Favorite albums of all time
A collection of Albums (Alexa Rios, The Puma Prensa)
Written By: Alexa Rios, chief editor
Music is one of those forms of media that I truly love. If you know me personally, I like recommending people the niche and obscure. If you don’t know what a topster is, it’s a website where you make a grid of squares and add albums. Usually, you can post them on music forms such as RateYourMusic, a website where you can share music ratings, listings, and rankings. My topster contains three of my all-time favorite albums.
First, we have Ween’s White Pepper, released on May 2, 2000. It reminds me of club soda and Thanksgiving break. Ween is my favorite band of all time. I remember being introduced to them back in 8th grade by my brother; he connected it to the medicine I was taking at the time, Zoloft, and the song had the same name, making it the first song I ever listened to from an equally fantastic album, Quebec. It felt like a full-circle moment when I saw them live, and they played that song, sending me back through memory lane and to a time of self-discovery. The genre is relatively rock; however, there are elements of heavy metal and ballads. It’s also one of their cleaner albums. By this point, Ween had already established themselves as a respectable band/duo; their early works were looser and often had ridiculous songs because they were fun and not to be necessarily taken seriously. Many might have seen them as a gag band with songs only meant to make you laugh. However, this album represents a shift in their career, focusing on a fluid sound but with that irresistible charm they always had. I love all this album's songs, but my favorite is “Back to Basom.” It's a slow song with seemingly philosophical ideas. A lyric that always makes me contemplate is, “Call is waiting to contemplate a thread already spun,” which I interpreted as a sort of rebirth of a life already once lived. It sounds like childhood nostalgia and a longing to return to Basom, a town in New York. It’s worth a listen.
This next album has been a great love of mine ever since my brother, again, showed it to me. This is Animal Collective’s Feels, which is an alternative/indie album released on October 18, 2005. The reason I really fell in love with this band is just because of the emotions it makes me feel. This band often likes to push the limit of what it is to be pop, adding various elements of folk and psychedelia. It can be weird and extreme; an example is their album “Sung Tongs,” which isn't my cup of tea as it can be somewhat eerie. I also had the pleasure of seeing them perform live, but I was displeased by the fact that they didn’t play the song that I felt the most strongly towards, “Did You See the Words.” I feel strongly about this song because it makes one feel exhilarating, passionate, and eye-opening. It’s a love song, even if the lyrics don’t seem like it. It is a proposal of longing to grow old with someone and an accidental pregnancy making them fall deeper in love with each other. To me, this album feels like sugared tangerines and yellow flowers. It’s a vivid, loud album that has elements of tenderness and softness. This is one of those albums that follows a storyline about a couple meeting each other and eventually breaking off the relationship and the heartbreak that follows through with it.
Lil Ugly Mane’s Mista Thug Isolation is the oddball in this trio, released on February 11th, 2012. It is Memphis Rap with elements of Southern Hip Hop. This was a self-realized album on Bandcamp by the mysterious artist whose life outside music is a blur. His lyrics are strange and grotesque, yet they have a sense of humor. I describe this album as the scent of gasoline and a hazy midnight walk surrounded by friends. The beat is clean and fun; they provide an entertaining experience mixed in with lyrics that flow seamlessly with one another. It’s original with a twist that makes you feel like rolling your head back and staring at the ceiling. My favorite song on this album is “B**** I’m Lugubrious.” Believe it or not, depression is the central theme of this album, and this song perfectly encapsulates it in the main chorus of the song. The word morose means ill-tempered and sullen while lugubrious is looking/acting sad.
At this point in his career, Mane was seen as a joke and not taken seriously, which affected him personally, especially mentally.
To me, these albums encompass various feelings and have always been my go-to when deciding what to play. Music is one of those things that everyone is universally connected to. Even if you don’t understand your favorite song lyrics or language, it doesn’t stop anyone from being able to enjoy it. So break those boundaries and discover new music, you’ll always find something you like.