To celebrate our 30th anniversary and all the great music that made the past three decades special, MAGNET contributors past and present chose their 30 favorite albums released between 1993 and 2022. The only rules were that each record has to be a full-length and that no artist could be represented more than once in the same incarnation. We’re posting these lists throughout the rest of the year.
Michael Pelusi, contributing writer
1) Pulp Different Class (Island), 1995
2) Neko Case Blacklisted (Bloodshot), 2002
3) Wilco Summerteeth (Reprise), 1999
4) Low Double Negative (Sub Pop), 2018
5) Wussy Wussy (Shake It!), 2009
6) Broadcast The Noise Made By People (Warp), 2000
7) Quasi Featuring “Birds” (Up), 1998
8) Jellyfish Spilt Milk (Charisma), 1993
9) PJ Harvey Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea (Island), 2000
10) Pernice Brothers Overcome By Happiness (Sub Pop), 1998
11) Portishead Dummy (Go! Beat/London), 1994
12) Cotton Mather Kontiki (Copper), 1997
13) Blur Parklife (Food/EMI), 1994
14) Latin Playboys Latin Playboys (Slash/Warner Bros), 1994
15) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus (Anti-), 2004
16) David Bowie Blackstar (ISO/Columbia/Sony), 2016
17) Versus Secret Swingers (Caroline), 1996
18) Beauty Pill Beauty Pill Describes Things As They Are (Butterscotch), 2015
19) Old 97’s Too Far To Care (Elektra), 1997
20) Sonic Youth Rather Ripped (Geffen), 2006
21) Sleater-Kinney Dig Me Out (Kill Rock Stars), 1997
22) Emma Pollock Watch The Fireworks (4AD), 2007
23) Art Brut Bang Bang Rock & Roll (Fierce Panda), 2005
24) Morphine Cure For Pain (Rykodisc), 1993
25) Mulatu Astatke & The Heliocentrics Inspiration Information, Vol. 3 (Strut), 2009
26) Joan Shelley Over And Even (No Quarter), 2015
27) Rilo Kiley The Execution Of All Things (Saddle Creek), 2002
28) Kacey Musgraves Golden Hour (MCA Nashville), 2018
29) Shudder To Think Pony Express Record (Epic), 1994
30) Styrofoam Winos Styrofoam Winos (Sophomore Lounge), 2021
