The Mars Volta – De-Loused in the Comatorium (2003)

The Mars Volta is one of the bands I probably never would have bought myself if I hadn't been influenced by my one friend in particular who was a huge fan of them at the time of the release of this album. Don't get me wrong, I do like some of their songs quite a lot, but I only like a couple of their songs. The rest are a bit too hectic and noisy for my taste. Anyway, De-Loused in the Comatorium is probably the best album they have ever released and there are some fantastic parts in the album even if, as a whole, it's quite heavy to listen to. it's difficult to describe the style of The Mars Volta, but if I have to try, I'd say they are experimental heavy progressive rock. The vocals sound like many hair metal bands in the 80's and the rhythm changes and fast progressive rock tunes have been spiced up with some space rock sounds.

The White Stripes – De Stijl (2000)

I was a massive fan of The White Stripes from the first moments I heard about them. This was just after the release of their third album White Blood Cells. That album is still my favourite one. Of course, because I liked the band so much, I immediately investigated what other albums the band had already released. There was their self-titled debut album and this one, De Stijl. For some reason, I did like the debut, but I didn't like De Stijl. Maybe it was because De Stijl is not a very melodic album compared to the other ones and I really put a lot of weight on melodies in music. Nevertheless, for a long time, De Stijl was that one White Stripes album I didn't really care for that much. It's still not their best piece of work, but also, I don't really see why I disliked it so much in the first place. It's a great album of raw guitars and drums with excellent retro look on the American rock history.

The Moody Blues – Days of Future Passed (1967)

The Moody Blues is known for their symphonic grandiloquent rock songs that have been accompanied by English mystical poetry relating to ancient druids and medieval themes. From today's perspective, their music seems very adult oriented, but they were young people when they started making music. At the beginning of their career, The Moody Blues played quite simple rhythm and blues music and, quite understandably, they didn't draw too much attention that way. Then, in order to be able to release their second album, they wanted to do something more ambitious. They came up with a concept album about a normal day in a man's life where they mix classical music with their pop rock sounds. Days of Future Passed became their probably most well-known album and it's largely considered to be a masterpiece and one of the first progressive rock albums.

Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation (1988)

I often feel like I don't really belong in the classification of millennials. I didn't spend my childhood online, I was already adult when I started using any kind of social media etc. Then again, music-wise, I feel like I had to really work to understand the brilliance of Generation X music. Of course, I also haven't really embraced millennial music either. This probably really means that Xennial is an appropriate concept. So, why am I talking about these different generations? Because I feel like Daydream Nation is the ultimate Generation X album. It is so central to the whole musical movement of that generation. It's bleak, aggressive alternative rock that has raw electric guitars on overdrive, off-key vocals and anti-establishment lyrics. Daydream Nation offers all of these and much more! It's definitely one of the most important albums of the Generation X youth.

Beth Orton – Daybreaker (2002)

I've already written about two other Beth Orton albums before this one in this blog. Daybreaker is not her strongest album, but it still definitely has its moments. This album had high expectations as well, because it was released right after her breakthrough album Central Reservations. Daybreaker is quite playful and I would definitely not call it very commercial. That is just a good thing. The songs have interesting sounds and in the best moments, the album manages to be quite a magical experience. There are a couple of well-known musicians on this album that I really appreciate; Johnny Marr and Ryan Adams. Johnny Marr was obviously already a legend at this time because of his career in The Smiths, but The Smiths weren't that popular at the time, so I don't know how many people actually knew him back then. Ryan Adams, on the other hand, was pretty much the biggest name in alt-country around that time.

Various Artists – Day of the Dead (2016)

Just a couple of posts earlier I wrote about the compilation album Dark Was the Night and I mentioned this album in that post as well. Day of the Dead is a compilation album by Red Hot Organization, a charity for HIV and Aids. This album is a massive 5 CD album containing 59 covers of Grateful Dead songs. I'm not a massive fan of Grateful Dead. I kind of like some of their songs, but the sounds, for example, have never moved me much. However, this album includes a staggering amount of my all time favourite artists and bands, so that was much more of a reason to buy the album. Also, by buying it, I also donated money to charity. The album, like Dark Was the Night, was produced by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National. The album has been a great way to get to know the real Grateful Dead behind the songs and to hear some amazing songs performed by some of my favourite artists.

