concentrate 4.50 stars
4 Who Said It’s Easy? 4.00 stars
5 M23 5.00 stars
6 Taxi 4.00 stars
7 Automatic 4.50 stars
8 Altercation 4.00 stars
9 Mr. Martin 4.00 stars
10 I Love You Like the Little Bird 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
There’s some cool electronic stuff going on here, but also just great songwriting.
83.
Rich Mullins & A Ragamuffin Band
The Jesus Record (1998)
Track ratings:
1.1 Hard to Get 5.00 stars
1.2 All the Way to Kingdom Come 4.50 stars
1.3 My Deliverer 5.00 stars
1.4 Surely God Is With Us 4.50 stars
1.5 Jesus… 4.50 stars
1.6 You Did Not Have a Home 4.00 stars
1.7 Heaven in His Eyes 4.00 stars
1.8 Nothing Is Beyond You 5.00 stars
1.9 That Where I Am, There You… 4.50 stars
2.1 My Deliverer 5.00 stars
2.2 Surely God Is With Us 4.00 stars
2.3 Nothing Is Beyond You 4.50 stars
2.4 You Did Not Have a Home 4.00 stars
2.5 Jesus… 4.00 stars
2.6 All the Way to Kingdom Come 4.00 stars
2.7 Man of No Reputation 4.00 stars
2.8 Heaven in His Eyes 4.00 stars
2.9 Hard to Get 4.00 stars
2.10 That Where I Am, There You… 4.50 stars
What I Like Most About It:
The final songs recorded before Rich’s death are also some of his best. Most of the re-recordings by his friends are also excellent.
82.
Falling Up
Midnight on Earthship (2013)
Acoustic Rock, Alternative Rock
Indie Rock, Art Rock, Adult Contemporary, Piano Rock
Track ratings:
1 Sky Circles 5.00 stars
2 Home 4.50 stars
3 Bruise 5.00 stars
4 Greying Morning 4.50 stars
5 Who You Are 4.00 stars
6 Down Here 4.00 stars
7 Summer Song 4.50 stars
8 Rooftops 4.50 stars
9 Voices 4.00 stars
10 Tomorrows 4.50 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Falling Up are my favorite band and this is their most easy-listening album, so I play it a lot in the morning and at night.
81.
Jimmy Eat World
Chase This Light (2007)
Alternative Rock, Power Pop, Pop Rock
Track ratings:
1 Big Casino 5.00 stars
2 Let It Happen 4.50 stars
3 Always Be 5.00 stars
4 Carry You 5.00 stars
5 Electable (Give It Up) 4.00 stars
6 Gotta Be Somebody’s Blues 3.50 stars
7 Feeling Lucky 3.50 stars
8 Here It Goes 4.50 stars
9 Chase This Light 5.00 stars
10 Firefight 4.00 stars
11 Dizzy 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
I really didn’t like this album when it was released. It sounded too glossy for me, but once I got over that, this album kept growing and growing on me because the songs are incredible, for the most part.
80.
Mutemath
Mutemath (2006)
Indietronica, Post-Punk Revival
Track ratings:
1 Collapse 3.50 stars
2 Typical 4.50 stars
3 After We Have Left Our Homes 3.50 stars
4 Chaos 4.00 stars
5 Noticed 4.00 stars
6 Plan B 4.00 stars
7 Stare at the Sun 4.00 stars
8 Obsolete 4.00 stars
9 Break the Same 4.50 stars
10 You Are Mine 5.00 stars
11 Control 5.00 stars
12 Picture 5.00 stars
13 Stall Out 4.50 stars
14 Reset 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
One the best live bands I’ve ever seen also has one of the best second halves of an album I’ve ever heard.
79.
Sufjan Stevens
Carrie & Lowell (2015)
Track ratings:
1 Death With Dignity 4.00 stars
2 Should Have Known Better 4.50 stars
3 All of Me Wants All of You 4.00 stars
4 Drawn to the Blood 4.00 stars
5 Eugene 4.00 stars
6 Fourth of July 5.00 stars
7 The Only Thing 4.50 stars
8 Carrie & Lowell 4.50 stars
9 John My Beloved 5.00 stars
10 No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross 5.00 stars
11 Blue Bucket of Gold 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
That Sufjan didn’t try to get weird. He just let the beauty of the songs show.
78.
Five O’Clock People
The Nothing Venture (1999)
Track ratings:
1 Lunar 4.50 stars
2 Sorry 5.00 stars
3 Blame 4.50 stars
4 So Far Gone (Interlude) 4.00 stars
5 Glass 3.50 stars
6 Now I Sing 4.00 stars
7 Remain 4.00 stars
8 Same Old Line 4.50 stars
9 This Day 4.50 stars
10 Living Water 4.50 stars
11 Fall Silent (Postlude) 3.50 stars
What I Like Most About It:
“Sorry” blew my mind when I first heard it.
77.
Anberlin
Blueprints for the Black Market (2003)
Track Ratings:
1 Readyfuels 4.50 stars
2 Foreign Language 3.00 stars
3 Change the World (Lost Ones) 4.50 stars
4 Cold War Transmissions 4.00 stars
5 Glass to the Arson 5.00 stars
6 The Undeveloped Story 4.00 stars
7 Autobahn 4.00 stars
8 We Dreamt in Heist 3.50 stars
9 Love Song 4.50 stars
10 Cadence 5.00 stars
11 Naïve Orleans 4.50 stars
What I Like Most About It:
The highs make up for the weaker tracks on this one.
76.
The Daysleepers
Creation (2018)
Track ratings:
1 This Dark Universe 5.00 stars
2 Creation 4.00 stars
3 Arclights 3.50 stars
4 Foreverpeople 3.50 stars
5 The Memorymaker 4.00 stars
6 Sundiver 4.00 stars
7 Tropics 4.50 stars
8 Flood in Heaven 4.50 stars
9 The Monolith 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
The bookends on the album are stunning.
75.
Paper Route
Are We All Forgotten (2008) [EP]
Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Dream Pop
Track ratings:
1 American Clouds 4.50 stars
2 Are We All Forgotten 5.00 stars
3 Empty House 4.00 stars
4 You Kill Me 5.00 stars
5 Waiting for the Final Leaf to Fall 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
It’s so dreamy.
74.
Moving Mountains
Moving Mountains (2013)
Track ratings:
1 Swing Set 4.50 stars
2 Burn Pile 5.00 stars
3 Hands 4.00 stars
4 Seasonal 4.00 stars
5 Eastern Leaves 5.00 stars
6 Hudson 4.00 stars
7 Under a Falling Sky 4.00 stars
8 Chords 4.00 stars
9 Apsides 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
One of my go-to albums when I don’t have anything in particular that I want to listen to.
73.
Gloomcatcher
Blade in the Belfry (2017) [EP]
Track ratings:
1 The Night 4.00 stars
2 Four 4.50 stars
3 Kai 4.00 stars
4 Heather 4.50 stars
5 The Host 5.00 stars
6 Marin 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
The last two songs are amazing.
72.
Life in Your Way
Ignite and Rebuild (2005)
Track ratings:
1 Hope Is War 4.00 stars
2 Light in Mine 4.00 stars
3 Threads of Sincerity 5.00 stars
4 To the Edge 4.50 stars
5 This, The Midnight Fight 4.00 stars
6 More Than Efforts 5.00 stars
7 Stability 5.00 stars
8 Evident 4.00 stars
9 When Rules Change 4.00 stars
10 The Change 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Passion, energy, skill.
71.
