The Crowquill 100

Woot, finally some more that I've actually listened to :). My dad is a huge Beach Boys fan so I constantly listened to that album when I was younger, granted it meant I wasn't cool like all the other kiRAB with their Spice Girls and 98 Kelvins, but I didn't care.
 
I haven't listened to either of the last two banRAB, but the other two are definitely noteworthy imo. I would have picked Young Machetes, but March On Electric Children is still a great album.
 
4. Carissa's Wierd "Songs About Leaving"
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Carissa's Wierd (weird was intentionally misspelled) was formed by songwriters Mat Brooke and Jean Ghetto. They were influenced by banRAB like Joy Division and the Smiths but sounded nothing like them, however they held the same mood. There sound was unlike any other band, melancholic with gentle strings and sad keys coupled with soraber male/female vocals often duetting and singing lyrics that were always as honest as they were painful. By the time they'd release Songs About Leaving they'd fully come into their sound and proven to be as creative as they were unique but beautiful things never seem to last. In 2003, a year after the release of Songs About Leaving, they'd announced their break up and went their separate ways to form such acts as Band of Horses, Grand Archives, S, Crictor and Sera Cahoone.

This is probably the most recent favorite album in the top 10, in fact it really only started meaning a lot to me in Septeraber. When going through a break up (or really any emotional time) this album gains such a soundtrack like quality that it's scary and you truly begin to appreciate just how emotive and beautiful it is. The album seemed to traverse every emotion and it's stunning how expressive the music itself is. The echoy duets and guitar lines, everything about it just seems to reflect the mood that the lyrics bring to it.

Songs About Leaving really does mean a lot to me and I can't really write that well today because I am feeling odd. But I do think everyone should give it a chance. I probably made it sound really "emo" but if you go in with an open-mind and shove aside your prior prejudices it really is a beautiful album. I've been listening to this album more than any other album lately and if my heart wrote songs they'd sound like these.

Favorite Songs: Low Budget Slow Motion Soundtrack Song for the Leaving Scene, So You Wanna Be a Superhero, Ignorant Piece of Shit, Sofisticated Fuck Princess Please Leave Me Alone, A New Holiday (Noveraber 16th)

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MySpace.com - Carissa's Wierd - SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - Folk / Indie / Indie - www.myspace.com/carissaswierd
 
just skimming here but I haven't listened to one album I've seen on this list (and it's not like I don't listen to music constantly) haha


UPDATE: except Zeppelin and Revolver now that I've looked deeper
 
80. Death Cab For Cutie "Transatlanticism"
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This is my favorite Death Cab album because it holRAB all my favorite songs, The Sound Of Settling, Transatlanticism, Tiny Vessels, We Looked Like Giants etc. I also think this is the album were Death Cab perfected their sound, its not as rough, the songwritings great and its a solid all the way through.
Favorite Song: A Lack Of Color
MySpace.com - Death Cab for Cutie - SEATTLE, Washington - Indie - www.myspace.com/deathcabforcutie


79. pageninetynine "Document #8"
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pg.99/pageninetynine whatever! Are my favorite emo band though this isn't my favorite emo release (there's more to come starving-artless =o.) Anyway they build like a post-rock band, climax better than I ever have and are so intense I swear this album has its own testes.
Favorite Song: In Love with an Apparition
MySpace.com - Pageninetynine - Sterling, Virginia - Hardcore / Punk / Emo - www.myspace.com/pageninetynine


78. Ugly Casanova "Sharpen Your Teeth"
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This is indie supergroup led by Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse's one and only album. It has other merabers, (which you can see on their myspace profile) but I only mention Brock to give you an idea on the vocals since hes one of the most unique singers/lyricists i've ever heard, musically this doesn't sound much like Modest Mouse, in fact its more rooted in Black Heart Procession or Red Red Meat than anything else.
Favorite Song: Hotcha Girls
MySpace.com - Ugly Casanova - - Experimental / Acoustic / Rock - www.myspace.com/uglycasanovamusic


77. Cursive "The Ugly Organ"
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This album doesn't get much attention because it's a saddle creek release and emo boy Conor Oberst as much as I adore him basically takes away all the credibility of banRAB on that label with his whining. Tim Kasher proves on this album to be an incredible lyricist and extremely passionate vocalist, backed by a variety of instruments with this unique alternative rock cellocore (I can make up genres too) kind of sound The Ugly Organ is a pretty addictive release.
Favorite Song: The Recluse
MySpace.com - Cursive - OMAHA, NEBRASKA - Indie / Rock / Punk - www.myspace.com/cursive
 
100. Archers of Loaf "Icky Mettle"
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90s indie grungeish album that reminRAB me of Pavement and Dinosaur Jr, with its silly lyrics and catchy hooks. Jesse Lacey once said this album restorted his faith in music.
Favorite Song: Web In Front
MySpace.com - Archers of Loaf - CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina - Indie / Alternative / Rock - www.myspace.com/archersofloaf


