The first hip hop album I ever really got into, so it's always like an old, cool friend when I pop it on. Some songs are better than others, but it's all good. Any album with Check The Rhime is classic worthy.

Perfect dance album. No notes. Rocks your body like nothing else. Simple as that.

Sorry, Kendrick, but this is the best hip-hop album of all time. TPAB is close, but you can't top the villain. All caps when you spell the man's name.

My favorite of Davis's forays into fusion. Just the perfect balance between disparate and melodic. Lovely. The most refined background music known to mankind.

I know it's in the name, I know it's cliche, but fuck it—THIS is what heaven sounds like.

No flaws. Radiohead's best for those who know and aren't plagued by the reputation of Kid A or OK Computer. Few songs get me going quite like Bodysnatchers (also shout out to Bangers + Mash on In Rainbows: Disc 2). There are so many tracks I use for audio references in testing equipment, so many moments here where I say "how the fuck did they think of this?". Amazing.

Probably the most consistent album ever made. All hits, no misses, and a few home runs. The riff on Alone, Together, the driving fuzz of Hard To Explain, and just... Someday, man. She can do no wrong.

This is an album of pure joy, a romp to be cherished for everything it offers you on a colorful plate showered with edible flowers and powdered sugar. Paul is just so fucking good at producing positive media, and nobody can touch his medleys. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey is in my top 3 favorite songs, and for good reason.

This is such a core part of my being that I can't help but smile anytime this comes on. No matter which song, I have some sort of positive neural response. This was the day Tyler became ~Tyler~.

Also, don't sleep on Enjoy Right Now, Today. One of my favorite instrumental tracks of all time.

Fuck it, I'll be basic. One of the best albums ever made. That medley on side 2 is untouchable.

It would be 100 if Futura Free completely Thanos-snapped out of existence. I hate no song more.
YOU RUINED A PERFECT ALBUM TO GET EXACTLY 1 HOUR OF RUNTIME, FRANK.

WHY, FRANK

WHY

Play this on a one-way drive through the desert from the dual disk, tri-fold CD, and feel yourself gain something truly intangible and fucking disgusting. The first time I heard Bring the Sun / Toussaint L'Ouverture I think I gained and lost 40 pounds of muscle on my neck in .00001 seconds.

Fuck, man.

I fucking hate that this is perfect. This had a residency in the aftermarket stereo of my '91 Honda Civic. Driving home from college theater rehearsals at 11 pm to Hacker was a true gem of my YA experience.

There has never been, and maybe will never be, an album this perfect. To be this grand and have no flaws is a feat only possible if conceived in the heavens. Chicago may be the most perfectly constructed song I've ever heard—an absolutely untouchable album. No notes.

I was working at a record store when I found this bad boy and had no idea what it was. Asked a manager and he incredulously said, "You don't know Death From Above 1979?" like they were the fucking Beatles. Regardless, I took a listen and heard absolutely nothing like it before. I bought a vinyl copy for my birthday that year, and the rest is history.

Weird to say it's a perfect album, but also the one I tend to go to the least out of The Big Three. It's just banger after banger after banger—and the space that encapsulates Someone Great and All My Friends is sacred. A time of worship.

Kyle just knows how to find the microaggressions of any genre and make them as silly as he can. That being said, I unironically go fucking feral to Selekta.

The LCD Soundsystem album I have the softest spot for. It's just so fun and grimey and full of a "fuck man, why not?" kind of approach that comes from someone who has no idea how good they are, or are going to be. A certified musty basement classic.

James Murphy can make a 7-minute song sound a quarter as long, all while giving you such a natural build-up and release that you groove so hard your balls shoot through your eyeballs. Home is one of my all-time favorites—and not just because my Speech and Debate camp roommate had us all dance to it in his interactive one-man poetry show. I can't say enough good things about this album.

Also people shitting on Somebody's Calling Me need to catch these hands.