The Needle Drop’s albums that prove you weren’t born in LE WRONG GENERATION!

Hi, everyone. Anthony Fantano here – of TheNeedleDrop YouTube channel – and, um, here, hitting you with a list of ten albums that prove you were not born in le wrong generation. There is, uh, a group of people out there – they're not a closely-knit or a, uh, consciously created or assembled group but they are a group nonetheless – of individuals who really fetishize the musical eras of the sixties, the seventies, occasionally the fifties, arguing that there was just very little in the way of crap, of bad music back then. Just— just wasn't as much, just wasn't happening, and, uh, sometimes, these people will go as far as to argue that there is just a severe deficiency of good music today. Just all the good and interesting music happened back then and all the interesting music is just not occurring right now. "I mean, just listen to the radio, you hear all these songs about club and smoking pot and so on and so forth and sex and blah blah blah blah blah!" As if that's not what songs back then were ever about but that's besides the point. These people seem to wish that they were born decades ago just so that they could be alive at the release of, of some of these records. But what I wanna bring up in this video are ten records I think are very much well-worth being alive today for. There are new albums coming out that, in my opinion, are proof that contemporary music is nothing to write off.

Vektor – Black Future (2009)
And our first LP is going to be Vektor's Black Future. These guys are a metal band, thrash metal band, black metal band, fusing the two styles together with just intense performance speeds, great vocal performances, awesome riff and melody writing. They very much pay attention to the roots of these genres and pay homage to the greats but are also incredibly progressive with not only how they bring these two genres together but also with how they treat each one individually with just some really crisp production and some very airy, reverby effects and lyrics that deal a lot with, uh, space, just intergalactic stuff. There's definitely an element of sci-fi in Vektor's music which makes it undeniably entertaining. And this record and the following record they dropped after this one make me happy to be a part of today's world of music.

Kendrick Lamar – good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012)
[Watch Fantano's good kid, m.A.A.d city review here]

As well as Kendrick Lamar's good kid, m.A.A.d city. Kendrick Lamar: fantastic, talented, vividly lyrical West Coast rapper and this LP right here, his sophomore album, is, essentially, so far, his masterpiece and one of the most conceptual and entertaining story albums in hip hop ever. There are fantastic instrumentals on this thing. Kendrick Lamar has a great flow track for track for track. Each song feels like a vignette or a scene in this ongoing tale and the kid that Kendrick Lamar plays on this album seems to be a young version of himself who kinda gets caught up in the wrong crowd and eventually finds himself at this crossroads where, is he going to continue screwing up or is he gonna take things more seriously, take music more seriously and sort of elevate his life and become more successful? There are moving tracks on this thing, there are bangers, and overall it's a really compelling personal story.

Joanna Newsom – Ys (2006)
Next I have to give it to Joanna Newsom's Ys, one of the most creative, opulent, and strange folk music albums to come out in recent years. Not only does her harp playing set Joanna Newsom apart from most popular performers out there today, but here very unique and eccentric vocals which are impassioned and— and very twangy also make her a— a very unique modern voice in music as well. There are loads of very beautiful, mystical songs all over this record. And even with the sixties being perceived as the peak of American folk music revivalism, Joanna Newsom is proof that there are plenty of modern amazing, enthralling singer-songwriters out there today.

Daft Punk – Discovery (2001)
This next pick is for that friend of yours who might hear you listening to some electronic music and might argue that "Hey, that's not actually real music. Who's actually playing an instrument?" Daft Punk's Discovery. These guys are a French DJ/electronic music duo who have been making amazing pop/house fusions for years and the album Discovery is a fantastic, amazing concept album loaded with stellar songs. Hard-hitting house-pop bangers as well as some very smooth, soulful ballads too. Daft Punk shows themselves to be incredibly diverse in their production and writing talents and shows that electronic music can show an incredible amount of humanity. Not that that's every really been a question for people who are in the know but for somebody who might question electronic music at its very foundation might need some convincing and if Daft Punk doesn't convince you, I don't know what will.

The Strokes – Is This It (2001)
And The Strokes with their early 2000s album Is This It, to me,
is proof that pop rock still has a lot more potential. The really suave, sharp guitar chords and leads all over this thing. The punchy drumbeats. Julian Casablancas' very swagger-filled, deep vocals. In my opinion, this record is passionate, it's sexy, it's instantaneous. Songs that just burn themselves into my eardrums after one single listen. And even after ten years of listening to this album, I still get whisked up in it when I play to this day. So yes, incredible pop rock album.

