The Soundtrack of Our Lives – Extended Revelation for the Psychic Weaklings of Western Civilization (1998)

This is the second album by the Swedish rock band The Soundtrack of Our Lives. It's mostly known by the title Extended Revelation, but the full name is the very long 'Extended Revelation for the Psychic Weaklings of Western Civilization'. This is by far the most psychedelic album by the band. The other albums also have some psychedelic elements in them, but they're more straightforward rock, where this album has long and hypnotic rock anthems that seem to draw most of its influences from late-60s psychedelic era. This album doesn't have that many hits and that's probably why I haven't listened to this album perhaps as much as the other ones, but I really like the more experimental approach of this album. For those of you who don't know TSOOL, they are experts in big-sounding alternative rock that works brilliantly live.

Mike Oldfield – Exposed (1979)

This is another Mike Oldfield album that I got from my father's vinyl collection. It's a double live album with only three songs on it. Tells quite a lot about Oldfield's songs. I do like some of Oldfield's music, but on normal studio albums, the sounds can be a bit too clean and neat. The live setting makes these songs come alive a bit more. You can hear the actual instruments a bit better. Also, I think it's very impressive to hear all the string arrangements etc. on this album thinking that it was originally played live. The list of musicians is almost 50 persons long. Finnish readers will probably find it interesting that Pekka Pohjola plays bass on this album. I never knew they had collaborated. Pekka Pohjola is one of the most well-known bass players in Finland. There's also a film about this tour, which is why there's that bit of film in the front cover.

Procol Harum – Exotic Birds and Fruit (1974)

For most people, Procol Harum is a one hit wonder. Their song Whiter Shade of Pale was a massive hit, but not many people know any other songs, let alone albums, by them. This would've been the case for me as well, unless I hadn't gotten my hands on this album from my grandma's place. I don't know who originally owned this album, but I think it might've been one of my uncles. Nevertheless, I got quite a few vinyl albums from there that were just laying there un-used. Exotic Birds and Fruit is the seventh album by Procol Harum. The band is normally called progressive rock, but I feel like there are also some heavy baroque pop influences in the music, which makes the album sound a bit more modern than most prog rock albums of the time. There are quite a few similarities to more modern indie pop bands in the sounds.

The Rolling Stones – Exile on Main St. (1972)

Exile on Main St. is a very strange album for a huge mainstream rock band. It's a double album with 18 tracks and commonly rated as the best album the band ever released, while at the same time, none of those 18 tracks are among the band's biggest hits. For someone who doesn't really listen to The Rolling Stones, I wouldn't be surprised if they can't recognise a single song from this album. I myself wasn't very interested in The Rolling Stones for a long time and when I listened to this album for the first time, I don't think I was that familiar with any of these songs. In terms of songs, this album has nothing like Gimme Shelter, (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, Paint It Black or Street Fighting Man. I think this might actually be the reason why so many critics and fans of the band love this album.

Mojave 3 – Excuses for Travellers (2000)

Mojave 3 was born on the ruins of the British shoegaze band Slowdive (they made a comeback a couple of years ago). The style of their music changed quite dramatically with the change of the band name. Mojave 3's music has influences from Americana folk and country, while the melodies are channelling endearing indie pop. I remember falling in love with this album as soon as I heard it many many years ago. I only bought the album a lot later, because it was difficult to find. I have also listened to the band's other albums and even though there is some excellent stuff on those, I think this is their best album. It's one of those albums that are really great to listen to when tired. Even though there are some slightly rocking bits on the album, it mostly just stays slow and dreamy, which is great if you want to get meditative on the sofa.

Grandaddy – Excerpts from the Diary of Todd Zilla (2005)

For some reason I haven't listened to this mini album that much since I bought it. I didn't think twice to buy anything that Grandaddy released, so I bought it as soon as I found it, but for some reason it didn't spark that much interest on the first listen. And fair enough, it's not as good as the full albums by Grandaddy. It is still Grandaddy, so it's pretty damn good. Excerpts from the Diary of Todd Zilla is not so much a farewell to Lytle's former hometown Modesto, California, as it is a fuck off to that town. Lytle moved away around the time of recording this album and he really didn't care too much for his old home town. Apparently the title of the album comes from something Lytle saw in a vanity license plate in a truck in Modesto. Lytle always struggled with American consumer culture and I'm sure California offers plenty of annoyances for someone like that.

My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges (2008)

My Morning Jacket was one of those indie bands I started hearing a lot about around the release of this album. Their name was everywhere, but I had trouble recognising their songs. It might've been because of Monsters of Folk super band project, but I somehow thought of My Morning Jacket as more of an alternative folk band than an indie rock band and whenever I heard their music somewhere, I didn't realise it was them. Then I decided to buy one of their albums from a record store end sale in Helsinki and I ended up owning this CD. It sort of changed the way I looked at the band, because this album features quite a few proper indie rock songs. The band had really wanted a more urban sound on this album than on their previous ones and they recorded it in New York. I can really hear the more urban tone in this album.

Rage Against the Machine – Evil Empire (1996)

I remember when I first heard about Rage Against the Machine. I was an early teenager, not long after the release of this album. My best friend at the time introduced me to many heavier sounding bands of the time, such as The Smashing Pumpkins, Korn and Rage Against the Machine. I remember being really excited with the song Bulls on Parade. It was more aggressive than any other music I had ever heard, and I had just spent a couple of years listening to trash metal and hard rock. That song made me buy the album, but for a long time, that was the only song I really and truly enjoyed. Back in the day, Rage Against the Machine sounded a bit too un-melodic to my taste and I didn't really explore the rest of their repertoire. It was only years later when I found myself with a girlfriend who like metal, including Rage Against the Machine that I started listening a bit more of them and this time, I liked them a lot more.

Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat – Everything's Getting Older (2011)

There are some albums that are worth buying for just one amazing song. This was the case with this album. I'm not saying the other songs on the album aren't any good. I just mean that that one song was already enough to make the decision to buy the album. This song is The Copper Top. A friend of mine played it to me at his place when we were introducing each other to some new music out there and immediately I was blown away. The song has speech vocals and musically it's not even that interesting, but the mood of the song was just perfect. The amazingly strong Scottish accent in the album is everything and it works really well when it's put on top of melancholic and simple piano tunes. This album is about getting older and feeling left out of what the youth is all about now. I can definitely relate to some of the things like this even if I'm not that old yet.

Manic Street Preachers – Everything Must Go (1996)

I remember the first time I ever heard Manic Street Preachers. It must've been something like 1994 in my English class at school. Our normal English teacher had her son substituting for her. He was studying to become an English teacher and he had spent some time in the UK related to his studies where he had fallen in love with the music of Manic Street Preachers. He played us a couple of songs in class. This was before pretty much anyone knew anything about the band in Finland. Everything Must Go was the first album to gain some recognition in Finland, but it wasn't until two years later when This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours was released that the band became popular in the Finnish mainstream. So, I can quite confidently say that I knew about the band way before most people in Finland. I didn't really start listening to them properly at that time though.