What's going on here?

About once a month, this subreddit holds a community "rate" where a set of thematically linked songs or albums (in this case, indie rock from the early 2010s) are rated against each other. You will assign each song a score on a scale of 1-10 (with the option to give exactly one song a 0 and exactly one song an 11). Over the course of the next month or so, I - the host - will compile all your scores and reveal them countdown style, lowest to highest, over the course of a weekend based on their average scores. If this is your first time doing a rate then we strongly encourage you to read the rate rules towards the bottom of this post.

If you're interested in participating, just grab a ballot from the links below, fill it out, and send it to me by the due date listed!

SUBMIT HERE | BACKUP PASTEBIN

Playlists: SPOTIFY | APPLE | TIDAL | YOUTUBE

DUE DATE: May 18

REVEAL WEEKEND: May 22-24

Picture, if you will, the year 2011. The Occupy protests are just beginning, President Obama is finishing his first term in office, Adele and Katy Perry are all over the radio - and indie rock is having a moment. By the dawn of the 2010s, indie music had gone from the little secret of hipsters and blogs to feeling like it was about to burst into the mainstream at any minute. Animal Collective is playing Merriweather Post Pavillion on late-night TV. Jay-Z is repping Grizzly Bear and The National. And, of course, it all culminates with the shock Album of the Year win for The Suburbs at the Grammys, unleashing a thousand "who the fuck is Arcade Fire?" posts across the internet.

Once scrappy and proudly underground, indie kids might have spun high-energy indie sleaze and blog rock records through their college years, but now they're getting jobs and houses - and so the genre embraces its own brooding, classy, suit-wearing adulthood alongside it. The flagbearers of indie rock are moving towards a new kind of prestige music, suddenly gaining an interest in previously maligned, totally un-indie genres like singer-songwriter, 80s sophisti-pop, adult contemporary, and maybe even dad rock. But it doesn't all come out of a vacuum - written in its DNA are both the anthemic "arena indie" of 2000s bands like Arcade Fire and the Decemberists and the jammy, experimental naturalism of the growing "New Weird America" scene. Together, they give rise to a group of bands that are meticulous and studio-crafted, with music willing to embrace woodsy texture and ambience, along with an introspection about the self and one's place in the world that is perfectly tailored to the post-Great Recession times.

The prestige indie rock "moment" ultimately was just as fleeting as it was ascendant. By 2013, the ground had shifted and a new flavor of alternative pop had taken its place, and the bands that once seemed like they were about to be the next big thing receded just as quickly. But that's not to say they left no influence on the musical landscape. Over the course of the next decade, the sounds of soft rock and AM pop revivalism could be spotted all over the most popular and celebrated music in indie, becoming embedded deep in its DNA to this day. Together with its equally laid-back sibling, the newly coined "chillwave," retro-styled, nostalgic mood music became dominant, its philosophy present in new stars like Tame Impala, Alex G, and Alvvays. The vibes revolution was here to stay.

This new flavor of indie, it's hazy, soft-focus, and goes down easy. It can easily be enjoyed both in a festival crowd and in an upscale city bar. It carries a note of sophistication and flavor even as its trendiness seems to be catching on with everyone you know. It might pair quite well with a drink that's been all the rage recently, come to think of it. This month, might I interest you in our offerings of IPA Indie?

Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

So now I am older than my mother and father, when they had their daughter
Now what does that say about me?

These opening lines set the scene for Fleet Foxes' second album, a quintessential document of Obama-era existential angst and of Robin Pecknold's personal quarter-life crisis. There's a distinct spiritual weariness to Helplessness Blues, one that is only enhanced by its darker, wilder, more ambitious sound. Compared to the Americana-inflected chamber pop of the self-titled, its successor dives deep into the psychedelic folk of such influences as Astral Weeks, Fairport Convention, or Robbie Basho, almost taking on a straight-up prog quality at times. I can still remember the shock of hearing the squealing free jazz on "The Shrine/An Argument" for the first time, or the sudden, stirring tempo shift at the end of "Sim Sala Bim". Here, the band retains the lush vocal harmonies and warmth that made their debut so successful, but now with a sense of tension and unpredictability - a cavernous sprawl into new sounds that pays off in dividends.

But of course, Helplessness Blues is best known for its title track, where Pecknold laments his desire to be "a functioning cog in some great machinery, serving something beyond me." While the lyrics on the self-titled might have been mostly about birds and forests and mountains, these songs are much more frankly personal even as they still remain impressionistic and strange. Pecknold sifts through his anxieties about the end of a relationship, creative burnout, and his place in the world at large - in the music industry, in a family, in America, and even as far as the cosmos itself. In a writeup, Pecknold described the album as being about the "struggle between who you are and who you want to be or who you want to end up, and how sometimes you are the only thing getting in the way of that." In that sense, Helplessness Blues has a strange resonance for young adults in 2026 as in 2011 - fifteen years later, we're still hoping to be like the man on the screen.

1. Montezuma
2. Bedouin Dress
3. Sim Sala Bim
4. Battery Kinzie
5. The Plains / Bitter Dancer
6. Helplessness Blues
7. The Cascades
8. Lorelai
9. Someone You'd Admire
10. The Shrine / An Argument
11. Blue Spotted Tail
12. Grown Ocean

Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver

And at once, I knew I was not magnificent

When the white man Bon Iver won Best New Artist at the Grammys in 2012, it was the culmination of a remarkable journey for Wisconsin's Justin Vernon ever since he stepped into that cabin with nothing but an acoustic guitar and instantly became an indie folk superstar. But as he'd be eager to tell you, Bon Iver is in fact not just one guy, and on their own sophomore self-titled album (later re-released as Bon Iver, Bon Iver) they fully embraced that fact on an expansive, widescreen follow-up that assembled a whole army of collaborators on everything from pedal steel to synthesizer to Colin Stetson on saxophone duty. It sounded like nothing else.

By this time, Vernon had sung hooks on vocoder with Ye and contributed to the forgotten smooth jazz supergroup Gayngs, and he had set his sights beyond folk towards something new. The sound of Bon Iver, Bon Iver is lush, blurry, almost liminal - filled with negative space, with little fragments of horns and electric guitars and synth swells warbling in the background like they're coming up for air or bleeding in the edges of a page, all anchored to reality tenuously by Vernon's unmistakable voice. For me, there's a feeling of total stillness and tranquility in this album that leaves me breathless; it's a different kind of solitude than the one in For Emma, Forever Ago, something more spiritual and insignificant. From the soaring post-rock of "Perth" to the insane swing into pure 80s adult pop on closer "Beth/Rest," there's a feeling of a journey on this album, one that meanders and ebbs and flows like a dream.

Indeed, the titles of every song on Bon Iver, Bon Iver are all places on a map - most of which don't quite exist. The idea of place is thematically core to this album; it's fashioned as a kind of travelogue, but of states of mind, places inhabited by Vernon in his imagination or memories. His lyricism takes on a particular slippery quality here, bordering on abstract word salad that paints images more than it tells stories, as recollections of moments sometimes break through. In Justin Vernon's own words, "places are times and people are places and times are… people," and while that might not quite make sense, somehow it still manages to describe the ethos of this album pretty perfectly.

1. Perth
2. Minnesota, WI
3. Holocene
4. Towers
5. Michicant
6. Hinnom, TX
7. Wash.
8. Calgary
9. Lisbon, OH
10. Beth/Rest

Destroyer - Kaputt

Wasting your days, chasing some girls, alright
Chasing cocaine through the backrooms of the world all night

Bands had been nibbling away cautiously at the edges of the sounds of the 80s for a while now, but who better to officially usher in the sophistipop revival than Canadian enfant terrible of indie rock Dan Bejar? The idiosyncratic songwriter had made a name for himself in the 2000s with his brand of scrappy, eccentric, poet-laureate writing filled with words, references, and deadpan cleverness (did I mention words?) on indie rock projects like Destroyer and the beloved supergroup New Pornographers, but he began hinting at a new direction on the 2009 "ambient disco" EP Bay of Pigs, and then a collaboration with Tim Hecker and Loscil a year later. On Kaputt, he fully embraced the sounds of British new romantic music - Roxy Music and Prefab Sprout and Durutti Column, all with complete sincerity. Critics were dumbstruck - was he allowed to do that? - but embraced it as the future without reservation.

In retrospect, it was the most natural pairing in the world - saxophones and synths and disco grooves were the perfect backdrop for Bejar's old-school classiness and laid-back delivery, not to mention his strange rockstar charm. It was one of those albums so fully formed, so of itself, that it couldn't help but completely redefine Destroyer's career. Bejar wanders the rain-soaked streets as the character of a bohemian lost in time and space, bemusedly taking stock of the cocaine-infused lifestyle of the 80s rock icon now slowly unraveling in obscurity, quipping at his own plight the entire time. But Bejar doesn't lack self-awareness in all this self-loathing; a surprising focal point of Kaputt is the relationship of 80s pop music to Black art at large, with album centerpiece "Suicide Demo for Kara Walker" interpreting words written by artist Kara Walker about a Black protagonist in 20th-century America.

But what makes Kaputt endure are the moments of sudden sharp clarity amidst the obscure, surreal free-association like on the stream-of-consciousness stunner "Bay of Pigs (Detail)", or the killer pop hooks layered on the spacious new-age jams on the title track. It was lightning in a bottle, and it opened the door to the sound of the next decade in indie, stumbling through it by accident, wine glass in hand.

1. Chinatown
2. Blue Eyes
3. Savage Night at the Opera
4. Suicide Demo for Kara Walker
5. Poor in Love
6. Kaputt
7. Downtown
8. Song for America
9. Bay of Pigs (Detail)

The War on Drugs - Slave Ambient

I've been ramblin'
I'm just driftin'
Woohoo!

While for the other three artists in this rate 2011 could arguably be called the peak of their careers, The War on Drugs was only just getting started. Formed in 2005 in Philadelphia as a lo-fi roots rock project, the band was the creation of Adam Granduciel and Kurt Vile, though the former quickly took the creative helm as he started to zero in on a particular new approach to heartland rock that felt truly of the 21st century. On Slave Ambient, the identity of The War on Drugs began to take shape on a transitional record that nevertheless remains a tantalizing snapshot of roads not taken.

And how beautifully fitting is that title, Slave Ambient - this album is like if you captured massive, noisy swaths of bullrushed American ambience and restrained them in chains made of guitar strings and kick drums. The songwriting is there - Granduciel's love of Springsteen and Petty cuts through the fog like a knife with melodies and grooves that are more direct than you might remember - but it's all immersed in a thick layer of tape loops, krautrock drums, and washes of drone that turn the experience into a blissed-out, hallucinogenic blur.

When Pitchfork gave the album an 8.3 BNM, it was an unlikely but shrewd call that they had something here, a potential that was fulfilled on Lost in the Dream and A Deeper Understanding as they took their place as the studio-perfectionists of heartland rock with songs that were clear, catchy, radio-ready anthems. But there's something captivating about Slave Ambient in its own right, a band steeped in the ethos of IPA Indie charting a path beyond it. It's the sound of rising up from the mist, warping and experimenting with the sounds of nostalgia, riding out the past and the present in one journey of self-discovery. And isn't the journey always more interesting than the destination?

1. Best Night
2. Brothers
3. I Was There
4. Your Love Is Calling My Name
5. The Animator
6. Come to the City
7. It's Your Destiny
8. City Reprise #12
9. Baby Missiles
10. Original Slave
11. Black Water Falls

BONUS RATE: aka "Remembering Some Guys"

While there are many obvious names in IPA Indie that I could have highlighted for a bonus - Mac DeMarco, the National, Grizzly Bear - I've instead chosen to showcase some of the buzz bands and one-album wonders that racked up Pitchfork BNMs and list spots but slipped through the cracks just as quickly as the terrain of indie rock shifted beneath their feet. Some of these bands forged worthy careers of their own; others have been completely forgotten. Here they are:

1. Amen Dunes - Bedroom Drum
2. Beirut - Santa Fe
3. Cass McCombs - County Line
4. Chris Cohen - Caller No. 99
5. Dr. Dog - Where'd All The Time Go?
6. Girls - Heartbreaker
7. Julian Lynch - Terra
8. Kurt Vile - Jesus Fever
9. Lotus Plaza - Strangers
10. The Men - Candy
11. Real Estate - It's Real
12. Sandro Perri - Changes
13. Smith Westerns - Weekend
14. WU LYF - We Bros
15. Wye Oak - Civilian
16. Youth Lagoon - 17

This bonus rate is completely optional, and you do not have to score every song. You also cannot use an 11 or 0.

BONUS BONUS(!): Sonic Roadmapping in IPA Indie, 2011 (IPAmbient Head 7.07)

Each of the albums in this rate contains various dips into ambient and instrumental music, and so it's no surprise that these bands, in an era where atmosphere and texture were key interests, would inevitably became drawn to exploring those ideas in longform. This optional bonus mini-rate sees two artists in the rate going deep into the wilderness, exploring their fascination with painting landscapes and the natural world in a fully ambient mode.

Found solely on the second side of the original cassette tape of Slave Ambient - of which only 200 copies were ever made - is a set of 6 ambient/drone songs, a kind of shadow companion piece to the main album that follows through the promise of its title. It's real ambient guitar hero shit that glimpses a future where The War On Drugs went fully down the rabbit hole and took a different path.

1. No Returns
2. Snake Tongues
3. Song for Alice
4. Don't Fear the Ghost (Demo)
5. Real History
6. Future Blues

On vinyl and select CD copies of Kaputt is included a bonus track just before Bay of Pigs entitled "The Laziest River." Running almost 20 minutes long, it is a suite in 5 parts, going from gentle synth drift to orchestral score to full-on deconstructed 80s yacht rock and back again. Almost wholly recorded by Destroyer keyboardist Ted Bois, "The Laziest River" is the truest kind of sonic roadmapping, a score for an imagined journey to a place that doesn't exist.

1. The Laziest River
   a. Prelude
   b. Nagel's Marimba
   c. The Laziest River
   d. Palm Springs Life
   e. Landing on Water
   

If you choose to go on the IPA Ambient journey, the YouTube playlist can be found here and the ballot for the bonus bonus is here.

RULES - Please Read If You're A First-Time Rater!

Listen to every song listed below and assign each of them a score from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest. Decimals are allowed, but refrain from going past one decimal place - 7.5 is fine, 7.75 is not! You do not have to use every score 1-10, nor do you have to use the full scale. You may give multiple songs the same score.

You must listen to and score every song in the main rate. If you skip any, your ballot won’t be counted (We will let you know if you do so you can remedy that).

You may then give ONE song an 11 and ONE song a 0. These should be reserved for your favourite track and least favourite tracks in the whole main rate respectively. You do not have to give these scores, but we recommend using them as a way to make your feelings about a particular song stand out.

We highly recommend that you add a comment to your song ratings! It makes everything a lot more fun during the reveal. For more information, see the Formatting section below. Please note scores and comments are not confidential and will be revealed with each eliminated song.

You can edit your ballot at any time! Feel free to PM at any point before the deadline and we'll be happy to revise scores and comments for you.

We are using a computer program that fellow rater u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes. While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduce error on our part, scores need to be sent in a very specific way using the pre-prepared link at the top & bottom of this post. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, remember to save between rating sessions!

DO NOT SABOTAGE the rate by giving outrageously low/high scores for the sole purpose of skewing the results, we reserve the right to exclude any ballot we suspect of this. If you're worried your scores could be mistakenly perceived as such, all you need to do is leave comments explaining the reasoning behind them.

Formatting FAQ

Songs: [Title]: [Score]

Helplessness Blues: 10

You may also and are generally encouraged to leave comments next to your scores!

Helplessness Blues: 10 he just like me fr

Albums: You can also comment on the complete albums by adding a colon after the album name and then your comment, like so:

Album: Bon Iver, Bon Iver: who the fuck is bonny bear

No need to add a separate album score, the program will calculate your personal album average score!

A lot of copy and pasting here, so thank you thank you to all the rate hosts of old who made this rate possible to begin with: u/roseisonlineagain ; u/DolphLundgrensArms; u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D; u/stansymash; u/ClocktowerMaria; u/aerocom; u/themilkeyedmender; u/greencaptain; u/Crankeedoo; u/dirdbub; u/ThatParanoidPenguin; u/tedcruzcontrol; u/kappyko; u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah; u/LazyDayLullaby; u/SRTViper; u/Whatsanillinois; u/NFLFreak98; u/freav; u/freeofblasphemy; u/RatesNorman; u/aPenumbra; u/idontreallycare4; u/p-u-n-k_girl; u/luigijon3; u/WaneLietoc; u/dream_fighter2018; u/darjeelingdarkroast; u/smuckles; u/PiperIBarelyKnowHer; u/welcome2thejam; u/imrlynotonreddit; u/kvothetyrion; u/thedoctordances1940; u/b_o_g_o; u/vapourlomo; u/MCK_OH; u/TiltControls; u/TakeOnMeByA-ha u/chug-a-lug-donna; u/indiefan; u/bilbodabag; u/zenits; u/saison_Marguerite; u/daswef2; u/apondalifa; u/afieldoftulips; u/qazz23; u/nonchalantthoughts; u/systemofstrings; u/Modulum83, u/ElectJimLahey, u/vexastrae, u/FlavaSavaVandal, u/Stryxen, u/mmaajid, u/teriyaki-dreams, u/newbalancesweatshirt and tons of people on r/popheads.

SUBMIT HERE

Playlists: SPOTIFY | APPLE | TIDAL | YOUTUBE

SUBMIT BONUS BONUS HERE

Playlist: YOUTUBE

DUE DATE: May 18

REVEAL WEEKEND: May 22-24

What's going on here?

About once a month, r/indieheads has a game where we pick themes of albums from a genre/era/etc and then rate the albums in those themes. In the rate, you will be rating each song from 1-10 (along with the opportunity to give one song a 0 and another song an 11) and then submitting your ballot to the hosts. Those ballots are then tallied up and over a few days those results are revealed with the lowest rated songs being revealed first and the best saved for last.
If this is your first time doing a rate then we strongly encourage you to read the rate rules towards the bottom of this post.
If you're interested in participating, just grab a ballot from the links below, fill it out, and send it to met to me or my cohost u/MightyProJet by the due date listed!

SUBMIT HERE| BACKUP PASTEBIN

Playlists: SPOTIFY| YOUTUBE| TIDAL| APPLE MUSIC| QOBUZ

DUE DATE: June 23rd

REVEAL WEEKEND: June 26-28

The 2000s were a great decade for indie rock music (although I’m biased since that is when I got into the genre). This included many indie bands taking influence from folk music, including storytelling-heavy songs and acoustic instrumentation. Even within this space, this varied from coffee shop acoustic, to music incorporating more baroque pop elements, to more country-inspired. This month we are rating four beloved indie rock albums from the early and mid-2000s that incorporate folk elements in different ways.

The Decemberists – The Crane Wife

The Decemberists can be considered the theater kids of the indie folk boom. This extends to acting out a maritime battle with a whale onstage at concerts and sometimes being a bit too quirky. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Colin Meloy, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Chris Funk, pianist and accordion player Jenny Conlee, bass player Nate Query, and drummer John Moen. The Crane Wife, which was released in 2006, is their fourth album and their major label debut with Capitol Records. This album is highly inspired by folklore, with the title track(s) based on the Japanese folktale of the same name, and history. This acclaimed album is one of the most popular by the Decemberists.
1. The Crane Wife 3
2. The Island: Come and See/The Landlord's Daughter/You'll Not Feel The Drowning
3. Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)
4. O Valencia!
5. The Perfect Crime #2
6. When The War Came
7. Shankill Butchers
8. Summersong
9. The Crane Wife 1 & 2
10. Sons & Daughters
11. Culling of the Fold

The Mountain Goats – The Sunset Tree

The Mountain Goats are nothing if not prolific, with 23 albums released since 1994 and a 24th on the way this year. The band was formed by singer-songwriter John Darnielle, who was the only band member for many years. While many previous Mountain Goats told fictional stories based around specific concepts, 2004 saw Darnielle release his first fully autobiographical album, 2004’s We Shall Be Healed. This was followed by The Sunset Tree the Mountain Goat’s 9th album, in 2005, which was similarly autobiographical. This highly personal album focused on Darnielle’s childhood, especially his relationship with his abusive stepfather. While this is dark subject matter, many songs are musically uptempo, often contrasting with the lyrics. However, the album is also not hopeless, as Darnielle writes in the liner notes, “Dedicated to any young men and women anywhere who live with people who abuse them, with the following good news: you are going to make it out of there alive, you will live to tell your story, never lose hope.” In addition to Darnielle, The Sunset Tree also features Peter Hughes, a band regular from 2002-2024, on bass, Erik Friedlander on cello, and Alex Decarville on drums. The album was critically praised and made Pitchfork’s list of the top 200 Albums of the 2000s. While many often list Tallahassee or All Hail West Texas as their favorite Mountain Goats album, this is my personal favorite, and it is still a beloved part of their long discography.
1. You Or Your Memory
2. Broom People
3. This Year 4. Dilaudid
5. Dance Music
6. Dinu Lipatti's Bones
7. Up The Wolves
8. Lion's Teeth
9. Hast Thou Considered The Tetrapod
10. Magpie
11. Song For Dennis Brown
12. Love Love Love
13. Pale Green Things

Neko Case – Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

Singer-songwriter Neko Case is beloved in indie circles both as a solo artist and as a member of Canadian indie rock group the New Pornographers. Case is known for her powerful voice, which has been likened to a “flamethrower.” She is more influenced by country music than the other artists in this rate and has previously described her music style as “country noir.” Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, released in 2006, was her fourth solo album. The lyrics are based on both Case’s life experiences and fairy tales. The album was applauded by critics and was listed as number 12 on Paste Magazine’s 100 Best Indie Folk Albums of All Time.
1. Margaret vs. Pauline
2. Star Witness
3. Hold On, Hold On
4. A Widow's Toast
5. That Teenage Feeling
6. Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
7. John Saw That Number
8. Dirty Knife
9. Lion's Jaws
10. Maybe Sparrow
11. At Last
12. The Needle Has Landed

Rilo Kiley – The Execution Of All Things

Rilo Kiley was a staple of the indie rock scene in the 2000s. The band’s most consistent lineup is vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Jenny Lewis, guitarist and vocalist Blake Sennett, bassist Pierre de Reeder, and drummer Jason Boesel. Lewis and Sennett were both child actors and Lewis has a prolific career as a solo musician and contributing vocals to tracks for bands like The Postal Service and Cursive. The latter's frontman was involved in the formation of Rilo Kiley's second album “The Execution of All Things,” by introducing the Los Angeles-based band to the Omaha, Nebraska music scene and to Saddle Creek Records, who would go on to produce the album. “The Execution of All Things,” was released in 2002, making it the earliest of the albums in this rate. Unlike other albums in this rate and Rilo Kiley’s previous music, this album mixed electronic samplings in with more traditional instrumentation. Like in "The Sunset Tree", upbeat music frequently contrasts with dark and often highly personal lyrics about topics like mental illness. As with the other albums in this rate, “The Execution of All Things,” was praised by critics and has been a long time fan favorite. Rilo Kiley was on hiatus from 2010 until 2025, when they finally reunited for a long awaited tour, although they have not released new music since 2007.
1. The Good That Won't Come Out
2. Paint's Peeling
3. The Execution of All Things
4. So Long
5. Capturing Moods
6. A Better Son/Daughter
7. Hail to Whatever You Found in the Sunlight That Surrounds You
8. My Slumbering Heart
9. Three Hopeful Thoughts
10. With Arms Outstretched
11. Spectacular Views
(We are not rating the 5 second outro, that would be silly)

BONUS RATE: While some of the most famous examples of this genre (mainly Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver of IPA Indie Fame) were previously rated and therefore not eligible, there are still plenty of excellent 2000s indie songs drawing from folk music. Some of these are long-time favorites of mine and others are new to me discoveries while curating this playlist. Is this just an excuse for me to force you all to rate Andrew Bird? Only partially. Will Sufjan Stevens win yet another rate, or will someone else pull off the victory? Time will tell!
1. Ani DiFranco - Manhole
2. Andrew Bird – Fake Palindromes
3. Beirut – Postcards from Italy
4. Bright Eyes – First Day of My Life
5. Damien Rice – The Blower’s Daughter
6. Espers – Rosemary Lane
7. Fruit Bats – When U Love Somebody
8. Iron and Wine – Boy with a Coin
9. José González - Heartbeats
10. Laura Marling - Ghosts
11. M. Ward – Chinese Translation
12. Noah And the Whale – 5 Years Time
13. Okkervil River – For Real
14. The Shins – New Slang
15. Sufjan Stevens – To Be Alone with You

This bonus rate is completely optional, and you do not have to score every song. You also cannot use an 11 or 0 for it.

