37 Albums That Keep Me Coming Back

Break on through to the other side (of the algorithm)

Feb 24, 2025

Thirty-Seven. I admittedly got a little carried away today. This was supposed to be a fresh edition of 11’s, but I felt like I was banging my head against the wall trying to narrow things down. It was turmoil, honestly. So 37 it is.

Here’s the deal. This is a collection of the albums I listen to the most, the ones that keep me coming back. I’m talking top-to-bottom play-throughs.

Don’t get me wrong, I still crush singles. Dua Lipa’s bangers are heavy in my rotation. And you better believe I have plenty of playlists built to be shuffled in hyper-specific situations.

But albums are my favorite way to experience the art of music. They force me to slow down and make a conscious choice about what I’m consuming. It’s far too easy to fall into the same Spotify tap sequence that leads to an algorithm-generated playlist regurgitating the same songs and sounds over and over (Neal Frances, I’m looking at you…). Albums help me break that cycle by providing a structure that allows for intentional listening.

This collection of albums is less about telling you what to listen to and more about challenging — and maybe even inspiring a shift in — how we listen. Ideally, that’s with radical open-mindedness and genuine curiosity. When you take a step back and grant the artist the power of this format — a larger canvas to express themselves — the complexities, depth, and impact of the music can be felt.

The albums I find myself relistening to share a few common elements:

They take me on an immersive journey, pulling me out of reality and wrapping me in a certain feeling
They contain very few (if any) skips or misses
The production value is incredibly high
There’s variety in sound across tracks, but they also maintain a sonic consistency
There’s at least one “hit”
There’s depth and masterful layering that reveals new elements and sounds with subsequent listens
They’re sequenced in an intuitive, cohesive way
They sound timeless
They make me want to dance/move
They elicit memories and provoke emotion

A few ground rules I set for myself: One album per artist. Full-length LPs only, no EPs. All time periods and genres are in scope. The albums are “ranked” in order of, very roughly, how many times I’ve listened through top-to-bottom. This is not a list of my “favorite” albums of all time, or what I consider the “best” albums of all time — although there would certainly be some overlap with both of those lists.

Fair warning, it’s gonna feel like a real random assortment — but it’s unequivocally representative of my music taste, so it is what it is. Listen and weep.

If you have an album you love — an album you’ll never get tired of — drop it in the comments!

37 Albums That Keep Me Coming Back

37] Miguel — War & Leisure (2017)
A vibrant, rocking, alt-rnb gem. So bright, sensual, and smooth. Miguel’s vocals are lush and radiant — they always put me in a good ass mood.
Top Track: Pineapple Skies

36] J.J. Cale — Naturally (1972)
Mav turned me onto this one. A crisp, easy-going blend of blues, rock, and country. Stone cold classic. It feels like sitting on a big ol’ wraparound porch in the countryside.
Top Track: River Runs Deep

35] Radiohead — In Rainbows (2007)
I recognize that I wrote about experiencing In Rainbows for the first time last week. But I’ve listened through at least 10 times this month alone. Hauntingly beautiful electronic rock that’s deeply evocative. This one’s gonna be with me for a long time.
Top Track: Reckoner

34] SG Lewis — times (2021)
This was my pandemic reemergence soundtrack. Nostalgic, vibrant, disco-infused dance music. If you need a push onto the dancefloor, this is it.
Top Track: Impact

33] Men I Trust — Oncle Jazz (2019)
This album is like a featherweight down pillow in a freshly washed and dried pillowcase. Silky, dreamy.
Top Track: Show Me How

32] Mk.gee — Two Star & The Dream Police (2024)
A wildly creative, guitar-driven album with a rawness and unpredictability that feels so vulnerable and emotionally charged. It has a dark, moody haze with heavenly moments of clarity waiting when the smoke subsides.
Top Track: Rylee & I

31] BICEP — BICEP (2017)
Dark, mean banger. Its steady beat — hypnotic and pulsating — gets me out of my head, and into my body.
Top Track: Glue

30] Petit Biscuit — Presence (2017)
It felt like Petit Biscuit was destined for stardom after Presence came out (he was 17!). It’s lush, synthy, and interstellar. None of his releases since have captivated me in the way this album does.
Top Track: Gravitation

