Top 5 Albums: I Should Be at 'Rock the Bells'

So I'm sitting in my home office on a thunderstormy Sunday while just across the East River, 'Rock the Bells' is popping off. For those not familiar, it's the big Rage Against the Machine and Wu-Tang Clan reunion show, featuring Mos Def & Talib Kweli (touring as Blackstar for the first time in about 10 years), Brother Ali, Cage, Public Enemy, Cypress Hill, and a bunch of other killer bands. I had tickets through a friend, and I debated for days whether I'd go -- but I bailed out at the last minute. I dunno, maybe I'm just too old to be running around at an all-ages show, covered up to my nuts in mud and muck, getting knocked around by kids in faux-hawks and day-old Doc Martens.

But I'm still a little tore up that I'm not there. So tore up, in fact, that I can't bring myself to listen to Rage, the Wu, Brother Ali, Blackstar, and the rest of the groups featured on the setlist. Instead, I made myself a rainy Sunday mix that is as far from the musical content of Rock the Bells as possible -- the impetus for today's Top 5 Albums.

...so without further ado...

TOP FIVE ALBUMS for a RAINY DAY WHEN I SHOULD BE AT ROCK THE BELLS

Come On Feel the Illinois, by Sufjan Stevens
While Rage's Zach de la Rocha begs you to "raise your fist in the air in the Land of Hypocrisy," Sufjan Stevens seem to be asking you to stuff your hands in your pockets in the land of sleepy anonymity. Indie almost to a fault (almost), Sufjan is a quirky but focused songwriter with an amazing ability to tell a story. His greatest accomplishment so far, Illinois is a concept album that tours places, people, and memories of the state itself -- from the hit single "Chicago" to the heart-breaking ballad of John Wayne Gacy, Jr., Sufjan crafts songs and stories that are as melodic and poppy as they are folky and shoe-gazy. Rumor has it he's working on a single record for each of the 50 States, though it would seem impossible for him to rival the depth and length of this one. That said, I've got all my fingers crossed that he'll pay homage to that sweaty and sleeveless state, New Jersey, sooner than later.

Our Endless Numbered Days, by Iron & Wine
Called by SPIN magazine "the screen door of sound," Iron & Wine frontman Sam Beam was brought into the spotlight with his cover of "Such Great Heights," featured on the soundtrack to that Zach Braff hug-a-thon and indie-movie-of-the-century, Garden State. Beam's voice sounds much like how I imagine his beard would feel: gruff, yet soft and full. Bonus: download "The Trapeze Swinger" and tack it on the end of this record. It's a phenomenally loopy, folky, alluring single by I&W that was featured in the film In Good Company. I've nodded off happily to this track more times than I can count.

Euphoria Morning, by Chris Cornell
It's likely this made my list today because I recently listened to Cornell's most recent solo album and, as a result, died a little inside. I wanted so badly for Carry On to be Euphoria Morning, and when it wasn't, I found myself digging Cornell's solo debut off the shelves to remember why I loved it so much. Bluesy, acoustic tracks like "When I'm Down" give substance to this record, while Cornell's unrivaled rock vocals give lift and life to every tune he touches. The famous frontman of Soundgarden and Audioslave, few modern-day singers are able to cover Cornell's range -- both in tune and emotion. A smooth but uplifting album for any thunderstormy day.

F#A#(infinity), by Godspeed! You Black Emperor
Opening with low, slow strings and horns in "The Dead Flag Blues," Lee Marvin's brooding voice seeps through the cracks of the build with a monologue from a film never released: "The car's on fire and there's no driver at the wheel, and the sewers are all muddied with a thousand lonely suicides. And a dark wind blows..." Godspeed invented the genre known as post-rock -- classical treatment to modern rock, with soaring guitars and strings with anthemic, orchestral melodies. Dissonance rings loudly through the three-song, 60-minute album -- each track telling a story in movements. It's the musical equivalent of a thunderstorm -- dark and brooding and depressing as all hell, but gorgeously rendered and impossible not to be attracted to. It's what Wagner would write if he were alive...and, y'know, not such a Nazi.

All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone, by Explosions in the Sky
This is the less depressing -- though no less viceral -- side of post-rock. And, for my money, I don't think any band does it better than this four-piece outfit from West Texas. Brought into the spotlight after scoring the film Friday Night Lights (and then going on to score the NBC show as well), Explosions creates songs that follow a more conventional ebb and flow -- counter to how Godspeed meanders through 20-minute songs like a symphony. Their name is very indicative of their sound -- think of stargazing from satellites, fireworks illuminating smoke-clouded skies, children taking flight to the sound of guitars in zero-gravity.... Um, sorry, I get a little carried away. But believe me, nothing in modern music moves quite like this -- it'll make you want to rise up and believe, or fall to your knees and cover your face with your hands. It'll make you want to buy their whole collection -- and I wouldn't argue against that one bit. Most importantly, their sound is so full and arresting, it makes even the rain seem insignificant on a day like this.

Agree? Disagree? Have something to add? Please do so -- I want this to be as open a forum on music as possible. So fire away.

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Chris Steib is a writer and a digital media entrepreneur, and was once known as the editor of Void Magazine. Chris really likes stuff, especially books and music, and he hopes you like reading all about it.