Rival Schools - United by Fate

2001; 13 tracks

Holy fucking shit. Really. From the very first seconds of the very first track, "Travel by Telephone," (which just so happen to be the greatest part of this entire album), United by Fate is non-stop incredible post-hardcore. I don't really think there's even one "slow" song on here. Intense, powerful, melodically sound. May induce the urge to play 100 times. A day. For weeks.

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Daniel Lanois - Belladonna

2005; 13 tracks

I didn't know what to expect with this when I first found it in a music thread somewhere. I decided it wouldn't hurt to try out a new artist, and it turns out my time wasn't really spent on nothing. Daniel Lanois is a Canadian singer-songwriter who has worked with some "big" names, like U2 and Bob Dylan... Maybe that's what turned me off at first, but whatever.

Belladonna is an instrumental album of 13 vigniettes, differing in mood, color, and sound. It is just ethereal enough for me to enjoy it. Just enough.

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Purchase

Ween - The Mollusk

1997; 14 tracks

I've always overlooked Ween due to horrible short-sightedness and stubbornness; this was a mistake. You need to listen to this album with a completely open mind, don't expect it to be perfect and don't expect it to be awful - just listen to it. Personally, I thought it would be juvenile typical 90's alt, but what I got was a stroke of brilliant semi-conceptual music with no distinct genre and moments of absolute beauty. There's some silly stuff on here too but it just works. "Pink Eye (On My Leg)" is my idea of a wonderful song :3

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