While re-listening to Bitches Brew tonight it occurred to me, there’s never been anything that sounds quite like it since, and there never will be again.

What are your favorite unicorn albums?

  • Mothra@mander.xyz
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    7 days ago

    The Prodigy - The Fat of The Land

    It’s a one of a kind album. I don’t think the prodigy ever made another album that good. And I don’t think there is anything else out there similar to it. It has its own energy, it’s definitely a unicorn type.

    • Krudler@lemmy.worldOP
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      7 days ago

      Smack My Bitch Up is insane. They won’t even play it in music venues and bars anymore, sadly :(

    • Trail@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      Yeah. For quite a while I thought this was a best of, given the name too, until I realized it was just a regular album. Definitely their best.

      The first album of The Crystal Method also no givese similar vibes.

    • khannie@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      Cannot believe I forgot this. Absolutely incredible album. Every single tune a banger and such a unique sound.

      They absolutely nailed the Zeitgeist with it.

  • nafzib@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Endtroducing by DJ Shadow

    It’s his inaugural album and there’s never been anything quite like it. Even his follow up albums, with his unique sound, feel a bit different than this one (not in a bad way, but I don’t think they meet your unicorn criteria).

    Also, I think this easily goes in my top ten albums list.

    • Mothra@mander.xyz
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      6 days ago

      I never heard of this artist or album before, so far I’m 1/4 through the listening and digging it, thanks for posting

  • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works
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    7 days ago

    The first, like, 5 albums by They Might Be Giants are unique in their own ways. Just different blends of wackiness and musical sophistication, it’s sublime.

  • snik@feddit.nl
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    6 days ago

    King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Flying Microtonal Banana

    Lemon Jelly - lemonjelly ky

    The Flashbulb - Opus At The End Of Everything

  • Barbecue Cowboy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    7 days ago

    Any album by Pink Floyd.

    Even mostly works if you compare said album to other albums by Pink Floyd. Dark Side of the Moon as a classic notable callout.

    • humanspiral@lemmy.ca
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      5 days ago

      It’s hard to pick not a one hit album wonder band, because bands will tend to have a lot of continuity in their sound. But dark side of the moon is both very popular and unique. Yes (Green) album was a bit of a one hit wonder.

      Steely Dan and KC Roberts Live Revolution are sounds that were never copied by anyone else. NiN was very unique until copied.

    • Krudler@lemmy.worldOP
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      5 days ago

      I live under a rock, and I live in my own temporal warp field of mostly avante garde jazz works from 1940s-1990s

      So from the bottom of my heart, thank you for sharing this, I am loving the hell out of it!

    • Mechanite@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      This is one of my favorite albums ever.

      If anyone was wondering, I believe nearly the whole album is made up of samples.

      The Avalanches have a ton of other stuff. If you are a fan of Since I Left You, definitely check out the Gimix version which starts similar but has a lot of different tracks in it (including much more famous songs) https://youtu.be/X7i8bIhJY8c

      • SpacetimeMachine@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        They’re by far one of my favorite artists. And you are correct. The band has claimed the album has no original recordings at all. And something like over 3000 samples. I still don’t even know how that was possible to do back in the mid 90s when they were making it. They’re other two albums are also great, each one with a different vibe, although they started relying less on samples because of how much it complicated things to ask for so many rights to so many different tracks.

  • bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works
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    6 days ago

    Neil Young, Le Noise is amazing on a good system. The sub sub octave acoustic efffect is very unique.

    Protomen volume I - they purposely went against arbitrary recording “laws”

    Rush-2112, moving pictures

    Also a rare one: Burlap to Cashmere, ,is there anybody out there. Its soooo clearly mixed. Hard to find any in depth info on this album.