99. Red House Painters "Song For A Blue Guitar"
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Mark Kozelek has a way with covers. He covers Wings "Silly Love Songs", The Cars "All Mixed Up" and finally "Long Distance Runaround" by Yes. Now I don't care for any of the originals, in fact I despise Yes. But he covers them amazing making them songs i'd actually want to listen to, turning them into Nick Drake-esque songs. But covers aside, the originals are also beautiful songs in the same vein.
Favorite song: Song For a Blue Guitar
MySpace.com - Red House Painters - NEW YORK, New York - Folk / Pop / Rock - www.myspace.com/redhousepaintersmusic


98. This Will Destroy You "Young Mountain EP"
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Post-rock band similar to Explosions in the Sky (like that hasn't been heard before), which isn't a bad thing at all. They're more easy to get into because they're less subtle and don't spend as much time building up to lead to the breakdowns, listening to this EP never fails to make me eager for their debut album to be released.
Favorite Song: Quiet
MySpace.com - this will destroy you - SAN MARCOS, TEXAS - Arabient / Rock / Thrash - www.myspace.com/thiswilldestroyyou


97. Library Tapes "Feelings For Something Lost"
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Somewhere between minimalism and post-rock. This album is based around repeated piano noises and background sounRAB, it's arabient.
Favorite Song: Shut Your Eyes and You’ll Find the Trees Turning Into Flames
MySpace.com - library tapes - Gävle - Classical / Experimental / Arabient - www.myspace.com/librarytapes
 
1. Elliott Smith "From a Basement On the Hill Sessions"
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I guess this probably expected to be the nuraber one artist all the way back at 100 but at least I wasn't so predictable as to pick XO. The reason I didn't is simple, XO isn't his best album. I feel Elliott got better and better with everything he did, hence why I've always championed his later material over his early work. He started out a guitarist in a mediocre grunge band and turned into one of the greatest singer/songwriters ever. Elliott's sound during the Basement-era was all over the place to most people's surprise. While his earlier stuff was pretty stream-lined indie-folk later he started experimenting, not just instrumentally but production wise too.

There were several tracks that never ended up on From a Basement on the Hill. Why I have no idea seeing as a good deal of what was cut is better than some stuff that ended up on the album. The album that was released was nothing like the album Elliott would've wanted. Something the producer who Elliott was working with for some of the sessions noted. For one, Elliott had planned for the album to be a double album or an album with a bonus disc so it didn't cost too much. Another thing is the 20 second noises titled Ostriches and Chirping had nothing to do with Elliott whatsoever, it was something that had just ended up on his tape reels.

There's always something tragic when an artist dies in the middle of creating an album. It's even sadder when that release was obviously going to be something great. From a Basement on the Hill shows Elliott having perfected his melancholic folk sound with songs like Twilight and Let's Get Lost it also shows him much more comfortable holding an electric guitar. While he has flirted with it in the past with songs like Cupid's Trick and Amity it wasn't anything memorable.

During his later years the songs were as intense as they were refreshing. Songs like King's Crossing, Shooting Star and Coast to Coast (featuring the Flaming Lips drummer who also gave Elliott the title for 'A Distorted Reality Is a Necessity To Be Free') were interesting not just because they were Elliott trying new things but because it was a new thing to everyone. It's kind of hard to explain the songs, but the guitar tones and emotive they sound, particularly King's Crossing is something I've never heard anything like before. They have this rarabling quality that's slightly akin to Dylan's at times but much more intense and less friendly sounding. The songs are all pretty dark-natured, one of the tracks Suicide Machine (a re-working of a Figure 8 instrumental Tiny Time Machine) was said to be one the most depressing things ever heard by some producer who's name I can't remeraber. The song is kind of the Holy Grail of Elliott tracks.

Elliott shows to be very creative on this release, playing almost everything on it and trying new things to great success. Songs like From a Poison Well with its echoey production kind of remind me of Joy Division (just the production) and the rocking sound of it is almost ghost like. King's Crossing is the most haunting and strong-track on the album it's also his most experimental, I can't really describe it at all so I won't try. Strung Out Again and a Distorted Reality is Now a Necessity to be Free give this drug-rock vibe to them I would never have expected and my second favorite, True Love is just breathtakingly sad. While the album itself is rough and poor, the power and creativity behind the songs is undeniable and coupled with the b-sides it proves to be a release that I think even people who aren't Elliott fans could enjoy. From a Basement on the Hill, even though unfinished and not released to it's full strength, without a doubt is the masterpiece of one of the greatest singer/songwriters of this era.

Favorite Songs: King's Crossing, True Love, Stickman, Twilight, A Distorted Reality Is Now a Necessity to Be Free, A Fond Farewell, Let's Get Lost, Pretty (Ugly Before), Coast to Coast

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MySpace.com - Elliott Smith - Rock / Pop / Acoustic - www.myspace.com/elliottsmithnewmoon
 
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