Janelle Monáe – The ArchAndroid (2010)
[Watch Fantano's TheArchAndroid review here]

And following that, Janelle Monáe's The ArchAndroid – amazing modern R&B album. Not really buying into a lot of the stereotypes and clichés that typically come with commercial radio R&B music but instead, Janelle Monáe finds ways to make this genre sound incredibly new, progressive, and futuristic while going back and tributing the greats of this genre and soul, too. Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, as well as Michael Jackson, Prince. And she also gives nods to modern hip hop and indie pop, too. It's a long, diverse, conceptual album loaded with beautiful songs, great production, fantastic singing, creative songwriting. This album is illustrious, it's extravagant, it's got a huge vision. If you're the kind of person who loves their music to sound cinematic, sound like it's got a big idea or a big, grand picture to show you, then I think you're going to love this LP.

Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (2005)
That is also the case for this next album, too: singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens' Illinoise, or Illinois or Come On and Feel the Illinoise. Sufjan Stevens is one of today's most interesting multi-instrumentalists and songwriters. From folk music to huge, grand, ambitious baroque pop, this album has a lot to offer. Moving songs, introspective lyrics, very interesting song topics, and illustrious instrumentation. It's an album whose gentle and— and very— and moving nature is complimented with some of the most gorgeous instrumentation ever layed onto an indie pop or indie folk record I've ever heard.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven (2000)
[Watch Fantano's Lift Your Skinny Fists review here]

Another grand record in this list here, I have to say, is Godspeed You! Black Emperor's Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven. Godspeed, a Canadian band, they've put out numerous records over the years and, in my opinion, one of the only bands to truly perfect the idea of taking rock instrumentation and giving it sort of a classical twist while still maintaining that rawness that you expect in a great rock record. And with guitars and drums and horns and strings, the band presents these huge, harrowing, ascending musical passages that have the detail and the finesse and the depth and the weight of an orchestral piece but, in a way, also carry the— the intensity and the ferocity of a punk band. There're also loads of— of strange avant-garde and drone and ambient pieces all throughout this record. This is another LP on this list that, in my opinion, is incredibly cinematic. Listening to this album, sitting down, listening to this album is a lot like just watching a film. And what images are set to that film, I guess, is sort of dependent on your imagination. But with some of the weird field recordings and— and vocal snippets and samples that play throughout this record occasionally, what exactly Godspeed is getting at philosophically, socially, politically with some of these songs isn't really left up to the imagination. It's a record that has a message to it as well, despite the— the lack of lyrics. And even though the mission statement of this record isn't exactly direct, it's kinda hard to ignore just how apocalyptic some of the vibes are on this LP.

Tim Hecker – Virgins (2013)
[Watch Fantano's Virgins review here]

Another Canadian artist on this list: Tim Hecker with his album Virgins. Another artist who deals in ambient music as well, some drone. But Tim Hecker is— is much less minimalist than a lot of the artists typically associated with that genre. Despite a lot of his tunes essentially being these amorphous, blobby, somewhat directionless and vast soundscapes, he really finds ways to make them interesting by just layering them and layering them with numerous sounds and— and melodies and even though the pace and the— and the direction of the tracks all over this record may not exactly be clear or transmitted to the listener through a very prominent rhythm, this album does have a pace to it and you don't feel like you're just listening to one piece after another piece, but the entire record itself feels connected. Connected musically, sonically, and— and emotionally, too. Because not only are there some apocalyptic vibes on this album as well, but the moods of a lot of these songs are— are very forlorn. And Tim Hecker portrays these emotions really well with these really enveloping sheets and waves of sound.

Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma (2010)
[Watch Fantano's Cosmogramma review here]

And finally on this list, I have to give a shout out to Flying Lotus with his album Cosmogramma. One thing I love about Flying Lotus contextually is that, despite the fact that electronic music, jazz, and hip hop have a lot in common, on the surface most people don't really seem to assume so and— and I think that's partially because of how different people view those cultures to be, whether that be because of the group of people listening to that music or the time period that music was popular within. But Flying Lotus is one of the few artists out there who's actually been able to bring all these together in such a way where it's compelling, even to people who might not even really be all that familiar with the genres that serve as Flying Lotus' source material. His talents when it comes to producing instrumentals is so great that he sort of transcends these genres and— and grabs the ears of people from across the spectrum of these genres too. And nowhere in his discography thus far is this done better on his album Cosmogramma. An album that not only fuses these genres together in a really amazing way, but also makes each one of them sound like they're coming down from a different planet and landing onto Earth because aliens just gave them to us as, like, a present. This album is funky, it's groovy, it's jazzy, it's interstellar, it's imaginative, and it is yet another album that I think proves that modern music, contemporary music, popular music, has quite a bit to offer.

So no, if you dig hard enough, if you dig deep enough, uh, you were not born in the wrong musical generation. There's still a lot of good stuff going on right now. Cool? Cool. Anthony Fantano, music, forever.