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Loveless (1991)
Released
My Bloody Valentine, 1991. Start with Only Shallow
A guitar chord bends into fuzz while a soft vocal keeps the tune in place. Start here for shoegaze as an approach to rhythm and melody.
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OK Computer (1997)
Released
Radiohead, 1997. Start with Paranoid Android
Several sections with sharply different moods fit into one song. Start here if you want to hear a large guitar band moving toward an unsettled, studio-built record.
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Dig Me Out (1997)
Released
Sleater-Kinney, 1997. Start with Dig Me Out
Two guitars interlock rather than trading neat solos. Listen to how the voice and drums move through them for an immediate sense of what made this branch of punk feel distinct.
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The Downward Spiral (1994)
Released
Nine Inch Nails, 1994. Start with Closer
A precise beat and repeated figures keep a deliberately uncomfortable song easy to follow. Choose the album when you want industrial production to form the sound of a whole record.
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Souvlaki (1993)
Released
Slowdive, 1993. Start with When the Sun Hits
The quiet opening leaves room for an enormous guitar swell. It is an easy way from a conventional chorus into the more spacious part of 1990s guitar music.
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The Curtain Hits the Cast (1996)
Released
Low, 1996. Start with Over the Ocean
Quiet repetitions and long gaps do much of the work. Try it for slowcore, where a small change in a harmony can feel as large as a loud guitar entrance.
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Bossanova (1990)
Released
Pixies, 1990. Start with Velouria
The neat pop tune sits inside a surf-tinged mix. This is a good first Pixies album if you want to follow how a forceful chorus can coexist with deliberately odd details.
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Last Splash (1993)
Released
The Breeders, 1993. Start with Cannonball
A bent bass figure, a clipped vocal and abrupt stops make the hook feel like a moving target. Choose it for guitar pop whose rough edges give the chorus room to land.
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Weezer (1994)
Released
Weezer, 1994. The Blue Album · Start with Say It Ain't So
Simple guitar accents and a close chorus make the changes in volume easy to follow. Start here for power pop with the guitar weight left on.
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The Real Ramona (1991)
Released
Throwing Muses, 1991. Start with Counting Backwards
A quick guitar shape brushes against a strikingly direct vocal. Follow the short, sharp chorus into an album that can alter its balance without losing its rhythm.
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Slanted and Enchanted (1992)
Released
Pavement, 1992. Start with Summer Babe
A guitar figure and a loose vocal land slightly out of line with each other. Put it on for the moment indie rock could sound unfinished and still give you a phrase you remember.
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Perfect From Now On (1997)
Released
Built to Spill, 1997. Start with I Would Hurt a Fly
A simple line returns inside larger changes of tempo and density. Start here for indie rock where even a long song can keep a memorable tiny center.
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I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One (1997)
Released
Yo La Tengo, 1997. Start with Sugarcube
A compact burst of guitar gives way to a straight melody. The album goes much wider, but this song is a good door into a band that can move from pop to experiments within a few tracks.
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Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994)
Released
Pavement, 1994. Start with Range Life
A fairly gentle song lets the band’s jokes and shifting guitar accents show. Choose it for a route into Pavement from country-leaning indie rock.
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Bee Thousand (1994)
Released
Guided by Voices, 1994. Start with Tractor Rape Chain
The short chorus and the abrupt fade leave the small-room texture audible. Put it on if you like college-radio records where a recording’s rough edges live inside the melody.
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Keep It Like a Secret (1999)
Released
Built to Spill, 1999. Start with Carry the Zero
An unassuming vocal melody gives you a line to follow before the guitars fan out. Choose this if you want layered indie guitar playing and a song with a decisive forward pull.
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The Lonesome Crowded West (1997)
Released
Modest Mouse, 1997. Start with Trailer Trash
The calm guitar and abrasive vocal find room in the same repeated figure. Follow it into the album if you want the details of a place to steer the songwriting.
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Diary (1994)
Released
Sunny Day Real Estate, 1994. Start with Seven
The rhythm pushes forward, breaks and finds another line, giving the emotional vocal more force. Choose it for the branch of 1990s emo shaped by dynamic changes inside a band.
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In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998)
Released
Neutral Milk Hotel, 1998. Start with Holland, 1945
Torn guitar and horns make a fast, nearly communal sound around an anxious voice. Try it for an album that uses crowded arrangements without smoothing out the feeling of a small recording.
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Something to Write Home About (1999)
Released
The Get Up Kids, 1999. Start with Holiday
A quick guitar hook and a chorus built for a roomful of voices make this a useful starting point for the record’s brighter take on midwestern emo.
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The Soft Bulletin (1999)
Released
The Flaming Lips, 1999. Start with Race for the Prize
Drums and keyboards give a story about two scientists near-orchestral lift. Pick it for alternative rock that gets its size from the arrangement as much as from guitar volume.
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