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Ryan B.’s 25 Most Influential Albums (in haiku)

Posted in The Learned Man's Take with tags at the drive-in, black flag, blink 182, blood brothers, bob marley, converge, deerhunter, gojira, Isis, led zeppelin, mastodon, mogwai, nachtmystium, nailbomb, neko case, nine inch nails, pig destroyer, pink floyd, ratatat, snapcase, sonic youth, soulfly, the wailers, trail of dead on Monday, March 30, 2009 by Ryan Buege

Finally, we are at the end of March, and the time has come for me to put the closing bell on the Mind Inversion tribute to the recently popular Facebook meme on your most influential albums. I’ll have you know that, like most lists I make, the albums for this list were brainstormed rather quickly, and I think that’s a good thing. If an album were actually as influential as I thought, their importance should be fairly easy for me to recall. Truthfully, I’ve never really become too embarrassed about any album that I own; sure, I may have made some questionable choices in my youngest years, but somehow I’ve always seemed to have a remarkably good bullshit detector when it comes to music. What follows is a journey through the albums that had the biggest impact on forming my tastes and such over the years. If you really love the music I post about, read on for a brief reverse-chronological (moreorless) recounting of my most influential albums. For better or worse, I’ve written them out as haikus for your enjoyment!

25. Nachtmystium, Assassins: Black Meddle, Part I

Sick, twisted, subtle
Black metal psychedelia
With soul of Pink Floyd

24. Deerhunter, Cryptograms

Melodies so sweet
And a massive wall of noise!
A new Sonic Youth?

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Tim’s Top 10 Albums of All-Time (At Least To This Point)

Posted in Mind Inversion Exclusive, The Learned Man's Take with tags El-P, Evidence, Gang Starr, Hip-Hop, J Dilla, Jedi Mind Tricks, Masta Ace, Pete Rock, Reflection Eternal, Rjd2, Rock, The Who, top 10 albums on Wednesday, March 18, 2009 by Tim Althaus

I have to tell you all that this list was one of the hardest things I’ve had to get myself to do, because I knew it wasn’t going to be anywhere near easy. Even while going through this list I had to constantly change things because I felt something was missing. This list (to the best of my abilities) contains the quintessential list of albums that shaped my taste in music. To be put another way, I don’t know where I would be without these albums. I can also say that I feel that each one of these albums is timeless as well a masterpiece. So without further ado…

Top 10 Albums of All-Time (In Order from 10-1)

The Who – Live At Leeds (Deluxe Edition): Honestly I don’t even know where to begin when it comes to this album. I remember buying it in the store years ago, and it cost me just about thirty-five dollars. It may be the best money I’ve ever spent on an album. This album truly shows the pure rock fury of The Who. If you have ever had a doubt in your life as to the legitimacy of The Who, please listen to this album. The original album was released with just 35 minutes of the 120, and this album has all of it. This is one of the greatest live albums of all time, no doubt in my mind. Every single member of The Who sounds precise and musically sound. This also might be the heaviest material you will ever here from The Who. From the rapid fire boulder crashing drums of Keith Moon to the lion roaring vocals of Roger Daltrey this album is everything a live album should be and more… Continue reading →

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Erik’s Top Ten Albums of All-Time

Posted in The Learned Man's Take with tags Arcade Fire, Audio, beck, broken social scene, daft punk, download, El-P, Erik Burg, fleet foxes, Hercules and Love Affair, lcd soundsystem, led zeppelin, Lists, mind inversion, the beatles, top 10 albums on Thursday, March 5, 2009 by Erik Burg

Pretty obvious, I think you know what you’re getting yourself into here. We here at Mind Inversion want you the reader to better know where all of us writers are coming from, as far as what’s changed our lives musically. So we’ll be running a special once a week for the next month, accompanied by Sound Immersion #2, that will be spotlighting our favorite music. I have the fine pleasure of starting this all off, which is pretty exciting. I’ve always thought about albums as “my favorite” much like I’m sure any person has, but actually having to compile a definitive top ten list seemed daunting. But alas, after many cuts, I finalized a list that I’m extremely happy about.

#1. LCD SOUNDSYSTEM – Lcd Soundsystem.Where would I be today without this album? Well for starters, not on this blog, not listening to music, and quite possibly actually finding lil wayne to be an enjoyable artist. This one album single handedly changed my life… Continue reading →

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Album Spotlight: Dark Was The Night

Posted in The Learned Man's Take with tags 4AD, AIDS, charity, Dark Was The Night, David Byrne, Dirty Projectors, mp3, preview, records, Red Hot, Sufjan Stevens, vinyl on Friday, January 23, 2009 by Erik Burg

Curing AIDs, one triple vinyl at a time.

So maybe you don’t buy albums, maybe you’re one of those so called “pirates” out there sailing the web taking what’s not yours. Well it’s time to reconsider this terrible habit that you’ve formed, and buy at least one album in 2009. But what album should I buy Erik?! Well my friends, despite stellar releases from the likes of Animal Collective and Andrew Bird already this year there is without a doubt an answer to that question.

Dark Was The Night is that album. All proceeds go to world AIDs research and cure development through co-operation with the Red Hot organization. The album is a collaboration of 32 exclusive tracks released on double cd or triple vinyl on February 17th on 4AD records. So yeah, it’s pretty obvious why you should be buying this album. But what’s so special about this other than that’s for a good cause Erik?!

Let me guide you again, dear friends. For starters the tracklist enlists some of, if not every indie giant in the music industry. I mean come on, they even got Sufjan to come out of hiding for this amazing compilation. Let me give you the rundown:

Andrew Bird, Antony + Bryce Dessner, Arcade Fire, Beach House, Beirut, Blonde Redhead + Devastations, Bon Iver, Bon Iver & Aaron Dessner, The Books featuring Jose Gonzalez, Buck 65 Remix (featuring Sufjan Stevens and Serengeti), Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues, The Decemberists, Dirty Projectors + David Byrne, Kevin Drew, Feist + Ben Gibbard, Grizzly Bear, Grizzly Bear + Feist, Iron & Wine, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Kronos Quartet, Stuart Murdoch, My Brightest Diamond, My Morning Jacket, The National, The New Pornographers, Conor Oberst & Gillian Welch, Riceboy Sleeps, Dave Sitek, Spoon, Sufjan Stevens, Yeasayer, Yo La Tengo.

Easy to see that it’s an exhausting list, and that it truly does cover almost everybody influential in the industry. And if that list isn’t reason enough to buy this album than nothing probably will be. Come on folks, it’s all for a great cause and Dark Was The Night is shaping up to be absolutely amazing so go out and shell out 20 bucks for an album once in your life and enjoy the feeling of walking out of the store with a tangle album while also contributing to a great cause.

4Ad is giving everyone an advanced look at every track on the album in the following weeks too before the album officially releases on shelves. Each week 4Ad is releasing a track or two on their website or on different blogs around the web, and a few tracks have already been featured. Two of them in particular grabbed my attention and have been on play non stop around my room, Sufjan Stevens’ track “You Are The Blood” and The Dirty Projectors + David Byrne’s “Knotty Pine.” The two tracks are are pretty stellar pieces that are different from the normal catalogue tracks heard from each artist, but it’s a good change for both parties involved. Sufjan’s track is over 10 minutes long and changes pace at so many different points it’s hard to describe it as one thing or another.

Check them out for yourself though, and be sure to keep your eye out for the release on February 17th. Please, I urge you to do the right thing, if only for this once.

mp3s: Sufjan Stevens “You Are The Night” and The Dirty Projectors + David Byrne “Knotty Pine”

Dig Deeper: 4Ad Records Red Hot Organization