Venue Co-Editors Micah and Robyn’s favourite albums!

While we’ve been hard at work getting Venue ready for the new year, we figured it was time for you to get to know the people behind our paper. So, sit back, relax, and listen along to some of our favorite tunes.

ROBYN’S TOP 5

5. Hybrid Theory – LINKIN PARK
LINKIN PARK is one of those bands that seems like they could never age poorly, despite just how distinctly noughties they sound. This album is an exploration of mental health told by the fantastic vocalist Chester Bennington, with the paranoid “Crawling” being the highlight. Like many so-called emo songs, it has fallen victim to meme culture, but if it means I get to hear it more often then I certainly won’t complain.

4. DISCO4 :: PART II – HEALTH
What HEALTH is best known for is their unusual electronic sound, which they combine with other genres to create music that is wildly different to any other kinds of music I have heard before. This album takes inspiration mostly from metal and industrial rock à la Nine Inch Nails (who actually feature on this album), and the final effect is dark, moody, and quite strange.

3. Brand New Eyes – Paramore
Every single album that Paramore has released is perfect, but Brand New Eyes is somehow perfecter than the rest. Hayley Williams’ absolutely amazing vocals floor me every time I listen to them. Several of the songs on this album have made me cry, and if that’s not the sign of good music then I don’t know what is.

2. Amyl and the Sniffers – Amyl and the Sniffers
Despite being an inherently antiestablishment genre, there is a disappointingly low number of punk bands with female vocalists. Amyl and the Sniffers is a gem amongst this testosterone-fuelled landscape, with Amy Taylor’s unforgiving, impolite, and charismatic vocals demanding attention. What I love about this album in particular is its retro feel, and the amazing guitar solos in “Some Mutts (Can’t be Muzzled)” are my favourite bit.

1. Eternal Blue – Spiritbox
Whilst the numbers for female-led punk bands are low, the number of female-led metal bands is even lower. And, when you listen to a band like Spiritbox, you can’t help but wonder why on earth this is the case. Courtney LaPlante is a truly talented artist, who could either sing me to sleep or exorcise demons with her screams. Eternal Blue is an album that fantastically showcases both sides of her.

MICAH’S TOP 5

5. The Velvet Underground & Nico – The Velvet Underground
My Velvet Underground record is one of my prized possessions; designed by Andy Warhol with a peelable banana sticker on the cover, revealing a hot pink banana underneath. The band’s debut album does a good job of blending dark and often shocking lyrical themes with mellow, melodic art-rock instrumentals. Along with Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day,” the album’s first track “Sunday Morning” is one of my favorite ways to start my day.

4. Channel Orange – Frank Ocean
I cannot listen to Channel Orange without thinking of secondary school. Usually, the thought of being back in school is enough to make me shudder, but this album is all the nostalgic parts lumped into one. “Super Rich Kids” sounds like skateboarding to my friend’s house, “Lost” sounds like days getting longer at the end of term, and “Thinkin’ Bout You” sounds like hours trapped inside during lockdown. Although I don’t listen to Frank Ocean as much as I used to, I can always count on “Bad Religion” to comfort me when I’m sad.

3. OK Computer – Radiohead
I would like to submit Radiohead’s full discography for third place, but I’ll settle for OK Computer. I lived down the street from Earlham Cemetery in second year, and this album accompanied me on many long strolls around the graveyard during winter. Today, “No Surprises” has become my “Wonderwall,” the song I unfortunately play whenever I pick up a guitar.

2. Back to Black – Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black is one of very few albums that I consider perfect (also including Cocteau Twins’ Heaven or Las Vegas, the Fugees’ The Score and Grace by Jeff Buckley), and one of the only true 21st-century classics. I was introduced to Amy Winehouse the same way I discovered a lot of music (my parents) and many childhood breakfasts were accompanied by “Rehab.” While I have little to say about this album that hasn’t been said already, it is a constant in my getting-ready routine.

1. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars – David Bowie
Any album that begins with “Five Years” and ends with “Rock ‘n Roll Suicide” cannot be anything less than a masterpiece. As soon as I hear the record’s opening drums, my soul exits my body and does not return for thirty-eight minutes. David Bowie is my favorite artist by a landslide, and while I prefer Aladdin Sane when I’m digging a glam rock vibe, Ziggy Stardust is perfect for any mood, especially during rainy Norwich afternoons.