Interviews
“It was the first time I heard a record on my own accord, that my parent hadn’t shown me, that was a really, really, really great album.”
Oct 06, 2020
By Frank Valish (As Told To)
I think I was about 12 or 13 when it came out, but I think I really got into it when I was about 14. I was sort of resistant to it for a little while, I think because it was a really successful record and I was sort of getting into my stage, you know how we all go through that stage—some people never get out of it—where they try to resist what’s popular. More
“The songs are intuitive and exploratory. They seem effortlessly experimental while still honoring more conventional form.”
Sep 22, 2020
By Laurel Sprengelmeyer
When I was 13 my dad started dating a harp player who had recently traded in her pink mohawk for a smart, long auburn bob to get a job in the symphony orchestra. I was a socially awkward Star Trek loving book nerd with large glasses and hair that always looked like I had just stepped out of a rainstorm. More
“This is the one that shook me at the time, and still rattles me every time I hear it.”
Sep 15, 2020
By Tom Fleming
I’d recently moved from my hometown and was spending all the money I’d saved working in a supermarket warehouse on CDs. In about two weeks, I’d come across [Madvillain’s] Madvillainy, [John Fahey’s] Blind Joe Death, Tower Recordings, More
“I find it’s one of the few records that really moves me.”
Sep 11, 2020
By Frank Valish
For 26-year-old Australian songwriter Harriette Pilbeam, Carole King’s 1971 album Tapestry might seem an odd choice for favorite album. But for Pilbeam, who last year released the dance-y dream pop Keepsake, her full-length debut under the moniker Hatchie, it came down to family. More
“We need musically rich protest albums right now, even though it’s hard to write those right now.”
Aug 20, 2020
By Jordan J. Michael
Since 1960, 82-year-old jazz saxophonist Archie Shepp has played saxophone and piano on at least 100 different releases, almost all as leader or co-leader. Shepp has shared blasts with John Coltrane, Max Roach, and Frank Zappa, but one of his better-regarded albums is 1972’s politically inspired Attica Blues.
“I never have to even engage my brain when asked the question of my favorite record. It was always Loveless. It will always be Loveless.”
Aug 11, 2020
By Jack Savidge
There’s only one album that I would ever consider my favorite forsaking all others and that’s My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless. It’s a nice comfortable thing having a favorite that you love so much—like a happy marriage. More
“Joanna Newsom as a lyricist stands at some grander place than me, and I am deeply reassured by that.”
Jul 30, 2020
By Timothy Showalter
Music is infinite and at least for me should never be put in absolute terms. I have no favorite record because I have thousands upon thousands of hours of music that has equally elevated me. More
“All of her powers were at her peak.”
Jul 24, 2020
By Max Pilley (As Told To)
My dad was a really big Joni Mitchell fan, so it was on in the house from early childhood, but I was really ready for it at 12 or 13. I had just started to tentatively write songs and it spoke to me. More
“It truly has everything that I need from music.”
Jul 23, 2020
By Kazu Makino
I am happy to have the opportunity to say it aloud as I think to myself often as such in my mind. It is The Future of What by Unwound. It is hard to describe how—but I get so excited just thinking about this album. More
“[Townes Van Zandt] came to terms with his desperation; he was okay with that. He wasn’t afraid to break his own heart.”
Jul 22, 2020
By Jordan J. Michael
Having put her smartphone in the fridge because it got too hot sitting in the sun, Chelsea Wolfe is sharing some compelling information about Townes Van Zandt, who died on New Year’s Day, 1997. Wolfe says that the Texas songwriter once threw himself out of a window to see how it felt, and that he wrote a song while sitting inside of a closet. More
“It’s an intimate, beautiful record that is so modern that it sounds like stuff that didn’t happen for another 10 years.”
Jul 17, 2020
By Stephen Axeman
“I think it’s a sleeper, I’ve been hearing the record and knowing it for a long time and it all of a sudden came to me like a revelation that it was a great record,” Natalie Mering, aka Weyes Blood, says of her deferred realization of her favorite album, Hejira by Joni Mitchell.
“I remember as a youngster being shocked by its explicit sexual lyrics, and also intrigued by whatever was going on in ‘If I Was Your Girlfriend.’”