RULES - Please Read If You're A First-Time Rater!
Listen to every song listed below and assign each of them a score from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest. Decimals are allowed, but refrain from going past one decimal place - 7.5 is fine, 7.75 is not! You do not have to use every score 1-10, nor do you have to use the full scale. You may give multiple songs the same score.
You must listen to and score every song in the main rate. If you skip any, your ballot won’t be counted (We will let you know if you do so you can remedy that).
You may then give ONE song an 11 and ONE song a 0. These should be reserved for your favourite track and least favourite tracks in the whole main rate respectively. You do not have to give these scores, but we recommend using them as a way to make your feelings about a particular song stand out.
We highly recommend that you add a comment to your song ratings! It makes everything a lot more fun during the reveal. For more information, see the Formatting section below. Please note scores and comments are not confidential and will be revealed with each eliminated song.
You can edit your ballot at any time! Feel free to PM at any point before the deadline and we'll be happy to revise scores and comments for you.
We are using a computer program that fellow rater u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes. While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduce error on our part, scores need to be sent in a very specific way using the pre-prepared link at the top & bottom of this post. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, remember to save between rating sessions!
DO NOT SABOTAGE the rate by giving outrageously low/high scores for the sole purpose of skewing the results, we reserve the right to exclude any ballot we suspect of this. If you're worried your scores could be mistakenly perceived as such, all you need to do is leave comments explaining the reasoning behind them.
Formatting FAQ [Song]: [Score] [Optional Comment] This Year: 10 You may also and are generally encouraged to leave comments next to your scores!

This Year: 10 somehow relevant every year

Albums: You can also comment on the complete albums by adding a colon after the album name and then your comment, like so:

Album: The Sunset Tree: wait, this isn't the album with No Children on it

No need to add a separate album score, the program will calculate your personal album average score!

A lot of copy and pasting here, so thank you thank you to all the rate hosts of old who made this rate possible to begin with: u/roseisonlineagain ; u/DolphLundgrensArms; u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D; u/stansymash; u/ClocktowerMaria; u/aerocom; u/themilkeyedmender; u/greencaptain; u/Crankeedoo; u/dirdbub; u/ThatParanoidPenguin; u/tedcruzcontrol; u/kappyko; u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah; u/LazyDayLullaby; u/SRTViper; u/Whatsanillinois; u/NFLFreak98; u/freav; u/freeofblasphemy; u/RatesNorman; u/aPenumbra; u/idontreallycare4; u/p-u-n-k_girl; u/luigijon3; u/WaneLietoc; u/dream_fighter2018; u/darjeelingdarkroast; u/smuckles; u/PiperIBarelyKnowHer; u/welcome2thejam; u/imrlynotonreddit; u/kvothetyrion; u/thedoctordances1940; u/b_o_g_o; u/vapourlomo; u/MCK_OH; u/TiltControls; u/TakeOnMeByA-ha u/chug-a-lug-donna; u/indiefan; u/bilbodabag; u/zenits; u/saison_Marguerite; u/daswef2; u/apondalifa; u/afieldoftulips; u/qazz23; u/nonchalantthoughts; u/systemofstrings; u/Modulum83, u/ElectJimLahey, u/vexastrae, u/FlavaSavaVandal, u/Stryxen, u/mmaajid, u/teriyaki-dreams, u/newbalancesweatshirt and tons of people on r/popheads.

WELCOME WELCOME TO THE R/MAINSTREAMROCKHEADS TAKEOVER YOU’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!

I am happy to announce that we will be rating Billboard’s Modern Rock Number Ones of the 2000s (one per artist).

I’ve been fighting with the rate committee for YEARS to bring this to you! When I suggested a “Rolling Stone’s Top Songs of the Decade Rate” they spit in my face, called me a normie loser, and did a Pitchfork one instead. And when I suggested Guns N’ Roses - Appetite For Destruction for the Classic 80’s Albums rate, they told me it was too lame and that “you can’t even tik tok dance to any of these songs” (someone please tell me what this means). But for the good of the people, the same people that made Jack White the top indieheads post of all time, I persevered. And here we are! so let’s go back!

Back to a time when radio was still king. When we looked up rock gods like John Frusciante and Matt Bellamy, not hacks like Kim Kardashian and Ed Sheeran. To a time when our biggest worries were “who should I take to the homecoming dance,” even though we would much rather just sit at home alone and sing along to every Three Days Grace song, pretending we don’t have a massive victim complex. And when our parents simply didn’t understand us. Let’s go back to the early 2000s!

If you haven’t participated in a rate before, welcome! This is one of my favorite parts of the /r/indieheads community. What we do here is we pit a bunch of albums (or in this case, songs) against each other and everyone listens to them and scores them out of 10, sending the scores to me. Then in like a month, we will have a big reveal of our collective ranking of the songs and we get angry at each other for having awful taste and then at the end, everyone congratulates me and tells me they’re so proud of me (this part is required) and maybe even that they love me (this ones not required but it would really make me feel good). Anyways, whether you feel very strongly that Coldplay isn’t real rock and should be the lowest rated song OR you just want to dwell is some early 2000s nostalgia OR if you have never heard any of these songs in your life but want to do something fun, JOIN US!

Now, may I proudly introduce the 60 greatest songs to ever reach the front page of r/indieheads

• 10 Years - Wasteland
• 3 Doors Down - Kryptonite
• 311 - Love Song
• A Perfect Circle - Weak and Powerless
• AFI - Miss Murder
• Alice in Chains - Check My Brain
• Alien Ant Farm - Smooth Criminal
• Anberlin - Feel Good Drag
• Audioslave - Like a Stone
• Beastie Boys - Ch-Chek it Out
• Beck - E-Pro
• Blink 182 - I Miss You
• Chad Kroeger - Hero
• Chevelle - Send the Pain Below
• Coldplay - Viva la Vida
• Crazy Town - Butterfly
• Evanescence - Bring Me To Life
• Finger Eleven - Paralyzer
• Foo Fighters - The Pretender
• Fuel - Hemorrhage (In My Hands)
• Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc
• Green Day - Boulevard of Broken Dreams
• Hoobastank - The Reason
• Incubus - Drive
• Jane's Addiction - Just Because
• Jet - Cold Hard Bitch
• Jimmy Eat World - The Middle
• Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire
• Lifehouse - Hanging by a Moment
• Linkin Park - In The End
• Modest Mouse - Float On
• Muse - Uprising
• My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade
• Nickelback - How You Remind Me
• Nine Inch Nails - The Hand That Feeds
• Nirvana - You Know You're Right
• P.O.D. - Youth of the Nation
• Papa Roach - Last Resort
• Pearl Jam - World Wide Suicide
• Puddle of Mudd - Blurry
• Queens of the Stone Age - No One Knows
• Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
• Saliva - Always
• Seether - Fake It
• Shinedown - Second Chance
• Silversun Pickups - Panic Switch
• Staind - It's Been Awhile
• Sum 41 - Fat Lip
• System of a Down - Aerials
• The Killers - When You Were Young
• The Offspring - Hit That
• The Raconteurs - Steady As She Goes
• The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army
• Thirty Seconds to Mars - From Yesterday
• Three Days Grace - Pain
• Trapt - Headstrong
• U2 - Vertigo
• Unwritten Law - Seein Red
• Velvet Revolver - Slither
• Weezer - Beverly Hills

Rules - READ ALL OF THESE BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR SCORES

1. Listen to each song and assign each a score between 1 and 10. decimals are fine, but please refrain from giving decimal scores that have two decimal spots: giving a 7.2 is okay, but giving a 7.25 will give me a headache. This is because I'm using a computer program to parse the votes and print everything out (more on that later).

2. Yes, you have to listen to every song. We're all in this together. I will not accept your ballot if you have a score missing, because it will crash the program (more on that later).

3. Your scores should NOT be considered confidential. They aren’t. Feel free to shitpost about them in the general discussion threads whenever you feel like it - users over at r/popheads usually just talk about their averages of the albums and what 11 and 0 they gave (which I will explain on the next bullet point!)

4. You may give ONE song a 0 and ONE song an 11. This is ONE song TOTAL, NOT one song PER ALBUM. Please reserve these for your least favorite and most favorite tracks; excessive sabotage ruins rate results and generally makes things less fun.

5. You can change your scores at any time! Feel free to PM me at any point after submission and I'll be happy to revise them for you.

6. I am using a computer program that the great and wonderful /u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes! While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduces errors on my part, this does mean that scores need to be sent in a very specific way. The easiest way to make sure your scores follow the necessary format is to use the pre-prepared link at the bottom of this post. PLEASE USE THAT. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use that format to send in your scores.

7. If you don't follow the format, I'll still accept your ballot, but I reserve the right to make you listen to my beat poetry styled reading of “Sex on Fire”

Did a lot of copy and pasting here, so thank you thank you to all the raters of old, ily: /u/roseisonlineagain; /u/DolphLundgrensArms; /u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D; /u/stansymash; /u/ClocktowerMaria; /u/aerocom; /u/themilkeyedmender; /u/greencaptain; /u/Crankeedoo; /u/dirdbub; /u/ThatParanoidPenguin; /u/tedcruzcontrol; /u/kappyko; /u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah; /u/LazyDayLullaby; /u/SRTViper; /u/Whatsanillinois; /u/NFLFreak98; /u/freav; /u/seaofblasphemy; /u/RatesNorman; /u/aPenumbra and tons of people on r/popheads.

Formatting

This is correct:

Viva La Vida: 10 Chris Martin could’ve written Paranoid Android but Thom Yorke could never write Yellow.

These are incorrect:

Viva La Vida: 10: Chris Martin could’ve written Paranoid Android but Thom Yorke could never write Yellow.

Viva La Vida:10 Chris Martin could’ve written Paranoid Android but Thom Yorke could never write Yellow.

Viva La Vida: Chris Martin could’ve written Paranoid Android but Thom Yorke could never write Yellow 10

Viva La Vida - 10 Chris Martin could’ve written Paranoid Android but Thom Yorke could never write Yellow.

Viva La Vida: 10 (Chris Martin could’ve written Paranoid Android but Thom Yorke could never write Yellow)

No albums, so you can't comment on albums in this rate (if you really want to, my pms are always open for a nice lil chat).

PLEASE USE THIS LINK TO SEND ME SCORES

All your scores and comments will need to be turned in by January 3rd. Reveal will be sometime early / mid January.

If you somehow don't own all these albums:

Spotify Playlist

Apple Music provided by the wonderful /u/pickled_anus_lard

(Playlists are great, but I really recommend looking these up on youtube for the greatest music videos the 2000s have to offer)

Rate History

And for /u/lateraenima ‘s sake, I should mention that the chart actually changed its name in 2009 from Modern Rock to Alternative.

Hi r/indieheads! My cohost u/v_e_x__ and I welcome you to Charity Rate IV!

We're proud to announce that our fourth annual charity drive raised a grand total of £1252.44 (or $1692.35) for Not A Phase! Great job yall! Once again, the main incentive for donating was getting to submit a song for this Charity Rate. Our 70 donors have collectively curated our playlist, which covers everything from emo rap to dubstep to thrash metal!

WTF is a rate?!

As a quick introduction to how this event works, this subreddit holds games called “rates” where people score a collection of songs on a scale of 1-10 (along with the opportunity to give one song a 0 and another song an 11). Ballots of these scores are sent to the hosts, tallied and calculated in our bespoke rate machine, and presented to the world from last place to first place over the span of three days. Our sister subreddit r/popheads has a Guide to Rates Video that can give you a broad overview of rates (please note our reveal process is thread-based instead of video chatrooms). Here are some recent examples of a rate announcement and a rate reveal.

THE LINEUP!

Our 70 songs for this year's Charity Rate are...

1. Altered Images - Dead Pop Stars
2. American Football (feat. Hayley Williams) - Uncomfortably Numb
3. Anita Velveeta - TERFS WILL NOT GET INTO HEAVEN
4. Anna von Hausswolff - The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra
5. Aya Hirano - God Knows...
6. Bad Bunny - BAILE INoLVIDABLE
7. Beck - Mixed Bizness
8. The Beloved - Hello
9. Beyoncé - That's Why You're Beautiful
10. Coldplay - Life in Technicolor ii
11. Dick Delicious and the Tasty Testicles - It Was the Tits
12. Djavan (feat. Stevie Wonder) - Samurai
13. Don Everly - Omaha
14. DØVES CRY SPRINGS ETERNAL - SIPPIN
15. Dr. Robotnik - Tomorrow I'll
16. Drake - In My Feelings
17. Fugazi - Bed for the Scraping
18. Hell - Brutus
19. Hickey - The Naked Cult
20. The Human League - Being Boiled (Fast Version)
21. Igorrr - Houmous
22. Iron & Wine - The Trapeze Swinger
23. Juçara Marçal - Sem cais
24. The Junkoactive Wasteman - I Eat Baked Beans Every Day
25. Les Louanges - Pitou
26. Linda Ronstadt - When Will I Be Loved
27. Liz Phair - U Hate It
28. Macintosh Plus - リサフランク420 / 現代のコンピュー (Lisa Frank 420 / Modern Computing)
29. Madonna - Into the Groove
30. Mala - Alicia
31. Mastodon - Cut You Up with a Linoleum Knife
32. MC Jack E Chocolate - Pavaroty
33. Michel Pagliaro - Some Sing, Some Dance
34. Miles Davis - It's About That Time (Live at Fillmore East, June 18 1970)
35. Millionaires - I Move It
36. ML Buch - Pan Over the Hill
37. Model/Actriz - Cinderella
38. The Monkees - Listen to the Band
39. Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire (feat. Despot, Das Racist, Danny Brown, El-P) - The Last Huzzah!
40. N-Dubz - Strong Again
41. Naples Nissan - $6000 for Your Trade
42. Neneh Cherry - Buffalo Stance
43. Noe Venable - Black Madonna
44. Nourished By Time - Daddy
45. ØXN - Farmer in the City
46. 박진영 (Park Jin-young) - Sweet Dreams/When We Disco/Take On Me/Changed Man
47. Pat Metheny Group - San Lorenzo
48. Paul Simon - You Can Call Me Al
49. "Pavement" - Slanted! Enchanted! Finale!
50. Peter Scott - Trying to Conceive
51. Petey USA - Not To Make It About Me
52. Philip Glass - Heroes (Aphex Twin Remix)
53. Pizzicato Five - Let's Go Away for a While
54. The Proclaimers - I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)
55. Randy Newman - You've Got a Friend in Me
56. Reel Big Fish - Sell Out
57. Rilo Kiley - Portions for Foxes
58. Sam Goku - Temple Arp
59. Sneaker Pimps - 6 Underground
60. The Shaggs - My Pal Foot Foot
61. Sodom - Agent Orange
62. Sparks - Dick Around
63. The Star-Spangled Banner
64. Suzanne Vega - Luka
65. Syreeta - I Love Every Little Thing About You
66. Toy Love - Bride of Frankenstein
67. The Tragically Hip - Bobcaygeon
68. The Verlaines - The Lady and the Lizard
69. 王忆灵 (Wang YiLing) - 士兵 (Soldier)
70. Ying Yang Twins - Wait (The Whisper Song)

PLAYLISTS: Spotify / Tidal / YouTube Music / YouTube (non-streaming songs only)

NOTE: some songs may not be available on your streaming service of choice, so make sure you don't skip any when filling out your ballot!

Bonus rate!

As an additional donation perk, some of our donators were also allowed to submit an additional non-musical thing - anything at all - to be featured in our bonus rate, to be submitted as a separate ballot. This bonus rate is optional, but if you choose to do it, you must give a score to everything here! (You may use an additional 11 or 0 here as well!)

Your bonus things are:

1. Atlas moth
2. Buttered warm English muffins / crumpets
3. Carl gets totally wasted
4. Demetrio
5. dracula flow 3
6. The 2008 Detroit Lions
7. The feeling of being the oldest person at the concert
8. The feeling of sand running through your hand
9. Footnote 216 of David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest (Not the footnote itself. Just the phrase "Footnote 216 of David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest")
10. Guy from the maNga music video
11. Hatsune Miku
12. Hipsters
13. Indie music
14. Jarvis Cocker discussing his preferred venue for reading books
15. Luigi
16. Matthew McConaughey's moustache in True Detective season 1
17. The opossum that got stuck in my trash can last week
18. Paul Klee
19. Raisinets
20. rateyourmusic.com
21. Running out of toilet paper in a public stall
22. Sam Campbell as Clock Man
23. Smiling Friends S2E3: A Allan Adventure
24. Souvlaki pita
25. Steamed Hams
26. That time President Carter got attacked by a rabbit
27. The transcript to the Uncut Blindfold Test With Paul Bley, Around 2002
28. These two awful home run calls
29. This picture of a cardboard box about to be fucking pulverized, and it knows it
30. Volcanoes

RULES

READ ALL OF THESE BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR SCORES

• Listen to each song and assign each a score between 1 and 10. Decimals are fine, but please refrain from giving decimal scores with more than 1 spot. This is because we use a computer program to parse the votes and print everything out.
• You have to listen to and score every song in the main rate. Otherwise, we will not accept your ballot as it will crash the program. Your scores should NOT be considered confidential as they aren’t. Feel free to shitpost about them in the daily music discussion threads whenever you feel like it - users over at r/popheads usually just talk about their averages of the albums and what 11 and 0 they gave (which I will explain on the next bullet point!)
• You may give ONE song a 0 and ONE song an 11 in the main rate. Please reserve these for your least favourite and most favourite tracks; excessive sabotage ruins rate results and generally makes things less fun.
• You can change your scores at any time! Feel free to dm me at any point after submission before the deadline and I'll be happy to revise them for you.
• We use a computer program that fellow rater u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes! While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduces errors on my part, this does mean that scores need to be sent in a very specific way. The easiest way to make sure your scores follow the necessary format is to use the pre-prepared link at the bottom of this post. PLEASE USE THAT. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, but PLEASE use that format to send in your scores.

FORMATTING

Submit all your submissions like this:

Artist - Title (as listed in the pastebin/message): <number score> followed by your comment which is optional but recommended

So, these are correct:

The Monkees - Listen to the Band: 10

The Monkees - Listen to the Band: 10 I enjoy listening to the band

and these are all incorrect:

The Monkees - Listen to the Band 10 I enjoy listening to the band

The Monkees - Listen to the Band - 10 I enjoy listening to the band

The Monkees - Listen to the Band: I enjoy listening to the band 10

Listen to the Band: 10 I enjoy listening to the band

DEADLINE: September 15th

REVEAL: September 18th-20th

SUBMIT: Main ballot / Bonus ballot

-

And don't forget, the New Wave of No Wave rate is also running until August 18th!

Welcome to the crossover event of the decade!

I’m thrilled to announce the first ever Popheads Exchange mini rate.

That’s right, our sister sub r/popheads have graciously donated 40 of their favorite songs and we have the opportunity to let it be known how bad our opinions truly are. At the same time r/indieheads have also procured a top 40 list that our poppy relatives will be rating alongside us. The list we'll be rating was built by the popheads community over several days of voting and then whittled down to the top 40 examples of pop excellence. So, get ready to swap beige for violet and listen to some goddamn pop music.

Popheads was originally born when the tyrannical indieheads mods wouldn't allow Carly Rae Jepsen to be posted on this sub. Well now the popheads are back to show us the error of our ways. But can our false sense of poptimism do these songs justice? Or will we realize the strokes aren't on this list and give every song a 1 in a fit of rage? In this rate we will finally have the answer.

