The fourth LP by Tortoise came with massive and heightened expectations – and met them head-on. Standards revealed them as continuing to operate in top form and displaying a lot of their gorgeous repertoire of colors.

Paved the way for Low to widen the definition of their early mission statement without ever losing sight of what made them unique.

The Spirit Room is immediately nostalgic for post-Y2K children who have lived long enough to recall the rise and fall of “Total Request Live” or MuchMusic.

Two decades on, Sunny Border Blue represents the point at which Kristin Hersh’s solo career became more than just a counterpoint to her work in Throwing Muses.

Though The Glow Pt. 2 scans as a post-SMiLE studio prayer at first, there’s nothing “psychedelic” about it.

Among the slew of alternative metal projects that cropped up around the turn of the millennium, few have proven to stand the test of time. None, however, pass the test with flying colors like Toxicity.

The perfect album for this phase of Fugazi, and if it does end up being their final record, then there are worse ways to go out.

Amnesiac sits at the midpoint of an illustrious career, and the 20-year mark is as good a time as any for a PSA that will enrage Radiohead’s legions of superfans: it’s just a bunch of B-sides. And it’s all the better for it.

The Liverpudlian’s best reunion disc, it’s still less urgent and more uneven than the band at their peak.

Cobbled together from singles across a handful of British indie labels, Suburban Light feels timeless. Whenever and wherever you listen to this record, you’re transported to Alasdair MacLean’s misty vision of London.