Further Seems Forever
How to Start a Fire (2003)
Track ratings:
1 How to Start a Fire 4.50 stars
2 The Sound 5.00 stars
3 A Blank Page Empire 5.00 stars
4 Against My Better Judgement 4.00 stars
5 I Am 4.00 stars
6 Pride War 4.00 stars
7 On Legendary 5.00 stars
8 Insincerity as an Artform 4.50 stars
9 The Deep 4.50 stars
10 Aurora Borealis (In Long Form) 3.50 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Jason Gleason.
70.
Blindside
About a Burning Fire (2004)
Track ratings:
1 Eye of the Storm 5.00 stars
2 Follow You Down 4.00 stars
3 All of Us 5.00 stars
4 Shekina 5.00 stars
5 Hooray, It’s L.A. 3.50 stars
6 Swallow 4.00 stars
7 Die Buying 4.00 stars
8 Across Waters Again 4.00 stars
9 After You’re Gone 5.00 stars
10 Where the Sun Never Dies 4.00 stars
11 Roads 4.50 stars
12 About a Burning Fire 5.00 star
What I Like Most About It:
Christian Lindskog’s vocals. Wow.
69.
Starflyer 59
SLOW (2016)
Track ratings:
1 Slow 5.00 stars
2 Told Me So 4.00 stars
3 Cherokee 4.00 stars
4 Hi Low 4.00 stars
5 Wrongtime 5.00 stars
6 Retired 4.00 stars
7 Runaround 4.00 stars
8 Numb 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
The nostalgia-focused lyrics.
68.
Smalltown Poets
Listen Closely (1998)
Track ratings:
1 Call Me Christian 4.00 stars
2 Anything Genuine 4.50 stars
3 There Is Only You 5.00 stars
4 Gloria 4.50 stars
5 48 States 4.50 stars
6 Long, Long Way 4.50 stars
7 The Gospel Is Peace 4.50 stars
8 Hold It Up to the Light 5.00 stars
9 New Man 4.00 stars
10 Quasar 4.00 stars
11 Garland of Grace 4.00 stars
12 One of These Days 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
The second-best 90s Christian Rock band.
67.
Anberlin
Never Take Friendship Personal (2005)
Track ratings:
1 Never Take Friendship Personal 4.00 stars
2 Paperthin Hymn 5.00 stars
3 Stationary Stationery 3.50 stars
4 (The Symphony of) Blasé 5.00 stars
5 A Day Late 4.50 stars
6 The Runaways 3.50 stars
7 Time & Confusion 4.50 stars
8 The Feel Good Drag 5.00 stars
9 Audrey, Start the Revolution! 4.50 stars
10 A Heavy Hearted Work of Staggering Genius 3.00 stars
11 Dance, Dance Christa Päffgen 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
I’m running out of ways to say “because the songs are good”.
66.
Falling Up
Fangs! (2009)
Track ratings:
1 A Colour Eoptian 4.50 stars
2 Lotus and the Languorous 5.00 stars
3 Streams of Woe at Acheron 5.00 stars
4 Magician Reversed 4.50 stars
5 Golden Arrows 4.00 stars
6 The King’s Garden 4.00 stars
7 Panic and Geo-Primaries 4.50 stars
8 The Moonn and Sixpence 4.50 stars
9 Goddess of the Dayspring, Am I 5.00 stars
10 The Sidewinder Flux 4.50 stars
11 The Chilling Alpine Adventure 4.50 stars
12 Swimming Towards Propellers 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
I think this is Falling Up’s weirdest album, but I’m here for it.
65.
The New Frontiers
Mending (2008)
Track ratings:
1 Black Lungs 5.00 stars
2 The Day You Fell Apart 5.00 stars
3 Man Down 5.00 stars
4 Mirrors 4.00 stars
5 Strangers 5.00 stars
6 Passing On 4.00 stars
7 This Is My Home 5.00 stars
8 Walking on Stones 4.00 stars
9 Spirit and Skin 3.50 stars
10 Standing on a Line 4.50 stars
11 Who Will Give Us Love? 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
So. Dang. Pretty.
64.
The Juliana Theory
Emotion Is Dead (2000)
Track ratings:
1 Into the Dark 4.50 stars
2 Don’t Push Love Away 5.00 stars
3 To the Tune of 5,000 Screaming Children 4.50 stars
4 We’re at the Top of the World (To the Simple Two) 4.00 stars
5 Is Patience Still Waiting? 4.50 stars
6 Emotion Is Dead Pt. I 4.00 stars
7 If I Told You This Was Killing Me, Would You Stop? 4.50 stars
8 We’re Nothing Without You 4.50 stars
9 Something Isn’t Right Here 4.00 stars
10 Understand the Dream Is Over 4.00 stars
11 This Is Your Life 3.50 stars
12 You Always Say Goodnight, Goodnight 4.50 stars
13 Emotion Is Dead Pt. II 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Sometimes you just throw everything in the kitchen into a blender and it actually tastes pretty good.
63.
Spoken
A Moment of Imperfect Clarity (2003)
Alternative Rock, Christian Rock
Track ratings:
1 Across These Waters 5.00 stars
2 Promise 4.50 stars
3 A Breath in the Fog 5.00 stars
4 Falling Further 5.00 stars
5 Sleep Well Tonight 4.50 stars
6 A World Away 4.00 stars
7 Learning to Forget 5.00 stars
8 In Dreams 4.00 stars
9 Seasons Change 4.00 stars
10 Remembered 4.00 stars
11 How Long 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
So catchy.
62.
John Elefante
Corridors (1997)
AOR, CCM
Track ratings:
1 Corridors 4.50 stars
2 Treasures of Heaven 4.50 stars
3 I Know You’re There 5.00 stars
4 Not Just Any Other Day 5.00 stars
5 Eyes of My Heart 5.00 stars
6 Every Time You See Me Cry 4.00 stars
7 Fall 5.00 stars
8 I’ll Love You Forever 3.50 stars
9 Talk to Me 3.50 stars
10 Where Does Our Love Go 4.50 stars
11 Reprise 3.50 stars
What I Like Most About It:
I love his voice and the songs are great.
61.
Jars of Clay
Jars of Clay (1995)
Chamber Pop, CCM, Folk Pop, Downtempo, Alternative Rock, Post-Grunge
Track ratings:
1 Liquid 5.00 stars
2 Sinking 5.00 stars
3 Love Song for a Savior 5.00 stars
4 Like a Child 4.00 stars
5 Art in Me 4.00 stars
6 He 4.00 stars
7 Boy on a String 4.00 stars
8 Flood 5.00 stars
9 Worlds Apart 5.00 stars
10 Blind 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
It opened me up to a whole world of music I knew nothing about.
60.
Further Seems Forever
The Moon Is Down (2001)
Track ratings:
1 The Moon Is Down 5.00 stars
2 The Bradley 4.00 stars
3 Snowbirds and Townies 5.00 stars
4 Monachetti 4.00 stars
5 Madison Prep 3.50 stars
6 New Year’s Project 5.00 stars
7 Just Until Sundown 4.50 stars
8 Pictures of Shorelines 4.00 stars
9 Wearing Thin 3.50 stars
10 A New Desert Life 3.50 stars
What I Like Most About It:
The drums, the guitars, the voice,
59.
The Melody and the Energetic Nature of Volume (2006)
Track ratings:
1 A Cross and a Girl Named Blessed 4.50 stars
2 Stop and Say You Love Me 4.00 stars
3 Cold (But I’m Still Here) 5.00 stars
4 Eclipsed 4.00 stars
5 Beg 5.00 stars
6 Over 4.00 stars
7 Possession 4.00 stars
8 Dark That Follows 4.00 stars
9 The Promise and the Threat 4.00 stars
10 Quote 4.50 stars
11 The Tease 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
It seemed so different than everything else on rock radio at the time.