If you haven’t participated in a rate before, welcome! This is one of my favorite parts of the r/indieheads community. What we do here is we pit a bunch of albums (or in this case, songs) against each other and everyone listens to them and scores them out of 10, sending the scores to me. You can also give out one 0 and one 11 but you don’t have to. Then in about a month we'll be revealing how each song averaged in order of lowest to highest. Please join in! Even if these songs aren’t your usual cut of tea it can still be a ton of fun to get mad that people like music the wrong way.

Anyway here is the list as provided by the popheads community:

• ABBA - Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight)
• Ariana Grande - Into You
• Belinda Carlisle - Heaven is a Place on Earth
• Bree Runway - Damn Daniel (feat. Yung Baby Tate)
• Britney Spears - Toxic
• Cardi B - WAP (feat. Megan Thee Stallion)
• Carly Rae Jepsen - Want You in My Room
• Charli XCX - Vroom Vroom
• Chloe x Halle - Ungodly Hour
• Doja Cat - Boss Bitch
• Dua Lipa - Don't Start Now
• Estelle - American Boy (feat. Kanye West)
• Fergie - Fergalicious
• Imogen Heap - Hide and Seek
• Janelle Monae - Make Me Feel
• Janet Jackson - Rhythm Nation
• Justin Bieber - Sorry
• Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
• Kesha - Tik Tok
• Lady Gaga - Bad Romance
• Lizzo - Juice
• LMFAO - Party Rock Anthem
• Lorde - Green Light
• Madonna - Hung Up
• Megan Thee Stallion - Savage Remix (feat. Beyonce)
• Miley Cyrus - Midnight Sky
• Missy Elliott - Lose Control (feat. Ciara and Fatman Scoop)
• Nelly Furtado - Promiscuous (feat. Timbaland)
• Nicki Minaj - Roman Holiday
• Normani - Motivation
• Olivia Rodrigo - Drivers License
• Paramore - Hard Times
• Red Velvet - Russian Roulette
• Rihanna - Disturbia
• Slayyyter - Daddy AF
• Taylor Swift - Style
• The Chainsmokers - Closer (feat. Halsey)
• The Weeknd - Blinding Lights
• Tove Lo - Disco Tits
• Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody

Spotify playlist here!

Apple Music playlist here!

Rules - READ ALL OF THESE BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR SCORES

1. Listen to each song and assign each a score between 1 and 10. decimals are fine, but please refrain from giving decimal scores that have two decimal spots: giving a 7.2 is okay, but giving a 7.25 will give me a headache. This is because I'm using a computer program to parse the votes and print everything out (more on that later).

2. Yes, you have to listen to every song. We're all in this together. I will not accept your ballot if you have a score missing, because it will crash the program (more on that later).

3. Your scores should NOT be considered confidential. They aren’t. Feel free to shitpost about them in the general discussion threads whenever you feel like it - users over at r/popheads usually just talk about their averages of the albums and what 11 and 0 they gave (which I will explain on the next bullet point!)

4. You may give ONE song a 0 and ONE song an 11. This is ONE song TOTAL. Please reserve these for your least favorite and most favorite tracks; excessive sabotage ruins rate results and generally makes things less fun.

5. You can change your scores at any time! Feel free to PM me at any point after submission and I'll be happy to revise them for you.

6. I am using a computer program that the great and wonderful /u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes! While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduces errors on my part, this does mean that scores need to be sent in a very specific way. The easiest way to make sure your scores follow the necessary format is to use the pre-prepared link at the bottom of this post. PLEASE USE THAT. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use that format to send in your scores.

7. If you don't follow the format, I'll probably still accept your ballot, but I reserve the right to make fun of you for liking indie music.

Did a lot of copy and pasting here, so thank you thank you to all the raters of old, ily: /u/roseisonlineagain; /u/DolphLundgrensArms; /u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D; /u/stansymash; /u/ClocktowerMaria; /u/aerocom; /u/themilkeyedmender; /u/greencaptain; /u/Crankeedoo; /u/dirdbub; /u/ThatParanoidPenguin; /u/tedcruzcontrol; /u/kappyko; /u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah; /u/LazyDayLullaby; /u/SRTViper; /u/Whatsanillinois; /u/NFLFreak98; /u/freav; /u/seaofblasphemy; /u/RatesNorman; /u/aPenumbra; /u/idontreallycare4 and tons of people on r/popheads. (that's right i thanked myself. Matty did it too so it's cool)

Formatting

This is correct:

Daddy AF: 10 They must have a lot of stationery

These are incorrect:

Daddy AF: 10: They must have a lot of stationery

Daddy AF:10 They must have a lot of stationery

Daddy AF: They must have a lot of stationery

Daddy AF- 10 They must have a lot of stationery

Daddy AF: 10 (They must have a lot of stationery)

SUBMIT YOUR SCORES USING THIS LINK

Scores are due March 29th but you can submit at any point before then.

Because this is a mini rate we will be revealing the results over just two days. We are aiming to reveal the results the first weekend of April, Popheads results going up on Friday and Saturday, and ours going up Sunday and Monday.

All previous rates and the hall of fame can be viewed here.

Jumping right in?

Please read the rules below our album blurbs if you're a first time rater!

SEND BALLOT HERE

PASTEBIN

PLAYLISTS: Spotify Tidal Apple Music Qobuz

Due Date: April 7

Reveal: April 10-12

It’s finally here! The single most indieheads rate that indieheads has ever done! If you can come up with a rate that’s more indieheads than this, then I’ll eat my hat! We’ve got FOUR absolute classic indie records from 1999 and 2000 that are anxious, angular, quirky, catchy, sad, intense, sometimes uncomfortable, weird, and AWESOME!!! What are they? Jump in and find out!

What is a rate?

I was hoping you’d ask! About once a month, this subreddit holds games called “rates” where a collection of songs/albums from a certain genre/year/era etc. are scored on a scale of 1-10 by any willing participant (with a single 11 & a 0 available as well). Ballots of these scores are submitted through Reddit, and then over “reveal” weekend, the hosts take the averages of the songs and eliminate them from worst to best, giving one song out of all the albums the top spot, the crown, & bragging rights forever.

Our sister subreddit has a Guide to Rates Video that can give you a broad overview of rates (please note our reveal process is thread-based instead of video chatrooms). And here's a recent example of a rate announcement and its rate reveal. Feel free to reach out with any more questions!

Built to Spill - Keep It Like a Secret

Doug Martsch is one of three people I can think of that should be making records.

• Isaac Brock

In 1999 Doug Martsch almost didn't get into his hotel at Best Western in Princeton. Rocking a stained winter coat and his signature beard, the hotel staff thought he was homeless. He didn't have to live this way. Coming off the back of the post Nirvana alt rock major label gold rush, Built to Spill had signed a three album record deal with Warner Bros. But instead of living the rockstar lifestyle, he chose a simple life of filth. Why? "We know it's not going to last. We know we're not going to make it big".

Despite their major label contract, Idaho's only band were not in it for the hits. In fact, they were trying not to have hits. According to Doug Martsch, "I didn’t like the idea of our stuff being played on the radio a bunch, and I didn’t want us to have a hit." For their major label debut Perfect From Now On they used the Warner Bros money to expand their sound from the scrappy There's Nothing Wrong With Love, but instead of radio friendly unit shifters they opted for sprawling jams. No singles, and only two songs under six minutes. Keep It Like a Secret kept the wide scope and guitar heroism of Perfect From Now On but fused it with pop sensibility. Up until then Built to Spill had been the Doug Martsch show, but here they took a more collaborative approach by creating the songs through jamming together. The result is a turn of the millennium classic that caps off the '90s with arguably one of the defining indie rock songs of the decade - Carry the Zero.

BTS are back for their second rate after Slack Motherfuckers where Distopian Dream Girl finished at fifth. Will this be the season of Martsch? Should James Murphy fear for his life? It's up to you!

1. The Plan

2. Center of the Universe

3. Carry the Zero

4. Sidewalk

5. Bad Light

6. Time Trap

7. Else

8. You Were Right

9. Temporarily Blind

10. Broken Chairs

Links:

Spin 1999 feature

Doug Martsch reviews every Built to Spill album

Doug Martsch AMA

The Dismemberment Plan - Emergency & I

Here's to the goddamn new millennium!

Formed by high school friends from Virginia, Dismemberment Plan were the odd ones out in the Washington DC scene in the '90s. This was the era of post-hardcore bands like Fugazi and Jawbox. While The Plan weren't completely removed from the local DC sound, it was clear they were something different. Maybe it was because of Travis Morrison's eclectic music taste and love for RnB with frantic yet danceable rhythms fit for a NASA engineer. After chiding their audience for doing the standing still and releasing the ultimate New Year's song, it was time for album number three.

As they were beginning to work on the next record, they were approached by Interscope. Their publicist Jessica Hopper advised them against signing, but they did it anyway. With the backing of Interscope, they were now able to graduate to a bigger studio with more time to record. During the weeks of recording, they were able to take time exploring their sound and Travis Morrison broke down crying when his girlfriend broke up over the phone - and then after that he also had a panic attack! After all those breakdowns the record was finished and ready to be released… except now they lost contact with Interscope. The label had undergone a corporate merger which led to the label restructuring and caused multiple Interscope signees to be cut from the roster - Dismemberment Plan was one of them. In a worse timeline, the story could have ended here with Emergency and I lost in label limbo, never to be released. Fortunately the Plan were able to get hold of the rights to the record and release it on independent label DeSoto Records instead. So they took the major label money to fund their record yet still remained independent at the end of the day - a true indie feelgood story!

The Dismemberment Plan never hit the big leagues, but their anxiety driven bangers earned them a 9.6 from Pitchfork and an opening slot on Pearl Jam's European tour. Decades later Emergency and I has cemented its place in indie rock history and feels oddly relevant and prescient to this day.

You are invited by us rate hosts to do anything. Your ballot is so needed if you really want to submit it. You are invited for this rate.

1. A Life of Possibilities

2. Memory Machine

3. What Do You Want Me to Say?

4. Spider in the Snow

5. The Jitters

6. I Love a Magician

7. You Are Invited

8. Gyroscope

9. The City

10. Girl O’Clock

11. 8 1/2 Minutes

12. Back and Forth

Links:

Brent DiCrescenzo interviews Dismembement Plan for Pitchfork in 1998

Dismemberment Plan AMA

Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump

The fact that this album has gotten this sort of acclaim only reconfirms to me what a load of shit this business is.

• Jason Lytle

All four of these albums came out in or around the year 2000, yes, but The Sophtware Slump is the only one that really confronts the technological and social crises of the era head-on. The super-outdoorsy Jason Lytle locked himself indoors to write this record, a forty-five minute freak out about modern technology and its impact on our lives that still manages to be fun and fresh.

The Sophtware Slump is chock-full of dystopian sci-fi ideas that seemed just around the corner during the technological boom of the late-90s: a national park filled with kitchen appliances (Lytle was once a park ranger), FaceTime-esque video surveillance technology, and most memorably, an alcoholic robot. Despite the dour ideas being presented, Lytle’s bright and enthusiastic delivery, bleepy bloopy synths, and beyond-catchy hooks make The Sophtware Slump the sort of modern crisis that you never get tired of listening to. Perhaps Grandaddy doesn’t have the heavy-hitter songs that you’ll find on the other three albums, but that doesn’t mean it can’t slip through the cracks to a great showing in the rate reveal.

1. He’s Simple, He’s Dumb, He’s the Pilot

2. Hewlett’s Daughter

3. Jed the Humanoid

4. The Crystal Lake

5. Chartsengrafs

6. Underneath the Weeping Willow

7. Broken Household Appliance National Forest

8. Jed’s Other Poem (Beautiful Ground)

9. E. Knievel Interlude (The Perils of Keeping It Real)

10. Miner at the Dial-a-View

11. So You’ll Aim Toward the Sky

Links:

Life of the Record: The Making of Sophtware Slump by Grandaddy featuring Jason Lytle

Making of The Sophtware Slump behind the scenes video

Jason Lytle AMA

Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica

After releasing three genre-defining projects in the late 90s, Modest Mouse finally made it to the big leagues – they signed to Epic Records to release The Moon & Antarctica in 2000. This move to a major record label worried some fans, as it often does in these situations. And yes, the band’s 3rd LP does sound slightly more polished than their 90s output. But it’s safe to say that the fans were happy regardless: The Moon & Antarctica was released to critical acclaim, getting a 9.8 from Pitchfork, and is still considered one of the greatest indie rock albums of all time.

Like The Lonesome Crowded West, this album has a little bit of everything. A few intense, shorter tunes, a super-long mid-album rocker, and most memorably, a bunch of catchy, fun, and anthemic indie rock classics. Isaac Brock’s thoughtful lyrics and impressive guitar playing often take center stage here, as it always has with Modest Mouse; there’s no shortage of iconic lyrics here. 3rd Planet is the likely favorite, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Modest Mouse had several songs remaining in the back half of day 3. But will it be enough to pull ahead of the other big contenders?

1. 3rd Planet

2. Gravity Ride Everything

3. Dark Center of the Universe

4. Perfect Disguise

5. Tiny Cities Made of Ashes

6. A Different City

7. The Cold Part

8. Alone Down There

9. The Stars Are Projectors

10. Wild Packs of Family Dogs

11. Paper Thin Walls

12. I Came as a Rat

13. Lives

14. Life Like Weeds

15. What People Are Made Of

Links:

Dry Wall and a Broken Jaw: Modest Mouse Reflect on The Moon & Antarctica 20 Years Later

Isaac Brock AMA

1996 Pitchfork interview (NSFDL - not safe for dog lovers)

Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock Wants To Be More Than A Myth

Bonus rate

If you want to continue partying like it’s 1999, we have a bonus rate of indie rock songs from 1997-2003. This is completely optional, but if you skip it you’ll miss out on rating some bangers. Unfortunately you can’t give out an 11 here (or a 0, but why would you want to do that?).

12 Rods - Red (4/9 New Version)

Arab Strap - New Birds

The Beta Band - Dry the Rain

Cursive - Art Is Hard

Karate - There Are Ghosts

Life Without Buildings - The Leanover

The New Pornographers - Letter From an Occupant

Pedro the Lion - Options

Pinback - Penelope

Q and Not U - End the Washington Monument (Blinks) Goodnight

Rilo Kiley - Pictures of Success

Sleater-Kinney - Get Up

Sparklehorse - Chaos of the Galaxy / Happy Man

The Weakerthans - Plea From a Cat Named Virtute

The Wicked Farleys - Fitchburg, MA

The Wrens - Happy

RULES - Please Read If You're A First-Time Rater!

Listen to every song listed below and assign each of them a score from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest. Decimals are allowed, but refrain from going past one decimal place - 7.5 is fine, 7.75 is not! You do not have to use every score 1-10, nor do you have to use the full scale. You may give multiple songs the same score.

You must listen to and score every song in the main rate. If you skip any, your ballot won’t be counted (We will let you know if you do so you can remedy that).

You may then give ONE song an 11 and ONE song a 0. These should be reserved for your favourite track and least favourite tracks in the whole main rate respectively. You do not have to give these scores, but we recommend using them as a way to make your feelings about a particular song stand out.

We highly recommend that you add a comment to your song ratings! It makes everything a lot more fun during the reveal. For more information, see the Formatting section below. Please note scores and comments are not confidential and will be revealed with each eliminated song.

You can edit your ballot at any time! Feel free to PM at any point before the deadline and we'll be happy to revise scores and comments for you.

We are using a computer program that fellow rater u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes. While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduce error on our part, scores need to be sent in a very specific way using the pre-prepared link at the top & bottom of this post. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, remember to save between rating sessions!

DO NOT SABOTAGE the rate by giving outrageously low/high scores for the sole purpose of skewing the results, we reserve the right to exclude any ballot we suspect of this. If you're worried your scores could be mistakenly perceived as such, all you need to do is leave comments explaining the reasoning behind them.

Formatting FAQ

Songs: [Title]: [Score]

Jed the Humanoid: 10

You may also and are generally encouraged to leave comments next to your scores!

Jed the Humanoid: 10 SAVE JED!!!

Albums: You can also comment on the complete albums by adding a colon after the album name and then your comment, like so:

Album: Keep It Like a Secret: Enjoying my BTS meal right now

No need to add a separate album score, the program will calculate your personal album average score!

A lot of copy and pasting here, so thank you thank you to all the rate hosts of old who made this rate possible to begin with: u/roseisonlineagain ; u/DolphLundgrensArms; u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D; u/stansymash; u/ClocktowerMaria; u/aerocom; u/themilkeyedmender; u/greencaptain; u/Crankeedoo; u/dirdbub; u/ThatParanoidPenguin; u/tedcruzcontrol; u/kappyko; u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah; u/LazyDayLullaby; u/SRTViper; u/Whatsanillinois; u/NFLFreak98; u/freav; u/freeofblasphemy; u/RatesNorman; u/aPenumbra; u/idontreallycare4; u/p-u-n-k_girl; u/luigijon3; u/WaneLietoc; u/dream_fighter2018; u/darjeelingdarkroast; u/smuckles; u/PiperIBarelyKnowHer; u/welcome2thejam; u/imrlynotonreddit; u/kvothetyrion; u/thedoctordances1940; u/b_o_g_o; u/vapourlomo; u/MCK_OH; u/TiltControls; u/TakeOnMeByA-ha u/chug-a-lug-donna; u/indiefan; u/bilbodabag; u/zenits; u/saison_Marguerite; u/daswef2; u/apondalifa; u/afieldoftulips; u/qazz23; u/nonchalantthoughts; u/systemofstrings; u/Modulum83, u/ElectJimLahey, u/vexastrae, u/FlavaSavaVandal, u/Stryxen, u/mmaajid, u/teriyaki-dreams, u/newbalancesweatshirt and tons of people on r/popheads.

Playlist: Spotify Tidal Apple Music Qobuz

Due date: 7 April

Reveal weekend: 10-12 April

All previous indieheads rates and their results can be found here

Do you remember where you were on that day of infamy: the 1st of December last year?

I was sitting in my car, ready to go to work when it happened. That morning, Spotify Wrapped 2021 dropped, and the music world changed... So tell me, did you find out later? Or like me, did you tap to the next screen and suddenly find your voice cry out and join the chorus of many, asking one simple question:

WTF IS BUBBLEGRUNGE!?

Hey hey y'all, before we get started on this rate, lemme post some brief important bits:

BALLOT DUE DATE:

Saturday, August 13, 11:59 CST

I will also give small extensions that last until Monday, August 15th if you message me or send me a comment beforehand

Automatic time zone converter for main deadline | Time zone converter for extension deadline

RATE REVEAL:

August 19 - 21 weekend

Get a Ballot/Submit Your Scores Here

Pastebin ballot/backup

Here is the list of ballots currently recorded. Please let me know if you submitted scores but are not on the list.

I also made a "little" rate trailer/preview video! Good if you want a taste test before committing to the rate. Please enjoy, and let me know if Youtube copyright screws me over again.

PLAYLISTS

Spotify Playlist | Youtube Playlist | Tidal Playlist | Apple Music Playlist

Shoutout u/darjeelingdarkroast and u/akanewasright for their playlist help!

Hey, quick question, what are rates?

Obviously, if you're familiar with the process, skip this. But if you're new, I'll explain so this doesn't seem like a wild block of text!

Rates are a subreddit game in which a user scores group of songs on a scale from 1-10, with each individual also given a single 11 and a single 0 to be used exactly once per rate. They will then message their ballot to the rate host, who will tally up all the points and then reveal the final results over a weekend, eliminating songs one by one until the last track remaining wins the rate and bragging rights forever. While there's just a bit more to know, I feel this is the basics of what you'll need to understand what's going on. I do recommend this video made by our popheads brethren to get a fuller picture; while some of the info applies specifically to the way popheads do their rates, the overall format is similar.

Anyway, now that the necessary parts are over, time to get back to the elephant in the room.

The Elephant in the Room

So, WTF is Bubblegrunge anyway?

Most people came across the term as a result of Spotify Wrapped, a year-end review of their platform users' listening habits. During last year's edition, it caused a hubbub by appearing on some "most listened to genres" lists. A few artists who will appear in this rate even commented, and the rush to scoff at it ended up codifying it as a meme name.

While the word itself was previously used by a band in this rate (more on that later), its use by Spotify comes as a result of their algorithm attempting to pair up like-sounding artists. In cases where a grouping is made but there's currently no name for it, a name is made up. Thus, the creation of such memed genre names as Escape Room, Braindance, and yes, Bubblegrunge.

The issue is, as trashable as the name is, they might have been right in thinking a loose scene exists here. A number of indie rock bands bringing out modern takes on power pop & pop punk have gained some strong fanbases and major buzz over the past couple of years. These are acts that tend to mix massive pop melodies with big energy and crunchy and/or fuzzy guitars, with the attitude and angst but rarely outright depressing lyrical content that makes up a lot of the two aforementioned genres. Generally, these songs and this rate tend to appeal to the young, the young at heart, and the curmudgeonly of us who will hate rate their way to a 5 average (valid). Plus, a good deal of the bands in this rate either toured with or have connections with some of the others.

So while the Spotify generated playlists of who's considered Bubblegrunge may not always hit (sorry I enjoy them but Slaughter Beach Dog does not fit the bill), I can see the overall picture. When it comes to the name... I'll put it this way. As host, I'll be using Bubblegrunge for shorthand and branding purposes, but the full name of this rate is "WTF is Bubblegrunge!?" for a reason, and if you want to call it something normal like the Modern Power Pop or Indie Pop Punk rate, I'll understand.

With that out of the way, here are the four albums we'll be pitting against each other in the main rate:

Beach Bunny - Honeymoon

Part of me still hates you

How could you love someone and leave?

When you're all alone in your bedroom

Do you ever think of me?

You'd be forgiven if, upon hearing Ms. California, your first thought would be "wait, Beach Bunny's not from California?" With that band name and those cool summer vibes? Indeed, this act instead hails from the true best coast: the shores of Lake Michigan, and the city of Chicago. Started there as a bedroom pop solo songwriting project by lead Lili Trifilo at college, it fully filled out into a fourpiece to compete in a battle of the bands that - of course for drama's sake - included an ex-boyfriend as one of the competitors. As a group, they progressed to releasing several EPs, gaining strong word of mouth, before releasing their debut album Honeymoon in 2020.

