by Jason Hicks
Being an all out music addict has its pros and cons. It causes you to be perpetually poor since you've spent all your money on CDs and records, can lead to girlfriends/wives leaving you and just takes over your life in general. On the plus side, you get to find out about all kinds of obscure music that even though it's amazing, has been largely ignored by the world at large. Any music fan can tell you that the joy of discovering one of these hidden gems is one of those moments where all of the negative baggage that comes with our obsession is magically washed away. When some forgotten album completely blows your mind, it feels like that music was written just for you to stumble across and you can finally give it the appreciation it deserved all along. Although a bit of that magic slips away as music reaches larger audience, it's pretty selfish and a bit delusional to think that music created by someone else somehow "belongs" to you more than anyone else. So here are my picks for the most underrated albums of semi-recent years.
10. R.E.M.- Up
I know what you're thinking, R.E.M., really? All this talk of obscurities and hidden gems and the best you've got is R.E.M.? Yes it's true that the last time R.E.M. could have been considered remotely underground was in the mid-80s, but when R.E.M. put this album out in 1998 after the departure of drummer Bill Berry, interest in the band was at an all time low. So when this set of textural ambient pop brilliance was released it garnered very little excitement. However, for me it's the logical extension of the impressionistic sounds they explored on their masterpiece Automatic For the People. Stipe's lyrics are as obtuse as ever, but for the first time the drum machine driven atmospheres match his abstract words with some atypical sounds. The album opening "Airportman" sets the tone perfectly for the hushed experimentation that follows.
9. Grandaddy- What Happened to the Fambly Cat. . .
Grandaddy garnered a good amount of praise from their 2000 release Sophtware Slump. A loosely arranged concept album about the fleeting nature of technology as personified by a broken robot, many saw it as the American response to Radiohead's monumental OK Computer. But Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot quickly stole that distinction and Grandaddy's follow up, Sumday, was judged a bit of a disappointment by many, including myself. So when the band released this album on the verge of breaking up no one took much notice. Which is a shame because it's a set of space age Americana that in my mind deserves a spot alongside Sophtware Slump as Grandaddy's best. I've always thought of Grandaddy as sort of a hybrid of the psychedelic freak out of the Flaming Lips and the more restrained intellectualism of Radiohead, with perhaps a dash of Beck's folky side. Fambly Cat is a more than worthy example of that aesthetic. Thematically I suspect the album may be about the break up of the band expressed through the metaphor of a crashing plane, but the lyrics are just vague enough to spark overactive imaginations.
8. James- Wah Wah
Most folks are familiar with the Irish band James' falsetto laden hit "Laid", but lesser known is that the album of the same title was produced by the great Brian Eno. Not only that, but while they recorded Laid the group, along with Eno, staged several all night improv based recording sessions. The result is some quite interesting explorations into unknown sonic territory that stands in stark contrast to James' normally pop oriented work. Eno's touch is all over the album as much of it consists of the sparse loops and moody sounds for which he is known, with singer Tim Booth throwing in stream of consciousness vocals over the top. While most of the tracks are clearly excerpts from longer pieces, they still give a fascinating look into the creative process of the band.
7. Flaming Lips- Cloud Taste Metallic
These Oklahoma based psychedelic warriors first entered into the pop culture mainstream with their 1994 hit "She Don't Use Jelly". The band then retreated back to the fringes until they rose to prominence in a huge way with the brilliant Soft Bulletin in 1999 and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots in 2002. In between they released this little known treasure that stands tall as a mid-period highlight. While their music is still a long way from the refined beauty of their later works, the pop sensibility that had scored them a charting single with "Jelly" is further developed here and much of the record has a folky/rootsy quality that is supported by their emerging musicianship. Not only does Clouds Taste Metallic hint at the great work that succeeded it, but also represents a unique combination of the noisiness of their early albums and the intricacies that they would soon display.
6. Hint- Portakabin Fever
The term "folktronica" may seem like an oxymoron, but that's exactly the best way to describe this relatively unknown album by the UK's Jonathan James a.k.a. Hint. James masterfully weaves acoustic guitar, piano and the occasional vocal sample into some of the most affecting downtempo this side of DJ Shadow. Like Shadow there's tons of soul and more than a bit of a sorrow packed into these seemingly simple tunes. Remarkably, this album makes for a great soundtrack to both a rainy day spent indoors or a sunny afternoon drive as evidenced by gorgeous tracks like "Count Your Blessings".
