Linda Perhacs -- Parallelograms

  This Laurel Canyon psychedelic folk soundscaped masterpiece is like a cross between Joni Mitchell and Chealsea Girl Nico.  How this record made by a dental technician went under the radar all these years, I have no clue, other than its so damn good it can only, finally, be relevant today!

Ornette Coleman -- The Shape Of Jazz To Come

  Way before there was skronky math or even art rock, there was Ornette Coleman's The Shape Of Jazz To Come, to which he was initially booed and laughed at, until a group of musicians appreciated what he was trying to do, by opening the floodgates of creative rhythm.

Gene Clark -- Roadmaster

  After Gene Clark's departure from The Byrds, funny enough due inability to tour extensively from a fear of flying, he moved on to a solo recording career.  His sophomore release is a blissful 70's hipster country classic that sits nicely between your Van Zandt and Parsons albums.

Townes Van Zandt

  I've definitely developed a weird relationship with Townes Van Zandt lately, maybe I've become too sad and too lonely, or maybe I'm just drinking too much, but I'd like to think it's his deep insight and brilliant mix of Americana and minimalism, which is exemplified on this self titled release.  

Nick Drake -- Bryter Layter

  Filled with a plethora of luminary musicians Bryter Layter is Drake's most accessible album, it has a Van Morrison'd jazzy pop/ folk baroque feel, unfortunately it never garnered a hit, Nick remained a recluse, the record sounds like a hopeful attempt at some kind of stardom, but the masses weren't ready yet for his music!

Alexander Spence -- Oar

  Holy fuck!  Lo-fi psych anti folk done way before such words even existed.  Skip Spence might not have done much good to himself ... or anyone else, with his time in Moby Grape, but obviously a stint in the mental institution did something, 'cause once out he headed to Nashville and recorded this master work, written, played and produced by himself.  There are so many moments on this lp that are 30 years ahead of it's time, good luck keeping track of 'em all!

Stevie Wonder -- Music Of My Mind

  After signing a new contract with Motown, gaining complete control, Music Of My Mind is the birth of a whole new Stevie Wonder by honing what was to be his classic sound.  Where this album lacks in typical hit machine numbers, it gains in it's creativity and musicianship, which are mostly played by Wonder himself.  Along with Marvin Gaye, Stevie inadvertently invented modern pop music and shaped what was to come -- for better or for worst!

The Flying Burrito Bros -- The Gilded Palace Of Sin

  Taking where Sweetheart Of The Rodeo left off, perfecting Parsons's cosmic country sound, with deeper touches of the Everly and Louvin brothers, hence the band name ... funny I never put it together until I wrote this down -- deh!  Even weirder is the fact that the Byrds used the brothers moniker for their pre-Gram album then Chris Hillman gets recruited for this project ... but my deeper question is why does Sneeky Pete get the worst outfit ever?

Walrus and I

  I moved to Halifax about a year and a half ago, trust me reinventing your life at 35 years old 'ain't no easy business'.  Within the first week in my, at the time, powerless apartment I had caught on my battery operated radio a promo show, CKDU 88.1 (Halifax Is Burning), for a compilation cassette two night release party, which I obviously had to go to and was floored by the awesomeness of the local indie psych scene!

   The group that stood out for me the most was Walrus.  As the months passed, I enjoyed the new majesty of the unfamiliar landscape, and the anomie drenched loneliness of being in a new city.  Wherever I was in life there was always a show coming up to confirm or uplift my spirits.  Going to see Walrus quickly became part of my lifestyle, from totally embarrassing drunken debauched bafoonery to screaming like a teenage girl delighted joy!

  As a total music fanatic it's been beyond fun and fascinating to watch Walrus transform themselves from a pretty damn great band to this fucking incredible juggernaut, their mix of indie 60's psych pop with east coast Eric's Trip-esque punk rock is nothing short of brilliant.  With every show they get tighter and better then the last ... at the time you'd think it's near impossible, until they come on and burn the house down!

  Their album isn't even out yet but I can't wait to wrap my dirty little paws around the record I've been anticipating for almost two years!  Thanks guys for the good times and inadvertently being the soundtrack to my new beginnings!

Photos by: Jon Irvine *miss ya buddy! (He's not dead or anything, he just moved!)

Post 66' Beach Boys

 

Pet Sounds may have been their masterpiece but the three, Smiley Smile, Wild Honey and Friends, post 1966 albums prove Brian Wilson's genius.  Other than the grandiose Good Vibrations the music is a timeless minimal baroque lo-fi pop that is so unique that it can only influence and never be mimicked!

Tripping Daisy -- Jesus Hits Like The Atom Bomb

  Holy frig what a terrible jock rock version of The Flaming Lips!  No wonder no one remembers these guys!

The Animals -- The Best Of ...

  The Animals sit right inbetween the Stones and Them, it's not that I want to demean their carreer, it just them's the breaks!!