29] Polo & Pan — Caravelle (2017)
As my buddy Mitch would say, the funky French uncles know how to get down. I throw this on any time I’m feeling a little too serious. It loosens the hips right up.
Top Track: Nanä

28] Flume — Skin (2016)
The die-hards will call this Flume’s poppy-sellout record (cough cough AC), but I find Skin to be his most cohesive, listenable album. The hits still hit almost 10 years later, and the glitchy, chaotic instrumental cuts have aged gracefully.
Top Track: Take a Chance

27] The Doors — L.A. Woman (1971)
I’ve listened to this album and The Doors' self-titled debut pretty close to equally, but I think L.A. Woman gets the edge because I play it on every god damn road trip. Perfect windows down, bluesy rock music.
Top Track: L.A. Woman

26] Four Tet — Three (2024)
So many distinct, ambient sounds and synths at play here. It almost feels like entering an intricate, infinite other world. I always turn to Three right before plane takeoff.
Top Track: So Blue

25] Vampire Weekend — Vampire Weekend (2008)
The self-titled debut and intro to the Vampire Weekend sound has held up beautifully. Cheerful and clever, with some of the most iconic instrumentation of all time. Listening feels like walking on crunchy leaves crossing the diag in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Top Track: Campus

24] The xx — xx (2009)
Speaking of 2000’s indie debuts… the stripped-back, innocent, vulnerable album from The xx is still brilliant, intimate, and emotionally charged. Their most impressive work as a band.
Top Track: Crystalized

23] Led Zeppelin — Physical Graffiti (1975)
Zeppelin’s best top-to-bottom album, IMO. Yes, Zep IV has the hits, but almost too many hits for me to play often. Physical Graffiti and its lengthy, ethereal jams are almost trance-inducing. It rocks steady, it rocks hard.
Top Track: In My Time of Dying

22] Justice — Woman (2016)
I listen to Justice’s Cross quite a bit, but Woman and its mix of glittery, groove-heavy disco set beneath the duo’s unmistakable chunky synths is my favorite Justice sound.
Top Track: Safe and Sound

21] The Strokes — Is This It (2001)
An all-time great. Stripped back, head-nodding, down-the-middle rock music. Is This It feels like drinking a PBR in a sticky neighborhood bar, maybe a shot of Malort too.
Top Track: Hard To Explain

20] ZHU — RINGOS DESERT (2018)
An album that sounds like trekking across the Mojave in the darkness of night. This is the best of ZHU — a mature return to his signature cinematic, dark, moody electronic sound. Incredible production value and unexpectedly great features.
Top Track: Desert Woman

19] Maribou State — Kingdoms In Colour (2018)
This cheerful, atmospheric indie electronic album has so much creativity and soul. It has an organic, textured sound, plucky guitars, and delicate vocals that come together beautifully to form a comforting set of tracks.
Top Track: Nervous Tics

18] Fleetwood Mac — Rumors (1976)
I’m always hesitant to use the word masterpiece, but man, this album is so wonderful. Loaded with some of the best harmonies of all time, and that underlying heartbreak that creates such powerful moments. An album that plays like a greatest hits selection.
Top Track: The Chain

17] ODESZA — A Moment Apart (2017)
This record has it all. A Moment Apart is big, cinematic, uplifting, and brilliant. There’s so much variety — punchy instrumental tunes, softer ballads. “Intro” into “A Moment Apart” is one of my favorite starts to an album — experiencing it live for the first time was profound, and beautifully emotional.
Top Track: A Moment Apart

16] Tame Impala — The Slow Rush (2020)
One long psychedelic trip that hits a little different every time. The Slow Rush is packed with soundscapes that feel nostalgic but are like nothing I’ve ever experienced. It melts and moves in a way that can only be described as creative genius.
Top Track: Lost In Yesterday

15] Khruangbin — Mordechai (2020)
Groove after groove. Mordechai is a hypnotic album that’s woven together so smoothly. Each component of the funky Khruangbin sound is kicking throughout. And some of my favorite Khru lyrical moments live within this album, like the idiosyncratic “Connaissias de Face”.
Top Track: First Class