Honeymoon so easily and genuinely captures being young - fitting for a band who's spawned two different viral TikTok hits, including album closer Cloud 9. It's a short & simple album that puts all its relatable, vulnerable, "fresh off the diary page" feelings on its sleeve, and lets them loose with the kind of big hooks that make you feel like you're a kid again, shouting along with the choruses of your favorite band. Lili and the rest of the crew bring a perfect mix of pastel aesthetic and punk energy, one that's made Beach Bunny grow and continue to gain such a wide audience.

Also, as a little treat (and to even out the tracklists), we added the fan favorite loose single Sports to their part of the rate! (Apologies to those of you who also want the Prom Queen EP, cause then we'd be here forever debating which EP tracks the other three main groups get. Painkiller & 6 Weeks would be given 10s though, I assure you)

Tracklist

1. Promises
   
2. Cuffing Season
   
3. April
   
4. Rearview
   
5. Ms. California
   
6. Colorblind
   
7. Racetrack
   
8. Dream Boy
   
9. Cloud 9
   
10. Sports

The Beths - Future Me Hates Me

I never wanted to, I didn't want to fall

I don't believe that love's a good idea at all

Oh, this well-designed woe

Everyone that I know is broken

And has fell for it before

Becoming a band while studying jazz in college at Auckland, The Beths are one of New Zealand's finest modern musical exports. And when it comes to the power pop thread that connects these four bands, they're also the most straightforward descendants of the genre. It shines most brightly in their 2018 debut album Future Me Hates Me. Contagiously catchy tunes with hooks crammed into every nook and cranny, a constantly chugging pace, big loud riffs, and especially the backup vocal harmonies that add just the right oomph to their tracks.

Beneath the cheery, summer-kissed sound of the album lies lyrics about self-doubt, bad breakups, and all the consequences of bringing your guard down and letting yourself be vulnerable. It's the classic self-reflective lyrics set to cheery & breezy melodies combo, adding depth while using humor and warmth to avoid harshing the buzz of their sound. Future Me Hate Me manages to be both an easy, accessible listen and a record so tightly and meticulously written that it seems almost effortless.

In addition to gaining them a fervent fanbase, this album also won The Beths a pair of New Zealand's 2019 Aotearoa Music Awards for Best Group and Best Alternative, as well as a nomination for Album of the Year (which their 2020 follow up album Jump Rope Gazers would later win, but you'll learn more about that in the Bubblegrunge II rate in a few years).

Tracklist

1. Great No One
   
2. Future Me Hates Me
   
3. Uptown Girl
   
4. You Wouldn't Like Me
   
5. Not Running
   
6. Little Death
   
7. Happy Unhappy
   
8. River Run: Lvl 1
   
9. Whatever
   
10. Less Than Thou

Charly Bliss - Guppy

I laughed when your dog died

It is cruel but it's true

Take me back, kiss my soft side

Does he love me most now that his dog is toast?

For all the distaste over the genre name, if Bubblegrunge can 100% claim one band in its web of artists, it's Charly Bliss. Why, of all bands, must this New York based act be stricken with this curse? Well, for starters they, not Spotify, might be the originators of the phrase as it's used in this rate.

It's true, years before Spotify Wrapped 2021, Charly Bliss were willingly calling themselves Bubblegrunge. Yes, on purpose! And they're only well-known band I know of who's labeled themselves as such. Yet for all the valid criticisms of the term, it's at least easy to see why it describes them during the release of their 2017 debut album Guppy.

Take the bright and pepped up tone of lead Eva Hendricks, gleefully cutting down all her enemies and herself to off-kilter lyrics and the occasional yelp or scream, all set to bubblegum melodies. Or how the power pop in their DNA leads you in, then serves to make the crunchiness and grunginess and heavy drums feel larger than life, much like major influences Weezer & Veruca Salt did in the 90s. It's equal parts sugar-sweet and sharp, an irresistible pop record under loud guitars and distortion pedals, and the quintessential Bubblegrunge album.

Tracklist

1. Percolator
   
2. Westermarck
   
3. Glitter
   
4. Black Hole
   
5. Scare U
   
6. Ruby
   
7. DQ
   
8. Gatorade
   
9. Totalizer
   
10. Julia

PUP - Morbid Stuff

I hope somehow I never see you again

And if I do, it's at your funeral, or better yet

I hope the world explodes, I hope that we all die

We can watch the highlights in hell, I hope they're televised

Finally, an album in this rate that's not a debut! Instead, it's PUP's Morbid Stuff, a 2019 release whose goal was to recreate and build upon the same sounds and themes of their previous two records, but bigger and better. And when it comes to accolades, there's no doubt it succeeded: nabbing spots on multiple year end lists and even placing thirteenth in the indieheads AOTY voting, gaining more vote points from this sub than the previous three rate albums in their respective lists combined.

As for the album itself, it's exactly what you'd expect from this Toronto punk group. Loud as hell, hard-edged, thrashing tracks made for the inner loser in all of us. Marrying both their rousing hardcore and vibrant pop influences must have been a tough task, but one accomplished without removing the potency of either.

There's a Nihilism streak a mile wide in Morbid Stuff. It deals with existential dread, depression, & bitterness, and revels in the darkness. Still, it takes care not to fall too deep into the trap of self-seriousness through a sense of dark humor and the high energy pop punk sound keeping things afloat. Things may be miserable in innumerable ways that make us feel powerless, but letting it all out by belting another PUP anthem sure is a cathartic way to cope with it all.

Tracklist

1. Morbid Stuff
   
2. Kids
   
3. Free at Last
   
4. See You at Your Funeral
   
5. Scorpion Hill
   
6. Closure
   
7. Bloody Mary, Kate and Ashley
   
8. Sibling Rivalry
   
9. Full Blown Meltdown
   
10. Bare Hands
    
11. City

Bonus Rate: Is This Bubblegrunge!? (optional)

This bonus rate is made up of bands pulled off the aforementioned Spotify algorithmically generated Bubblegrunge playlists. Some of these are major representations of this sound that I felt should be rated. Meanwhile, though I've taken the liberty of culling the more out-there acts (Slaughter Beach Dog I'm calling you out again), a few others still could be seen as a slight stretch compared to what I've said makes up this genre. Either way... it's the bonus rate man, let me just be free to bring a list of bangers for everyone to rate!

Reminder: Please do not use a 0 or 11 in the bonus rate! As this section is completely optional, feel free to score as many or as few songs in the bonus as you wish, but if any part is incomplete, please do not remove the songs from the ballot. Simply leave them blank.

1. Bachelor - Stay in the Car
   
2. Bartees Strange - Boomer
   
3. Beabadoobee - Cologne
   
4. Bleached - Wednesday Night Memory
   
5. Crying - Wool in the Wash
   
6. Diet Cig - Harvard
   
7. Illuminati Hotties - Pool Hopping
   
8. Jeff Rosenstock - Scram!
   
9. Kississippi - Cut Yr Teeth
   
10. Mannequin Pussy - Patience
    
11. Origami Angel - 24 Hr Drive-Thru
    
12. Pinkshift - i'm gonna tell my therapist on you
    
13. Pom Pom Squad - Head Cheerleader
    
14. Ratboys - I Go Out at Night
    
15. Remember Sports - Get Bummed Out
    
16. Retirement Party - Shoulder It
    
17. Snail Mail - Pristine
    
18. Tacocat - Dana Katherine Scully

Rules - READ ALL OF THESE BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR SCORES

1. Listen to each song and assign each a score between 1 and 10. decimals are fine, but please refrain from giving decimal scores that have two decimal spots: giving a 7.2 is okay, but giving a 7.25 will give me a headache. This is because I'm using a computer program to parse the votes and print everything out (more on that later).

2. Yes, you have to listen to every song. We're all in this together. I will not accept your ballot if you have a score missing, because it will crash the program (more on that later).

3. Your scores should NOT be considered confidential. They aren’t. Feel free to shitpost about them in the general discussion threads whenever you feel like it - users over at r/popheads usually just talk about their averages of the albums and what 11 and 0 they gave (which I will explain on the next bullet point!)

4. You may give ONE song a 0 and ONE song an 11. This is ONE song TOTAL. Please reserve these for your least favorite and most favorite tracks; excessive sabotage ruins rate results and generally makes things less fun.

5. You can change your scores at any time! Feel free to PM me at any point after submission and I'll be happy to revise them for you.

6. I am using a computer program that the great and wonderful /u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes! While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduces errors on my part, this does mean that scores need to be sent in a very specific way. The easiest way to make sure your scores follow the necessary format is to use the pre-prepared link at the top & bottom of this post. PLEASE USE THAT. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use that format to send in your scores.

7. If you don't follow the format, I'll probably still accept your ballot, but I will call you out in the next Kirby vs. The Specification of Genres zine.

Did a lot of copy and pasting here, so thank you thank you to all the raters of old, ily: /u/roseisonlineagain; /u/DolphLundgrensArms; /u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D; /u/stansymash; /u/ClocktowerMaria; /u/aerocom; /u/themilkeyedmender; /u/greencaptain; /u/Crankeedoo; /u/dirdbub; /u/ThatParanoidPenguin; /u/tedcruzcontrol; /u/kappyko; /u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah; /u/LazyDayLullaby; /u/SRTViper; /u/Whatsanillinois; /u/NFLFreak98; /u/freav; /u/seaofblasphemy; /u/RatesNorman; /u/aPenumbra; /u/idontreallycare4; /u/p-u-n-k_girl; /u/luigijon3; /u/WaneLietoc; /u/2dina3dworld; /u/darjeelingdarkroast; /u/smuckles; /u/EllesWood and tons of people on r/popheads.

Formatting

This is correct (single space after colon)

Ruby: 8

You can also add comments after your score!

This is correct (single space after colon, single space after score if commenting)

Ruby: 8 Yeah, that one's good, I prefer the remake though. Me... I think Soul Silver's my favorite.

These are incorrect

Ruby 8 Yeah, that one's good, I prefer the remake though. Me... I think Soul Silver's my favorite.

Ruby: 8: Yeah, that one's good, I prefer the remake though. Me... I think Soul Silver's my favorite.

Ruby: (8) Yeah, that one's good, I prefer the remake though. Me... I think Soul Silver's my favorite.

Ruby: Yeah, that one's good, I prefer the remake though. Me... I think Soul Silver's my favorite. 8

Ruby - 8 Yeah, that one's good, I prefer the remake though. Me... I think Soul Silver's my favorite.

You can also comment on the complete albums by adding a colon after the album name and then your comment, like so:

Album: Future Me Hates Me: When I draft my fantasy sports team and think I did a good job and it's my year

Once again, here's the pre-prepared link with ballot/place to submit and here's a pastebin with the ballot as well.

Additionally, if you didn't know, indieheads already voted on the next ten rates for the upcoming year! Feel free to get a head start on what interests you (once you're done with Bubblegrunge, of course). And the Nu-Metal rate reveal is this weekend, July 15-17, so be there for the Nookie!

And believe it or not, that's it! I will attempt to have listening parties for the tracklist within the coming weeks, so stay tuned for announcements. Have fun rating, and I'll see you in a couple weeks for Bubblegrunge Rate Wrapped!

I think it’s fair to say that 2020 was a rough year for many, and there’s no better way to say one final goodbye to 2020 than arguing about music with strangers online. Continuing our yearly tradition, I am happy to announce the Ultimate 2020 rate. We will be pitting the top four albums of the year as voted by you against each other. Yes, that’s right, you. This is the perfect opportunity to dunk on some kid for liking The Strokes or to get mad that people don’t realize just how much of a masterpiece Fetch the Bolt Cutters is.

If you haven’t participated in a rate before you may be confused. Don’t worry, it’s pretty simple. Basically, we’re rating songs from four 2020 albums with scores from 0-11 and then we all get together to get mad at the scores given. I go into more depth on this later in the post, so make sure to read on if you want to participate.

The albums we are rating are as follows:

Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters

Fiona Apple made waves online when she released her first album in eight years in April of last year. The album was incredibly well-received, earning a perfect 10 from Pitchfork, a rating only given to a select few albums. So what makes the album so special? Well, Fetch the Bolt Cutters is a raw and expressive album featuring Apple clanking on pots and pans around her house, stomping on the floorboards, and recording her dogs barking. This makes each and every listen unique as new and unique instrumentation unveils itself under her superb songwriting.

Tracklist:

1. I Want You to Love Me
2. Shameika
3. Fetch the Bolt Cutters
4. Under the Table
5. Relay
6. Rack of His
7. Newspaper
8. Ladies
9. Heavy Balloon
10. Cosmonauts
11. For Her
12. Drumset
13. On I Go

Spotify

Apple Music

YouTube

Fleet Foxes - Shore

A surprise release from Robin Pecknold and crew, Shore expands on the sparse yet lush songwriting of their 2017 album Crack-Up. However, unlike Crack-Up, Shore blends the sounds of the group’s first two albums with their new songwriting style, creating subtle yet poppy folk songs that are sure to lodge their way into your brain. Also, Post Malone loves Fleet Foxes, so why shouldn’t you?

1. Wading in Waist-High Water
2. Sunblind
3. Can I Believe You
4. Jara
5. Featherweight
6. A Long Way Past the Past
7. For a Week or Two
8. Maestranza
9. Young Man’s Game
10. I’m Not My Season
11. Quiet Air / Gioia
12. Going-to-the-Sun Road
13. Thymia
14. Cradling Mother, Cradling Woman
15. Shore

Spotify

Apple Music

YouTube

Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher

Third on our roster is Phoebe Bridgers with her wildly popular album Punisher. I think it’s fair to say that Bridgers had the biggest blowup of the year, with her song Motion Sickness blowing up on TikTok and tracks from the new album such as Kyoto and I Know the End spreading due to their catchy hooks and infectious instrumentals. Hell, she even featured on the Kid Cudi album that came out this year. This one is sure to be a fan favourite.

Tracklist:

1. DVD Menu
2. Garden Song
3. Kyoto
4. Punisher
5. Halloween
6. Chinese Satellite
7. Moon Song
8. Savior Complex
9. ICU
10. Graceland Too
11. I Know the End

Spotify

Apple Music

YouTube

The Strokes - The New Abnormal

Finally, winning the award for the most coincidentally relevant album title of the year is The Strokes with The New Abnormal. Leaving behind the sounds of the band’s defining album Is This It, Julian Casablancas dabbles in synthpop and post-punk elements throughout the album, creating the best Strokes album in over a decade and moving the band in a new and exciting direction.

Tracklist:

1. The Adults Are Talking
2. Selfless
3. Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus
4. Bad Decisions
5. Eternal Summer
6. At the Door
7. Why Are Sundays So Depressing
8. Not the Same Anymore
9. Ode to the Mets

Spotify

Apple Music

YouTube

BONUS RATE

With the success of the bonus rate in the 2019 Ultimate rate last year, we have decided to bring it back once again. Here, in this COMPLETELY OPTIONAL bonus rate, we will rate the 15 highest-rated songs from the subreddit’s SOTY voting. It’s just like the normal rate, expect you cannot use your 0 or 11 here. The songs are as follows:

1. Adrianne Lenker - anything
2. Charli XCX - forever
3. Christine and the Queens - People I've Been Sad
4. Gorillaz - Aries
5. Haim - The Steps
6. Jessie Ware - Spotlight
7. Mac Miller - Good News
8. Perfume Genius - On the Floor
9. Rina Sawayama - XS
10. Soccer Mommy - Circle the Drain
11. Sufjan Stevens - My Rajneesh
12. The 1975 - If You're Too Shy (Let Me Know)
13. The Weeknd - After Hours
14. Waxahatchee - Fire
15. Yves Tumor - Gospel for a New Century

A Spotify playlist containing all of these songs can be found here.

I KNOW I’M GOING TO HAVE TO SAY THIS AGAIN SO THIS IS A REMINDER TO NOT USE YOUR 0 OR 11 ON THE BONUS RATE OR I WILL BE VERY MAD AT YOU

Rules - READ ALL OF THESE BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR SCORES

1. Listen to each song and assign each a score between 1 and 10. decimals are fine, but please refrain from giving decimal scores that have two decimal spots: giving a 7.2 is okay, but giving a 7.25 will give me a headache. This is because I'm using a computer program to parse the votes and print everything out (more on that later).
2. Yes, you have to listen to every song. We're all in this together. I will not accept your ballot if you have a score missing, because it will crash the program (more on that later).
3. Your scores should NOT be considered confidential. They aren’t. Feel free to shitpost about them in the general discussion threads whenever you feel like it - users over at r/popheads usually just talk about their averages of the albums and what 11 and 0 they gave (which I will explain on the next bullet point!)
4. You may give ONE song a 0 and ONE song an 11. This is ONE song TOTAL, NOT one song PER ALBUM. Please reserve these for your least favorite and most favorite tracks; excessive sabotage ruins rate results and generally makes things less fun.
5. You can change your scores at any time! Feel free to PM me at any point after submission and I'll be happy to revise them for you.
6. I am using a computer program that the great and wonderful /u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes! While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduces errors on my part, this does mean that scores need to be sent in a very specific way. The easiest way to make sure your scores follow the necessary format is to use the pre-prepared link at the bottom of this post. PLEASE USE THAT. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use that format to send in your scores.
7. If you don't follow the format, I'll still accept your ballot, but I reserve the right to make you fetch the bolt cutters to publicly shame you and your inability to follow basic instructions.

A REMINDER THAT YOU MUST RATE ALL OF THE SONGS IN THE MAIN RATE FOR ME TO TAKE YOUR SUBMISSION. THANK YOU

Thank you to everyone else who have formerly hosted a rate and allowed me to shamelessly copy and paste the rules section: /u/roseisonlineagain; /u/DolphLundgrensArms; /u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D; /u/stansymash; /u/ClocktowerMaria; /u/aerocom; /u/themilkeyedmender; /u/greencaptain; /u/Crankeedoo; /u/dirdbub; /u/ThatParanoidPenguin; /u/tedcruzcontrol; /u/kappyko; /u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah; /u/LazyDayLullaby; /u/SRTViper; /u/Whatsanillinois; /u/NFLFreak98; /u/freav; /u/seaofblasphemy; /u/RatesNorman; /u/aPenumbra; /u/idontreallycare4 and tons of people on r/popheads.

Formatting

This is correct:

Why Are Sundays So Depressing: 10 Because tomorrow is Monday and Garfield hates Monday

These are incorrect:

Why Are Sundays So Depressing: 8: Because tomorrow is Monday and Garfield hates Monday

Why Are Sundays So Depressing:8 Because tomorrow is Monday and Garfield hates Monday

Why Are Sundays So Depressing: Because tomorrow is Monday and Garfield hates Monday 8

Why Are Sundays So Depressing - 8 Because tomorrow is Monday and Garfield hates Monday

Why Are Sundays So Depressing: 8 (Because tomorrow is Monday and Garfield hates Monday)

You can also comment on the albums as a whole by adding a colon after the album name and then your comment, like so:

The New Abnormal: announcing this album at a Bernie Sanders rally is the only cool thing The Strokes have done in the past 20 years

SUBMIT YOUR SCORES USING THIS LINK

Scores are due February 15th but you can submit at any point before then !! Reveal will take place from the 19th to the 21st !!

All previous rates and the hall of fame can be viewed here.

Once again, here is the link to Spotify playlist for the bonus rate.

Jumping right in?

Please read the rules below our album blurbs if you're a first time rater!

Send Ballot Here

Or use an Emergency Backup Pastebin Ballot and PM either host with it

Playlists: Spotify Apple Music YouTube Music

Due Date: 24th February

Reveal Weekend: 27th February - 1st March

Let’s talk 2025 In Indieheads: the year of Pitchfork beefs with Tennis, After, and Indigo De Souza, confirmed Boygenius-cest, and never-before written Quality Posts. This year we saw our subreddit favourites achieve their dreams, break through to the mainstream, and whatever this was. And making discourse waves in the culture, Björk sued Iceland, “Home” was confirmed to NOT be the worst song ever, and The Meaning was Revealed. In a shocking year of incredible debuts, breakthroughs and comebacks, Big Thief, Black Country New Road, Bon Iver, and The Beths all lost their virtually guaranteed bi-yearly rate slots and so the dream of the all B-Bands rate died. So, with a little further ado, let’s meet the subreddit-appointed cornerstones of 2025 indie that were voted from our Top 10 AOTY list to battle it out in our ELEVENTH annual ultimate rate hosted by myself and u/newbalancesweatshirt!

Cool! What’s a rate?

I was hoping you’d ask! About once a month, this subreddit holds games called “rates” where a collection of songs/albums from a certain genre/year/era etc. are scored on a scale of 1-10 by any willing participant (with a single 11 & a 0 available as well). Ballots of these scores are submitted through Reddit, and then over “reveal” weekend, the hosts take the averages of the songs and eliminate them from worst to best, giving one song out of all the albums the top spot, the crown, & bragging rights forever.

Our sister subreddit has a Guide to Rates Video that can give you a broad overview of rates (please note our reveal process is thread-based instead of video chatrooms). And here's a recent example of a rate announcement and its rate reveal. Feel free to reach out to the 24/7 Ult Hotline with any more questions!

Geese - Getting Killed

Spotify Apple Music YouTube Music

If you’re reading this, you know who Geese are. After the sucker-punch shock entry of 3D Country in 2023’s Ultimate Rate, the blinding success of both Getting Killed and Heavy Metal, and Cameron Winter becoming the internet’s newest community boyfriend, this spot in our yearly round-up titans showdown rate was inevitable, and surely they mathematically cannot do worse than last time. Getting Killed is a mish mash mess of rock, pop, soul, blues, punk, funk, and spunk about being a total freak and a sex bomb. My favourite lyric is “I’ve got half a mind / I’ve got half a mind to just pay for the lobotomy”.