58.
Valleyheart
Everyone I’ve Ever Loved (2018)
Indie Rock, Emo, Christian Rock
Track ratings:
1 Heaven & Hell 5.00 stars
2 Friends in the Foyer 5.00 stars
3 Crave 4.00 stars
4 Agnosia 4.00 stars
5 Maryland 4.00 stars
6 Dissolve 4.00 stars
7 Drowned in Living Waters 5.00 stars
8 Your Name 4.00 stars
9 Intangible Dream 5.00 stars
10 Communion 4.00 stars
11 Paradisum 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Thought-provoking lyrics and excellently structured songs.
57.
Cure
Wish (1992)
Gothic Rock, Jangle Pop, Post-Punk, Baggy
Track ratings:
1 Open 5.00 stars
2 High 4.50 stars
3 Apart 4.50 stars
4 From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea 5.00 stars
5 Wendy Time 4.00 stars
6 Doing the Unstuck 4.50 stars
7 Friday I’m in Love 5.00 stars
8 Trust 4.00 stars
9 A Letter to Elise 4.50 stars
10 Cut 5.00 stars
11 To Wish Impossible Things 4.00 stars
12 End 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
The Cure go a little more pop on the follow-up to Disintegration and it’s another masterpiece.
56.
Klimt 1918
Sentimentale Jugend (2016)
Track ratings:
1.1 Montecristo 4.50 stars
1.2 Comandante 4.50 stars
1.3 La notte 4.00 stars
1.4 It Was to Be 5.00 stars
1.5 Belvedere 4.00 stars
1.6 Once We Were 5.00 stars
1.7 Take My Breath Away 5.00 stars
1.8 Sentimentale 4.00 stars
1.9 Gaza Youth (Exist / Resist) 4.50 stars
2.1 Nostalghia 4.00 stars
2.2 Fracture 5.00 stars
2.3 Ciudad Lineal 5.00 stars
2.4 Sant’Angelo (The Sound & the Fury) 4.00 stars
2.5 Unemployed & Dreamrunner 4.00 stars
2.6 Hunger Strike 4.00 stars
2.7 Resig-nation 4.50 stars
2.8 Caelum Stellatum 4.50 stars
2.9 Juvenile 4.00 stars
2.10 Stupenda e misera città 4.00 stars
2.11 Lycans 4.00 stars
Average: 4.38
What I Like Most About It:
It sounds like beautiful songs being played through the thickest fog there ever was.
55.
Still Remains
Of Love and Lunacy (2005)
Track ratings:
1 To Live and Die by Fire 4.50 stars
2 The Worst is Yet to Come 4.50 stars
3 In Place of Hope 4.00 stars
4 White Walls 5.00 stars
5 Bliss 4.00 stars
6 Cherished 4.00 stars
7 With What You Have 4.00 stars
8 Kelsey 4.00 stars
9 Recovery 5.00 stars
10 I Can Revive Him With My Own Hands 5.00 stars
11 Stare and Wonder 4.00 stars
12 Blossom, the Witch 4.50 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Synthy metalcore? Yes, please.
54.
Project 86
Songs to Burn Your Bridges By (2004)
Alternative Rock, Christian Rock
Track ratings:
1 The Spy Hunter 5.00 stars
2 Oblivion 4.00 stars
3 A Shadow on Me 4.50 stars
4 Safe Haven 4.50 stars
5 Say Goodnight to the Bad Guy… 4.00 stars
6 Breakdown in 3/4 4.50 stars
7 The Great Golden Gate Disaster 4.50 stars
8 Breakneck Speed 5.00 stars
9 Sioux Lane Spirits 4.50 stars
10 Circuitry 4.00 stars
11 3 Card 4.00 stars
12 A Fruitless End Ever 4.50 stars
13 A Text Message to the So-Called Emperor 3.50 stars
14 Solace 4.50 stars
What I Like Most About It:
I don’t think this CD left my car stereo for months.
53.
Ascend the Hill
Hymns (2010)
Track Ratings:
1. The Love of God 4.50 Stars
2. How Great Thou Art 4.50 Stars
3. Rock of Ages 5.00 Stars
4. Take The World, But Give Me Jesus 4.50 Stars
5. I Surrender All 4.50 Stars
6. Hallelujah! What A Savior 4.50 Stars
7. None Compare (Spontaneous Worship) 3.50 Stars
8. Oh Love That Will Not Let Me Go 5.00 Stars
9. Be Thou My Vision 4.50 Stars
What I Like Most About It:
The hymns I grew up on, but with an indie rock twist.
52.
CHVRCHES
Every Open Eye (2015)
Track ratings:
1 Never Ending Circles 5.00 stars
2 Leave a Trace 4.00 stars
3 Keep You on My Side 5.00 stars
4 Make Them Gold 4.00 stars
5 Clearest Blue 5.00 stars
6 High Enough to Carry You Over 5.00 stars
7 Empty Threat 4.00 stars
8 Down Side of Me 5.00 stars
9 Playing Dead 4.50 stars
10 Bury It 4.00 stars
11 Afterglow 4.50 stars
What I Like Most About It:
It’s great synth-pop…and I like great synth-pop.
51.
Mae
Destination: Beautiful (2003)
Power Pop, Midwest Emo, Indie Pop
Track ratings:
1 Embers and Envelopes 5.00 stars
2 This Time Is the Last Time 4.50 stars
3 All Deliberate Speed 4.00 stars
4 Runaway 4.00 stars
5 Sun 4.00 stars
6 Last Call 4.00 stars
7 Skyline Drive 5.00 stars
8 Soundtrack for Our Movie 4.50 stars
9 Summertime 5.00 stars
10 Giving It Away 5.00 stars
11 Goodbye, Goodnight 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Like putting on an oversized, soft hoodie.
50.
Smalltown Poets
Smalltown Poets (1997)
Folk Rock, Alternative Rock, Christian Rock
Track ratings:
1 Prophet, Priest and King 4.00 stars
2 If You’ll Let Me Love You 5.00 stars
3 Everything I Hate 5.00 stars
4 I’ll Give 4.50 stars
5 Anymore 5.00 stars
6 Who You Are 5.00 stars
7 Scenario 4.00 stars
8 There’s a Day 4.00 stars
9 Monkey’s Paw 5.00 stars
10 Trust 4.00 stars
11 Inside the Bubble 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Sounded great then, still sounds great now.
49.
Fono
Goesaroundcomesaround (1999)
Track ratings:
1 Collide 5.00 stars
2 Under My Skin 5.00 stars
3 Something Must Be Happening 4.00 stars
4 Alcatraz 5.00 stars
5 Pretty You 4.00 stars
6 Round and Round 4.00 stars
7 Pusherman 4.00 stars
8 Now She’s 24 4.00 stars
9 Drift Away 5.00 stars
10 Strangest Thing 4.00 stars
11 Burn 4.50 stars
12 Spendid 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
I was *SO* excited to get this CD. I knew I loved it from playing it at the listening station in the local Christian bookstore.
48.
As Cities Burn
Come Now Sleep (2007)
Post-Rock, Post-Hardcore, Emo, Midwest Emo
Track ratings:
1 Contact 5.00 stars
2 Empire 5.00 stars
3 The Hoard 5.00 stars
4 This Is It, This Is It 4.00 stars
5 Clouds 5.00 stars
6 New Sun 4.00 stars
7 Tides 4.50 stars
8 Wrong Body 4.00 stars
9 Our World Is Grey 4.00 stars
10 Timothy 4.50 stars
What I Like Most About It:
The lyrics are so well-written,
47.