Jul 13, 2020
By Alexis Taylor
I think Prince’s Sign o’ the Times is my favorite album. Sometimes it’s been [Prince’s] Parade, but recently I have veered back to Sign o’ the Times. More
“Our favorite songwriter of all time is Neil Young. He has so many albums that are sick, so choosing one album would be a little tough.” – Max Kakacek
Jul 09, 2020
By Matt Conner
To hear Max Kakacek and Julien Ehrlich discuss their favorite album is to also discuss Whitney’s latest album, Forever Turned Around. The Chicago-based duo at the center of the indie folk band are obsessed with all things Neil Young these days and that includes an inability to arrive at a single favorite album. More
“I just don’t think [John Williams] gets enough credit for his pop sensibility.”
Jul 06, 2020
By Matt Conner
Leave it to an actor to mention a favorite album so on the nose, but Topher Grace insists his love for John Williams’ music isn’t just about his craft. More
“Listening to American Water is like having an intelligent conversation with a friend.”
Jun 29, 2020
By Jordan J. Michael
Thinking of the songs and lyrical lines from Silver Jews’ 1998 album American Water on a regular basis, Emily Haines is extremely emotional about frontman David Berman’s unexpected death on August 7, 2019 at age 52. More
“What struck me then and continues to strike me now is the sheer honesty of the entire record, down to how it’s recorded.”
Jun 24, 2020
By Ellen Kempner
I grew up on a steady diet of classic rock. My dad, who was a teenager in the ’70s, would tell me all about the times he was first in line to see The Rolling Stones, the night he saw John Lennon join Elton John on stage at Madison Square Garden, and many other dazzling stories. More
“I like that Paul McCartney was just a couple years out of leaving The Beatles and he wasn’t trying to recreate that.”
Jun 22, 2020
By Joshua M. Miller
Former Saturday Night Live and Portlandia star Fred Armisen is a big fan of Paul McCartney’s career trajectory, especially the singer’s 1971 album RAM, which featured his wife Linda. More
“It’s a record that hit me at an important time of my life.”
May 25, 2020
By Chris K. Davidson (As Told To)
I first heard the record when it came out in 2006. I was in my previous band at the time [The Court & Spark], and it really struck me, this record. I was living in San Francisco at the time, and that band, Brightblack Morning Light, was based out of Northern California as well. More
“We’ve always said when we’re writing music that a song isn’t really ours and we don’t like it unless it stirs some sort of emotion within ourselves as we play it.”
May 22, 2020
By Dom Gourlay (As Told To)
I had to think about that quite deeply because it does change. People’s favorite albums don’t necessarily stay the same forever. You might have a favorite now but in 10 years you may have another one. The record I’m listening to quite a lot now—and I actually listened to quite a lot when I was a kid, even before joining Sigur Rós—is Wildflowers by Tom Petty. More
“It’s an inspirational record for me—not so much about what it sounds like but what they’re doing.”
Apr 01, 2020
By Matt Conner
Sam Beam (who records as Iron & Wine) admits he gets lost when confronted with the whole “favorite album of all time” idea. Moods change. Lists get altered. More
“John Prine has this kind of ability to talk about very serious subjects in a very kind of unbiased way.”
Mar 31, 2020
By Joshua M. Miller
Actor Chris Sullivan strives to showcase his acting versatility in each role he takes on. That includes Toby Damon in NBC’s This Is Us, Tom Cleary in The Knick, Benny Hammond in Stranger Things, and Taserface in Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 2. More
“When I listen to this album, it takes me back to being a teenager every time.” – Jennifer Clavin
Mar 23, 2020
By Frank Valish
When Jessie Clavin was 17 and her sister Jennifer was 15, the sisters were typical teenagers feeling their first rushes of freedom outside of parental supervision—staying out late, going to shows, and generally experimenting with newfound independence. More
"‘The Boy’ is one of the most moving love songs I know. I literally cannot listen to it without tearing up—and believe me, I am not the sentimental type.”
Mar 20, 2020
By Miki Berenyi
I’m going to bet that every artist you’ve asked to contribute to this has said that picking an all-time favorite album is ABSOLUTELY FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE so I will echo that, but I’ll concede that from age 17, The Shangri-Las’ Shangri-Las-65!has stayed up there in my top 10. More
“It’s one of those records where if I don’t know what to listen to I’ll stick that on. It’s perfect for any occasion.”
