CunninLynguists - Strange Journey Volume Three [2014]

CunninLynguists' strong discography has established them as one of the best hip-hop groups of their era. Producer Kno's unique and atmospheric approach always features great sample-work and meshes perfectly with Deacon and Natti's strong lyrics, flow, and wordplay. A few years before the release of Strange Journey Volume Three, the group announced that they wanted their fans to vote on the featured collaborators. The result is a top-notch album packed with features.

Wendy & Bonnie - Genesis [1969]

It is hard to believe due to the quality on display here, but Wendy & Bonnie were 17 and 13 respectively when they released this album. Gary McFarland, who was primarily known for arranging jazz, produced this entire album and enlisted various musicians from L.A. to help out. Genesis features invaluable contributions from Mike Lang and Mike Melvoin on the keyboards, Larry Carlton on guitar, Randy Cierly on bass and kalimba, and Jim Keltner on the drums. In short, it can be described as a psychedelic pop album with some slight influences from Brazilian music that was also being released at the time. One thing that stands out in the initial listens, besides the fact that the sisters' voices are drop-dead gorgeous, is definitely the guitar playing. Carlton and Bonnie really do a great job throughout the album - a great example of this being the second half of “You Keep Hanging Up on My Mind”. The guitar playing on this album, whether it is done by Carlton or Bonnie, is mostly very clean, with the occasional appearance of an electric solo.

Abbey Lincoln - Abbey Is Blue [1959]

Abbey is Blue is a record that stands out among many other vocal jazz albums by Abbey Lincoln herself and other singers of this classic jazz era, just as much for what it does include as for what is often not present in this album. The first thing that stands out here, besides Lincoln's gorgeous voice of course, is what it lacks: elaborate arrangements of any kind. In terms of the band that accompanies Lincoln throughout the album, everything here is generally quite minimal. This sparseness here is arguably one of the most important aspects of this album. The band, which included talented musicians such as Kenny Dorham (trumpet) and Max Roach (drums), contributed the perfect amount of mellow, sparse and often melancholic sounding accompaniment, giving the space needed for Lincoln's beautiful voice and lyrics to take center stage.

Pink Floyd - The Piper At the Gates of Dawn [1967]

If your first experience with Pink Floyd was through their 70s progressive rock run, there is a high possibility that you will not initially like this album. Obviously the core members, minus Gilmore, are here, but the Syd Barrett led Floyd was essentially a completely different band. Weird, psychedelic and arguably genre-defining are three words that could be used to describe The Piper At the Gates of Dawn.

João Gilberto - Chega de Saudade [1959]

There are very few records that one can point to and confidently say they are genre-defining in every sense of the term, Chega de saudade happens to be one of them. Bossa Nova is undeniably a significant part of Brazilian music history, and Chega de Saudade seems to be the first recording that launched bossa nova into the (Brazilian) public eye in the LP format. The majority of the songs found on this album, especially "Chega de Saudade" and "Desafinado", have been recorded many times by many Brazilian artists and will most likely continue to be recorded until people stop recording bossa nova entirely. Even without focusing on the main man here, just a quick glance of the credits reveals the names of greats such as Antonio Carlos Jobim, who is the king of this era of Brazilian pop music in terms of compositions, and Vinícius de Moraes, a poet and singer who wrote lyrics to many songs of this era that went on to become Brazilian standards.