No Devotion
No Oblivion (2022)
Track ratings:
1 Starlings 4.50 stars
2 No Oblivion 4.00 stars
3 A Sky Deep and Clear 4.50 stars
4 Love Songs From Fascist Italy 5.00 stars
5 The End of Longing 4.50 stars
6 Endless Desire 5.00 stars
7 Repeaters 5.00 stars
8 In a Broken Land 4.50 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Feels like the next logical step from Thursday’s No Devolucion.
46.
Medical Morning
Ghost Riot, Vol. 1 (2019) [EP]
Track ratings:
1 Make Me 5.00 stars
2 High As Heaven 5.00 stars
3 Come What May 4.50 stars
4 All Hail the King 4.50 stars
5 Unsetting Sun 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
A whole album like this would have a great shot at being top ten all time for me.
45.
Death Cab for Cutie
Plans (2005)
Track ratings:
1 Marching Bands of Manhattan 4.50 stars
2 Soul Meets Body 4.50 stars
3 Summer Skin 5.00 stars
4 Different Names for the Same Thing 4.00 stars
5 I Will Follow You Into the Dark 5.00 stars
6 Your Heart Is an Empty Room 5.00 stars
7 Someday You Will Be Loved 3.50 stars
8 Crooked Teeth 4.50 stars
9 What Sarah Said 5.00 stars
10 Brothers on a Hotel Bed 4.50 stars
11 Stable Song 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Pretty songs. Pretty, pretty songs.
44.
Search the City
A Fire So Big the Heavens Can See It (2008)
Track ratings:
1 Son of a Gun 5.00 stars
2 To the Moon for All I Care 4.00 stars
3 Detroit Was Built on Secrets 4.00 stars
4 Ambulance Chaser 4.50 stars
5 Talk Is Cheap and I’ve Got Expensive Taste 4.00 stars
6 The Rescue 5.00 stars
7 Bigger Scars Make Better Stories 4.00 stars
8 The Streetlight Diaries 4.50 stars
9 In This Scene You’re Just an Extra 4.00 stars
10 Clocks and Timepieces 4.50 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Might be the most fun album I own.
43.
Postiljonen
Reverie (2016)
Track ratings:
1 The Open Road 4.50 stars
2 How Can Our Love Be Blind 4.00 stars
3 Wait 4.50 stars
4 Go! 5.00 stars
5 L.I.E 4.00 stars
6 Interlude (Celebration) 4.00 stars
7 Blood Flow 5.00 stars
8 You’re Ace 4.00 stars
9 This Deep 5.00 stars
10 Are You Thinking of Me 4.00 stars
11 Postlude 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
This band just has such a great vibe.
42.
4 Him
The Message (1996)
Yacht Rock, Adult Contemporary
Track ratings:
1 Lay It All on the Line 4.50 stars
2 The Measure of a Man 5.00 stars
3 Land of Mercy 4.50 stars
4 The Message 4.50 stars
5 The King and I 5.00 stars
6 The Center of the Mark 4.50 stars
7 Window With a View 4.00 stars
8 All the Evidence I Need 5.00 stars
9 Sacred Hideaway 4.50 stars
10 A Lot Like You 4.00 stars
11 Greatest Story Ever Told 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
This one is really nostalgic for me. I think it’s pretty strong for its genre, though.
41.
Starflyer 59
The Fashion Focus (1998)
Dream Pop, Shoegaze, Christian Rock
Track ratings:
1 I Drive a Lot 5.00 stars
2 We’re the Ordinary 5.00 stars
3 Sundown 4.00 stars
4 Fell in Love at 22 5.00 stars
5 A Holiday Song (Happy Holidays) 4.00 stars
6 All the Time 5.00 stars
7 The Birthrite 4.00 stars
8 Card Games and Old Friends 3.50 stars
9 Shut Your Mouth 3.50 stars
10 The Fashion Focus 4.00 stars
11 Too Much Fun 5.00 stars
12 Days of Lamech 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
It’s a good look at the many styles of songs Jason Martin can write.
40.
Michael W. Smith
Live the Life (1998)
Track ratings:
1 Missing Person 5.00 stars
2 Love Me Good 4.00 stars
3 Live the Life 5.00 stars
4 Never Been Unloved 4.50 stars
5 I Believe in You Now 4.50 stars
6 Don’t Give Up 4.00 stars
7 Let Me Show You the Way 5.00 stars
8 I Know Your Name 5.00 stars
9 Matter of Time 4.50 stars
10 In My Arms Again 4.50 stars
11 Song for Rich 4.00 stars
12 Hello, Goodbye 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
This has aged so well. “Great job” to the producers and mixers.
39.
Priest
Priest (2015)
Track ratings:
1 The Game 5.00 stars
2 Heartbeats 5.00 stars
3 White Nights 5.00 stars
4 Staring at the Walls 4.50 stars
5 Broken 5.00 stars
6 Strong Hearts 4.00 stars
7 When the Strings Are Gone 4.50 stars
8 Day Drinking 4.50 stars
9 Waiting for the End to Come 4.00 stars
10 Lying on Your Grave 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
A basic synth-pop album, but the songs are so good.
38.
Norma Jean
Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child (2002)
Track ratings:
1 The Entire World Is Counting on Me, and They Don’t Even Know It 4.50 stars
2 Face:Face 4.50 stars
3 Memphis Will Be Laid to Waste 5.00 stars
4 Creating Something Out of Nothing, Only to Destroy It 5.00 stars
5 Pretty Soon, I Don’t Know What, but Something Is Going to Happen 4.00 stars
6 The Shotgun Message 4.00 stars
7 Sometimes It’s Our Mistakes That Make for the Greatest Ideas 4.00 stars
8 I Used to Hate Cell Phones but Now I Hate Car Accidents 4.50 stars
9 It Was as If the Dead Man Stood Upon the Air 4.00 stars
10 The Human Face, Divine 4.50 stars
11 Organized Beyond Recognition 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
I feel like I could listen to this 1,000 times and still find something new to appreciate and those are my favorite kinds of albums.
37.
Moving Mountains
Pneuma (2007)
Track ratings:
1 Aphelion 4.50 stars
2 Cover the Roots / Lower the Stems 4.00 stars
3 Alastika 4.00 stars
4 Fourth 4.00 stars
5 8105 5.00 stars
6 Bottom Feeder 4.00 stars
7 Sol Solis 5.00 stars
8 Grow On, Grow Up, Grow Out 4.00 stars
9 The Earth and the Sun 4.00 stars
10 Ode We Will Bury Ourselves 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
A perfect mix of emo and post-rock.
36.
Young Oceans
I Must Find You (2014)
Christian Rock, Dream Pop
Track ratings:
1 A Rising Fire 5.00 stars
2 How Cold It Is 4.50 stars
3 Lead Me 5.00 stars
4 Only You 4.50 stars
5 I Must Find You 4.00 stars
6 Vidi Aquam 4.00 stars
7 Until These Tears Are Gone 4.00 stars
8 Praise the Lord, Ye Heavens 4.00 stars
9 Into the Light 5.00 stars
10 I Must Find You (Reprise) 4.00 stars
11 To Hear Your Voice 4.00 stars
Bonus Tracks:
12. \\ // 5.00 stars
13. \\\ /// 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
I’m just not used to worship music being this good.
35.