5. Air- Talkie Walkie
Air's debut Moon Safari took the electronic music world by storm when it was released in 1998, injecting a lounge-y analog sound into a genre that had previously been criticized as cold and unfeeling. However after a big time sophomore slump on their second outing, most folks didn't pay too much attention to their third album Talkie Walkie. That's unfortunate, because while it may not be as groundbreaking as Moon Safari, it is a great album in its own right. Plus it brings more structured songs to the table with band members JB Dunckel and Nicholas Godin providing vocals for the majority of the tracks and Rodin playing guitar on several songs as well. Even though they stretch in new directions they also retain the sophisticated style of electronica that earned them such acclaim in the first place.
4. Pond- Pond
Everybody knows the heavyweights of the grunge era like Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, and most folks are even familiar with some of the second tier greats like Mudhoney, Screaming Trees and Dinosaur Jr. But the creative explosion, particularly in the NW, was so rich that for all of these well known bands there were many others that failed to gain widespread recognition. Pond was one of best of these bands, and even though they were signed to the genre defining label Sub Pop, they failed to find an audience outside of the insular confines of the NW. Which is a shame because Pond manage to bring a unique sensibility to the table, while still displaying the fuzzy guitars and lo-fi aesthetic that defined grunge. On their self titled debut pretty much every song is outfitted with big poppy hooks without sacrificing the ability to rock out as hard as any Nirvana hit you care to name. Guitarist Charlie Campbell employs a distinct droning style that is equal parts Indian raga and punk rock distortion, which adds up to a wall of sound that's both massive and nuanced. Check out the video for "Agatha" for a great encapsulation of their sound.
3. DJ Food- Kaleidoscope
When this album originally dropped in 2000 my initial response was fairly lukewarm. I had been expecting some dance floor barnburners in the vein of their former collaborator Coldcut's classics "Beats and Pieces" and "Atomic Moog", and was disappointed to find none. However in retrospect it would seem that I merely was not ready for an album as cerebral and edgy as this sonic journey. One of the most striking aspects of Kaleidoscope is that while it is undoubtedly forward looking and envelope pushing, many of the tropes it utilizes are quite retro. From the jazz break drums of "Full Bleed" to Ken Nordine's beatnik poetry in "Ageing Young Rebel" to the lush strings that permeate the second half of the record, this is an album that celebrates the music and tastes of the past through sampling technology. The album closing epic "Minitoka" may be one of the most beautiful cut and paste sound collages I've ever heard.
2. DJ Shadow- The Private Press
The sophomore slump effect is so strong that sometimes it can cause you dismiss an album as a victim 
to its pitfalls when in fact it is a quality effort. Such was the case with DJ Shadow's second album, which
now that it can be judged on its own merits is clearly an outstanding album worthy of many repeated spins. It is not, however, more of the same in respect to Shadow's genre defining first album Endtroducing. That album was so flawless and revelatory that it should be no surprise that the follow up paled in comparison upon first listen. Shadow expands his sound quite a bit here, taking a stab at '60s style pop with "Six Days", more straight ahead hip hop on "Mashin' on the Motorway" and even '80s synth sounds on "You Can't Go Home Again". Not all of it works, but when it does such as the aforementioned shimmering "Six Days" it's as if the rule book for sample based music has been rewritten all over again. Throw in a couple of stone cold Shadow essentials like "Giving Up the Ghost" and "Blood on the Motorway" and you've got an album that's both ambitious and a satisfying classic that has aged quite well.
1. Faith No More- Angel Dust
Saddled with the more than dubious distinction of pioneering rap-rock, Faith No More has long been a bit of a head scratcher to the mainstream music cognoscenti, too intellectual to be dismissed but also too 
goofy to be taken seriously. Singer Mike Patton joined the band while they were recording their breakthrough third album, The Real Thing. However, all of the music for that album had already been completed when he was hired, so it was on the following Angel Dust that he was allowed to truly inject his experimental and just plain bizarre ethos into the proceedings. The result is a dizzyingly complex and layered affair that crams just about as much divergent music into an hour as humanly possible. Veering between industrial metal, country-esque numbers, hip hop scratches, even cheerleader fight songs and a faithful cover of Jon Barry's Midnight Cowboy theme, there really isn't much ground that is left uncovered by this remarkable tour de force. For some it may be just too much, but for me it strikes the perfect balance of avant garde tendencies and irreverence to create an album that's brilliantly one of a kind. Angel Dust stands out as one of the most truly out there albums released by a band that once enjoyed heavy MTV rotation. If you're looking to be challenged and enjoy a few laughs to go along with your bewilderment, then I highly recommend checking out this freaky opus.
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