MY TOP TEN ALBUMS OF ALL TIME!!!
There is so much music out there... so much wiggly air that permeates into your ears, and your head hole if you have one! Music is the greatest invention of human society, besides maybe pasta. This is where you can learn about my favorite albums and the mystical experiences they have brought me.
1. IGLOOGHOST - LEI LINE EON (2021)
Iglooghost is my favorite artist of all time, and so I had to put all three of his albums on my list. It's so hard to pick a favorite, but I'd have to go with Lei Line Eon. There is no album anywhere so entrancing and beautiful as this one. I once had a dream I was under a waterfall and a fairy was singing Light Gutter to me. When I woke up, I was crying tears of joy and I felt so safe and calm. This captures the experience of listening to Lei Line Eon.
This album is part of a long tradition of Lei Music, which is an ancient practice of using sounds to summon strange entities. The music is recorded to Lei Disks, which also contain the data of the summoned entity. Lei Line Eon is a modernized form of Lei Music, created digitally by the Glyph Institute which Iglooghost founded in 2020. My dream job is to work for the Glyph Institute one day. Imagine how fun that would be!
I have to mention that Zones U Can't See was the song I was listening to when I successfully drilled a hole in my head. If you listen to it, you can imagine the sound of the drill and the elation of seeing inside your own mind - it's perfect trepanning music! I'll never forget that experience and that's another reason this is my favorite Iglooghost album.
You can read more about Lei Music here!
Favorite track: Light Gutter
2. IGLOOGHOST - TIDAL MEMORY EXO (2024)
Memory is a subject I think about a lot. I have a bad memory, and I always say forgetting makes you smarter, as if your brain is a CPU that can't handle too much work. But that isn't always true. Forgetting can be a very uncomfortable experience sometimes. The repeating outro of "You have a new memory" on this album is comforting in a way, because it's true! No matter how many memories you lose, you always find new ones in strange and wonderful places. I made so many new friends in 2024, and have so many good memories with them, and that's why this album means so much to me.
The lyrics and themes of Tidal Memory Exo are darker than other Iglooghost projects, and when you read them you can feel a sense of hopelessness and panic. In this world, the city is drowning in toxic sludge, animals are dying, and people are struggling to survive. It's fantastical, but the lyrics somewhat reflect the real life conditions of ecological destruction we are living under. Many coastal cities will be underwater in 20 years, and the weather gets more erratic every day - Exoportal may be our future! In its themes and in the bonds I've strengthened with my friends over this album, Tidal Memory Exo is eternal.
Favorite track: Spawn01 ft Cyst
3. IGLOOGHOST - NEO WAX BLOOM (2017)
Neo Wax Bloom was my introduction to Iglooghost. I found it in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, a boring and scary time for everyone. This album is the exact opposite of boring and scary. It's whimsical, complex, and bright. When I first listened to it I was staring at my spaghetti and it turned pink and gummy bears appeared in it. Not many albums have this much power!
When Iglooghost was making this album, he discovered a portal in his garden leading to a world called Mamu, where little witches, gods, and thieves battle for universal harmony. You can learn more about it here. I have seen this portal too! I talked to Usohachi, the bug thief. He steals fruit and lives in a cave made of chalk. He has decorated this cave very tastefully! He gave me a piece of fruit and it turned to sparkles when I ate it. When I die I want to be reincarnated in Mamu. That would be the dream...
Favorite track: Bug Thief
4. DEATH GRIPS - YEAR OF THE SNITCH (2018)
Year of the Snitch is like an alien planet. There's no other way to describe it. This is another album I found during quarantine, and as the music played, the mouths on the album cover started speaking to me. They told me everything is a cycle of death and rebirth, and that I would be reborn soon. I believed them. Death Grips became my favorite band.
This is the perfect album to listen to if you're running around at night in the city, dodging the crowds of drunk people, feeling badass under cover of darkness while Black Paint plays. Then at 3 am when Shitshow comes on you realize you've lost your keys and wallet. So you retrace your steps, and you don't find them, and like the closing track, you're disappointed. This is the magic of Death Grips, though: The next morning, someone whose face you can't see clearly will knock on your door and return your keys and wallet to you. It will be a beautiful experience! I promise this exact scenario will happen if you listen to Year of the Snitch.
Favorite track: Dilemma
5. KESHA - GAG ORDER (2023)
I got into Kesha because her old music is so fun and nostalgic and I didn't even know how deep her later music gets. When I listen to Gag Order I lose the ability to process fluid continuous motion and linear time and I just see snapshots of every moment happening at once and it makes me sad because things could go wrong at any moment! And then you stare at the pictures for too long and fall inside and get a bunch of papercuts. But that's not very chill weed vibe...
Gag Order is the last Kesha album released by Kemosabe Records, a label founded by Dr. Luke. The album title reflects Kesha's situation after her legal battle against Dr. Luke, in which she was not permitted to speak about the case. One month after Gag Order's release, the case was settled out of court. This album is her most emotional, dealing with themes of trauma, depression, and regret. It's much more experimental than her older music, its genre fluidity reflecting an emotional roller coaster. It made me cry when I first listened to it, because she's so strong and has been through so much. Kesha now releases music independently and her next album is coming July 4, 2025, so look forward to it!