Starflyer 59
Americana (1997)
Dream Pop, Space Rock Revival, Alternative Metal, Slowcore
Track ratings:
1 The Voyager 4.50 stars
2 The Hearttaker 5.00 stars
3 Harmony 4.50 stars
4 All You Want Are the Things I Need 4.50 stars
5 You Think You’re Radical 5.00 stars
6 The Translator 4.00 stars
7 You Don’t Miss Me 5.00 stars
8 The Boulevard 4.00 stars
9 Help Me When You’re Gone 5.00 stars
10 Everyone But Me 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
This took longer to grow on me than most Starflyer albums, but once it did, I was in love.
34.
Further Seems Forever
Hide Nothing (2004)
Track ratings:
1 Light Up Ahead 5.00 stars
2 Hide Nothing 5.00 stars
3 Already Gone 4.00 stars
4 Like Someone You Know 4.00 stars
5 Make It a Part 4.50 stars
6 All Rise 4.00 stars
7 Call on the Life 4.00 stars
8 Lead the Way 5.00 stars
9 Bleed 4.00 stars
10 For All We Know 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Jon Bunch took this band and made it his own. RIP.
33.
Elliott
False Cathedrals (2000)
Track ratings:
1 Voices 4.00 stars
2 Calm Americans 4.50 stars
3 Blessed by Your Own Ghost 5.00 stars
4 Drive on to Me 4.00 stars
5 Calvary Song 5.00 stars
6 Lipstick Stigmata 4.00 stars
7 Dying Midwestern 4.00 stars
8 Shallow Like Your Breath 5.00 stars
9 Superstitions in Travel 4.00 stars
10 Carving Oswego 4.50 stars
11 Lie Close 4.00 stars
12 Speed of Film 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
I never expected a disc-only, fifty cent purchase at a yard sale by my mom to end up being one of my favorite albums ever, but here we are.
32.
Living Sacrifice
The Hammering Process (2000)
Track ratings:
1 Flatline 5.00 stars
2 Bloodwork 5.00 stars
3 Not My Own 4.50 stars
4 Local Vengeance Killing 4.50 stars
5 Altered Life 5.00 stars
6 Hand of the Dead 5.00 stars
7 Burn the End 4.00 stars
8 Hidden 4.00 stars
9 Perfect 4.00 stars
10 Conditional 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
The beats on this thing are monstrous.
31.
Paper Route
Absence (2009)
Indietronica, Indie Rock, Dream Pop
Track ratings:
1 Enemy Among Us 4.50 stars
2 Wish 4.50 stars
3 Carousel 4.50 stars
4 Good Intentions 4.00 stars
5 Tiger Teeth 5.00 stars
6 Be Healed 4.50 stars
7 Last Time 4.50 stars
8 No Sudden Revelations 4.00 stars
9 Gutter 4.50 stars
10 Are We All Forgotten 5.00 stars
11 Lover’s Anthem 4.00 stars
12 Dance on Our Graves 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Excellent synth-y dream pop. One of my favorite genres. What’s not to love?
30.
Beloved
Failure On (2003)
Track ratings:
1 Failure on My Lips 5.00 stars
2 Only Our Faces Hide 4.50 stars
3 Rise and Fall 4.50 stars
4 Death to Traitors 5.00 stars
5 Defect From Decay 4.50 stars
6 Watching the Lines Blur 4.50 stars
7 Inner Pattern 4.00 stars
8 Aimless Endeavor 4.50 stars
9 Allure 4.00 stars
10 Insult to Injury 4.50 stars
What I Like Most About It:
The Shohei Ohtani of music. They go full hardcore one minute and full emo the next and they do both spectacularly.
29.
Sixpence None the Richer
Divine Discontent (2002)
Jangle Pop, Folk Rock, Christian Rock, Chamber Pop
Track ratings:
1 Breathe Your Name 4.50 stars
2 Tonight 4.50 stars
3 Down and Out of Time 5.00 stars
4 Don’t Dream It’s Over 4.50 stars
5 Waiting on the Sun 4.00 stars
6 Still Burning 5.00 stars
7 Melody of You 5.00 stars
8 Paralyzed 5.00 stars
9 I’ve Been Waiting 5.00 stars
10 Eyes Wide Open 3.50 stars
11 Dizzy 5.00 stars
12 Tension is a Passing Note 5.00 stars
13 A Million Parachutes 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Expertly crafted pop/rock. A thing of beauty.
28.
Carly Rae Jepsen
E•MO•TION (2015)
Track ratings:
1 Run Away With Me 5.00 stars
2 Emotion 5.00 stars
3 I Really Like You 5.00 stars
4 Gimmie Love 4.00 stars
5 All That 5.00 stars
6 Boy Problems 5.00 stars
7 Making the Most of the Night 4.50 stars
8 Your Type 5.00 stars
9 Let’s Get Lost 5.00 stars
10 LA Hallucinations 4.50 stars
11 Warm Blood 4.00 stars
12 When I Needed You 4.50 stars
What I Like Most About It:
So fun. I really really really really really really like it.
27.
Falling Up
Captiva (2007)
Track ratings:
1 A Guide to Marine Life 5.00 stars
2 Hotel Aquarium 5.00 stars
3 Goodnight Gravity 4.00 stars
4 Captiva 5.00 stars
5 Helicopters 4.50 stars
6 Maps 4.50 stars
7 How They Made Cameras 5.00 stars
8 Good Morning Planetarium 5.00 stars
9 Murexa 4.00 stars
10 Drago or the Dragons 4.50 stars
11 Arch to Achtilles 5.00 stars
12 The Dark Side of Indoor Track Meets 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
I knew I loved this album, but it wasn’t until I rated each track that I realized just how much I love it. This is the album where Falling Up started to show where they might be going and what they could be.
26.
Thursday
No Devolución (2011)
Alternative Rock, Post-Hardcore
Track ratings:
1 Fast to the End 5.00 stars
2 No Answers 5.00 stars
3 A Darker Forest 4.50 stars
4 Sparks Against the Sun 5.00 stars
5 Open Quotes 4.00 stars
6 Past and Future Ruins 4.00 stars
7 Magnets Caught in a Metal Heart 4.50 stars
8 Empty Glass 4.00 stars
9 A Gun in the First Act 4.00 stars
10 Millimeter 4.50 stars
11 Turnpike Divides 5.00 stars
12 Stay True 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
I honestly wish Thursday had just been making dreamy, hazy, post-hardcore their whole career cause this is wonderful.
25.
Mae
(M)orning (2009) [EP]
Track Ratings:
1 Good (m)orning 3.50 stars
2 The Fisherman Song (We All Need Love) 5.00 stars
3 The House that Fire Built 4.00 stars
4 Boomerang 4.50 stars
5 Two Birds 4.00 stars
6 A Melody, The Memory 5.00 stars
7 Night/Day 5.00 stars
8 (m)orning Drive 3.50 stars
What I Like Most About It:
I wish they would’ve taken the best two songs from (A)fternoon and (E)vening and just added them to this to make one album. I’m not saying it would be as good as The Everglow, but it would be darn close.
24.
Nada Surf
Let Go (2002)
Track ratings:
1 Blizzard of ’77 5.00 stars
2 Happy Kid 4.50 stars
3 Inside of Love 4.50 stars
4 Fruit Fly 5.00 stars
5 Blonde on Blonde 4.50 stars
6 Hi-Speed Soul 4.50 stars
7 Killian’s Red 5.00 stars
8 The Way You Wear Your Head 4.00 stars
9 Neither Heaven nor Space 4.50 stars
10 Là pour ça 3.50 stars
11 Treading Water 4.00 stars
12 Paper Boats 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Pure pop/rock heaven. Loaded with hooks and great writing.