14] Disclosure — Settle (2013)
One of the best electronic albums of all time. So many iconic, infectious basslines and interesting synths. It’s sharp, vibrant, dancey, and so distinctively Disclosure.
Top Track: White Noise

13] The Rolling Stones — Exile On Main Street (1972)
This is the album I think about when I hear the term “rock and roll.” It’s glorious, gritty, and will never get old. Peak Stones.
Top Track: Tumbling Dice

12] Jungle — For Ever (2018)
From start to finish, Jungle’s smooth vocal duo captivates and radiates light and warmth. Jungle has no problem delivering funky, pacey tracks throughout their discography, but the slower songs on this album like “Cherry” and “Casio” really stand out here. This album feels like being in love (I think).
Top Track: Heavy, California

11] The Talking Heads — Speaking In Tongues (1983)
An album that feels like a quirky sunny, summer day where I’ve put back a couple bottles of pet nat in the park with the boys.
Top Track: Girlfriend is Better

10] Parcels — Day/Night (2021)
One of my favorite journeys to partake in, Day/Night is a mesmerizing double album that starts light, bright, and cheerful and slowly evolves into a dark, moody, contemplative set of tracks. Parcels never shies away from the silky harmonies.
Top Track: Comingback

09] Glass Animals — ZABA (2014)
The Glass Animals' dreamy psychedelic electro-indie rock debut album is pretty damn near perfect in my eyes. The tribal drums, heavy bass, and acid-washed sounds make me feel like I’m high as a kite traversing the Monteverde Reserve.
Top Track: Pools

08] Tycho — Awake (2014)
Awake feels like I’m on a bullet train ripping through the flatlands. Tycho’s ambient/electronic/rock sound has always been so sonically comforting to me — rooted in nature, the atmospheric layers come together softly and cohesively to form a true sensory experience.
Top Track: Spectre

07] The Smiths — The Queen is Dead (1986)
Witty and brilliant rock music. It’s almost hilariously melancholic and dreary in a way that actually lights me up. I can’t really explain it. I think that’s why I love it.
Top Track: Cemetry Gates

06] KAYTRANADA — 99.9% (2016)
There isn’t an album that makes me feel more alive. Pure rhythm. It’s bouncy and choppy in a way that instigates movement. Every artist feature feels so carefully calculated and fits incredibly well, never disrupting the flow. Play anything off 99.9% at the club and ass is gonna be thrown.
Top Track: TOGETHER

05] Daft Punk — Discovery (2001)
Perfect, and I mean perfect electronic music. Speaks for itself.
Top Track: Voyager

04] Jamie xx — In Colour (2015)
Alright, this is also perfect electronic music. In Colour sounds both experimental and futuristic but with so much polish, certainty, and conviction in its delivery. I don’t know if that makes any sense. It’s boundary-pushing dance music, even 10 years later.
Top Track: Girl

03] Fred Again.. — Actual Life 2 (February 2 – October 15 2021) (2021)
I remember exactly where I was the first time I listened through Actual Life 2. It was a crisp fall day, I pushed play as I left my Hudson Yards office, and I let it carry me all the way home to the East Village. I hadn’t, and still haven’t heard something so deeply personal, raw, and beautiful. The range of sound and emotion that unfolds throughout this album is profound. Heartbreaking, euphoric, and chilling.
Top Track: Faisal (envelops me)

02] RÜFÜS DU SOL — Bloom (2016)
The fastest-paced, most groove-centric RÜFÜS album to date is without a doubt my favorite from their discography. Bloom steadily builds to an intoxicating, climactic closing track — “Innerbloom” — which is one of the best electronic tracks of all time, IMO. This is the RÜFÜS sound that drew me in and has captivated me for years.
Top Track: Say A Prayer For Me

01] Big Wild — Superdream (2018)
My holy grail indie electronic album. Superdream is sonically brilliant — a perfect blend of instrumentation and grooves that has bursts of soul and funk, amidst the steady psychedelic euphoria. Spread out a blanket in the park, lay down, and listen closely as the sun flickers through the branches of trees. No flaws, no weak songs. Just a top-to-bottom vibe.
Top Track: Heaven

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