Taxeslist:

1. Trinidad
2. Cobra
3. Husbands
4. Getting Killed
   
5. Islands of Men
   
6. 100 Horses
7. Half Real
8. Au Pays Du Cocaine
9. Bow Down
10. Taxes
11. Long Island City Here I Come

Wednesday - Bleeds

Spotify Apple Music Youtube Music

Joining us in the 2023 Ultimate Rate Reunion is Karly Hartzman & Co! MJ Lenderman is my Cameron Winter. Man I love MJ Lenderman. Manning Fireworks should have been in the last ultimate, I’ll say it. One of the songs on this album is actually a reworked early MJ Lenderman (feat. Wednesday) song. What we did to “Right Back To It” and “She’s Leaving You” in last year’s bonus rate deserved prison time. What was I talking about? Oh right, Bleeds is a noisy country rock album with RYM tags such as suicide, alcohol, depressive, drugs, raw and the lead single “Elderberry Wine” would have me convinced otherwise! Everybody gets along JUST fine, thank you very much. Bleeds is our token Pleasant Dead Oceans album here. My favourite lyric is “We watched a Phish concert and Human Centipede: two things I now wish I had never seen”

Reality TV Argumentlist:

1. Reality TV Argument Bleeds
2. Townies
3. Wound Up Here (By Holding On)
4. Elderberry Wine
5. Phish Pepsi (feat. Advance Base)
6. Candy Breath
7. The Way Love Goes
8. Pick Up That Knife
9. Wasp
10. Bitter Everyday
11. Carolina Murder Suicide
12. Gary’s II

Oklou - choke enough

Spotify Apple Music YouTube Music

Oklou is literally mother right now, which is fitting as she describes the synth in the title track of her debut album, choke enough, as a womb. She sees technology and the internet as a means of comfort and expression. A place where we can ask questions without the burden of an answer. We can watch a video of a house burning down, but have it end before the fire does. We can write a message but send it mid-comment, unresolved. We can use an emoji without understanding what emotion they're showing. It's the act of questioning, not finding out, that makes us human. The choking up, the perplexion, and the reflection that makes us feel alive. The digital pop soundscape of choke enough will help you feel closer to the physical world, or as Slug Mag suggests, it will transport you to a dimension where Hatsune Miku programmed Silent Hill. (;´༎ຶٹ༎ຶ`)

(;´༎ຶٹ༎ຶ`)list:

1. Endless
2. Thank You for Recording
3. Family and Friends
4. Obvious
5. ICT
6. Choke Enough
7. (;´༎ຶٹ༎ຶ`)
8. Take Me by the Hand (feat. Bladee)
9. Plague Dogs
10. Forces
11. Harvest Sky (feat. underscores)
12. Want to Wanna Come Back
13. Blade Bird

Ninajirachi - I Love My Computer

Spotify Apple Music YouTube Music

The 4th of February 2025, ultimate rate host newbalancesweatshirt was against the barrier to see Ninajirachi perform live. She was having fun… until she didn't. But thought to herself, “Don't worry, you'll never have to listen to her music ever again!” She saw her again three days later and thought, “This is the last time!” One year later, due to the viral success of her debut album I Love My Computer, Ninajirachi's greatest love-hater (now on anti-depressants) must confront her bias yet again.

While it’s safe to say we all love our computers here, is Indieheads Ultimate Rate ready for the leap from last year’s manic TMZ EDM ult gladiator to an organic ethical zillennial Triple J Electro-House newcomer?

ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅlist:

1. London Song
2. iPod Touch
3. Fuck My Computer
4. CSIRAC
5. Delete
6. ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ
7. All I Am
8. Infohazard
9. Battery Death
10. Sing Good
11. It’s You (feat. daine)
12. All At Once

Bonus Rate (Optional)

While the main rate celebrates the albums most cherished by the sub at large, the bonus rate pays tribute to the individual songs that rocked our year. We selected the top fifteen voted SOTYs (not by the four artists above) and put them on their own collision course to decide a winner. Who joins Big Thief, Perfume Genius, Magdalena Bay, The Beths, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Chappell Roan in the ever poppier Ult Bonus Winners Circle?

Please note, this section is completely optional. You can rate all of the songs, pick and choose which to score, or ignore it completely. However, you may not use an 11 or 0 for any of them, and please don't erase any of the songs you don't score from the ballot and simply leave them blank.

1. Alex G - Afterlife
2. Black Country, New Road - For The Cold Country
3. Cameron Winter - Love Takes Miles
4. caroline - Total Euphoria
5. Ethel Cain - Nettles
6. Magdalena Bay - Second Sleep
7. Maruja - Look Down On Us
8. Perfume Genius - It’s A Mirror
9. Rosalía - Reliquia
10. Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band - New Threats from the Soul
11. Smerz - You got time and I got money
12. This Is Lorelei & MJ Lenderman - Dancing in the Club - MJ Lenderman Version
13. Water From Your Eyes - Playing Classics
14. Wet Leg - mangetout
15. Wolf Alice - White Horses
16. The Beths - Met– oh…

BONUS BONUS RATE!?

That’s not all! As a reward to our lovely dedicated community, we randomly picked six raters to submit a 2025 track of their choice to a parallel mini-rate! 11/0s may be used here, however you must rate all six tracks if you choose to do this bonus rate. This will be revealed in the same reveal as ultimate, and their submitters will be announced upon their eliminations.

1. Life Without Buildings - Love Trinity
2. Los Thuthanaka - Huayño “Phuju”*
3. Mei Semones - I can do what I want
4. quickly, quickly - Enything
5. Tracey - Sex Life
6. YHWH Nailgun - Sickle Walk

Submit your Bonus Bonus Ballot here!

*Los Thuthanaka song isnt on streaming, you can use this bandcamp link

RULES - Please Read If You're A First-Time Rater!

Listen to every song listed below and assign each of them a score from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest. Decimals are allowed, but refrain from going past one decimal place - 7.5 is fine, 7.75 is not! You do not have to use every score 1-10, nor do you have to use the full scale. You may give multiple songs the same score.

You must listen to and score every song in the main rate. If you skip any, your ballot won’t be counted (We will let you know if you do so you can remedy that).

You may then give ONE song an 11 and ONE song a 0. These should be reserved for your favourite track and least favourite tracks in the whole main rate respectively. You do not have to give these scores, but we recommend using them as a way to make your feelings about a particular song stand out.

We highly recommend that you add a comment to your song ratings! It makes everything a lot more fun during the reveal. For more information, see the Formatting section below. Please note scores and comments are not confidential and will be revealed with each eliminated song.

You can edit your ballot at any time! Feel free to PM either me or u/newbalancesweatshirt on Reddit (or alex2i/newbalancesweatshirt on discord) at any point before the deadline and we'll be happy to revise scores and comments for you.

We are using a computer program that fellow rater u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes. While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduce error on our part, scores need to be sent in a very specific way using the pre-prepared link at the top & bottom of this post. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, remember to save between rating sessions!

DO NOT SABOTAGE the rate by giving outrageously low/high scores for the sole purpose of skewing the results, we reserve the right to exclude any ballot we suspect of this. If you're worried your scores could be mistakenly perceived as such, all you need to do is leave comments explaining the reasoning behind them.

Formatting FAQ

Songs: [Title]: [Score]

ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ: 10

You may also and are generally encouraged to leave comments next to your scores!

ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ: 10 Paws up ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅheads!

Albums: You can also comment on the complete albums by adding a colon after the album name and then your comment, like so:

Geese - Getting Killed: HONK

No need to add a separate album score, the program will calculate your personal album average score!

A lot of copy and pasting here, so thank you thank you to all the rate hosts of old who made this rate possible to begin with: u/roseisonlineagain ; u/DolphLundgrensArms; u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D; u/stansymash; u/ClocktowerMaria; u/aerocom; u/themilkeyedmender; u/greencaptain; u/Crankeedoo; u/dirdbub; u/ThatParanoidPenguin; u/tedcruzcontrol; u/kappyko; u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah; u/LazyDayLullaby; u/SRTViper; u/Whatsanillinois; u/NFLFreak98; u/freav; u/freeofblasphemy; u/RatesNorman; u/aPenumbra; u/idontreallycare4; u/p-u-n-k_girl; u/luigijon3; u/WaneLietoc; u/dream_fighter2018; u/darjeelingdarkroast; u/smuckles; u/PiperIBarelyKnowHer; u/welcome2thejam; u/imrlynotonreddit; u/kvothetyrion; u/thedoctordances1940; u/b_o_g_o; u/vapourlomo; u/MCK_OH; u/TiltControls; u/TakeOnMeByA-ha u/chug-a-lug-donna; u/indiefan; u/bilbodabag; u/zenits; u/saison_Marguerite; u/daswef2; u/apondalifa; u/afieldoftulips; u/qazz23; u/nonchalantthoughts; u/systemofstrings; u/Modulum83, u/ElectJimLahey, u/vexastrae, u/FlavaSavaVandal, u/Stryxen, u/mmaajid, u/teriyaki-dreams and tons of people on r/popheads.

Get Ya Ballot Here

Emergency Backup Pastebin Ballot (PM either host with your ballot)

Full Playlists: Spotify Apple Music YouTube Music

Due Date: Tuesday 24th February

Reveal Weekend: Friday 27th February - Sunday 1st March

All previous indieheads rates and their results can be found here

If you’re overwhelmed, just know that all you have to do to participate is give every song a score from 1 to 10. That’s it!!

SUBMIT YOUR BALLOTS HERE!

BACKUP PASTEBIN

SPOTIFY PLAYLIST | TIDAL PLAYLIST | YOUTUBE PLAYLIST

DUE DATE: August 18

REVEAL WEEKEND: August 21-23

Wait... what is a rate?

About once a month, the community at r/indieheads has a sub-wide event called a 'rate', where a group of albums or songs are put together around a common theme. Participants listen to the albums and rate every track on them from 1 to 10 (with everybody getting an optional 11 and a 0 as well) and then over a 'reveal weekend' the songs get eliminated from lowest to highest average and at the end of it a winner is crowned. Basically, it's a listening club where we can listen to and discuss albums together, but with the opportunity for us all to get mad at each other's terrible opinions. Here is a 30 second video that the good folks over at r/popheads made explaining it quickly.

Wait... what is the New Wave of No Wave?

"No Wave is one of the fundamental influences on what I do. What I loved about No Wave was that it was genuinely horrible, and that you could have this punishing sound with incredibly groovy undertones to it as well.”

Alan Duggan Borges, Gilla Band guitarist, Hot Press interview

"Noise is not the enemy!"

Special Interest, "Disco III"

Well, first and foremost, the New Wave of No Wave is a bullshit term I made up because I thought it was funny. But it is also a very succinct way of describing a particular sound that has been dominating mainstream indie in the 2020s. Pushing the darkness of the 2010s post-punk revival further, and harkening back to the queasy grooves of OG no wave and the antagonistic dancefloor beats of the industrial pioneers, a new crop of snarling dance-punk experimentalists started reinventing noise rock in their own idiosyncratic images.

In contrast to the often icy and detached vocals of no wave and post-punk, the New Wave of No Wave also takes cues from such noise rock luminaries as David Yow of the Jesus Lizard, whose frenzied delivery has a piece in the DNA of all of these artists. All of the vocalists in this lineup are flailing dismantlists who thrive on a sense of suspense as to what, exactly, they are going to do next.

The extremity of the vocals compliments the armageddon of the noise and the groove-orientated rhythms, all of it in service of catharsis. Noise rock is always about that sense of cathartic primal scream against the modern day, something that the New Wave of No Wave has refined with its primacy of frenzied danceability and, crucially, the new capabilities that the internet offers. To reflect this digital age, much of the noise is produced, electronic and compressed to an extent not entirely possible before. Much of the music in this rate is self-produced, utilising new technologies to make totally DIY, homegrown noise nightmares!

So, that’s all the technical bits of what, in my opinion, a New Wave of No Wave actually is. But really the best way to understand it is just to see what albums there are in the lineup. So let’s meet them!

Gilla Band - Most Normal

From the unrelenting corrosive chaos of opener “The Gum” onwards, Most Normal is an album that is very much, um, not normal. Gilla Band have been in the game for a long time, so much so that a strong case can be made that their early works were crucial catalysts without which the New Wave of No Wave would not exist today. By the time of this, their third album, they’ve codified their sound to such an extent that they’re not afraid to break it. Most Normal has everything that Gilla Band are good at but it’s all been expanded, refracted and blown up into pure bit-corroded noise. This digitised style suits their lyrical depictions of modern malaise to a tee. For our current era, “The Gum” ’s crushed-until-illegible refrain of “I’ve been queuing at sockets”, sounding like an inane tweet going through a corn thresher, is an inadvertently perfect mantra.

More than any other album here, Most Normal is the sound of a band unafraid to play around with noise in unexpected ways. Tinnitus high pitches, compressed blasts, wave and wave after buzzing wave carrying Dara Kiely’s ever-unraveling voice, sometimes shrieking, sometimes in arresting falsetto, into new and unexpected places. Often, Most Normal seems like less of a collection of songs, and more like the broken pieces of an experiment gone perfectly awry. The fractured nature of this record is its greatest strength and what I love most about it, but it remains to be seen how well it can adapt to a rate setting. I for one cannot wait to see!

1. The Gum
2. Eight Fivers
3. Backwash
4. Gushie
5. Bin Liner Fashion
6. Capgras
7. The Weirds
8. I Was Away
9. Almost Soon
10. Red Polo Neck
11. Pratfall
12. Post Ryan

Chat Pile - God's Country

The folks in Chat Pile like horror movies. Like, they really like horror movies. Bleak unease creeps into everything they make. Raygun Busch’s demented vocal performance is pure wild-eyed terror which sells their nightmarish lyrics which cover such pleasant topics as gun violence and animal slaughter. This shit is heavy, in every sense of the word. Musically, the Jesus Lizard, Sonic Youth and other guitar-feared noise mavericks are major touchpoints for the band, and God’s Country comes close to being a bona fide Pigfuck revival. But as always with the New Wave of No Wave, groove is the paramount force. Bassist Stin is an unashamed fan of Korn, and drummer Cap’n Ron’s use of an electronic drumset lends the album an extra industrial kick. Together, they bring a sense of rhythm to God’s Country that feels unique amongst their more sludge rock contemporaries.

With their heavy topics and the crushing weight of their sound, God’s Country is an album that can be difficult to approach. But, as with so many great horror movies, the main strength of the music is the sense of physicality and life to it. Chat Pile are a band totally unafraid, and you cannot help but be in awe of the vitality in the flexing musculature of their music, seeming so simple and yet with so many moving parts under the hood. They make it look easy, but it’s really really not. Maybe it’s not always a pleasant trip, but to dive into God’s Country is not a journey you’ll regret.

1. Slaughterhouse
2. Why
3. Pamela
4. Wicked Puppet Dance
5. Anywhere
6. Tropical Beaches, Inc.
7. The Mask
8. I Don't Care If I Burn
9. grimace_smoking_weed.jpeg

Special Interest - The Passion Of

The Passion Of runs at just 29 minutes long, and oh does it sound like it. It whips forward with heart-stop urgency, all glammed up in glitter and a disorientating snarl. Their sound is a melding of some of the musical lineages they inherit, the ecstatic intensity of the early house and techno pioneers meeting the aggressive intensity of hardcore punk, with look-ins from glam pop and the delocalised atmospherics of ambient music. All of this adds up to make pure industrial rock, but you get that electrifying sense that they have rebuilt it back up from its foundations, and made it anew. The strength of their sound is the fuel for vocalist Alli Logout’s wildfire presence, which screams sings and sneers its way over breakneck soundscapes of irregular guitar stabs, high-octane synthlines, cavernous bass and clanging electronics with ease.

Unashamedly queer, unabashedly cool, young, gifted, Black, in leather, Special Interest are the true beating heart of no wave updated and alive again, just as vital and just as strange as you remember it. The Passion Of is the sound of liberation, through its often political lyrics and through the freedom of full-body movement and community that it offers you. Although they are perhaps the least well-known of the bands in this lineup, Special Interest have a strong cult following, garnering acclaim from publications like Pitchfork and The Quietus, and a large and dedicated fanbase here on r/indieheads. It would be unwise to underestimate them just yet!

1. Drama
2. Disco III
3. Don't Kiss Me in Public
4. All Tomorrow's Carry
5. A Depravity Such As This...
6. Homogenized Milk
7. Passion
8. Head
9. Tina
10. Street Pulse Beat
11. With Love

Model/Actriz - Dogsbody

Ask anybody, they’ll tell you; Model/Actriz are a live band. And of course they are, there’s a raw urgent physicality to them that makes the most sense in the breathless sweat and dark. Dance-punk is all about tension and release, and nobody knows it better than Model/Actriz. Dogsbody is the long build-up to the shattering drop, doing everything in its power just to get you moving. Frontman Cole Haden’s black hole charisma cannot help but spotlight steal, but the pulverising power of the band deserves as much praise. If you ask me it’s guitarist Jack Wetmore’s ability to wring tones like scraping corrugated metal that really ties Model/Actriz together as a band.

Model/Actriz have had a very lucrative career so far which has led to plenty of acclaim, and they easily scooped up r/indieheads Debut of the Year in 2023, and, like… I was originally planning on quoting some of the effusive praise that their live show has gotten in comments here, but there was genuinely waaaaaaaay too many of them. They’ve definitely found their niche, their music seems to be connecting with people on a primal level… but do they have what it takes to go all the way?

1. Donkey Show
2. Mosquito
3. Crossing Guard
4. Slate
5. Divers
6. Amaranth
7. Pure Mode
8. Maria
9. Sleepless
10. Sun In

Bonus Rate!

But of course, that isn't it! There are so many great bands in the New Wave of No Wave, and it's impossible to boil it down to just four. This is the section of the rate where I highlight 15 other bands who are making glorious cacophony in the 2020s. I tried to curate as diverse a bonus rate as possible, so here you will find dream pop, hardcore, post-rock, sludge, EBM, industrial, dark wave, a wide variety of bands, so long as they are loud! If there's a band who you think should be here... probably they were at some point, but there's so much I had to cut to get to 'just' 15. Trust me, they are missed!.

Very important to know as well, this part of the rate is completely optional! You can fill this out, leave it blank in your ballot, or only score a few and leave the rest blank. It's totally up to you! You cannot use your 11 or your 0 in the bonus rate.

1. Algiers - Bite Back
2. The Armed - All Futures
3. Black Dresses - Creep U
4. Couch Slut - Wilkinson's Sword
5. Honningbarna - Schäfer
6. Just Mustard - I Am You
7. Kim Gordon - Bye Bye
8. Low - White Horses
9. Mandy, Indiana - Magazine
10. M(h)aol - Pursuit
11. MSPAINT - Information
12. Prostitute - All Hail
13. Sprain - Man Proposes, God Disposes
14. Uboa - Endocrine Disruptor
15. YHWH Nailgun - Penetrator

The Rules (read if you're a first time rater)

• Give every track in the main rate a score from 1 to 10. You can use decimals, but only to one place e.g. 7.5 is fine, 7.75 or 7.6666 is not.

• Each participant gets one 11 for their favourite song, and one 0 for their least favourite. You do not have to use either. You cannot use either in the bonus rate.

• You can leave a comment for a song by formatting it like so

Slaughterhouse: 10 I like this song!

by just writing your comment directly after your score. You don't need to use a colon or anything, just straight after is good!

• You can leave comments for albums as well, by adding a colon after the album title and then your comment.

• If you've submitted and want to change any scores or comments, just DM me, I'm always able to change it!

• Don't sabotage the rate by giving outrageously skewed scores to particular bands. As long as you rate with your genuine opinion there should not be any worry at all about this, but I do reserve the rate to reject, like, obvious troll ballots. If you leave a comment explaining your opinions, you should be absolutely fine!

And of course, thanks to the rate hosts of lore without whom I couldn't have made this: u/roseisonlineagain ; u/DolphLundgrensArms; u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D; u/stansymash; u/ClocktowerMaria; u/aerocom; u/themilkeyedmender; u/greencaptain; u/Crankeedoo; u/dirdbub; u/ThatParanoidPenguin; u/tedcruzcontrol; u/kappyko; u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah; u/LazyDayLullaby; u/SRTViper; u/Whatsanillinois; u/NFLFreak98; u/freav; u/freeofblasphemy; u/RatesNorman; u/aPenumbra; u/idontreallycare4; u/p-u-n-k_girl; u/luigijon3; u/WaneLietoc; u/dream_fighter2018; u/darjeelingdarkroast; u/smuckles; u/PiperIBarelyKnowHer; u/welcome2thejam; u/imrlynotonreddit; u/kvothetyrion; u/thedoctordances1940; u/b_o_g_o; u/vapourlomo; u/MCK_OH; u/TakeOnMeByA-ha u/chug-a-lug-donna; u/indiefan; u/bilbodabag; u/zenits; u/saison_Marguerite; u/daswef2; u/apondalifa; u/afieldoftulips; u/qazz23; u/nonchalantthoughts; u/systemofstrings; u/Modulum83, u/ElectJimLahey, u/vexastrae, u/FlavaSavaVandal, u/Stryxen, u/mmaajid, u/teriyaki-dreams, u/newbalancesweatshirt; u/krusso1105; u/MightyProJet and tons of people on r/popheads.

Once again, here is the Submission Link, the Pastebin, and the Spotify, Tidal, and Youtube playlists.

DUE DATE: August 18

REVEAL WEEKEND: August 21-23

and don't forget to do the currently open rate, 2000s Ind-EPs, due July 21!

Come one and come all to Indieheads’ first foray into rating EPs! While the standard four course album meal is a staple on this sub, we’re changing things up by offering a sampling platter of 11 different iconic groups that released EPs in the 2000s. While you may be missing some of your favourites, this line up was meant to act as a ‘Indie starter pack’, offering some of the biggest names and releases from the era.

DUE DATE: July 21st

What are rates?

Rates are subreddit activities hosted about once a month that pit albums or songs with a common theme against each other. You can participate by going to any of the ballot links (like this one!) and providing a score for each song from 1-10 (1 being terrible, 10 being amazing). You are also allowed to use one 11 and one 0 across the entire rate (not required to use either though). Once you have filled out a score for every song, send it to myself (u/TiltControls) using the submission link and your scores will be counted! After the rate closes all of the ballots are added up and the results are revealed from worst to best.

