i'll save my last post for the day for an album that i've always loved, but has recently become one of those "top [insert number]" albums for me. this is one of those records that has its own very special feeling and atmosphere about it that you can't get anywhere else (like talk talk, for instance, has a monopoly on pretty much an entire genre of music that only they have played). sure, other bands have combined a midwestern emo aesthetic with indie rock. but no one has ever done it like this, or done it this well. the lyrics are absurdly awesome; the guitar and basswork are so perfect, as is the drumming; and, of course, jeremy enigk's vocal performance is one of my all-time favorites.
here, SDRE go off and just transcend whatever genre they were in before. much like radiohead did with ok computer, and talk talk* did with spirit of eden, they just create an entity unto itself. i consider this an essential masterwork, and i hope everyone in the world one day hears it and loves it. 1998.
* - apologies for bringing up talk talk twice in a post about SDRE, as they really have nothing in common aside from being totally fucking awesome