Favorite track: Eat the Acid
6. NINE INCH NAILS - THE FRAGILE (1999)
Nine Inch Nails was a staple of my childhood and teenage years. It's one of the only good bands my dad liked, so we would listen to it in the car all the time. One of my favorite early memories is introducing this album to my best friends in middle school. They really liked it, which felt great!
Of course as a child I didn't really understand the meaning of this album. When I became a moody teenager around the time of the 2016 election, it took on more significance to me. It's dark, depressive, and angry, a sort of sequel to The Downward Spiral with prominent themes of losing faith in God, in institutions, and in oneself. The Fragile perfectly blends sounds of rage and melancholy. It's long, 1 hour and 43 minutes, which makes it the perfect album for trekking down to the swamp to share an afternoon with your swamp creature friends, drinking iced tea and discussing politics. In times of trouble, Nine Inch Nails always makes me feel like I'm not alone.
Favorite track: The Wretched
7. FLYING LOTUS - COSMOGRAMMA (2010)
I will always recommend this album to any Iglooghost fans who want a similar listening experience. To get an idea of the influence of Flying Lotus, he started the record label Brainfeeder, to which Iglooghost is now signed. I consider Cosmogramma a spiritual parent of Neo Wax Bloom. Its fusion of genres, from jazz to electronic to hip hop, is so ahead of its time. For those who think IDM is boring, you should listen to this.
One time I fainted and when I woke up this album was playing. I had the sense that I was in a cold metal hallway in space and if I punched through the walls I could see the stars. The corridor seemed like it would last forever, and I got very tired of walking! When I lay down on the floor, my body turned to metal and my hair to wires, and I could feel every drumbeat as if it was my own heart. This experience lasted until the final track ended, after which I woke up on my couch with no memory of the previous day, only my short walk in space. It's amazing the places music can take you to. Listen to it!!!!
Favorite track: Nose Art
8. BLADEE - THE FOOL (2021)
I am a Drainer and I'm proud of it! Bladee has been there for me in times no one else has. Whenever I have no money in my bank account, I crank up a Bladee album and manifest money, and I always seem to find $12 somewhere. The Fool is my favorite because it works the best for this kind of manifestation. One time, I really wanted my shoes to get wet. I don't know why, I was just craving water in my shoes! But we hadn't had rain for months in Miami. I listened to The Fool, and lo and behold, my shoes were soaked! It was a miracle that made me even more convinced there is something holy in Bladee's music.
This is a more upbeat and energetic album compared to Bladee's other work, and its fast pace is perfect. The lyrics are uplifting and contain reference to tarot and spirituality, putting the listener in touch with their hidden selves. You can also hear Bladee's identical twin on some tracks, and I think it's really cool that they're letting him be a part of things. The Fool is just one of many high points in Bladee's discography, and if you listen to it, something good will probably happen to you.
Favorite track: Inspiration Comes
9. VIAGRA BOYS - CAVE WORLD (2022)
Cave World is one of those albums that's perfectly topical, but somehow also timeless. It satirizes modern fringe political movements and conspiracy theories, and who knows if those will be around in 20 years, but I think people will still be listening to this album in 20 years. This is what post punk should be. It's relevant, catchy, and silly. I listened to some of the songs and it felt like they were describing me. "Creepy Crawlies" reminds me of my best friend, who is a conspiracy theorist. I showed the album to him, and he said wow, these guys really know what they're talking about! So it will go over some people's heads, I guess.
Cave World was an instrumental part of my transformation into a pirate. In October 2024, in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, this album was all I could listen to for some reason. It singlehandedly gave me the idea to start a band with my best friends, and to steal a boat so we could use it as a studio. I think Viagra Boys would be proud of this idea. Eventually we did do that, and now we are a band called Miami Fire Rescue. Thank you Viagra Boys!!!
Favorite track: Punk Rock Loser
10. XIU XIU - 13" FRANK BELTRAME ITALIAN STILETTO WITH BISON HORN GRIPS (2024)
This would be my favorite Xiu Xiu album just for the cover alone, with its switchblades looking like a pirate symbol. I had been anticipating this album all summer of last year, following the release of Common Loon, the first single. Let me tell you, you need to watch the Common Loon music video! When it dropped in June and I saw it, I was really high and I felt a spiritual connection with all of these crazy women in the video, like I was one of them and I too could smear weirdly colored goo on my face and dance on the beach! This single was a cosmic turning point. I tried to bring that energy into everything I did that summer, and I too felt like a common loon!
In the wake of Ignore Grief, another great album, Xiu Xiu was bound to follow up with something amazing. 13" Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto, released in September, did not disappoint. I really like this rock-oriented sound Xiu Xiu is gravitating toward in the last few years. This album brings the band's signature romantic, existential lyricism, and the instrumentals make me think of being buried in the sand at the beach and left there until the tide uncovers you. My dog really likes this album, which should tell you something! I can't wait to see what Xiu Xiu does next.
Favorite track: Common Loon