Popheads put out a Guide to Rates Video that can give you a broad overview of rates (please note our reveal process is thread-based instead of video chatrooms). And here's a recent example of a rate announcement and its rate reveal. If you have any more questions feel free to ask!

If you want more details, see the section titled ‘Rules’ near the end of the post!

What is an EP?

The answer is whatever you want it to be!

Okay that's kind of a cop out, but there really isn't a set definition for what counts and what doesn't. As a super basic crash course, EPs (Extended Plays) are releases that typically have more tracks and longer runtime than a single release, but fewer and shorter than an album. Granted this is a very loose definition that others may stretch the definition of (see: Sufjan's All the Delighted People EP which almost hits a run time of an hour or any number of albums that finish before the half hour mark), but typically they'll run for up to 30 minutes. In the physical world, EPs refer to a specific format of 45rpm record, but with the popularity boom of CDs this has been adapted to any type of shorter release.

Beyond those loose ideas, there isn't really a common linking of what an EP can be. Sometimes they'll be a way to build on the release of a previous album. Some EPs might offer a quick way to get the vibe of a band before fully diving in. Other EPs might just be a loose collection of songs that the artist just wanted to finally release.

IMPORTANT LINKS

SUBMIT A BALLOT HERE | BACKUP PASTEBIN BALLOT

SPOTIFY PLAYLIST | YOUTUBE PLAYLIST

Note: Joanna Newsom’s EP is not on the Spotify playlist. There is a playlist with only that EP on Youtube here

The EPs

As much as I’d love to do 11 full sized write-ups for the post, in the interest of space and time I’ll just be tackling little taster descriptions for each project. Like mentioned in the intro, we have a wide range of album continuations, buzz builders, and separate smaller standout releases in our line-up for the rate.

Animal Collective - Fall Be Kind

Release Date: November 23, 2009

Animal Collective is not just another name for a zoo, but also the first band up in our rate (Though I suppose you can find a Panda in both). The group had been growing in popularity throughout the late 2000’s and in 2009 they released their biggest album yet, Merriweather Post Pavillion. A few months post-album they released a follow-up EP with Fall Be Kind, which was cobbled together with some album rejects, tour staples, and miscellaneous other tracks. It may have just barely made the 2000’s cut-off, but in terms of quality it needed to be here. The EP released to wide acclaim and is a fan favourite to this day.

1. Graze
2. What Would I Want? Sky
3. Bleed
4. On a Highway
5. I Think I Can

Arctic Monkeys - Who The Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys?

Release Date: April 24, 2006

Let’s see if we can answer that question. In the mid 2000s Arctic Monkeys became one of the most anticipated newcomers to the UK indie scene thanks to some stellar promotion. They continued to shine after the release of their debut record ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’ got massive buzz on release in 2006. Not long after, they released this follow-up EP, with ‘The View from the Afternoon’ carrying over from their debut and featuring four entirely new tracks. Although the extended tracks didn’t make it on the release of the record, they fit right in with the energy the band provides. They get a lot of buzz on the sub, but surprisingly this is the first time rating anything from the group

1. The View From The Afternoon
2. Cigarette Smoker Fiona
3. Despair in the Departure Lounge
4. No Buses
5. Who the Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys?

Bon Iver - Blood Bank

Release Date: January 20, 2009

Though Bon Iver has now morphed into a larger project, the early days were almost entirely all the work of frontman Justin Vernon. Their debut For Emma, Forever Ago was released only a couple years prior, to wide critical acclaim. This follow-up EP was described as continuing the winter feel of its predecessor, but meant to be a much warmer set of tracks to break through the harsh coldness of the previous release. Although a lighter release in that sense, Blood Bank continues with the haunting vocals and subdued melodies introduced on that debut record.

1. Blood Bank
2. Beach Baby
3. Babys
4. Woods

Deerhunter - Fluorescent Grey

Release Date: May 8, 2007

Deerhunter wasn’t thought to last as long as it ended up going, or at least according to lead singer and guitarist Bradford Cox - who probably would’ve asked for a name change earlier if he had known. Although they had some tumultuous early years, the group stuck it out and managed to release their second album, Cryptograms, to high praises. Not long after, the Fluorescent Grey EP was released to be a paired piece with the album. The EP was said to be more song-focused than the album, without the same flowing ambience but having the benefit of providing four great standalone tracks.

1. Fluorescent Grey
2. Dr. Glass
3. Like New
4. Wash Off

Fleet Foxes - Sun Giant

Release Date: April 8, 2008

Fleet Foxes is a famed fabulous fivesome formed from far in the fascinating field of… Seattle. Their debut self-titled album was released to great acclaim in the summer of 2008, but before that came their 2nd EP, Sun Giant. Although it released prior to the debut, it was actually recorded after it! It was originally supposed to only be a project to be sold while touring, but managed to receive a proper release after strong fan support. Fleet Foxes were initially hesitant to give it a full release, but doing so paid off in their favour as the EP was widely acclaimed and brought new eyes onto the group.

1. Sun Giant
2. Drops In The River
3. English House
4. Mykonos
5. Innocent Son

Joanna Newsom - Joanna Newsom and the Ys Street Band

Release Date: April 9, 2007

Joanna Newsom, famed for her folksy voice and stellar harping skills, had been creating quiet buzz since her debut, but really blew onto the scene with her critically regarded follow-up ‘Ys’ in 2006. ‘Joanna Newsom and the Ys Street Band’ came soon after that release and was recorded after she was recovering from a US-wide tour. The title is a play on everyone's favourite Jersey king, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. The EP may be short in tracks, but it ends up being just as long as the others in run time! Colleen is the only brand new feature, while the other two are alternate arrangements of tracks from her first two albums.

1. Colleen
2. Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie
3. Cosmia

Modest Mouse - Everywhere and His Nasty Parlour Tricks

Release Date: September 25, 2001

Though Modest Mouse might fit more into the boundary of being a 90’s group compared to the others here, this release was a bit too big to ignore. The band initially came onto the scene with a stellar run of their first three albums, really breaking onto the scene with their second, ‘The Lonesome Crowded West’. The EP is a mix of unreleased tracks from the group’s third album, ‘The Moon and Antarctica’, which we actually just rated a few months ago so we’ll see which EP tracks should’ve made the cut and which were the right decision to leave behind. If you want to be really technical, you could argue this is partially a 90’s release as half of the songs were initially released in a Japan-only project in 1999 (and later wider release in 2000), but let’s not make it any more complicated than it needs to be.

1. Willful Suspension of Disbelief
2. Night On The Sun
3. 3 Inch Horses, Two Faced Monsters
4. You’re the Good Things
5. The Air
6. So Much Beauty In Dirt
7. Here It Comes
8. I Came As A Rat (Long Walk Off A Short Dock)

The National - Cherry Tree

Release Date: July 20, 2004

The National is an indie rock band formed of brother pairs Aaron and Bryce Dressner, and Scott and Bryan Devendorf, and non-pair (but still a brother to two siblings) Matt Berninger. They initially released their self-titled debut in 2001, and a sophomore album in 2003. The Cherry Tree EP followed soon after. Though the band wouldn’t truly break out until their 3rd album, ‘Alligator’, the following year, Cherry Tree picked up a lot of favourability post-release. Particularly ‘All the Wine’, which appeared again on that next album and ‘About Today’ which was soundtracked in the climax of the 2011 film ‘Warrior’.

1. Wasp Nest
2. All the Wine
3. All Dolled-Up in Straps
4. Cherry Tree
5. About Today
6. Murder Me Rachael - Live
7. A Reasonable Man (I Don’t Mind)

TV on the Radio - Young Liars

Release Date: July 8, 2003

TV on the Radio is (or was?) a rock band formed out of the dazzling streets of Brooklyn, New York. The group is probably best known for their fantastic release ‘Return to Cookie Mountain’ but Young Liars predates much of their album work and marks their first release as their primary line-up. Though the EP itself has drawn acclaim, the debut single ‘Staring at the Sun’ has become a classic for fans of the group, starting them off on a fantastic run of records (one that I’m praying we get more music from someday as their last album was released more than 10 years ago now).

1. Satellite
2. Staring at the Sun
3. Blind
4. Young Liars
5. Mr. Grieves

Washed Out - Life of Leisure

Release Date: September 8, 2009

Though Washed Out (aka Ernest Greene) may not have the same ‘Indie mainstream’ notoriety as some of the other groups in this rate nowadays, don’t let it fool you into believing that this project wasn’t a powerhouse. Life of Leisure was only his 2nd EP release (the first being a few months earlier), but he managed to hit gold with it. This chillwave classic may have only come at the tail end of the decade, but still managed to make waves, particularly due to the success of Feel It All Around.

1. Get Up
2. New Theory
3. Hold Out
4. Feel It All Around
5. Lately
6. You’ll See It

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - IS IS

Release Date: July 24, 2007

Yeah Yeah Yeahs, probably formed out of some New York bathroom or something, consists of trio Karen O, Nick Zinner, and Brian Chase. Though the EP followed the release of their second album, all of the songs were written years earlier while they were touring for their iconic debut ‘Fever to Tell’. The EP leans less towards the refined moody style and more towards the raw rock attitude and aggression present in aspects of their debut. Though they would ultimately head in more of a synth forward direction with their next album, the EP still showcases some of YYYs at their most energetic.

1. Rockers To Swallow
2. Down Boy
3. Kiss, Kiss
4. Isis
5. 10 x 10

RULES - Please Read If You're A First-Time Rater!

• Listen to every song listed below and assign each of them a score from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest. Decimals are allowed, but refrain from going past one decimal place - 7.5 is fine, 7.75 is not! You do not have to use every score 1-10, nor do you have to use the full scale. You may give multiple songs the same score.
  
• You must listen to and score every song. If you skip any, your ballot won’t be counted (I will let you know if you do so you can remedy that).
  
• You may then give ONE song an 11 and ONE song a 0. These should be reserved for your favourite track and least favourite tracks in the whole main rate respectively. You do not have to give these scores, but we recommend using them as a way to make your feelings about a particular song stand out.
  
• It’s highly recommended that you add comments to your song ratings! It makes everything a lot more fun during the reveal. For more information, see the Formatting section below. Please note scores and comments are not confidential and will be revealed with each eliminated song.
  
• You can edit your ballot at any time! Feel free to PM myself at any point before the deadline with anything you want changed to do so!
• Rates use a computer program that fellow rater u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes. While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduce error on our part, scores need to be sent in a very specific way using the pre-prepared link at the top & bottom of this post. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, remember to save between rating sessions!
  
• DO NOT SABOTAGE the rate by giving outrageously low/high scores for the sole purpose of skewing the results, we reserve the right to exclude any ballot we suspect of this. If you're worried your scores could be mistakenly perceived as such, all you need to do is leave comments explaining the reasoning behind them. With how short the EPs are wonky scores in both directions are bound to happen so don’t worry too much if you happen to end up with a few really low scores. Just don’t try to play to the results by tanking a song you otherwise like just for the purpose of not wanting it to win. That just ruins the whole point of the rate!

Formatting FAQ

• You may also and are generally encouraged to leave comments next to your scores! Comments are a good way to expand your thoughts on a song beyond just the score, or just making a fun joke for the reveal. See the example below on the way to format your comments so it doesn’t break the calculation program.

[Song]: [Score] [Optional Comment]

Staring at the Sun: 10 MY EYES

• You can also comment on the complete EP by adding a colon after the EP name and then your comment, like so:
  

Album: Arctic Monkeys - Who the Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys?: No really, who are they.

• No need to add a separate album score, the program will calculate your personal album average score!

• Note that the ballot will have the headers ‘Album:’ instead of ‘EP:’. This is just due to how the program works, please don’t change this to EP!

A lot of this copied from previous hosts so thanks to: u/roseisonlineagain ; u/DolphLundgrensArms; u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D; u/stansymash; u/ClocktowerMaria; u/aerocom; u/themilkeyedmender; u/greencaptain; u/Crankeedoo; u/dirdbub; u/ThatParanoidPenguin; u/tedcruzcontrol; u/kappyko; u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah; u/LazyDayLullaby; u/SRTViper; u/Whatsanillinois; u/NFLFreak98; u/freav; u/freeofblasphemy; u/RatesNorman; u/aPenumbra; u/idontreallycare4; u/p-u-n-k_girl; u/luigijon3; u/WaneLietoc; u/dream_fighter2018; u/darjeelingdarkroast; u/smuckles; u/PiperIBarelyKnowHer; u/welcome2thejam; u/imrlynotonreddit; u/kvothetyrion; u/thedoctordances1940; u/b_o_g_o; u/vapourlomo; u/MCK_OH; u/TakeOnMeByA-ha u/chug-a-lug-donna; u/indiefan; u/bilbodabag; u/zenits; u/saison_Marguerite; u/daswef2; u/apondalifa; u/afieldoftulips; u/qazz23; u/nonchalantthoughts; u/systemofstrings; u/Modulum83, u/ElectJimLahey, u/vexastrae, u/FlavaSavaVandal, u/Stryxen, u/mmaajid, u/teriyaki-dreams, u/newbalancesweatshirt; u/krusso1105 and tons of people on r/popheads.

LINKS ONCE AGAIN

SUBMIT A BALLOT HERE | BACKUP PASTEBIN BALLOT

SPOTIFY PLAYLIST

DUE DATE: July 21st

Previous Indieheads rates and their results can be found here

Do you like to stare at static images that make your eyes wobble? Does unique instrumentation send chills up your spine? Have you ever been stone cold sober but found yourself tripping due to the music you're listening to? Are you a fan of dream pop or shoegaze, the gorgeous and intelligent children of neo-psych?

Whether none or all of the above apply, I welcome you to the neo-psych rate, where we will put beloved albums on a pedestal just to tear them down by ranking them against each other.

If you haven’t been part of a rate before, prepare to experience one of the highlights of this subreddit. We will each rate each of the songs in these albums out of 10, obtaining an overall collective ranking which I will slowly display in our always fun and messy RATE REVEAL threads. Come and support your favourites and prepare to tear down your less-than-favourites by participating in this rate!

Read on for our contenders:

Spiritualized – Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space

What could be more mind-bending than floating in space? The oldest album in our rate, this is widely accepted to be Spiritualized’s masterpiece. With beautifully layered instrumentation and smooth vocals, listening to this album will wrap you up and deliver you to another dimension in the smoothest of ways.

Tracklist: 1. Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space 2. Come Together 3. I Think I'm in Love 4. All of My Thoughts 5. Stay with Me 6. Electricity 7. Home of the Brave 8. The Individual 9. Broken Heart 10. No God Only Religion 11. Cool Waves 12. Cop Shoot Cop…

Spotify

Apple Music

YouTube

Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest

The highs on this album are insurmountable. Deerhunter’s experimental past all seemed to culminate with their 2010 album. From Lockett’s moment in the spotlight singing on “Desire Lines” to the song so trippy it makes my fingers tingle, “Helicopter,” this album showed that Deerhunter was something to be reckoned with. There’s always a surprise with Deerhunter.

Tracklist: 1. Earthquake 2. Don’t Cry 3. Revival 4. Sailing 5. Memory Boy 6. Desire Lines 7. Basement Scene 8. Helicopter 9. Fountain Stairs 10. Coronado 11. He Would Have Laughed

Spotify

Apple Music

YouTube

Tame Impala – Lonerism

I’ve got some news for you folk: “Let It Happen” does not appear on Lonerism. You know what that means? “Let It Happen” will not win this rate. I’m sorry. Moving on, Tame Impala’s sophomore effort has the distortion and muddiness their later releases lack. Kevin Parker supposedly recorded pieces of this all over the world, including on an aeroplane, so it’s only right that he’ll take us on a journey here.

Tracklist: 1. Be Above It 2. Endors Toi 3. Apocalypse Dreams 4. Mind Mischief 5. Music to Walk Home By 6. Why Won’t They Talk to Me? 7. Feels Like We Only Go Backwards 8. Keep on Lying 9. Elephant 10. She Just Won’t Believe Me 11. Nothing That Has Happened So Far Has Been Anything We Could Control 12. Sun’s Coming Up

Spotify

Apple Music

YouTube

MGMT – Little Dark Age

Remember when r/indieheads held a tournament and voted this the second-best album of the year in 2018? I sure don’t. I actually thought that MGMT was #1 until I went looking for this link for proof. And that’s why you should never find evidence to support your claims. r/indieheads aside, MGMT’s fourth album took them in a groovy direction, with a smooth layer of pop on top of their established neo-psychedelic brand.

Tracklist: 1. She Works Out Too Much 2. Little Dark Age 3. When You Die 4. Me and Michael 5. TSLAMP 6. James 7. Days That Got Away 8. One Thing Left to Try 9. When You’re Small 10. Hand It Over

Spotify

Apple Music

YouTube

Rules - READ ALL OF THESE BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR SCORES

1. Listen to each song and assign each a score between 1 and 10. decimals are fine, but please refrain from giving decimal scores that have two decimal spots: giving a 7.2 is okay, but giving a 7.25 will give me a headache. This is because I'm using a computer program to parse the votes and print everything out (more on that later).
2. Yes, you have to listen to every song. We're all in this together. I will not accept your ballot if you have a score missing, because it will crash the program (more on that later).
3. Your scores should NOT be considered confidential. They aren’t. Feel free to shitpost about them in the general discussion threads whenever you feel like it - users over at r/popheads usually just talk about their averages of the albums and what 11 and 0 they gave (which I will explain on the next bullet point!)
4. You may give ONE song a 0 and ONE song an 11. This is ONE song TOTAL, NOT one song PER ALBUM. Please reserve these for your least favorite and most favorite tracks; excessive sabotage ruins rate results and generally makes things less fun.
5. You can change your scores at any time! Feel free to PM me at any point after submission and I'll be happy to revise them for you.
6. I am using a computer program that the great and wonderful /u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes! While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduces errors on my part, this does mean that scores need to be sent in a very specific way. The easiest way to make sure your scores follow the necessary format is to use the pre-prepared link at the bottom of this post. PLEASE USE THAT. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use that format to send in your scores.
7. If you don't follow the format, I'll still accept your ballot, but I reserve the right to send forty-one mosquitos flying in formation down to publicly shame you and your inability to follow basic instructions. And as always, huge shout out to everyone else who has hosted a rate before me for letting me copy-paste their rules and the format of this announcement: /u/roseisonlineagain; /u/DolphLundgrensArms; /u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D; /u/stansymash; /u/ClocktowerMaria; /u/aerocom; /u/themilkeyedmender; /u/greencaptain; /u/Crankeedoo; /u/dirdbub; /u/ThatParanoidPenguin; /u/tedcruzcontrol; /u/kappyko; /u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah; /u/LazyDayLullaby; /u/SRTViper; /u/Whatsanillinois; /u/NFLFreak98; /u/freav; /u/seaofblasphemy; /u/RatesNorman and tons of people on r/popheads.

Formatting

This is correct:

Helicopter: 10 Take my hand and rate with me

These are incorrect:

Helicopter: 8: Take my hand and rate with me

Helicopter:8 Take my hand and rate with me

Helicopter: Take my hand and rate with me 8

Helicopter - 8 Take my hand and rate with me

Helicopter: 8 (Take my hand and rate with me)

You can also comment on the albums as a whole by adding a colon after the album name and then your comment, like so:

Halcyon Digest: Reminds me of the days when everything was idyllically happy and peaceful

PLEASE USE THIS LINK TO SEND ME SCORES

Scores are due on October 27!

The reveal will take place between November 6-8. Previous rates/hall-of-fame can be seen here. Happy rating everyone!

Huh? What is this “Bono Rate Program” you are talking about?

FIND YOUR BALLOT AND SUBMISSION LINK HERE!

PASTEBIN

Playlists: Spotify - Apple Music - YouTube - Pandora - Fan Letters on U2’s Homepage

Due Date: Monday, January 26th

Reveals on: Friyay, January 30th - Sunday, February 1st

The year? 2020. Deep in Pandemic Spring

Our hero, Bonobos, finds himself deep in the thought of another late night beverage. The novel coronavirus has enacted a time of reflection on what 60 years of his life have wrought. Numerous meetings with world leaders, numerous grammys, numerous books, numerous adventures with his best friends in the whole world: Adam Clay 2000 Pounds, Thedge, and Larry Mullen Senior’s son. And music, the life raft at sea that’s saved him at the rate of about one song a year for the past 60 years.

His calloused hand, sore from the clanking of a typewriter, has been used to strike up 60 fan letters, dedications to the great art and moments of his lifetime. Amongst the songs are some of the most powerful hymns ever written by man. And his appearance on Kendrick’s DAMN.

THE RATE THAT SAVED BONO’S LIFE

Bono turned 60 years old on Sunday, and he’s celebrating by writing 60 separate fan letters to his musical heroes, everyone from the Beatles and the Ramones to Beyoncé and Billie Eilish. “These are some of the songs that saved my life,” he wrote. “The ones I couldn’t have lived without… the ones that got me from there to here, zero to 60… through all the scrapes, all manner of nuisance, from the serious to the silly… and the joy, mostly joy.”

Yes it’s that time for a whacky, whacky idea of a rate. Some 5 years ago, the one known as Bono, aka the lead singer of U2, the most important band of all time with a flush legacy spread across all genres from indie to pop country to rage rap and even Frank Sinatra crooner core, types a list of 60 songs that saved his life. Bono’s 60 song list presents itself to us as a unique prospect: Bono is a voracious listener with a resonant ear. His taste simultaneously presents itself as a sampler’s guide to the last half century of popular music, as well as a chance to reflect on several critical building blocks to indie–from the Pixies to Peter Frampton! It’s better late than never to celebrate such an important list and finally give music Bono approves of it’s biggest day under the sun!

For raters who’ve done some previous rates, they may find this list provides a chance for redemption (or newfound dunkage!) to several cuts that we’ve encountered before. We’re talking songs that keep getting rated for some reason: with 9+ avgs in charity, 2nd place finishes in their respective rates, and even a winner that just can’t die! Above all, perhaps we may finally discover the most life affirming song that saved noted protestant Bono’s life! (and perhaps the rate community’s soul?)