Apples In Stereo -- Fun Trick Noisemaker

  Their debut and best release.  The modernized super produced Beatlesesque sound is done so well that bands are still trying to mimic it today!

Sebadoh --The Freed Weed

  This compilation, of sorts, features early Sebadoh, while Barlow was still in Dinosaur Jr.   The Freed Weed is reminiscent of early pure and raw folk music while sounding modern and inavertently inventing lo-fi indie rock all at once!  Thanks Lou, you're the best! 

Seu Jorge -- The Life Aquatic

  The life aquatic is hands down my favourite Wes Anderson movie and part of it's charm is the perfect musical background of Portuguese classic era Bowie covers all acoustically done by Seu Jorge and let's face it, if the mainman himself says that these versions show, "a new level of beauty," to his songs, you know that the album is nothing short of being great!

Pink Fairies -- Kings Of Oblivion

  What can I say about the Pink Fairies, other than just state the obvious?  They are the UK's answer or version of the MC5!

The Barbarians

  You know I somehow expected this record to be way awesomer than it is.  The album is a quickly thrown together version of The Kingsmen who take the lyrics 'hey' and 'yeah' way too seriously ... I get it, they are a ragtag band of swashbuckling early punk rockers, a great find for 60's freaks!

Os Mutantes

  Heavily influential Brazilian psych-pop band Os Mutantes does not only feature some great fuzz'd out weirdness but has some killer bubbly space'd out futura that would inspire groups to this day still!

Curtis Mayfield -- Superfly

  Almost like a poor man's version of Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, but don't let that statement, or the fact that it's a soundtrack for basically a piece of crap movie, deter you from the fact that it's a brilliant album and a Soul masterpiece!

Allen Toussaint -- Southern Nights

  A psychedelic soul pop album, all I could think of was that Toussaint must have been diggin' lots of Shuggie Otis at the time, cause that's what it sounds like and don't get me wrong he pulls it off beautifully, it's always interesting when classic artists can inspire and be inspired by what they had started. 

The Kinks -- Muswell Hillbillies

  The Kinks are always somehow overshadowed by The Who for the Holy trinity of British rock, but are way more deserving to sit beside the likes of The Beatles and The Stones, mostly due to their latter classic career which is definitely their most relevant, innovative and influential, they had a brilliant way mishmashing genres while still keeping true to their sound.  I've always been torn between Something Else, Village Green and Arthur as my favourite Kinks record.  Somehow Musswell Hillbillies gets swept under the rug, but let's face it, it's their last great album and is a strangely Brit version of 70's Americana that only The Kinks could have pulled off!

Courtney Barnett -- sometimes I sit and think, and sometimes I just sit.

  At first I wasn't too sure how I felt about this 90's throwback, Julie Doiron meets Elastica mash up, but already by the second listen it's growing on me.  The mellow tracks definitely overshadow the rock numbers... anyway, who knows how what I'll think the next time around, I could hate it!?

Mac DeMarco -- Another One

  Fuck it!  When I first bought Salad Days, I felt like an indie rock hipster sell out for some odd reason, but I retract that now, his AM style pop mini album Another One has a playful maturity, like when you turn 30, you're still goofy, but with a new found seriousness.

Tame Impala -- Currents

  Another impressive release by writer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker.  This latest pop masterpiece sounds like an indie rock ode to Prince, which he pulls off beautifully.  The band has diversly grown in all the best ways!  So to all the naysayers, this album is their/ his best -- I love it!

The Ramones -- End Of The Century

  Despite being not their best album, considering all the fear, madness, gun pulling and over production going on during the recording, the Joey Ramone and Phil Spector pop colaborations are out of this world!

Elton John -- Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player

  

  Pretty much a run of the mill Elton John record, with two exceptions, the first is the awesomely brilliant Stevie Wonder-esque Daniel, the second is dubiously stupid crapadile crock!

Moby Grape -- Listen My Friends!

  A comprehensive compilation by quintessential San Francisco band Moby Grape.  It's widely speculated that if the group hadn't fallen victim to drug fuelled bad luck and just all 'round weirdness they would have been as big as The Beatles.  Well let me set the record straight, they did have some great numbers, but their releases pale in comparison to the likes of The Byrds and the Dead! 

The Minutemen -- Double Nickel On The Dime

  Holy frig!  What a monumental album, it's got so much cross-genre-foreshadowing it's hard to keep up with where it's all going.  In the midst of 80's American hardcore, it's tough to believe that this bombastic release was able to exist and change the sound of independant music overnight!

Big Star -- Radio City

  Now that I own it, I'm not sure how I feel about it ... I'm torn between, I hate it, it's a beautiful disaster or it's a great album done by a British Invasion band in the 70's, except, they're American!

The XX -- Coexist

  Their initial album was cute and everything, singing about hipster shit like VCR's, but this sophomore release is where they really find themselves... a relatable call and response pop masterpiece!