Killers – Day & Age (2008)

Day & Age, the third album by Killers, is a prime example of a situation where a band that got success early on starts to embrace their mainstream success by adopting all the mainstream cliches. On this album, Killers sound overly bloated and nice guitar rock sounds have been replaced with soulless synth pop sounds. The result is a plastic sounding album that sounds like it was specifically produced to make lots of money. Killers obviously was never a very alternative band. Even their first album was very predictable and commercial, but at least it sounded authentic and you could hear the ambition of a young band. You could already see the signs on the second album, but the songs on that album were still more or less similar to the first album. The third album, for many bands, is the one where they define the future of the band and sadly, for Killers, that future didn't look too bright.

Bruce Springsteen – Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978)

When I was growing up, Bruce Springsteen was one of the most popular artists in the world, but I had always merely associated him with his hit song Born in the USA, which in my opinion isn't that great a song. It's just repeating one line over and over again. It took me a few people around me who were really excited about Springsteen for me to make the effort to listen to his other material. Born to Run was the obvious choice and it did really blow my mind. I had never realised just how amazing Springsteen's band was, because I had been introduced to his music first by his 80's songs and 80's songs often have really boring rhythm section and it's often more about the studio sounds than actual masterful musicianship. I still think Springsteen's best work was recorded in the 70's. Darkness on the Edge of Town is among the best albums he ever released.

The Jesus and Mary Chain – Darklands (1987)

I've mentioned many times before that for a long time I had a bit of a problem with 80's music. I was never just happy with the sounds. It took me familiarising myself with The Smiths to start appreciating 80's music. That opened up a whole new world for me with numerous bands that I had many heard about but had never really considered as something that could be interesting. Particularly in post-punk and alternative rock. The Scottish band The Jesus and Mary Chain was a band that I had known by name only for a long time. I started from their debut album Psycho Candy, which proofed to be quite difficult to get into, because it's so noisy and melodies are not very upfront. It wasn't until I finally listened to Darklands that I really was hooked. The sounds are quite alternative and experimental, but there are great catchy pop melodies throughout the album.

Various Artists – Dark Was the Night (2009)

I don't normally even consider buying compilation albums. I'm a big fan of the album as a concept. Compilations are usually collections of songs rather than meaningful wholes. This really can't be said about this album. Dark Was the Night is the twentieth compilation album by Red Hot Organization. They are an international charity that raises funds and awareness for HIV and Aids. This album is produced by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National. They aimed to describe the musical renaissance of the 00's on this album by collecting all the greatest indie artists on the same album. All of these songs or versions of songs can only be heard on this album. That's what makes this album so great. I was able to get 31 new songs from some of my favourite artists by buying one double CD and at the same time I gave money to charity.

Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon (1973)

This is one of the most well-known, commercially successful and most highly rated albums of all times. At the same time, it actually is one of the greatest albums ever made. Dark Side of the Moon deserves all the praise it has ever received. At the time of its release in 1973 it must've been groundbreaking. I remember seeing a document about the album and something that was said there has stayed in my mind for a long time. There was a fan of the band in the documentary who described the feeling of buying this album from a record shop and going home and putting it on for the first time. When the futuristic sounds started rolling in, it must have been a magical experience. It's very rare to experience anything like that today, since pretty much everything in music has already been done. But Dark Side of the Moon remains an album that has that magical quality that offers a listening experience that can't be matched by many other albums.

Turin Brakes – Dark On Fire (2007)

I got to know Turin Brakes at the time of the release of their second album Ether Song. It quickly became one of my favourite bands and I was especially fond of the debut album Optimist LP. On the first album, and to some extent on the second album, the sounds were mainly acoustic and quite organic. On the third album, they started taking in much more instruments and the sound became more polished. Dark on Fire is their fourth album and it sounds even glossier than the earlier albums, but in terms of songwriting I think this album is excellent. If you strip the songs to their essentials, there are some super melodies and touching lyrics. I've always really liked the album cover. The flame in the dark is a powerful image that is not easily forgotten. After this album I forget the band for some years, until I then discovered them again later on.