23.
Jimmy Eat World
Futures (2004)
Track ratings:
1 Futures 4.50 stars
2 Just Tonight… 4.00 stars
3 Work 5.00 stars
4 Kill 5.00 stars
5 The World You Love 4.00 stars
6 Pain 4.50 stars
7 Drugs or Me 3.50 stars
8 Polaris 5.00 stars
9 Nothingwrong 4.00 stars
10 Night Drive 4.50 stars
11 23 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Lots of great songs here, but of course “23” is the star here and anywhere it wants to go.
22.
Anberlin
Cities (2007)
Track ratings:
1 (Début) 3.50 stars
2 Godspeed 4.00 stars
3 Adelaide 4.00 stars
4 A Whisper & a Clamor 4.00 stars
5 The Unwinding Cable Car 5.00 stars
6 There Is No Mathematics to Love and Loss 4.00 stars
7 Hello Alone 4.50 stars
8 Alexithymia 4.50 stars
9 Reclusion 4.00 stars
10 Inevitable 5.00 stars
11 Dismantle. Repair. 4.50 stars
12 (*Fin) 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
This thing has “Inevitable” and “(*Fin)” on it. Both of them. Same album.
21.
Thrice
The Artist in the Ambulance (2003)
Post-Hardcore, Melodic Hardcore
Melodic Metalcore, Alternative Rock
Track ratings:
1 Cold Cash and Colder Hearts 4.50 stars
2 Under a Killing Moon 4.50 stars
3 All That’s Left 4.50 stars
4 Silhouette 5.00 stars
5 Stare at the Sun 5.00 stars
6 Paper Tigers 4.50 stars
7 Hoods on Peregrine 4.00 stars
8 The Melting Point of Wax 4.00 stars
9 Blood Clots and Black Holes 4.00 stars
10 The Artist in the Ambulance 5.00 stars
11 The Abolition of Man 4.00 stars
12 Don’t Tell and We Won’t Ask 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
I was beginning to dabble in post-hardcore a bit with Blindside and Project 86, but I got there through the nu-metal vibes. This was the first post-hardcore album that one me over without any nu-metal to be seen. Those three bands started me on the journey of one of my favorite genres.
20.
Blindside
Silence (2002)
Alternative Rock, Post-Hardcore
Post-Hardcore, Christian Rock, Alternative Metal
Track ratings:
1 Caught a Glimpse 5.00 stars
2 Pitiful 5.00 stars
3 Sleepwalking 5.00 stars
4 Cute Boring Love 4.50 stars
5 The Endings 4.50 stars
6 You Can Hide It 4.00 stars
7 Thought Like Flames 4.00 stars
8 Time Will Change Your Heart 4.50 stars
9 Painting 4.00 stars
10 Midnight 5.00 stars
11 Coming Back to Life 4.00 stars
12 She Shut Your Eyes 4.00 stars
13 Silence 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
I wore this CD out back in the day and I still want to listen to it a few times a year.
19.
Logh
North (2007)
Track ratings:
1 Saturday Nightmares 5.00 stars
2 Weather Island 4.50 stars
3 The Invitation 5.00 stars
4 All the Trees 4.00 stars
5 Death to My Hometown 5.00 stars
6 The Black Box 4.50 stars
7 Forest Eyes 4.50 stars
8 Thieves in the Palace 5.00 stars
9 Sometimes 5.00 stars
10 A New Hope 4.50 stars
What I Like Most About It:
This is my “winter album”. When the air gets cold, it’s time to go North.
18.
All the Day Holiday
The Things We’ve Grown to Love (2009)
Track Ratings:
1 Autumn 5.00 stars
2 Real Time 4.00 stars
3 2000 Winters 5.00 stars
4 Greener 5.00 stars
5 La Voyage 4.50 stars
6 Atmosphere 4.50 stars
7 Cities 4.00 stars
8 The Things We’ve Grown to Love 4.50 stars
9 Flowers and Fireworks 5.00 stars
10 Cheers (You Still Love Me) 4.00 stars
11 Mountains 4.50 stars
12 Invisible 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
This album is endlessly replayable. The songs are catchy, but they never get old.
17.
Benjamin Daniel
Shelterheart (2021)
Indie Pop
Track ratings:
1 Green Again 5.00 stars
2 There Are Others Here 4.00 stars
3 Stormbound (Only Way Out) 5.00 stars
4 You Lift My Head 5.00 stars
5 In Arms 5.00 stars
6 Pour Me Out 5.00 stars
7 There’s a Darkness 4.00 stars
8 God in the Flesh 5.00 stars
9 Strange Roads 4.50 stars
10 Hartsfield 4.00 stars
11 Newhall Song 5.00 stars
12 73 in Silence 5.00 stars
13 Jesus in the Valley 4.00 stars
14 Shelterheart 4.50 stars
15 Better Country 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Sincere, heart-string-tugging songs that manage to make you appreciate everything a little more.
16.
Shadow Shadow
Riviera (2013)
Track ratings:
1 Riviera 5.00 stars
2 Skull Drums 4.00 stars
3 1000001 5.00 stars
4 Treasure Island 5.00 stars
5 A Thousand Lost Golf Balls 4.50 stars
6 Sunset Bending 5.00 stars
7 Where the Ocean Is 5.00 stars
8 Kill Screen 4.00 stars
9 Hi Los 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Synth-pop hits from some other planet.
15.
Project 86
Drawing Black Lines (2000)
Alternative Metal, Christian Rock
Track ratings:
1 Stein’s Theme 5.00 stars
2 One-Armed Man (Play On) 5.00 stars
3 Me Against Me 5.00 stars
4 PS 5.00 stars
5 Set Me Up 4.50 stars
6 Chimes 5.00 stars
7 A Toast to My Former Self 4.50 stars
8 Sad Machines 4.50 stars
9 Star 4.00 stars
10 Chapter 2 4.50 stars
11 Open Hand 4.50 stars
12 Twenty-Three 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
It’s so in your face, but with a creepy vibe.
14.
Young Oceans
Young Oceans (2012)
Christian Rock, Alternative Rock
Track ratings:
1 Come Holy One 4.50 stars
2 We Sing As One 5.00 stars
3 Great Is Our God 5.00 stars
4 I Will Be Still 5.00 stars
5 None But Thee 4.00 stars
6 You Are Alive 5.00 stars
7 Nothing Beside Jesus 4.50 stars
8 Lord of All 5.00 stars
9 Hope of Glory 5.00 stars
10 O Darkest Night 4.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Truly excellent worship songs with that dreamy vibe that I love in music.
13.
Life in Your Way
Waking Giants (2007)
Track ratings:
1 Reach the End 5.00 stars
2 Worthwhile 4.50 stars
3 We Don’t Believe 4.50 stars
4 Making Waves 4.50 stars
5 Shame 4.50 stars
6 Salty Grave 5.00 stars
7 Help! The Arm of the Mighty 4.50 stars
8 Threads of Sincerity 5.00 stars
9 Beauty of Grace 5.00 stars
10 Judas 4.00 stars
11 Beneath It All 5.00 stars
Average: 4.68
What I Like Most About It:
The passion and skill.
12.
Dead Poetic
New Medicines (2004)
Track ratings:
1 Taste the Red Hands 4.00 stars
2 The Dream Club Murders 5.00 stars
3 New Medicines 5.00 stars
4 Vanus Empty 4.50 stars
5 Bury the Difference 4.00 stars
6 Molotov 5.00 stars
7 Glass in the Trees 5.00 stars
8 Dimmer Light 4.50 stars
9 Hostages 5.00 stars
10 Modern Morbid Prophecies 5.00 stars
11 A Hoax to Live For 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
I think I enjoy this album more than most based on all that I’ve seen online, but I think the melodies are so infectious.