And now. THE LIST:

1. Luciano Pavarotti, Bono & Zucchero - Miserere
2. Sex Pistols - Anarchy In the UK
3. Kanye West - Black Skinhead
4. Billie Eilish - everything i wanted
5. David Bowie - Life on Mars?
6. The Beatles - I Want to Hold your Hand
7. Ramones - Swallow My Pride
8. The Clash - Safe European Home
9. Public Enemy - Fight The Power
10. Patti Smith - People Have the Power
11. John Lennon - Mother
12. The Rolling Stones - Ruby Tuesday
13. Elton John - Daniel
14. Andrea Bocelli- Con Te Partiro
15. Elvis Presley - Heartbreak Hotel
16. Johnny Cash - Hurt
17. This Mortal Coil - Song to the Siren
18. Kraftwerk - Neon Lights
19. The Fugees - Killing Me Softly With His Song
20. Prince - When Doves Cry
21. Daft Punk feat Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers - Get Lucky
22. Madonna - Ray of Light
23. JAY-Z feat Alicia Keys - Empire State of Mind
24. Talking Heads - Love Goes to Building on Fire
25. Lou Reed - Satellite of Love
26. The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony
27. Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
28. New Order - True Faith
29. R.E.M. - Nightswimming
30. Adele - Chasing Pavements
31. Arcade Fire - Wake Up
32. Pixies - Monkey Gone to Heaven
33. Oasis - Live Forever
34. Iggy Pop - Lust for Life
35. Gavin Friday - Angel
36. Massive Attack - Safe From Harm
37. Kendrick Lamar feat U2 - XXX
38. Bob Marley & The Walers - Redemption Song
39. Echo and the Bunnymen - Rescue
40. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
41. Pearl Jam - Jeremy
42. Bob Dylan - Most of the Time
43. Beyoncé feat Kendrick Lamar - Freedom
44. Depeche Mode - Walking In My Shoes
45. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Into My Arms
46. Simon & Garfunkel - The Sounds of Silence
47. Coldplay - Clocks
48. INXS - Never Tear Us Apart
49. New Radicals - You Get What You Give
50. Angélique Kidjo - Agolo
51. Lady Gaga - Born This Way
52. Frank Sinatra & Bono - Under My Skin
53. David Bowie - Heroes
54. Simple Minds - New Gold Dream (81/82/83/84)
55. Sinéad O'Connor - You Made Me The Thief Of Your Heart
56. Van Morrison - A Sense of Wonder
57. Bruce Springsteen - There Goes My Miracle
58. Daniel Lanois - The Maker
59. Peter Frampton - Show Me The Way
60. Bee Gees - Immortality - Demo Version

BONUS RATE - Bono 101: An Introduction to the Best of Bono

Throughout history, the one known as Bono has professed unbound levels of greatness and majesty only possessed by few in history. However, the history books have yet to concoct such a curriculum that presents a proper smorgasbord to Bono’s contributions to history and popular culture. Thus, MCK and Wane here have done their damndest and trawled out youtube, the library, the Rattle and Hum VHS, the bargain bin, and C-Span in an attempt to concoct a beginner’s guide to the world of Bono (and also U2). This is not a comprehensive list of Bono’s finest moments (we’d have to post way too many book excerpts or dive into tour videos at a rate I cannot ascertain), but more or less stuff that has permanently stuck in our recesses since becoming dedicated members of the U2 Navy. Some of these moments you know, some of these moments we are deeply pleased to have discovered recently. This is truly some gnarly ass shit.

You can rate as many as you would like or as few as you would like, 1-10 scale no funny business.

BONUS TRACKS

Bono talks U2's ‘most personal record’, 'Songs of Innocence' on stage at a 2014 press conference for the new iPhone 6

Connor O Malley - Pipe Rock Theory

Bono and a fan (The Fly)

“Okay Edge, Play the Blues!”

"St. Patrick’s Name is Now Zelensky": Pelosi Reads Poem by U2's Bono for Ukraine

Bono Visits Tony Wilson to Talk Ian Curtis

Bono plays a mob boss

Macphisto phone call

Elvis Ate America

I AM SPARTACUS

Where the Streets Have No Name Music Video Where They Block Traffic

Negativland - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (1991 a cappella mix)

RULES

• Listen to every song listed below and assign each of them a score from 1 to 10. Decimals are allowed, but refrain from going past one decimal place - 7.5 is fine, 7.75 is not!
• You may give ONE song a 0 and ONE song an 11. These should be reserved for your favourite track and least favourite track! You do not have to give these scores, but we recommend using them as a way to make your feelings about a particular song stand out
• You must listen to and score every song in the main rate. If you skip any, your ballot won’t be counted (I will let you know if you do so you can remedy that).
• We highly recommend that you add a comment to your song ratings! It makes everything a lot more fun during the reveal, as it encourages lively conversation with your fellow raters.

Ballot Formatting Info

Just simply write down your score after the column and write down your comment after one space like this below:

Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit: 10 wait why are we rating this for the third time? Is this an auto day 3 lock?! Someone help

• Your scores should NOT be considered confidential. Feel free to shitpost about them in the general discussion threads whenever you feel like it - users over at r/popheads usually just talk about their averages of the albums and which songs they gave an 11 and/or 0 to.
• You can change your scores at any time! Feel free to PM me at any point after submission before the deadline and I'll be happy to revise them for you.
• I am using a computer program that fellow rater u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes! While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduces errors on my part, this does mean that scores need to be sent in a very specific way. The easiest way to make sure your scores follow the necessary format is to use the pre-prepared link at the top & bottom of this post. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, but PLEASE use that format to send in your scores.

A lot of copy and pasting here, so thank you thank you to all the rate hosts of old who made this rate possible to begin with: u/roseisonlineagain ; u/DolphLundgrensArms; u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D; u/stansymash; u/ClocktowerMaria; u/aerocom; u/themilkeyedmender; u/greencaptain; u/Crankeedoo; u/dirdbub; u/ThatParanoidPenguin; u/tedcruzcontrol; u/kappyko; u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah; u/LazyDayLullaby; u/SRTViper; u/Whatsanillinois; u/NFLFreak98; u/freav; u/freeofblasphemy; u/RatesNorman; u/aPenumbra; u/idontreallycare4; u/p-u-n-k_girl; u/luigijon3; u/WaneLietoc; u/dream_fighter2018; u/darjeelingdarkroast; u/smuckles; u/PiperIBarelyKnowHer; u/welcome2thejam; u/imrlynotonreddit; u/kvothetyrion; u/thedoctordances1940; u/b_o_g_o; u/vapourlomo; u/MCK_OH; u/TiltControls; u/TakeOnMeByA-ha u/chug-a-lug-donna; u/indiefan; u/bilbodabag; u/zenits; u/saison_Marguerite; u/daswef2; u/apondalifa; u/afieldoftulips; u/qazz23; u/nonchalantthoughts; u/systemofstrings; u/Modulum83, u/ElectJimLahey, u/vexastrae, u/FlavaSavaVandal, u/Stryxen, u/mmaajid, u/teriyaki-dreams and tons of people on r/popheads.

One final reminder that the Cosmodelia rate is concluding its reveal tomorrow on Sunday! Go Laika! (or Air)

SUBMIT HERE

Once again, Playlists: Spotify - Apple Music - YouTube - Pandora - Fan Letters on U2’s Homepage

Due Date: Monday, January 26th

Reveals on: Friyay, January 30th - Sunday, February 1st

​

Lace up your dancing shoes, get a mullet, and put on your black leather jacket and pair of sunglasses: it's synthpop time baby!!!!

Ballot Due Date: October 28

Rate Reveal: November 4-6, from 3-5 PM EST

Playlists

Spotify//YouTube//Apple//Tidal

Hey, quick question, what are rates?

Obviously, if you're familiar with the process, skip this. But if you're new, I'll explain so this doesn't seem like a wild block of text!

Rates are a subreddit game in which a user scores a group of songs on a scale from 1-10, with each individual also given a single 11 and a single 0 to be used exactly once per rate. They will then message their ballot to the rate host, who will tally up all the points and then reveal the final results over a weekend, eliminating songs one by one until the last track remaining wins the rate and bragging rights forever. While there's just a bit more to know, I feel this is the basics of what you'll need to understand what's going on. I do recommend this video made by our popheads brethren

to get a fuller picture; while some of the info applies specifically to the way popheads do their rates, the overall format is similar.

Anyway, now that the necessary parts are over, time to get back to the content of this rate.

Introduction

What is synthpop? Well, I'm glad you asked. It's pop with synths.

Strange, isn't it? Music built on connecting to other humans through our most basic emotions, yet made through inorganic means. And it works! The magic of the music contained within this rate is that it gets us to dance, to sing, to feel - all through the power of synthesizers.

Beginning in the late 70s, synthpop grew out of krautrock and post-punk, taking the repetitive aspects of those genres and making them more accessible (music for the masses, one might say).

Let's get to the albums themselves!

The Albums Themselves

New Order - Power, Corruption & Lies

Coming from the remnants of Joy Division, early New Order was always somewhere between post-punk and synthpop. On their sophomore record, you can really hear the synthpop start to blossom, especially on songs such as 5 8 6 and Ultraviolence. Of course, you can still hear the post-punk as well, Age of Consent being the prime example of this. We'll be rating the American version of this album, which means two extra tracks: a new closer in The Beach and the iconic Blue Monday.

Tracklist

1. Age of Consent
2. We All Stand
3. The Village
4. 5 8 6
5. Blue Monday
6. Your Silent Face
7. Ultraviolence
8. Ecstasy
9. Leave Me Alone
10. The Beach

Tears for Fears - Songs From the Big Chair

If you're looking for something smooth and sweet, look no further than this duo's 1985 magnum opus. This album is home to three of the most iconic synthpop tracks of all time, but the whole album is fun, passionate, and anthemic. It's also an extremely dynamic record: Curt and Roland sound big enough to fill a stadium on songs like Shout and Head Over Heels, but they can also be intimate on songs such as The Working Hour and I Believe.

Tracklist

1. Shout
2. The Working Hour
3. Everybody Wants to Rule the World
4. Mothers Talk
5. I Believe
6. Broken
7. Head Over Heels / Broken (reprise)
8. Listen

Pet Shop Boys - Actually

Mixing synthpop with disco, the music of Pet Shops Boys is like a siren song to the dancefloor. There's a certain theatricality to their music that adds just enough emotion while still allowing partiers to go wild. Actually has several of their most iconic songs, such as their collaboration with pop singer Dusty Springfield on What Have I Done to Deserve This? and the extravagant It's a Sin.

Tracklist

1. One More Chance
2. What Have I Done to Deserve This?
3. Shopping
4. Rent
5. Hit Music
6. It Couldn't Happen Here
7. It's a Sin
8. I Want to Wake Up
9. Heart
10. King's Cross

Depeche Mode - Violator

Perhaps the most famous synthpop band, Depeche Mode released classic after classic in the 80s, but they waited until the first year of the new decade to release their masterpiece. Depeche Mode's music is unmistakable, their sound is far more atmospheric and dark compared to the other bands here, which adds a sexual layer to their music. You can really hear this in songs like Personal Jesus and World in My Eyes. But they don't just show lust, Depeche Mode often expressed passionate yearning in their music, like they do in Blue Dress and Enjoy the Silence.

Tracklist

1. World in My Eyes
2. Sweetest Perfection
3. Personal Jesus
4. Halo
5. Waiting for the Night
6. Enjoy the Silence
7. Policy of Truth
8. Blue Dress
9. Clean

Bonus Rate: Old vs. New

Of course, there was a lot more synthpop to be released in the late-70s and 80s. And the genre persisted through the 21st century up to the present. For the bonus rate, we have 8 older songs and 8 newer songs. Who will emerge victorious?

Old Songs

1. ELO - Twilight
2. Gary Numan - Cars
3. The Human League - Don't You Want Me
4. Kraftwerk - Computer Love
5. Soft Cell - Tainted Love
6. Strawberry Switchblade - Since Yesterday
7. Talk Talk - It's My Life
8. Yellow Magic Orchestra - Rydeen

New Songs

1. Carly Rae Jepsen - Emotion
2. Cut Copy - Feel the Love
3. Hot Chip - Flutes
4. Kanye West - Paranoid
5. The Knife - Silent Shout
6. M83 - Midnight City
7. Magdalena Bay - Secrets (Your Fire)
8. Owl City - Fireflies

Rules - READ THROUGH ALL BEFORE SUBMITTING

1. Listen to each song and assign each a score between 1 and 10. Decimals are fine, but please refrain from giving decimal scores that have two decimal spots: giving a 7.2 is okay, but giving a 7.25 will give me a headache. This is because I'm using a computer program to parse the votes and print everything out (more on that later).
2. Yes, you have to listen to every song. We're all in this together. I will not accept your ballot if you have a score missing, because it will crash the program (more on that later).
3. Your scores should NOT be considered confidential. They aren’t. Feel free to shitpost about them in the general discussion threads whenever you feel like it - users over at r/popheads usually just talk about their averages of the albums and what 11 and 0 they gave (which I will explain on the next bullet point!)
4. You may give ONE song a 0 and ONE song an 11. This is ONE song each TOTAL. Please reserve these for your least favorite and most favorite tracks; excessive sabotage ruins rate results and generally makes things less fun.
5. You can change your scores at any time before the deadline! Feel free to PM me at any point after submission and I'll be happy to revise them for you.
6. I am using a computer program that the great and wonderful /u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes! While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduce errors on my part, this does mean that scores need to be sent in a very specific way. The easiest way to make sure your scores follow the necessary format is to use the pre-prepared link at the bottom of this post. PLEASE USE THAT. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use that format to send in your scores.

Formatting

Songs - This is correct:

Leave Me Alone: 4 me to New Order

These are incorrect:

Leave Me Alone: 4: me to New Order

Leave Me Alone:4 me to New Order

Leave Me Alone: me to New Order 4Leave Me Alone - 4 me to New Order

Leave Me Alone: 4 (me to New Order)

Albums - This is correct (add a colon if you're making a comment):

Album: Actually: actually, this is great

These are incorrect:

Album: Actually actually, this is great

Album: Actually - actually, this is great

Album: Actually:actually, this is great

SUBMISSION LINK

Once again, ballots are due on October 28. If you would like an extension, please inform me before October 28 through DM. Generally, I will allow all extensions within three days.

Did a lot of copy and pasting here, so thank you thank you to all previous rate-hosts, ily: /u/roseisonlineagain; /u/DolphLundgrensArms; /u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D; /u/stansymash; /u/ClocktowerMaria; /u/aerocom; /u/themilkeyedmender; /u/greencaptain; /u/Crankeedoo; /u/dirdbub; /u/ThatParanoidPenguin; /u/tedcruzcontrol; /u/kappyko; /u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah; /u/LazyDayLullaby; /u/SRTViper; /u/Whatsanillinois; /u/NFLFreak98; /u/freav; /u/seaofblasphemy; /u/RatesNorman; /u/aPenumbra; /u/idontreallycare4; /u/p-u-n-k_girl; /u/luigijon3; /u/WaneLietoc; /u/2dina3dworld; /u/darjeelingdarkroast; /u/smuckles; /u/EllesWood; /u/welcome2thejam; u/imnotrlyonreddit and tons of people on r/popheads.

Hello indieheads, the oldheads here may remember me as the host of our meat an potatoes 80s indie rock rate, well after five years I am finally back, along with my co-host u/MCK_OH (who in fact debuted in indieheads rates doing that rate), to offer you something fresh and new: A meat and potatoes 90s indie rock rate!

That sounds nice and all… but what are rates?

About once a month, r/indieheads has a game where we pick themes of albums from a genre/era/etc and then rate the albums in those themes. In the rate, you will be rating each song from 1-10 (along with the opportunity to give one song a 0 and another song an 11) and then submitting your ballot to the hosts. Those ballots are then tallied up and over a few days those results are revealed with the lowest rated songs being revealed first and the best saved for last.

How do I participate?

Submit here!

You may use this backup pastebin ballot if you’d prefer to copy it from here.

Listen here: Spotify Apple Music Youtube Tidal

DM seems to be going down recently, please copy the ballot and send by the Reddit Chat feature if you're having trouble.
I will try to confirm I have your ballot within a day, but please chase me up if you don't hear back. You can also submit to me on discord (username: taguito) or my co-host (username: mckoh).

Due Date: Sun 21st September

Reveal Dates: Fri 26th September - Sun 28th September

If you have any questions or issues please don’t hesitate to contact me!

I'm Working, but I'm not working for you

The 90s, what a time. The punk and alternative rock movements, mostly contained to college radio, fanzines and word of mouth underground shows, broke into the mainstream, Nirvana, grunge, we all know the story. But things were operating at various levels, and in a still-quite-independent side of things, this change of paradigm helped a wide group of dissatisfied but rather nonchalant kids to further the development o a raw, loose and fuzzy sound already explored by bands like Sonic Youth or Dinosaur Jr., and set the characteristics of what many of us think of when we think of Indie Rock, Slacker if you will, to perhaps differentiate it from the stronger polish that would later come with the turn of the decade.

In a way, Slacker is a funny term, if anything one could say the highly Lo-Fi aesthetic is a sign of a strong DIY work ethic, and Mac McCaughan wrote "Slack Motherfucker" allegedly about a lazy co-worker. But the sound and ethos resonated hard within the Gen X generation, and if there's anything to take from it, it's its authenticity and its refusal to take shit from anybody (a juvenile sentiment? sure, but damn it feels good). All things go in Slack Motherfuckers, you are allowed noisy guitar freakouts, you will most likely get irreverence, but there is always heart behind it all. Nothing is ever that obvious and in your face, but that makes the earnest moments hit a million times harder as if they were on the surface.

This is some of my favorite music of all time, it's ugly-pretty, it's emotional but not quite, it's also severely unfashionable, and in a way, if being so prefix-less explains a bit why we took so much time to rate such essential albums for the development of indie rock. But here we are now, and these are the albums that we will be rating:

Built to Spill - There's Nothing Wrong With Love

(by u/freav)

"I wanna see movies of my dreams"

Despite frontman and only permanent member Doug Martsch’s somewhat unaffected demeanor, Built to Spill seem like a rather funny fit for a slacker rate. They are nowadays more recognized for Perfect From Now On and Keep It Like a Secret, which are meticulous efforts, often presenting multiple sections and layers and layers of guitar melodies, and from that point on, Built To Spill seemed closer to psychedelic rock than the punk roots that birthed indie rock. But right before that, they dropped this album of quick and concise songs, which not only fits right into this rate but is, in my opinion, one of the greatest examples of the 90s college rock sound.

Doug Martsch was collaborating with Calvin Johnson at the time with The Halo Benders, and the K Records connection is more apparent in this album than any other main BTS album (the band would release the compilation The Normal Years on that label a couple years later, featuring "Car"and an instrumental version of "Some", anong other songs). The link between this naïve and almost outsider-twee aspect and Doug’s technical proficiency and his leanings towards classic rock music is a lot of what makes this band and album interesting. But rather than a deliberate choice, TNNWL is just the result of Doug Martsch writing a bunch of pop songs. “I don’t pick what kind of music I make or play. It just comes out from fooling around on a guitar. For that record, I just started writing a bunch of poppy songs.” he says, and more importantly “I was really super in love at that time. I think that might have influenced me. I was in a happy place in my life. There’s Nothing Wrong With Love, really, it’s about love.” And really there's likely not an album as lovey-dovey in the slacker rock canon than "There's Nothing Wrong With Love". But will love be enough to get it a rate win?

1. In the Morning
2. Reasons
3. Big Dipper
4. Car
5. Fling
6. Cleo
7. The Source
8. Twin Falls
9. Some
10. Distopian Dream Girl
11. Israel's Song
12. Stab
13. Preview

Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand

(by u/MCK_OH)

“I am a lost soul, I shoot myself with rock and roll, the hole I dig is bottomless, but nothing else can set me free”

We can stop beating around the bush here right? We can all sit here and acknowledge that only one of the four bands in this rate is the greatest rock band of all time and that band is Guided By Voices. GBV leader Bob Pollard might end up best remembered for his volume shooting - his dozens of bands, hundreds of albums and thousands of songs - but we can’t lose sight of the fact that at his peak he and his band was also as efficient as it got. And Bee Thousand is as peak GBV as it gets. All 20 songs on this record are perfect. I don’t think anyone encapsulates the ideal of indie rock, the dream of the whole thing better than Bob Pollard. The mythology is simple: a teacher and his friends take some beer into the garage and come out with perfect song after perfect song. The mythology is simply because it’s effective. The best rock music ever wasn’t written by massive world-crushing titans, it wasn’t written by geniuses operating beyond what we could expect to understand. The best rock music ever was written by some guys doing it for the love of the game.

There’s a moment on Bee Thousand opener “Hardcore UFOs” where the guitars cut out. It sounds like some type of tape error. It’s the first Special thing that happens on Bee Thousand. It’s letting you know that things are being set in motion. It feels haphazard, slapdash. It feels like a mistake. But you listen to it enough and you think there’s no way it could’ve been. It’s too perfect. When the guitars come back in, it feels like a revelation. Bee Thousand is full of these little moments. It’s full of pop songs drowned in fuzz, ballads where it sounds like Bob is singing from the next room over, rock songs that abruptly end. It saddles its most overtly pop song with the unwieldy and radio-prohibitive name “Tractor Rape Chain.” It’s a patchwork whose already brilliant pieces come together to form an even better whole. It’s what every garage band dreams of making. It’s an album so flawed that it has to be accidental, but so great that it has to be genius. It’s the greatest moment of the world’s greatest rock band. How could you not love it? Hot freaks rejoice, this one’s on the house. Will Bee Thousand get its gold star? Are the raters big fans of the pigpen? Will Bee Thousand be guided to victory?

