Of course you’ve missed some great stuff since 1985! A lot of you weren’t even born then!

Not only has the advent of digital releases made more music available, but it has also made keeping up (whatever that means these days) increasingly unfeasible. So regard the following 40 recommendations as mini-subsurface maps and drill accordingly! We start at the beginning, way back in the primordial mists of the mid ’80s, as all good stories do…

The knitters

Poor Little Critter in the Road (1985)

Take your pick: A) unplugged before unplugged was cool; B) Americana before Americana was cool (but not before it was corny sometimes); or C) a Blaster colliding head on with X on the front porch of a general store like the one in the Twilight Zone episode “Hocus-Pocus and Frisby” – or do I mean Petticoat Junction?
Arsenio Orteza

Died Pretty

Free Dirt (1986)

If Idiot-era Iggy Pop had somehow ousted pre-OD Jim Morrison from pre-drunk-Doors, he wouldn’t have been as powerful as Died Pretty at this moment.when Died Pretty’s mystic mongrel of a frontman, Ron Peno, slowly but thunderously unfurls lines like “I am so happy it scares me to death” (“Just Skin“), he’s spellbinding. Died Pretty: Accept no substitutes.
Matthew Thompson

steve Forbert

Streets of This Town (1988)

This Geffen release was supposed to restart Forbert’s career after it had stalled at Columbia. It didn’t because 1988 was Peak Hair Metal and grunge was right around the corner. But with the E-Streeter Gary Tallent producing, the songs came in crisp and succinct, comprising a lean, hooky, heartland suite seasoned with lessons from the school of hard knocks.
TO THE

The Zeros

4-3-2-1 (1991)

Ramones and the Sweet collide

Lost Classics: 25 Overlooked albums That still Resonate

tim Buckley

Dream Guitar (1968)

Tim Buckley’s second album is a revelation. It’s where the folk singer began to truly stretch, his voice already hinting at the operatic range it would soon possess. The album flows beautifully, with “Morning Glory” and “I Believe in Tomorrow”) follow one upon the other, linked by Tim’s vibrato-heavy baritone and a Grammy-nominated sextet known for mastering everything from Oriental folk to polka.

pierre Henry, Michel colombier

metamorphosis: Mass for the Present Time (1997)

Twenty-eight years ago, Philips Records convinced 11 remixers to have a go at bringing into the techno age Pierre Henry and Michel Colobier’s musique-concrète soundtrack to a 1967 ballet. And bring it they did. It didn’t hurt that the riff running through “Psyche Rock” sounded a lot like “Wild Thing” (some would say “Louie Louie”) or that the album included five “Psyché Rock” remixes that together ran to 36-and-a-half mind-bending minutes.

King sunny Ade

River (1998)

Most people have heard Fela, but few have heard Nigeria’s arguably more successful musician, King Sunny Ade. The “King” is self proclaimed, but he’s from Nigerian royalty and is indisputably the king of juju music. He released over 120 albums and was twice nominated for a Grammy, the only African so recognized. River wasn’t the first of his I heard, but it’s probably the best: unique, exotic, haunting, part tribal singing and part ’60s lounge jazz. Transporting.
Bob Guccione,Jr.

Mulatu Astatke

Ethiopians, Vol. 4: Ethio Jazz & Instrumental Music, 1969-1974 (1998)

This Ethio-jazz collection perfectly illustrates what makes Mulatu Astatke the “father” of the genre, one he pioneered by combining conventional Ethiopian melodies with Latin influences and American jazz, soul, and funk. It’s a well-rounded introduction that features Astatke using organ, horn, vibraphone, and percussion to create a hybrid of Ethiopian folk sounds and rich jazz harmonies and grooves. (It’s consistently in rotation for me – some of the best work instrumentals ever written.)
Kyle Eustice

The Subteens

Burn Your Cardigan (1999)