Father John Misty -- I Love You, Honeybear

  An indie rock ode to the mellow 70's AM easy listening radio tunes, by Fleet Foxes ex drummer J. Tillman aka Father John Misty.  This deeply personal release about the trials, tribulations and mediocrity of modern relationships took me by surprise and knocked my socks off!!  

Townes Van Zandt -- Our Mother The Mountain

  Holy god, this is one of the finest albums of all time, done by the tragic cowboy Townes Van Zandt.  His sound and words are like Leonard Cohen meets Hank Williams, brilliant country folk with beautiful arrangements ... if these songs don't bring skipped heart beats and tears, we can't be friends!

Bruce Springteen -- Nebraska

   Springsteen's demos were so good for this record that they decided to keep all the tracks as is, making this moody minimalistic Ennio Morricone-esque Country Folk album, the boss's greatest work EVER ... c'mon there are even hints of Suicide on there!

Jim Sullivan -- U.F.O

  Surrounded by movie stars and eccentrics, country folk crooner does his debut record with the illustrious wrecking crew, famed by the Beach Boys and Phil Spector, giving his music a brilliant soul pop vibe.  Although he was loved by critics and rock royalty, Sullivan never reached heights he was after.  During the following years Jim sought to revive his career in Nashville rather than LA, but completely vanished in the New Mexico desert, leaving behind his car, guitar and a shroud of mystique!

Dinosaur Jr -- Green Mind

  The major label debut and pretty much solo J Mascis release by Dinosaur Jr.  I'd like to say that the album lacked brilliance because Barlow had been kicked out of the band and sold out to corporate bullshit, by moving to a major label, but ... you know what!?  The record is awesome!  Stays true in form and spirit!

New Riders Of The Purple Sage

  The first and best incantation of country rock, Dead-esque, Garcia pedal steeled guitar driven, band and album of the New Riders Of The Purple Sage ... if there is anything worth getting by this group, this is it, even if Panama Red is their best known work!

Mac DeMarco -- Salad Days

  Why is it that I felt like an indie snob sell out when I bought this album?  I really liked his mix of lazy 70's Kurt Vile vocals with the flanged out guitars of Real Estate and the lyrical goofiness of Jonathan Richman.  But to answer my question, maybe it's because this lo-fi music is made for a generation who didn't grow up on Sebadoh!?

The Replacements -- Let It Be

  The album that puts all of the 90's punk rock to shame, years before the era had even hit ... of course the next logical step was the likes of The Pixies and Mudhoney, not a bunch of obselete wannabe posers trying to rehash the next great Replacements record!

Randy Newman -- Live

  A short and sweet album of Randy Newman's classic little ditties, featuring just him and his piano, not that the album is bad, but it feels more suitable for super fans, nonetheless perfect for mellow morning coffee!

The Who -- Sell Out

  If it weren't for the craptastic radio spoofs, this smooth, airy, Who album would have been their most innovative and triumphant effort, but being their overly juvenile smarmy British selves, the brilliance couldn't prevail, which is always my problem when it comes to this band, save for their first record!

Bob Dylan -- Blood On The Tracks

  Drenched in divorce sad bastardom, Dylan's Blood On The Tracks gives us a look at Zimmy's all too beautifully real  bitterness, and if you've ever been in a similar situation, you'd get every single word ... too!

Tangerine Dream -- Rubycon

  Tangerine Dream's Rubycon is an ambiently meditative classic synth album, it moves like a soundtrack to an alien oceanographic documentary, weaving your mind through the vast waters of space, while still being made from earth!

Nico -- Chelsea Girl

  With the help of many rock luminaries like, Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, just to name a few, Nico, the ultimate chanteuse femme fatale made her chamber style baroque folk debut album, which to me is her best and most accessible, compared to her usual existential death records.

Tom Waits -- The Heart Of Saturday Night

  The Heart Of Saturday Night is like a beat poet meets Frank Sinatra mixed with Bruce Springsteen, this album marks where Waits starts to find his persona.

The Beach Boys -- Holland

  Holland is a strangely brilliant Beach Boys version of 1970's Laurel canyonesque Americana.

Harry Nilsson -- Nilsson Schmilsson

  An eclectic pastiche of classic little ditties, the album's sound is all over the place, but has a strange brilliance that Nilsson was never able capture ever again.

Marvin Gaye -- Here, My Dear

  In the midst of personal and financial strife, dealing with the divorce of motown's label owner's sister, being forced to record an album where, as part of the settlement, all the profits go straight to his ex-wife.  Marvin at first was going to make a complete piece of crap but his loyalty to his public and strange fascination with the idea cohersed him into making a smooth, bitter, inventive, minimalsitic but complex, mellow soul album, filled with the emotional platitudes of love and marriage mixed with pain and divorce while cleverly naming it Here, My Dear ... the final fuck you to his old lady!

Apples In Stereo -- Her Wallpaper Reverie

  A strangely song interluded filled album with less actual tracks than snippets, nevertheless it's 90's indie version of the Beatles meet the Beach Boys is nothing short of brilliant!