Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994)

Even though they were among  the leaders of the early 90's Lo-Fi movement, Pavement never actually made it past underground status. Too absurd the lyrics and too chaotic the arrangements, they remain a secret tip within the indie scene, their albums being considered modern classics by fans and critics. Stephen Malkmus, songwriter and ingenious mastermind behind Pavement, successfully copes with the balancing act of breaking with most traditional songwriting conventions and, at the same creating breathtaking caricatures of pop songs, as beyond the fuzzy guitars and lakonic vocals, beautiful Beach Boys melodies unfold.

1.) Silence Kit

2.) Elevate Me Later

3.) Stop Breathing

4.) Cuty Your Hair

5.) Newark Wilder

6.) Unfair

7.) Gold Sounds

8.) 5-4=Unity

9.) Range Life

10.) Heaven's a Truck

11.) Hit the Plane Down

12.) Fillmore Five  

Ratatat - LP4 (2010)

New York-based experimental duo Ratatat probably makes the weirdest music I have ever heard. Their instrumentals resemble sound mosaics, recorded and arranged beyond any musical style or convention. On LP4 they mix such contradictive genres as French house with cheesy 80's metal guitars and classical string orchestra arrangements with afro funk breaks. Ratatat tear pop music as we know it into shreds, just to put the pieces back together and finally turn its dynamics upside down again. Brilliant!

1.) Bilar

2.) Drugs

3.) Neckbrace

4.) We Can't Be Stopped

5.) Bob Gandhi

6.) Mandy

7.) Mahalo

8.) Party With Children

9.) Sunblock

10.) Bare Feast

11.) Grape Juice City

12.) Alps

The Microphones - The Glow, Pt. 2 (2001)

Centered around Washington lo-fi mastermind Phil Evrum, The Microphones deliver stunning low key indie pearls with at times bizarrely odd arrangements. On their third studio album the band carefully waves a carpet of distorted organs, sloppy percussion and random noise around Elvrum's fragile acoustic poetry. The Glow Pt. 2 is full of beauty and madness - a raw yet intimate masterpiece.

1.) I Want Wind to Blow

2.) The Glow, Pt. 2

3.) The Moon

4.) Headless Horseman

5.) My Roots are Strong and Deep

6.) Instrumental

7.) The Mansion

8.) (Something)

9.) Deep

10.) I'll Not Contain You

11.) The Gleam, Pt. 2

12.) Map

13.) You'll Be in the Air

14.) I Want to Be Cold

15.) I Am Bored

16.) I Felt My Size

17.) Instrumental

18.) I Felt Your Shape

19.) Samurai Sword

20.) My Warm Blood

Tortoise - TNT (1998)

Formed in Chicago in 1990 by Doug McCombs and John Herndon, Tortoise have been expanding their constantly changing line up ever since. They play cinematic instrumental jams influenced by Krautrock, Postrock and avant-garde Jazz music. This 1998 masterpiece is their most vivid and playful record, yet. Regardless of uniting a large variety of styles, TNT manages to be a surprisingly catchy and accessible work of genius.

1.) TNT

2.) Swung From the Gutters

3.) Ten-Day Interval

4.) I Set My Face to the Hillside

5.) The Equator

6.) A Simple Way to Go Faster Than Light That Does Not Work

7.) The Suspension Bridge at Iguazú Falls

8.) Four-Day Interval

9.) In Sarah, Mencken, Christ and Beethoven There Were Women and Men

10.) Almost Always is Nearly Enough

11.) Jetty

12.) Everglade

The XX - XX (2009)

The best album of 2009 and a modern classic, the XX's debut is stunning on many levels. It is complex yet accessible, experimental yet catchy and most of all incredibly addictive although it may seem rather unspectacular at the first listen. Romy Croft's voice melts like butter over layers of smooth-as-satin guitar licks and a carpet of weightless, minimalist trip-hop beats. For the very unlikely case that Tricky or Massive Attack recorded an album with The Cure, this is what it would sound like.

1.) Intro

2.) Vcr

3.) Crystalised

4.) Islands

5.) Heart Skipped a Beat

6.) Fantasy

7.) Shelter

8.) Basic Space

9.) Infinity

10.) Night Time

11.) Stars