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.
Reuben Frank, contributing writer
1) RFA RFA (self-released), 2018
2) Buzz Zeemer Delusions Of Grandeur (Record Cellar), 1998
3) Guided By Voices Half Smiles Of The Decomposed (Matador), 2004
4) Robert Pollard From A Compound Eye (Merge), 2006
5) Matt Keating Between Customers (Red Parlor), 2010
6) Uncle Tupelo Anodyne (Sire/Reprise), 1993
7) The Strokes Is This It (RCA), 2001
8) Jimmer The Would-Be Plans (Chief Injustice), 2013
9) Tommy Keene Ten Years After (Matador), 1996
10) Charlie Chesterman From The Book Of Flames (Slow River), 1994
11) Son Volt Trace (Warner Bros.), 1995
12) Fountains Of Wayne Utopia Parkway (Atlantic), 1999
13) Velvet Crush Teenage Symphonies To God (550 Music/Epic), 1994
14) Fruit Bats Absolute Loser (Easy Sound), 2016
15) Dave Hause Kick (Rise), 2019
16) Old 97’s Too Far To Care (Elektra), 1997
17) Ratboys GN (Topshelf), 2017
18) Spoon They Want My Soul (Loma Vista), 2014
19) Sports Team Gulp! (Island), 2022
20) Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Nonesuch), 2002
21) The Bye Bye Blackbirds We Need The Rain (self-released), 2013
22) Peter Matthew Bauer Mount Qaf (Divine Love) (Fortune Tellers), 2017
23) The Loud Family Plants And Birds And Rocks And Things (Alias), 1993
24) James McMurtry The Horses And The Hounds (New West), 2021
25) Hurry Every Little Thought (Lame-O), 2018
26) Eyelids A Colossal Waste Of Light (Jealous Butcher), 2023
27) Restorations LP5000 (Tiny Engines), 2018
28) Elliott Smith Either/Or (Kill Rock Stars), 1997
29) The War On Drugs Lost In The Dream (Secretly Canadian), 2014
30) The Shins Chutes Too Narrow (Sub Pop), 2003