Mar 19, 2020
By Dom Gourlay (As Told To)
It’s probably a strange record to have as your favorite! It’s impossible to choose a favorite because it’s all mood based. But for me, when you’ve got an album with such an intense character to it, it really couldn’t be anything else. More
“This is an album I will listen to time and time again and just sit there singing it. Obviously not as well as [Joni Mitchell] does!”
Mar 18, 2020
By Dom Gourlay (As Told To)
I think it’s actually quite impossible to choose one favorite album. I could definitely do a list of 10 but to do one is really hard. It would have been a toss-up between Joni Mitchell’s Blue and After the Goldrush by Neil Young. More
“There’s only a few albums that stick with you for several decades, and Iggy has made a few of them.”
Mar 17, 2020
By Stephen Axeman
“Oh god, it was about a million years ago,” Jim Reid, lead singer of The Jesus and Mary Chain, says of the first time he heard Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life. More
“It makes me want to quit music because I will never make music that beautiful.”
Mar 16, 2020
By Jordan J. Michael
The voices of The Bulgarian State Radio & Television Choir shine with mystery, and Zola Jesus (aka Nika Roza Danilova) doesn’t want the secrecy to be solved. More
"There's this purity and tragedy to this album that breaks my heart."
Mar 12, 2020
By Celine Teo-Blockey
Australian iconoclast Kirin J Callinan has a predilection for ‘80s music and recently released an album of covers titled Return to Center. He picked Let’s Change the World with Music by Prefab Sprout as his favorite album. More
"I decided to go all-in for Elton—I plastered my entire room with his posters."
Mar 10, 2020
By Joshua M. Miller (As Told To)
When “Weird Al” Yankovic attended Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road farewell tour last year at the Los Angeles Forum, it felt like things had come full circle. More
"[Connie Converse] disappeared in 1974 and nobody knows where she went."
Mar 04, 2020
By Charles Steinberg (As Told To)
Listening to albums all the way through wasn’t a necessity with my generation but I listen to full albums now more than I ever have. I think maybe because now I make albums and I think of them as full albums a little bit more each time. I’m also more interested in seeing how other artists do that. More
"I realized that Don't Break the Oath features the greatest guitar riffs in the whole history of music."
Mar 03, 2020
By Matt Fink (As Told To)
I was living in Portland in ‘85-‘86, and I wouldn’t say I was an apprentice speed freak, because I wasn’t on speed all of the time, but I was quite often taking really hard speed-crystal meth. More
"This album became the soundtrack to my early teenage years."
Mar 02, 2020
By Max Pilley (As Told To)
This album seemed relevant because of my new record, and me thinking about the kind of stuff that was released when I was a teenager and impressionable. More
"[Stephen] Malkmus' voice just cut right into me, too, especially as I was about to be a hormonal young woman."
Feb 20, 2020
By Matt Connor (As Told To)
Early on when I was first discovering CDs going to Tower Records, back in the early ‘90s, one of the first ones I bought was Slanted and Enchanted. My mom was dating a dude at the time who was a former DJ. More
"It really changed my ideas of what an album could be."
Feb 17, 2020
By Max Pilley (At Told To)
Any of the early Björk albums [could be my favorite], but probably Debut is the one, in terms of impact on what it meant for me in terms of albums. More
"Every track is just like a world in itself and doesn't seem to bear any relation to normal musicianship."
Feb 10, 2020
By Hays Davis
Once Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy begins to describe why he cites Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love as his favorite album, it’s clear how much of a personal impact those songs have had.
"It reminds me of when I was a wee girl and I got into records for the first time, and listening to this album, I am envious of little kids getting into it."
Feb 07, 2020
By Max Pilley (As Told To)
Kacey Musgraves’ previous records are a bit sweeter. I don’t want to call Golden Hour raw, but it kind of is compared to her earlier albums. It’s a bit more bare, a bit more real. To me, she writes really classic ‘60s pop songs, so strong, so powerful. More
"Some of that music is haunting, it's beautiful, and it's strange, and it's happy, and it's sad, and it's fucked up, it's all the stuff."