This Memphis power trio split the difference between the Who and Big Star with refined hooks, muscular riffs, and self-deprecating humor. The frontman Mark Akin wails on his guitar and channels an acute twentysomething anomie: creaky Midtown apartments, dank dive bars, bottom-shelf liquor bottles, frayed relationships well past their expiration dates, Tommy cranked way too loud, and a “You might potentially be Right” so addled and agitated that Billy Joel might not even recognize it.
SD

Richard orange and the Eggmen

Richard Orange and the Eggmen (2000)

Trippy overdubs and doctored tapes, orchestras and exotic instruments, a song actually titled “beatlesque,” the use of the last chord in “A Day in the Life” to conclude “Big orange Sun,” Orange’s McCartney-esque voice – it’s enough to give lifelong members of you-know-who’s lonely-hearts club the shivers.
TO THE

Mary Karlzen

The Wanderlust Diaries (2006)

Within the first seven-and-a-half minutes, Karlzen goes from gentle, foggy-morning beauty to full-bodied rock to gorgeous Replacements cover, thus mapping out the musical and emotional parameters of an Americana that’s never dull and frequently arresting.
TO THE

Linda Ronstadt/Ann Savoy

Adieu False Heart (2006)

Fans of Ronstadt can playlist the five on which she sings lead as a Stone Poneys EP, fans of savoy can playlist her seven as a Magnolia Sisters EP, and fans of Andrea Zonn (resophonic viola), David Schnaufer (dulcimer), and Dirk Powell (fretless banjo) can loop “Opening,” “Closing,” and the two “Interludes” as mood music. Lagniappe: covers for fans of Richard Thompson and “Walk Away Renee

DC Fontana

The Countess (2011)

A punchy album that swings, retro but with enough modern sheen to make it more than a stylistic excursion. Hints of slinky-cool acts like air and Zero 7 mix smoothly with a hip soul vibe. Fuzz guitars and combo organs blend surprisingly well with beefy horn charts and jazzy electric-piano figures. Hints of morricone, Herb Alpert and John Barry abound, but the music always rocks.
BK

The dB’s

Falling off the Sky (2012)

This older, wiser version of the dBs draws on each member’s life experiences to craft what is arguably the group’s finest release. As wordsmiths, Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey seemed at the top of their game during the dB’s original run. This brilliant album proves otherwise.
BK

Portland Cello Project

Portland Cello Project Play Beck hansen’s Song Reader (2012)

Thirteen years ago, Beck published Song Reader a 20-song “album” available only as an illustrated book of sheet music. What at first seemed like a gimmick became a phenomenon as musicians rushed to “read” the songs. The Portland Cello Project and their coterie of guest vocalists (e.g. Chanticleer) read them better than anyone else.
TO THE

Sir Deja Doog

Love coffin (2014)

If you’ve ever wondered what Joy Division would sound like covering “Monster Mash,” Sir Deja Doog is your guy. The weirdo alter ego of Bloomington, Indiana’s Eric Douglas Alexander, Doog looks and sounds like an old-school creature-feature host crossed with an even older-school cult leader, and he peppers this debut with rockabilly rave-ups and skits that retell the story of Orpheus and Eurydice.
SD

noura Like Seymali

Tzenni (2014)

Mauritania has a lively history of griots, with Dimi Mint Seymali breaking through on the global stage in the 199

Essential Albums

Juana Molina

Halo (2017)

Segundo, Molina’s 2000 sophomore album, is a cornerstone of modern South American music. Its electro-folk sound has clearly influenced artists like Bomba Estéreo. But this album possesses a unique, dark magic. It explores myth, fairy tales, and the complex landscapes of human emotion. Comparing Molina to Björk feels simplistic, even a little dismissive. However, it’s a good starting point for understanding her artistry.

SH

The Comet Is Coming

hyper-dimensional Expansion Beam (2022)

this London trio’s third album delivers accessible melodies built on a fascinating foundation. they expertly blend hip-hop and electronic textures, all anchored by a powerful soul-jazz and free-jazz core. It’s a heady, rewarding listen.

BK