Ahsab Rahman
1. Arcade Fire – Funeral
With incredible orchestral arrangements, powerful vocals and anthemic choruses, Arcade Fire‘s debut album Funeral takes you into a journey where you will experience sheer happiness, nostalgia and sprinkles of sadness. While the album’s thematic brilliance outshines everything, one cannot overlook its masterful way of balancing upbeat tracks with slow ballads. With ambitious, intense instrumentation and uniformly wonderful songs, Arcade Fire‘s Funeral solidifies its spot as indie rock’s one of the greatest albums of all time.
Critic’s score:
Pitchfork – 9.7/10
Rate Your Music – 4.0/5
2. Cocteau Twins – Heaven or Las Vegas
With its lush, aesthetic, and dreamy sound and insanely gorgeous vocal performance, Heaven or Las Vegas proves itself to be a pioneering album in the dream-pop genre. The album will get you hooked instantly with its colourful and magical opening track Cherry-coloured Funk. Along with its occasional shoegaze vibes and top-tier production, the album creates an atmosphere that you are bound to get bewitched by.
Critic’s Scores:
All Music – 10/10
Pitchfork – 10/10
3. The Beatles – Abbey Road
The Beatles‘ swansong didn’t fail to deliver—not only did it become the best album in their catalogue but it also paved the way for many aspiring musicians and bands. Despite going through internal conflict, the band still showcased their artistic brilliance in this album by blending radio-friendly pop songs with soulful medleys through proper experimentation.
Critic’s Scores:
Pitchfork – 10/10
Metacritic – 100/100
4. The Velvet Underground & Nico – self-titled album
The Velvet Underground & Nico managed to create one of the most influential rock albums of all time in an era when the likes of The Beatles, The Beach Boys and Led Zeppelin dominated. While there are sweet pop-oriented soft songs like Sunday Morning or Femme Fatale, what makes this album monumentally ground-breaking is the accurate blending of noise rock and psychedelic pop to create something highly experimental.
All Music – 10/10
Rate Your Music – 4.3/5
Fantano – Classic/10
5. Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
Illinois is a chamber-folk album that captures the adventurous twist and turns of a lifetime. This album will make you feel everything—it will make you dance, make you cry and put a smile on your face. With its sheer excellence in lyricism and outstanding cinematic feel, Illinois stands out as one of the greatest albums of the 21st century.
Critic’s Scores:
Pitchfork – 9.2/10
Rolling Stone – 4/5
Ahsab likes to spend time thinking about how the manga “Nana” could have continued, and daydreaming about getting Eminem’s blessings to start his own rap career.