Feb 06, 2020
By Joshua M. Miller
The year is 1969. Eight-year-old Wayne Coyne and his older brothers anxiously gather around the record player to listen to The Beatles’ latest offering, a self-titled album released in November 1968 that is also known as The White Album. More
"I remember when 'Undertow' came out and I used to have to get the train regularly and I think I listened to it 35 times on one journey."
Feb 05, 2020
By Max Pilley (As Told To)
I was 18 or 19 and I had been listening to Warpaint’s Exquisite Corpse EP relentlessly. I was studying down in Brighton and I remember when “Undertow” came out and I used to have to get the train regularly and I think I listened to it 35 times on one journey. More
"[Iggy Pop's The Idiot is] shameless, floppy, relentless, and the lyrics border on poetry."
Feb 04, 2020
By Jordan J. Michael
Chrystia Cabral (stage name SPELLLING) is a new star of savory soundscapes. Her rare 2019 full-length, Mazy Fly, was helped by her label Sacred Bones’ general ambition. Cabral is enamored by the past-she doesn’t listen to much contemporary music, resonating more with playful, messy 1970s and 1980s experimentation. More
"It was great music to write to. It was great music to just smoke weed to. It was great music to do fucking everything."
Feb 03, 2020
By Mike Hilleary (As Told To)
Godspeed You! Black Emperor‘s Yanqui U.X.O is just the soundtrack to a fucking mental odyssey. I grew up in Montréal and if you were a kid in Montréal in the ‘90s you obviously knew who the fuck Godspeed were. More
"My initial impression was just, 'I have to dance. There's no option. I'm listening to this, I can't do anything but dance to it.'"
Jan 31, 2020
By Mike Hilleary (As Told To)
The best record ever is Ziggy Stardust by David Bowie. But my favorite record, that’s just personal to my experience, is This is Happening by LCD Soundsystem, which might come as a surprise to people. More
"It was one of the most striking moments of musical discovery I'd ever had—even from the first second."
Jan 30, 2020
By Matt Connor (As Told To)
I found it when I was 22 or 23. Or maybe it found me. I’d been at the big Salvation Army thrift store not far from my house and someone had dropped off this crate of really amazing records—an actual record collection of someone deep into music—while I was there. More
"It's all so sonically strange and compositionally ambitious."
Jan 29, 2020
By Ellis Ludwig-Leone
There are a few formative albums that have been with me since I was a kid—Graceland, Abbey Road, Odelay—which are like old friends; and then there are albums that came along at the right time that became influential—Come On Feel the Illinoise, Is This It, Visions. But for an album that continues to challenge and excite me over many listens, I would have to say it’s Hounds of Love by Kate Bush.
"I was blown away. It was the perfect kind of music for me."
Jan 28, 2020
By Mike Hilleary (As Told To)
Loudon Wainwright III’s Grown Man-it’s hard to narrow down to any one album, but that album is important as far as when it came along in my life. And it’s a classic Loudon album. More
"This album was definitely one of those albums where you fall in love with it while you fall in love with somebody else."
Jan 27, 2020
By Matt Fink (As Told To)
I attended college in Portland, Oregon, and moved there primarily because of the music scene and the Rock and Roll Camp for Girls. I was dating somebody at the time whose favorite artist was Cat Power, and, of course, my favorite artist then became Cat Power, and I discovered this album Moon Pix. More
Jan 23, 2020
By Kyle Mullin
As a self-described gothy teen longing for angst soothing anthems, future Emmy nominee Jimmi Simpson was enamored with The Smiths from the first time his skateboarder buddy gave him a copy of the iconic Brit rockers’ album The Queen is Dead in the late 1980s. More
"Music kind of runs my life. I'm never not soundtracking my own experience."
Jan 22, 2020
By Kyle Mullin
For an actor who relies on music as much as Jimmi Simpson—he carefully crafts playlists while prepping characters for Westworld (for which he was nominated for an Emmy), House of Cards, Black Mirror, the recent critical darling Perpetual Grace, LTD, and more—picking a favorite album can be a very tricky proposition. More
"Bowie was always cool. He was cool in the '60s. He was cool in the '70s. He was cool in the '80s."
Jan 21, 2020
By Matt Fink (As Told To)
I here was this book that my father had called Making Music by George Martin, The Beatles’ producer. My dad was a drummer in a country band and was also an aspiring singer and songwriter. More
