30 Years of Music with Adam Johnson...Episode Twenty-Nine: "We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us"

83. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works (2007)

I was aware of this band for a while before finally jumping on the boat, and seeing them on Conan O'Brien changed my cynical opinion in a hurry. Where the Bad Brains harnessed passion and energy, the Dillinger Escape Plan lived up to their name through aural chaos, a connect-the-dots rendering of the Sistine Chapel drawn by a palsy patient.

They are mathy, brutal, scary, exciting, and catchy, sometimes even at the same time. "Thinking man's metal" for the tech generation, like solving a physics equation after too many ritalin while updating your Instagram.

Recommended Listening: Black Bubblegum, When Acting As A Particle/When Acting As A Wave, Milk Lizard, Party Smasher, Mouth of Ghosts

82. Cypress Hill - III: Temples of Boom (1995)

My favorite offering from B-Real and the gang. Though their first album is still probably their best, the beats herein steal the show. Murking the air with more than smoke, DJ Muggs shines brighter than a propane torch. More paranoid than their previous two offerings and thicker than indo, Temples of Boom shows the way.




Recommended Listening: Illusions, Boom Biddy Bye Bye, Locotes, Let It Rain


81. Leonard Cohen - The Essential Leonard Cohen (2002)

A true master and lover of songs, I've sort of considered Leonard Cohen the "real" Bob Dylan since my father once told me exactly that when I was very young: "This is what Bob Dylan was after."

Poetry never sounded so palpable.



Recommended Listening: Suzanne, Bird On the Wire, Famous Blue Raincoat, Hallelujah, If It Be Your Will, Everybody Knows, I'm Your Man, Tower of Song, Democracy, A Thousand Kisses Deep


80. Killing Joke - Killing Joke (2003)

A slap in the face when I needed it, Killing Joke's return to form slays pretty much everything around it at a given moment.

When faced with relevance in an age of indulgence and extremism, Jaz Coleman made the right decision: shame everyone. So, he got the band back together...plus Dave Grohl on drums. Dave Grohl kind of gets them their boner back.

Politics, love, mysticism (oh, the mysticism), and war are still the focus - everything, long and short of it. Killing Joke polish a wiiiiiide lense, and it can shine deadly when it needs to.

Recommended Listening: The Death and Resurrection Show, Asteroid, Total Invasion, Loose Cannon, You'll Never Get To Me, Dark Forces


79. The New Pornographers - Mass Romantic (2000)

My most favorite power-pop album in the whole wide world. Also, thank you, New Pronographers, for introducing me to Neko Case.

I'm a sucker for tuneful melodies and beats, and this super-group collective more or less farts hits. I bet they don't even rehearse without penning two to three guaranteed gems.

Four albums into their career and they still haven't touched this nova of a debut. Every song is meant to be sung aloud by a large group of people. Enjoy.

Recommended Listening: Mass Romantic, The Slow Decent Into Alcoholism, Letter From An Occupant, To Wild Homes, The Body Says No