Welcome to the Top Five special! I discovered my favorite band when they were mentioned by another artist in an interview. It's natural to be want to check out the influences of your favorite artists and see what inspires them to make the music that you love. That's what this special is all about.  We send out requests to tons of bands and labels to have their artists share with us their Top Five Albums of All Time and we have quite a collection of artists from across the musical spectrum that have turned in their picks! In the coming weeks we will be unveiling a new Top Five list three times a week. Lists from big names as well as indie artists will be included, so we hope you enjoy this special and you discover some music in the process.  - Keavin (editor antiMusic.com)

July 4th Update: Now that we have the official launch under our belt, we are moving to posting new lists on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. So stayed tuned over the next few months for more Top 5 lists, including special Top 5 song lists and Top 5 Artists lists. 

Karyn Crisis' Top Five Albums of All Time!

The top 5 albums of all time is too difficult! So here's my list for top 5 albums that influenced my singing style in the early days:

5.  Jane's Addiction - "Nothing's Shocking": The closest thing to metal that I liked when it came out with out-there male vocals.
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4.  Cranes - "Self Non Self":  Another unique, haunting band with creepy female vocals.
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3. The Sugarcubes - "Life's Too Good":  Great pop-rock band with amazing vocals by Bjork. Her vocals were raw in these days.
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2.  Cocteau Twins - "Treasure": Elisabeth Fraser's vocals were very influential on my "ethereal" vocals. Their music is so unique.
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1.  Einstuerzende Neubauten - "Fuenf Auf Der Nach Oben Offenen Richterskala": (translated: Five On The Open-Ended Richter Scale). This album is one of the most influential albums of all time on me. Blixa's vocals opened my eyes to a way of expressing my dark side, and their songwriting structure was easier for me to understand than that of "regular" songs.
(samples / buy cd)

About Karyn Crisis (Crisis): Karyn Crisis is the astounding vocalist of the LA metal band Crisis. "Trying to describe our sound is quite for hard us," she says, and she's correct. Essentially it's a metal band with equal doses of hardcore and thrash, sprinkled liberally with all kinds of elements from a plethora of styles. It all comes together to form a sound that is uniquely --- Crisis. The band is currently writing for the followup to 2004's "Like Sheep Led to Slaughter" which was a stellar collection of ground-breaking songs. They're on tour with Exodus and 3 Inches of Blood later this fall. - Also check antiMusic later this week for Morley's interview with Karyn!

For more on Crisis 

Official Website for Crisis
Preview and purchase Crisis music
 
 

Today we hear from Tracy Bonham

Tracy Bonham's Top Five Albums (right now)!

5.  Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People : The ultimate NY City soundtrack if you wanna walk around feeling gritty and cool.
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4.  Regina Spektor - Songs:  This could be one of my favorite records of all time. It's just Regina and her piano. Nothing gets in the way. It's pure and focused. Her song writing shines brightest on this record. It inspires me to try new things, to break the rules.
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3. Spoon - Gimme Fiction:  I love this band. I just discovered them in the past year - not knowing they have been around forever. The singer has sexy phrasing and delivery. It's all about him and the drummer.
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2.  The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow: This is my kind of song writing. I absolutely love the way it sounds, not overproduced, true to the songs and the band.
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1.  Sigur Ros - Sigur Ros: This record gives me so much inspiration. It's perfect for walking around with your iPod or for making love. A sentimental and beautiful soundtrack for walking. Sometimes makes me want to cry - a good cry.
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About Tracy Bonham: Tracy made the world sit up and take notice with her 1996 major label debut "The Burdens of Being Upright" with her genre bending style. That album spawned a major hit single "Mother Mother" and helped create a big buzz for Tracy's alternative within alternative style and music. Many saw her sophomore album "Down Here" as another artistic breakthrough and that effort cemented her following. Many wondered could she top that effort? The answer came earlier this year with the release of "Blink the Brightest" an album that continues Tracy's growth as an artist and places her solidly at the top of the alternative rock world. 