11.
Lifehouse
No Name Face (2001)
Track ratings:
1 Hanging by a Moment 5.00 stars
2 Sick Cycle Carousel 5.00 stars
3 Unknown 5.00 stars
4 Somebody Else’s Song 4.00 stars
5 Trying 4.00 stars
6 Only One 5.00 stars
7 Simon 5.00 stars
8 Cling and Clatter 5.00 stars
9 Breathing 5.00 stars
10 Quasimodo 4.00 stars
11 Somewhere in Between 4.50 stars
12 Everything 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
I feel like this album isn’t taken seriously enough. I don’t know if it’s because of the post-grunge vibes or the fact that most of the album is quite melancholy compared to the hit single or what. But I think it’s magnificently written and beautiful executed.
FIVE STAR ALBUMS
10.
Jars of Clay
Much Afraid (1997)
Christian Rock, Alternative Rock
Track ratings:
1 Overjoyed 4.50 stars
2 Fade to Grey 5.00 stars
3 Tea and Sympathy 5.00 stars
4 Crazy Times 5.00 stars
5 Frail 5.00 stars
6 Five Candles (You Were There) 4.00 stars
7 Weighed Down 4.50 stars
8 Portrait of an Apology 5.00 stars
9 Truce 5.00 stars
10 Much Afraid 5.00 stars
11 Hymn 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About it:
Chances are that if you opened my discman from late 1997 and early 1998, there would be a copy Much Afraid in there. The discman was no stranger to Jars of Clay as their debut album was one of my first “headphone” albums. I was very much anticipating the sophomore release from this band when “Crazy Times” began getting spins on contemporary christian radio. In true 90s fashion, I recorded the song to cassette off the radio so I could jam it up until Much Afraid was released.
“Crazy Times” signaled a change from the mostly acoustic songs of Jars of Clay’s beloved self-titled album. It was heavy for a song on CCM radio. I was all-in as I was just beginning to love rock music. The rest of the album was more subdued than the single, but I was still a melancholy kid at heart and really liked that there was a good mix of melancholy, melody, and metalll…well, not quite metal, but to these ears, which had been used to country, CCM, and R&B, that “Crazy Times” guitar solo sure did shred.
I don’t want this blurb to be all about “Crazy Times”, though. It’s actually probably my third favorite song on the album behind “Tea and Sympathy” and “Frail”. “Tea and Sympathy” is a heartfelt song about a fading love. “Frail” starts out with a beautiful instrumental passage before some poetic lyrics come in and make this one of Jars’ finest moments in a lengthy career. Every song here is great, though, from the Charles Wesley-style “Hymn”, to the nearly club-ready “Fade to Grey”. Be sure to check this out, but don’t stop there as Jars of Clay have quietly built a fantastic catalog of albums worthy of your attention.
09.
Luna Halo
Shimmer (2000)
Track ratings:
1 Aliens 5.00 stars
2 Superman 4.50 stars
3 Carry Me 5.00 stars
4 Forgiveness 5.00 stars
5 Wait for You 5.00 stars
6 Heaven 4.50 stars
7 Hang on to You 4.50 stars
8 So Far 4.50 stars
9 Running Away 5.00 stars
10 Beautiful 5.00 stars
11 Complacent 5.00 stars
12 The Way to Your Heart 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Shimmer was released three years after Radiohead’s massively influential OK Computer. As a kid in the Christian culture bubble, I would hear this album a good six years before hearing Radiohead’s biggest album. Shimmer clearly owes something to the most rated album on this whole website. It’s full of spazzy guitars and eerie moments like it’s predecessor.
I won’t pretend that Shimmer is better than OK Computer, but it was more important and influential to me. Maybe that’s the fault of my timing on hearing the albums. Maybe. I do think Shimmer has more atmospheric moments, such as “Complacent” and “Aliens”, that would hint at the music that would most move me later in life. Also, *whispers* I very much prefer Nathan Barlowe’s voice to Thom Yorke’s.
Along with the spacey moments, there are attempts at pop hits. “Superman” succeeds at being a quality rock single, and “Forgiveness” has U2-level hooks. “Hang On To You” is a song recorded by both Luna Halo and by Christian worship darlings, Deliriou5?.
I don’t know that this album set out to be the “Christian OK Computer” but it certainly succeeded at impacting me as much as that album impacted masses of indie rock kids.
08.
My Epic
Behold (2013)
Track ratings:
1 Arise 5.00 stars
2 Hail 5.00 stars
3 Curse 5.00 stars
4 Confession 5.00 stars
5 Royal 4.00 stars
6 Approach 5.00 stars
7 Liturgy 5.00 stars
8 Lament 5.00 stars
9 Zion 5.00 stars
10 Selah 4.00 stars
11 Arrive 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
A post-hardcore worship album? That’s not totally accurate, but there’s certainly a worshipful vibe about these songs. Aaron Stone shows significantly more lyrical prowess than the Chris Tomlin’s of the world, and unless your church is really, really cool, I don’t think you’re going to be hearing stripped down versions of these songs on Sunday morning as topics such as suicide and Christ being torn “limb from limb” are present. The songs just come from a more personal place that won’t work in corporate spaces. Regardless, they totally work for me in my personal worship time…and also in my headphone time.
This album isn’t only deep in a religious sense. The songs are heavy and atmospheric and melodic. My Epic come from the Thrice school of post-hardcore, and while I’m not willing to say that My Epic are *better* than Thrice, I think student became the teacher on Behold.
07.
Falling Up
Falling Up (2015)
Track ratings:
1 Boone Flyer 5.00 stars
2 Flora 5.00 stars
3 The Green Rider 5.00 stars
4 Hydro 5.00 stars
5 The Woodworker 5.00 stars
6 Wild Bird 5.00 stars
7 Typhoon 4.50 stars
8 In the Woodshop 5.00 stars
9 Rangers 5.00 stars
10 Up in Houses 4.50 stars
11 The Insect 5.00 stars
12 Flares 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Look, I hate to see three albums by one band in the top ten, too. I know it isn’t the most aesthetically pleasing thing. However, I wanted to be completely honest with this endeavor. I can’t argue with the fact that 10 of the 12 songs on this album are listed at 5 stars in my iTunes library. That’s fourth most of any album in my library (the three ahead of it also made this list). Plus, this might be Falling Up’s best album, despite being my third favorite.
On to the actual content of the Falling Up’s swan song. This album takes place in a house and there’s a lot going on that I can’t even begin to comprehend, but that’s part of the fun. You listen to this album over and over and never quite have it figured out. Musically, this album might be their most “prog rock” release yet. As has been the pattern for independent-era Falling Up, there’s a very atmospheric feel going on.
I’ll never stop hoping for more Falling Up tunes, but if it’s not gonna happen, they hit a walk-off home run with this album.
06.
Falling Up
Hours (2013)
Track ratings:
1 The Contact 5.00 stars
2 The Climb 4.50 stars
3 Finn Hatches a Plan 5.00 stars
4 The Rest Will Soon Follow 5.00 stars
5 Aeva and the Waving World 4.50 stars
6 On Growing Things 5.00 stars
7 Intro to the Radio Room 4.50 stars
8 The Outsider 4.50 stars
9 Blue Ruins 5.00 stars
10 Transmission 5.00 stars
11 Prillicians 5.00 stars
12 In Echoes Forever 5.00 stars
Bonus Track:
13. The Station 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Hours has an audiobook that goes with it. Ambitious? I’d say so. Ambition does not always equal success, but in the case of Hours I feel like they reached the bar they set. On top of that, one song was recorded per week, as to keep with a crowdfunding project that I wish I had known about…but my Falling Up fandom had long past by the release of this album.
