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.
Thomas Reimel, contributing editor
1) Guided By Voices Alien Lanes (Matador), 1995
2) Sebadoh Bakesale (Sub Pop), 1994
3) Built To Spill Keep It Like A Secret (Warner Bros.), 1999
4) The Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs (Merge), 1999
5) Arcade Fire The Suburbs (Merge), 2010
6) Interpol Turn On The Bright Lights (Matador), 2002
7) The Decemberists Picaresque (Kill Rock Stars), 2005
8) Death Cab For Cutie Transatlanticism (Barsuk), 2003
9) Radiohead OK Computer (Capitol), 1997
10) Franz Ferdinand Franz Ferdinand (Domino), 2004
11) The White Stripes Elephant (Third Man/V2), 2003
12) Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Nonesuch), 2002
13) Yo La Tengo And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out (Matador), 2000
14) Foo Fighters The Color And The Shape (Roswell/Capitol), 1997
15) The Shins Oh, Inverted World (Sub Pop), 2001
16) Vampire Weekend Modern Vampires Of The City (XL), 2013
17) The Wrens The Meadowlands (Absolutely Kosher), 2003
18) Neutral Milk Hotel In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (Merge), 1998
19) The New Pornographers Electric Version (Matador), 2003
20) Blur Parklife (Food/EMI), 1994
21) Tame Impala Lonerism (Modular), 2012
22) Johnny Cash American IV: The Man Comes Around (American/Lost Highway), 2002
23) The Postal Service Give Up (Sub Pop), 2003
24) Daft Punk Discovery (Virgin), 2001
25) Moby Play (V2), 1999
26) Fiona Apple Fetch The Bolt Cutters (Clean Slate/Epic), 2020
27) Lady Gaga Born This Way (Streamline/KonLive/Interscope), 2011
28) OutKast Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (Arista), 2003
29) Tortoise Millions Now Living Will Never Die (Thrill Jockey), 1996
30) The Strokes Is This It (RCA), 2001
