Bright Eyes - Fevers and Mirrors (2000)

I remember first hearing about Bright Eyes from a friend of mine who worked in a record shop and had often introduced me to great new bands. Something about the way he talked about Bright Eyes told me that this would not necessarily be that easy band to get into. And fair enough, when I first listened to their album Lifted, I thought it was mostly a bit too lo-fi for my taste. Then again, there were already on that first listen a couple of songs that really struck me as something truly special. The more I listened to them, the more I liked them. When I finally found Fevers and Mirrors I was completely sold. To this day I think this is the best album by Bright Eyes. There's something really melancholic about this album and as you know, I really like that. Conor Oberst's trembling voice is perfect in interpreting these kinds of anguished and sad songs.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell (2003)

I remember being introduced to Yeah Yeah Yeahs a long time ago, but my first introduction to them was through their second album Show Your Bones, which I still think is probably their worst album. I borrowed that CD from a library because I had heard some good things about the band. I have to say that I wasn't too impressed with their music back then. It was too noisy and not melodic enough for my taste. If there's one thing that's important to me in music, it's the melody. This is why I've had trouble liking genres where melody is put into second place after lyrics or sounds. After that, not so successful, introduction into the band, I forgot about it for a few years. Then I started listening through albums in the book 1001 albums you must hear before you die and listened to band's third studio album It's Blitz! and that changed my view of the band.