See, I was a Falling Up fan in 2004! The band had a Hoobastank and Trust Company vibe going on back then, and I was actually really into nu metal at the time. As my nu-metal taste gave way to metalcore, I lost touch with bands like Falling Up. It wouldn’t be until ten years later that I would rediscover this band thanks to a friend who had continued following them. He raved about their newer releases, and I was totally unaware of their rebirth as an art-rock band. I sure am grateful that he stuck with the band or else I may have missed a lot of my favorite music ever…including all of the synth rock greatness of Hours.
05.
Mae
The Everglow (2005)
Piano Rock, Power Pop, Progressive Pop
Track ratings:
1 Prologue 4.50 stars
2 We’re So Far Away 5.00 stars
3 Someone Else’s Arms 5.00 stars
4 Suspension 5.00 stars
5 This Is the Countdown 5.00 stars
6 Painless 4.50 stars
7 The Ocean 5.00 stars
8 Breakdown 5.00 stars
9 Mistakes We Knew We Were Making 5.00 stars
10 Cover Me 4.00 stars
11 The Everglow 5.00 stars
12 Ready and Waiting to Fall 5.00 stars
13 Anything 5.00 stars
14 The Sun and the Moon 5.00 stars
15 Epilogue 4.50 stars
Average: 4.83
What I Like Most About It:
I adore this album. ADORE! I mean, it is quite an adorable album with its intending to be accompanied with the booklet and all. The album begins with a soft female voice insisting that you follow along and turn the pages when certain sounds play. Then you’re taken on an emo-pop journey to finding love.
The Everglow is mine and my wife’s album. The one that has accompanied us on our own journey of finding and living in love. It’s hard to give objective reasons why an album is so great when it’s one that’s this ingrained in my life. We’ve listened to it snuggled together while we’re dating. We’ve listened to it lying on a beach in Clearwater, FL. We’ve listened to it while debating whether to have our second kid. It’s the soundtrack to our movie.
Removing all the sentimental stuff, I think it’s a superb pop-rock album with emo leanings and I think any dreamer or hopeless romantic will find some songs to adore here, as well.
04.
Postiljonen
Skyer (2013)
Track ratings:
1 Intro 5.00 stars
2 Help 5.00 stars
3 We Raise Our Hearts 5.00 stars
4 On the Run 5.00 stars
5 Plastic Panorama 4.00 stars
6 Supreme 5.00 stars
7 Rivers 4.50 stars
8 Skying High 4.50 stars
9 All That We Had Is Lost 5.00 stars
10 Atlantis 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Ugh, it hurts my heart to keep having to push The Everglow back. It used to easily be my favorite album of all-time. Truth is, these top four are more aligned with my tastes these days. The Everglow is a beautiful album, but so is Skyer. Skyer also has a super-nostalgic, dreamy feel that is totally my jam these days. This is the sound of driving along the beach at sunset…and this album is usually as close as I can get to actually doing that.
03.
Moving Mountains
Waves (2011)
Post-Hardcore, Alternative Rock
Track ratings:
1 My Life Is a Chase Dream (And I’m Still Having Chase Dreams) 4.50 stars
2 Where Two Bodies Lie 5.00 stars
3 Tired Tiger 5.00 stars
4 The Cascade 5.00 stars
5 Once Rendering 4.50 stars
6 Always Only for Me 5.00 stars
7 Alleviate 4.50 stars
8 Parts in Different Places 5.00 stars
9 Furnace Woods 5.00 stars
10 Full Circle 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Something strange happened in 2011 and continued until 2015. It was like I had discovered music all over again. It’s hard to explain, but there was lots of dreamy and dark and atmospheric synth pop, rock, and post-hardcore music coming out. It was like many of the bands I enjoyed wanted to inject a bit of The Cure’s Disintegration into their sound. And as you can tell by looking at my list, that’s certainly a good thing.
I had been enjoying Pneuma, the debut Moving Mountains album, for a short period of time before Waves came out. I was expecting more post-rock-meets-emo gloriousness from Waves, but what I got was something much different and, at least according to my tastes, better. The band shortened their songs, used more typical song structures, inserted some cello, and went all in on post-hardcore. Was Pneuma more ambitious? Sure! Easily. Was Pneuma better? Most probably think so. As for me, something about the more immediate crescendo’s with the heavier sound and atmospheric vibe was a perfect storm to make me fall in love with this album, and music in general, all over again.
02.
The Cure
Disintegration (1989)
Track ratings:
1 Plainsong 5.00 stars
2 Pictures of You 5.00 stars
3 Closedown 4.50 stars
4 Love Song 5.00 stars
5 Last Dance [bonus track] 5.00 stars
6 Lullaby 5.00 stars
7 Fascination Street 5.00 stars
8 Prayers for Rain 5.00 stars
9 The Same Deep Water as You 5.00 stars
10 Disintegration 5.00 stars
11 Homesick [bonus track] 4.50 stars
12 Untitled 5.00 stars
What I Like Most About It:
Disintegration is a perfect mix of gothic rock, pop, and cinematic rock. Shows such as South Park and One Tree Hill have said something along the lines of this being the best album ever. I obviously have no qualms with this. So what is it about this album? The hooks produced radio hits (“Lovesong” hit number 2 on the US charts). The drums are huge. The bass is booming. The atmosphere is engulfing. The lyrics are yearning. The booklet says to play it loud and it’s true, you certainly should. There’s so much here to digest. Repeated plays are rewarded by giving you sounds you probably missed the first time, or even the tenth time. This is Robert Smith and The Cure at their very best.
01.
Falling Up
Your Sparkling Death Cometh (2013)
Track ratings:
1 Circadian 5.00 stars
2 The Wonder 5.00 stars
3 Blue Ghost 5.00 stars
4 Diamnds 5.00 stars
5 The Light Beam Rider 5.00 stars
6 Oceans 5.00 stars
7 Mscron 5.00 stars
8 Vates 5.00 stars
9 Darkspeed 5.00 stars
10 Forms and Shapes 5.00 stars
11 Slow Waves 5.00 stars
12 The Mountain Machine 4.50 stars (Bonus)
13 Blue Ghost Quadra Remix 4.50 stars (Bonus)
What I Like Most About It:
Your Sparkling Death Cometh is the first independent Falling Up album. After a successful 5 year run on BEC/Tooth & Nail, the band set out to release an album on their own. They also enlisted production help from Casey Crescenzo of the The Dear Hunter and The Receiving End of Sirens. Originally released in 2011, I prefer the 2013 release with the addition of the incredible, “Darkspeed”.
This is an album that I can honestly and confidently say is, subjectively, perfect. Every song is not only good, but five-star great. The melodies are bright and memorable. The haunting and spacey atmosphere is magical. It’s heavy. It’s cinematic. It’s mysterious. It transports me to some other world that I never want to leave. From the layers of the songs to the story being told, there is so much here to digest that I can’t see myself ever getting bored with this release.
I don’t know if another album will ever move me like this one. I hope so, but I honestly don’t think this can be beat. It’s just so perfectly suited to my tastes, hence why it’s my number 1 favorite album of all-time.
THANK YOU FOR READING. LET ME KNOW IF YOU FIND ANYTHING THAT YOU LOVE HERE.
Ineverglow 