Benjamin Gibbard - Former Lives (2012)

I used to love Death Cab for Cutie. I mean, really love it. It was definitely among my favourite bands back in mid-00s. And even now, I have to say that Transatlanticism and Plans are phenomenal albums. Then, after these albums, something happened. Death Cab for Cutie had become a household name in the indie rock hall of fame with Plans and then the long-awaited follow-up album Narrow Stairs was a huge disappointment, at least to yours truly. The following albums after that were even worse and I lost all my interest towards the band. So, when I noticed that Ben Gibbard had released his first solo album, my expectations were really low. Then again, I found it in a sale for a couple of pounds, so I thought, hey, let's just give it a go, and I have to say, it was a lot better than I expected. Not Plans or Transatlanticism good, but still a very nice album.

Uriah Heep - Forever (1997)

As a preteen, I used to mostly listen to hard rock and heavy metal. This was what was fashionable in Finland at the time. Especially for boys, bands like Metallica, Guns n' Roses and Nirvana, were the coolest bands out there. At some point me and my friends started discovering the roots of this music genre we were so much into, and discovered bands like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. I also realised at this point that these were the bands my father had listened to as a young adult. He had some of these albums on vinyl as well, which was really cool and it sparked my interest in vinyl. Uriah Heep definitely wasn't as well known band as the ones I mentioned above, but I liked their music immediately. It was more melodic than most of the other bands in that genre and I've always been something of a fool for melodies.