For more on Tracy Bonham 

Official Website for Tracy Bonham
Preview and purchase Tracy Bonham music
 
 

The Top Five special returns!  We kick things back off with Philip Labonte from All That Remains Top Five albums list plus the next staff list, this time from antiMusic editor Keavin Wiggins.

Philip Labonte's Top Five Albums of All Time!

5.  At The Gates - Slaughter The Soul
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4.  Clutch - Clutch
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3. Iron Maiden - Killers
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2.  Carcass - Necroticism
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1.  Sarah Mclachlan - Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
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About All That Remains: All that Remains is touring hard in support of their critically hailed sophomore set This Darkened Heart. After ripping it up with the Sounds of the Underground Tour, All That Remains jumped right back on the road with Chimaira, Six Feet Under and 3 Inches Of Blood to bring their metalcore to the masses across the US this month. See the link to the band's website for tour dates and to learn more about them. 

For more on All That Remains 

Official Website for All That Remains
Preview and purchase All That Remains

On Friday's we are featuring staff lists. This week's list comes from antiMusic editor Keavin Wiggins

Now that the special is rolling again, we are once again featuring staff lists on Friday. I decided to pull rank and post my list this time.  I wanted to do something a little different for my list. Instead of my top 5 favorite albums, I went my top 5 favorite underrated albums. Albums that I feel never got the attention they deserved.  I had to leave a few out because they are almost impossible to find now (even with Gemm.com, so I wouldn't want to upset anyone by writing about an album that might spark an interest only to disappoint because you can't buy the damn thing). - Keavin
 

Keavin's Top Five Albums of All Time!

5.  The American – Angie Aparo : Angie is a true songsmith and the thing I love the most about him is that everything he does is different. This album was my first exposure to him and it's a great showcase for his diverse talents. This should have shot to the top of the charts but he probably signed to the wrong label.  Vindication did come when Faith Hill took one of the songs from this album to No. 1. Of course, Angie's version is far superior. 
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4.  How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today – Suicidal Tendencies:  I love ST, especially their debut but this album really showed the band stepping outside of the box and venturing into the metal world, but also showing just how diverse they could be. It's great from start to finish and I'd put it up against any album by a "full on" metal band any day. 
(samples / buy cd)

3. Let's Get it On – The Step Kings:  In my opinion the absolute best album ever put out by Roadrunner Records. Sadly, perhaps because it stood out like a sore thumb from the rest of the roster, it didn't get that much promotion, which is too bad because this is how you should do heavy yet melodic music. The 'step-core' sound won me over from the first verse of "Vibe". This is just an all around amazing album. 
(samples / buy cd)

2.  Unified Theory: I wasn't much of a Blind Melon fan, they were a bit too "hippy" for my taste so I didn't expect much from the former members of that band. Let's just say I was pleasantly surprised when I heard this album. Some of the best songwriting of the 90s can be found here and each song stands on its own.  While this wasn't a commercial album by any stretch, I still think if it could have found a much larger audience. Sadly, this was the only offering from the band before they decided to part ways. But a fortunate few do have this in their collection. 
(samples / buy cd)

1.  Tweaked – Enuff Z'nuff: People that know me won't be surprised to see this heading my list as this is my all time favorite album. Donnie Vie is an amazing songwriter and can write power-pop gems in his sleep but this was a deeply personal album for him because it dealt with his addiction to heroin and as a result it's a very dark and somber album but also captures that bit of John Lennon that rests in Donnie's musical heart. What I love about it aside from it's brutal honestly and excellent songwriting is the mix of dark hard rockers, with heavy blues songs, and a couple nods towards Queen. 
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About Keavin Wiggins:  Keavin started Rocknworld.com way back in 1998 in hopes of creating a website that highlighted underappreciated rock artists along with the well known ones. A year later, feeling there were not nearly enough haters online, the inspiration for antiMusic came to him and anti was born…  it took on a life all it's own after that, molded by the character of the contributing writers as well as the regular readers. 
 
 

Check out week two's Lists from members of Lamb of God,  In Flames, Devildriver, Domeshots and Clit 45, plus Travis Becker's list

Check out week one's lists from members of Guns N' Roses, As I Lay Dying, Styx and Chino XL ... plus Hobo's list
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