Cat Power · 1998 · She wrote these songs after a night of screaming, sang them once, and never played them the same way again.

PJ Harvey · 1993 · Steve Albini recorded it in a barn in Minnesota, and PJ Harvey never sounded more dangerous.

Sarah McLachlan · 1993 · She turned piano ballads into stadium-filling anthems without losing the whisper.

The Sundays · 1992 · This album proves that you don't need to shout to fill a room. Harriet Wheeler's voice and David Gavurin's guitar create a silence you can fall into.

Wild Strawberries · 1994 · You pulled this CD from a sale bin in 2001 and it sounded good. Tonight, with the right headphones, it sounds like a secret.

Reference Recordings · 1994 · This sampler exists to sell you a $2,000 speaker cable, but it's also the finest orchestral recording test you'll ever hear on vinyl, CD, or high-res — no excuses.

Various Artists · 1999 · If you ever wondered what a perfectly recorded orchestra sounds like, this is the album your uncle played on his $20,000 system.

Reference Recordings · 1997 · A record store demo disc that actually has musical integrity.

Pearl Jam · 1991 · Eddie Vedder sang like a man trapped in his own skin, and the rest of us heard something we didn't know we needed.

Various Artists · 1998 · This is the disc you left in the car for three years and never got tired of.

RTS · 1999 · This compilation reveals that the 80s were built for house music—you just had to strip away the MTV gloss.

Boards of Canada · 1998 · This is what happens when two Scottish brothers spend years building a time machine out of analog synths and old VHS tapes, and the only place they can go is the ghost of your own childhood.

Angelo Badalamenti · 1990 · Badalamenti's score is the third character in Twin Peaks, breathing humidity and dread.

Shania Twain · 1997 · Mutt Lange treated country music like a pop song that had been sleeping in the wrong demo — so he rewired the board, doubled every track, and made an album that sold forty million copies without apologizing once.

Dido · 1999 · She wrote dozens of versions of 'Thank You' before settling on the one that ended up on a record so quiet it made $20 million.

The Roots · 1999 Spin it Again - Questlove's drums sound like they were recorded in a room with no parallel walls and a thousand ghosts.

Ice Cube · 1990 Spin it Again - The first truly political rap album from a major West Coast artist, and it's still angry.

Public Enemy · 1990 Spin it Again - A sonic riot assembled from hundreds of samples, sirens, and shouts that still sounds like the future catching up to the past.

The Breeders · 1990 Spin it Again - Kim Deal and Tanya Donelly made a record so raw it still sounds like it was recorded in a concrete basement.

Lauryn Hill · 1998 Spin it Again - She walked into Tuff Gong pregnant and made the only album that matters from that Fugees break.