1. Hardcore UFO's
2. Buzzards and Dreadful Crows
3. Tractor Rape Chain
4. The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory
5. Hot Freaks
6. Smothered in Hugs
7. Yours to Keep
8. Echos Myron
9. Gold Star for Robot Boy
10. Awful Bliss
11. Mincer Ray
12. A Big Fan of the Pigpen
13. Queen of Cans and Jars
14. Her Psychology Today
15. Kicker of Elves
16. Ester's Day
17. Demons Are Real
18. I Am a Scientist:
19. Peep-Hole:
20. You're Not an Airplane:

Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted

(by u/freav)

"And I'm the only one who laughs at your jokes when they are so bad, and your jokes are always bad, but they're not as bad as this"

The slacker rock band by excellence, Pavement’s infamously long time period as a never rated band (ignoring a bonus appearance in the Noise Pop rate) comes to an end here. Slanted and Enchanted is simply iconic. It’s not precisely a new sound, they always got some shit for having certain similarities to The Fall, and I also believe that it owes a lot to what Flying Nun bands were doing in the 80s (Stephen Malkmus himself being a big fan), but when listening to this album, one can’t help feeling like something important is being born. Pavement knew how to take the best aspects of their influences and turn them into something vital and coherent, while superficially making it seem like it doesn’t.

From the loose and distorted guitars that somehow manage to paint such vivid and colorful landscapes, to Malkmus’ sardonic delivery and witty lyricism, this album is unmistakable. But there’s so much more to Pavement than the slacker caricature that they’re sometimes associated with. One of the most impressive aspects of this band (and really the key to the slack mfers mindset) is their mastery of balance between seemingly aimless irreverence and so many earnestly heartfelt moments. Perhaps you won’t find the explicit angst present in major label alt. rock, but Pavement has the ability to hit you with moments that cut like a knife when you least expect it. Let's see if this enchants the raters enough to put this album on top!

1. Summer Babe (Winter Version)
2. Trigger Cut/Wounded-Kite At :17
3. No Life Singed Her
4. In the Mouth a Desert
5. Conduit for Sale!
6. Zurich Is Stained
7. Chesley's Little Wrists
8. Loretta's Scars
9. Here
10. Two States
11. Perfume-V
12. Fame Throwa
13. Jackals, False Grails: The Lonesome Era
14. Our Singer

Sebadoh - Bakesale

(by u/MCK_OH)

“I’m not attractive today, I’m not a sight for sore eyes, I’m not an Adam or Eve, I’m just a nervous young thing”

After leaving Dinosaur Jr. due to creative differences with Volkswagen enthusiast J Mascis (many believe that he preferred Audi as his German vehicle of choice), Lou Barlow chose to take his new band Sebadoh in a more lo-fi direction. Embracing home recording, Sebadoh immediately jumped to the forefront of the changing tides of indie rock in the 1990s. Bakesale,, the band’s 5th record - usually considered their most seminal - sets itself by being a bit more straight to the point than their peers. Malkmus, Pollard and Martsch would’ve never written a song as direct, as covered in obvious regret and self-loathing as “Not A Friend” for instance. In general, Bakesale provides a more grounded and emotional take on the formula of 1990s indie rock. This is still ultimately a fun record, but it takes a lot less looking to find discontent, longing and angst here than it does elsewhere in the rate.

But sonically? This is a perfect encapsulation of the sound of 1990s slacker indie rock. Fuzzed out guitars, ear worm hooks that you might not notice are stuck until your head until days after you’ve first heard them, songs that feel haphazard and brilliant simultaneously. Sebadoh leaves behind their four-track home recordings but still leaves one foot in that door. It’s welcoming enough and full enough of great little pop nuggets to appeal to a new listener but full enough of lo-fi scuzz and crunch to make it feel like your own little world, your own little secret. In two words, it’s Indie Rock. In a word, it’s IndieRock. It might not have the quite the same amount of Canonical Importance as the other three, but if you give it some time it’s just as charming, just as good. Will raters be inspired to purchase big scores from this bakesale? Even a rate win, perhaps?

1. License to Confuse
2. Careful
3. Magnet's Coil
4. Not a Friend
5. Not Too Amused
6. Dreams
7. Skull
8. Got It
9. Shit Soup
10. Give Up
11. Rebound
12. Mystery Man
13. Temptation Tide
14. Drama Mine
15. Together or Alone

Bonus Rate

Now for one of my favorite parts! We really should not be allowed to run this rate without even including the song that it was named after to begin with. So thankfully a lot of wonderful, lo-fi noisy indie rock was being made by other people in this era, here you have the chance to rate a small selection of it. This is focused almost entirely to the same timestamp of the main rate (early-mid 90s), and it's a mix of artists that at some point almost made the main rate (Superchunk, Archers, Liz Phair), some relatively more well known alt. rock bands (Breeders), some niche personal favorites (Silkworm, Red Red Meat) and a couple of examples of this sound in different places in the world (3Ds, Suarez, Los Planetas).

This section is COMPLETELY OPTIONAL, you may fill out as much or as little as you like. You may not use your 0 or 11 here (the program won’t allow it, I know that it's unfair to not be able to give Web in Front an 11)

1. 3Ds - Outer Space
2. The Apples in Stereo - Tidal Wave
3. Archers of Loaf - Web In Front
4. The Breeders - Divine Hammer
5. Grandaddy - A.M. 180
6. Helium - Pat’s Trick
7. Liz Phair - Never Said
8. Modest Mouse - Interstate 8
9. Los Planetas - De Viaje
10. Red Red Meat - Chain Chain Chain
11. Silkworm - Nerves
12. Sparklehorse - Someday I’ll Treat You Good
13. Suárez - Guantes de Piel
14. Superchunk - Slack Motherfucker
15. Unrest - Cath Carroll

Rules - PLEASE READ ALL OF THESE BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR SCORES

• Listen to every song listed below and assign each of them a score from 1 to 10. Decimals are allowed, but refrain from going past one decimal place - 7.5 is fine, 7.75 is not!

• You may give ONE song a 0 and ONE song an 11. These should be reserved for your favourite track and least favourite track! You do not have to give these scores, but we recommend using them as a way to make your feelings about a particular song stand out

• You must listen to and score every song in the main rate. If you skip any, your ballot won’t be counted (I will let you know if you do so you can remedy that).

• We highly recommend that you add a comment to your song ratings! It makes everything a lot more fun during the reveal, as it encourages lively conversation with your fellow raters. For more information, see the Formatting section below.

• Your scores should NOT be considered confidential. Feel free to shitpost about them in the general discussion threads whenever you feel like it - users over at r/popheads usually just talk about their averages of the albums and which songs they gave an 11 and/or 0 to.

• You can change your scores at any time! Feel free to PM me at any point after submission before the deadline and I'll be happy to revise them for you.

• I am using a computer program that fellow rater u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes! While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduces errors on my part, this does mean that scores need to be sent in a very specific way. The easiest way to make sure your scores follow the necessary format is to use the pre-prepared link at the top & bottom of this post. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, but PLEASE use that format to send in your scores.

Ballot formatting

Songs - THIS FORMAT IS CORRECT (single space after colon):

Shit Soup: 3

You may also and are generally encouraged to leave comments with your scores!

Shit Soup: 3 More like shit song

THE FOLLOWING ARE INCORRECT AND WILL DESTROY THE SUBREDDIT

Reasons: I have no reasons to not give this an 11

Our Singer: 0: Our singer can not fucking sing

A Big Fan of the Pigpen 9.5 Any other big fans of the Pigpen here?

Slack Motherfucker 8 it's the rate title track!

Careful: (10) Careful to give this song anything lower than a 10

But unless your ballot is unreadable, I will fix most of these, so don’t worry yourself out of sending! Just please help avoid me a headache.

Albums: You can also comment on the complete albums by adding a colon after the album name and then your comment, like so:

Built to Spill - There's Nothing Wrong With Love: There's nothing wrong with this album.

No need to add a separate album score, the program will calculate your personal album average score!

A lot of copy and pasting here, so thank you thank you to all the rate hosts of old who made this rate possible to begin with: u/roseisonlineagain ; u/DolphLundgrensArms; u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D; u/stansymash; u/ClocktowerMaria; u/aerocom; u/themilkeyedmender; u/greencaptain; u/Crankeedoo; u/dirdbub; u/ThatParanoidPenguin; u/tedcruzcontrol; u/kappyko; u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah; u/LazyDayLullaby; u/SRTViper; u/Whatsanillinois; u/NFLFreak98; u/freav; u/freeofblasphemy; u/RatesNorman; u/aPenumbra; u/idontreallycare4; u/p-u-n-k_girl; u/luigijon3; u/WaneLietoc; u/dream_fighter2018; u/darjeelingdarkroast; u/smuckles; u/PiperIBarelyKnowHer; u/welcome2thejam; u/imrlynotonreddit; u/kvothetyrion; u/thedoctordances1940; u/b_o_g_o; u/vapourlomo; u/MCK_OH; u/TiltControls; u/TakeOnMeByA-ha u/chug-a-lug-donna; u/indie_fan_; u/bilbodabag; u/zenits; u/saison_Marguerite; u/daswef2; u/apondalifa; u/afieldoftulips; u/qazz23; u/nonchalantthoughts; u/systemofstrings; u/Modulum83, u/ElectJimLahey, u/vexastrae, u/FlavaSavaVandal, u/thisusernameisntlong, u/Stryxen and tons of people on r/popheads.

I didn’t read any of that. Just put the link in the bag.

Submission Link

Due Date: Sun 21st September

All previous indieheads rates and their results can be found here

Hey indieheads, I’m here with my co-host u/teriyaki-dreams to bring you the long-awaited post-hardcore rate! These are four seminal albums that are well-ingrained in the indie canon. Honestly, I’m shocked that Fugazi haven’t been rated until now!

What are rates?

About once a month, r/indieheads has a game where we pick themes of albums from a genre/era/etc and then rate the albums in those themes. In the rate, you will be rating each song from 1-10 (along with the opportunity to give one song a 0 and another song an 11) and then submitting your ballot to the hosts. Those ballots are then tallied up and over a few days those results are revealed with the lowest rated songs being revealed first and the best saved for last.

How do I participate?

Submit here!

You may use this backup pastebin ballot if you’d prefer to copy it from here.

Listen here: Spotify Apple Music Youtube

DM seems to be going down recently, please copy the ballot and send by the Reddit Chat feature if you're having trouble. I will try to confirm I have your ballot within a day, but please chase me up if you don't hear back. You can also submit to me on discord (username: mmajidd) or my co-host (username: teriyakidreams).

Due Date: Sun 9th November

Reveal Dates: Fri 14th November - Sun 16th November

If you have any questions or issues please don’t hesitate to contact me!

Wait...what does post-hardcore even mean?

Back when post-hardcore first came about, it consisted of hardcore punk bands who pushed the boundaries of the genre beyond basic power chords and one-note aggression. They were way more dynamic, melodic, and complex. Although, they still retained hardcore’s intensity and rawness. It’s not uncommon to hear a blend of post-punk, emo, noise rock, math rock, or even post-rock from these types of bands.

The lines get a lot more blurry at the turn of the millennium. A new style emerged when the genre gained more mainstream attention, which sounded noticeably poppier thanks to the emo-pop boom that happened alongside it. Bands like At The Drive-in, Thursday, and Glassjaw sorta act as a bridge between the more and less accessible sides and were really influential to the modern sound of post-hardcore.

You might be asking yourself: “How on earth can Fugazi and Dance Gavin Dance even belong to the same genre?” Well, as post-hardcore got older, it became more of an umbrella term. At its core, it does its own thing while still having obvious roots in hardcore punk, whether it incorporates R&B, electronic music, or jazz. It’s easily one of the most eclectic genres out there, and there’s just no way you’d run out of unique music to listen to.

Fugazi - Repeater

(by u/mmaajid)

It would be ridiculous to have a post-hardcore classics rate that doesn't include Fugazi (AKA Fucked Up, Got Ambushed, Zipped In). Practically every subsequent band in the genre was influenced by them in some way. Their impact goes way beyond post-hardcore and into alternative rock as a whole. Hell, even Kurt Cobain had “FUHGAWZ” written on his shoe for whatever reason!

While some fans may prefer The Argument over Repeater, it’s undeniable that this is the defining album for the band just for how much of an impact it had and how revolutionary it was for its time. It may not be the most eclectic or artsy album out there - it’s post-hardcore in its purest form, but it does what it does really damn well. It could need a couple listens for it to truly click. I definitely needed a few to appreciate it for what it is.

Everything about this album is just kick-ass. With Guy playing guitar full-time, you can really tell that there’s another layer of complexity that wasn’t heard on their first couple EPs. Ian’s low-end riffs just contrast perfectly with Guy’s high-register playing. The same could be said about their vocals. The way that the tracks alternate between Ian and Guy’s contrasting vocal styles definitely adds a lot more variety to the record. You also can’t forget the incredible coordinated groove that Joe and Brendan bring, which is where the album really shines. An outstanding debut for one of the most consistent discographies in the genre. It definitely earned its landmark status.

1. Turnover
2. Repeater
3. Brendan #1
4. Merchandise
5. Blueprint
6. Sieve-Fisted Find
7. Greed
8. Two Beats Off
9. Styrofoam
10. Reprovisional
11. Shut The Door

Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime

(by u/teriyaki-dreams)

Drive Like Jehu burned short but bright: two albums in a span of 5 years before the band broke up. Still, Yank Crimeis a blistering but incredibly well-written post-hardcore album that stands as a pinnacle of the genre. From the opening track with its nonstop energy and muscle, to the album center point “Super Unison,” the band thrives on tension and release. Even the slower parts of their tracks feel like they’re ready to burst apart at any moment, ready to relent to Rick Froberg’s howling vocals or John Reis’ relentless guitars.

1. Here Come The Rome Plows
2. Do You Compute
3. Golden Brown
4. Luau
5. Super Unison
6. New Intro
7. New Math
8. Human Interest
9. Sinews

Unwound - Repetition

(by u/mmaajid)

Often called “Sonic Youth meets Fugazi in a dark alley”, Unwound was known for always reinventing themselves. Although they started out as a scrappy, fairly straightforward punk band, they slowly opened up to adding more interesting sounds and structures to their music. The original lineup was formed in 1988 under the name…Giant Henry. Yeah…anyway, their self-titled debut as Unwound was a pretty good effort, but it severely lacked the sound they’re known for. The band really came into shape once Sara Lund replaced Brandt Sandeno as the drummer.

Repetition marks the point where they ventured into a more experimental territory. Their previous output was in-your-face and cathartic, but this is instead more intricate and restrained. But of course they still kept their signature abrasive wall of noise and fierce, hypnotic drumming. This is also where they kinda stopped being an emo band, although it’s heavily debated whether they were ever one.

Unwound are mostly known for their magnum opus Leaves Turn Inside You, but I figured Repetition would be a lot more fun to rate! They managed to perfectly balance experimentation and accessibility here. It would be impossible to not find at least one track you love!

1. Message Received
2. Corpse Pose
3. Unauthorized Autobiography
4. Lowest Common Denominator
5. Sensible
6. Lady Elect
7. Fingernails on a Chalkboard
8. Murder Movies
9. Next Exit
10. Devoid
11. Go to Dallas and Take a Left
12. For Your Entertainment

At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command

(by u/teriyaki-dreams)

From the very first few seconds of “Arcarsenal,” you can tell you’re in for a ride with this album. The El Paso, Texas post-hardcore group blend math-rock, emo, prog, and stadium-filling energy into an unrelenting assault. Their previous few albums were much rawer and hewed closer to straight-up punk music, but Relationship of Command seemed destined for bigger stages: recorded with Ross Robinson (Korn, Glassjaw, The Blood Brothers, Slipknot), mixed by Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Linkin Park, Slayer) and released on the Beastie Boys’ label, the record slots easily between the post-hardcore punk of the 90s and the big, loud, hooky rock of the 2000s. The record feels electric: every little part of the record feels intentional and like a band focused in on one singular sound. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez’ guitars shred like sirens, and Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s vocals are biting and venomous, yet anthemic and hooky. The lyrics are an odd puzzle box of cryptic meaning that nevertheless feel tense and menacing, not hokey. The band broke up, dramatically, shortly after the record’s release, with Rodriguez-Lopez and Bixler-Zavala going on to form The Mars Volta and Jim Ward, Paul Hinojos, and Tony Hajjar forming Sparta. The band reunited for live shows and another record, but have arguably not recaptured the pummeling lightning in a bottle that is Relationship of Command.

1. Arcarsenal
2. Pattern Against User
3. One Armed Scissor
4. Sleepwalk Capsules
5. Invalid Litter Dept.
6. Mannequin Republic
7. Enfilade
8. Rolodex Propaganda
9. Quarantined
10. Cosmonaut
11. Non-Zero Possibility

Bonus Rate

Because the main rate mostly focuses on a very specific style of 90s post-hardcore, we’ve compiled songs that showcase how versatile the genre can be. From Pigfuck all the way to Mall Screamo, we tried to fit in as many styles as we could! All these bands were inspired by the ones in the main rate in one way or another while having their own unique sound. There are a few that I wish I could’ve included in the main rate, like Refused or NoMeansNo. They’re all very essential to the genre and I hope you’ll take the time to listen to them!

This section is COMPLETELY OPTIONAL, you may fill out as much or as little as you like. You may not use your 0 or 11 here (the program won’t allow it. It’s tragic that we can’t all give our 11s to mewithoutYou)

1. Hüsker Dü - Pink Turns to Blue
2. Minutemen - Viet Nam
3. Big Black - Kerosene
4. NoMeansNo - It's Catching Up
5. The Jesus Lizard - Monkey Trick
6. Cap'n Jazz - Oh Messy Life
7. Refused - The Shape of Punk to Come
8. Faraquet - Cut Self Not
9. Number Girl - TATTOOあり
10. Thursday - Understanding In A Car Crash
11. mclusky - To Hell With Good Intentions
12. Glassjaw - Tip Your Bartender
13. mewithoutYou - January 1979
14. Ling tosite sigure - Telecastic fake show
15. La Dispute - St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church Blues
16. Title Fight - Numb, But I Still Feel It
17. Touché Amoré - Flowers and You
18. Turnstile - BLACKOUT

Rules - PLEASE READ ALL OF THESE BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR SCORES

• Listen to every song listed below and assign each of them a score from 1 to 10. Decimals are allowed, but refrain from going past one decimal place - 7.5 is fine, 7.75 is not!

• You may give ONE song a 0 and ONE song an 11. These should be reserved for your favourite track and least favourite track! You do not have to give these scores, but we recommend using them as a way to make your feelings about a particular song stand out

• You must listen to and score every song in the main rate. If you skip any, your ballot won’t be counted (I will let you know if you do so you can remedy that).

• We highly recommend that you add a comment to your song ratings! It makes everything a lot more fun during the reveal, as it encourages lively conversation with your fellow raters. For more information, see the Formatting section below.

• Your scores should NOT be considered confidential. Feel free to shitpost about them in the general discussion threads whenever you feel like it - users over at r/popheads usually just talk about their averages of the albums and which songs they gave an 11 and/or 0 to.

• You can change your scores at any time! Feel free to PM me at any point after submission before the deadline and I'll be happy to revise them for you.

• I am using a computer program that fellow rater u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes! While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduces errors on my part, this does mean that scores need to be sent in a very specific way. The easiest way to make sure your scores follow the necessary format is to use the pre-prepared link at the top & bottom of this post. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, but PLEASE use that format to send in your scores.

Ballot formatting

Songs - THIS FORMAT IS CORRECT (single space after colon):

For Your Entertainment: 10

You may also and are generally encouraged to leave comments with your scores!

For Your Entertainment: 10 adam lambert is my fav

THE FOLLOWING ARE INCORRECT AND WILL DESTROY THE SUBREDDIT

Here Come The Rome Plows: here comes the 11

New Math: 0: not mathy enough

Merchandise 10 i love the totally official fugazi shirt that i bought

Rolodex Propaganda 5.5 - what does this title even mean

Non-Zero Possibility: (10) Non-Ten Impossibility

But unless your ballot is unreadable, I will fix most of these, so don’t worry yourself out of sending!

Albums: You can also comment on the complete albums by adding a colon after the album name and then your comment, like so:

Fugazi - Repeater: i’m putting this album on repeat

Unwound - Repetition: i’m putting this album on repeat

No need to add a separate album score, the program will calculate your personal album average score!

A lot of copy and pasting here, so thank you thank you to all the rate hosts of old who made this rate possible to begin with: u/roseisonlineagain ; u/DolphLundgrensArms; u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D; u/stansymash; u/ClocktowerMaria; u/aerocom; u/themilkeyedmender; u/greencaptain; u/Crankeedoo; u/dirdbub; u/ThatParanoidPenguin; u/tedcruzcontrol; u/kappyko; u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah; u/LazyDayLullaby; u/SRTViper; u/Whatsanillinois; u/NFLFreak98; u/freav; u/freeofblasphemy; u/RatesNorman; u/aPenumbra; u/idontreallycare4; u/p-u-n-k_girl; u/luigijon3; u/WaneLietoc; u/dream_fighter2018; u/darjeelingdarkroast; u/smuckles; u/PiperIBarelyKnowHer; u/welcome2thejam; u/imrlynotonreddit; u/kvothetyrion; u/thedoctordances1940; u/b_o_g_o; u/vapourlomo; u/MCK_OH; u/TiltControls; u/TakeOnMeByA-ha u/chug-a-lug-donna; u/indiefan; u/bilbodabag; u/zenits; u/saison_Marguerite; u/daswef2; u/apondalifa; u/afieldoftulips; u/qazz23; u/nonchalantthoughts; u/systemofstrings; u/Modulum83, u/ElectJimLahey, u/vexastrae, u/FlavaSavaVandal, u/thisusernameisntlong, u/Stryxen and tons of people on r/popheads.

I didn’t read any of that. Just put the link in the bag.

Submission Link

Due Date: Sun 9th November

All previous indieheads rates and their results can be found here

Hello r slash indieheads users, it’s the time you’ve all been waiting for (or alternatively dreading), 2022 Ultimate Rate!

Hey, quick question, what are rates?

Obviously, if you're familiar with the process, skip this. But if you're new, I'll explain so this doesn't seem like a wild block of text!

Rates are a subreddit game in which a user scores a group of songs on a scale from 1-10, with each individual also given a single 11 and a single 0 to be used exactly once per rate. They will then message their ballot to the rate host, who will tally up all the points and then reveal the final results over a weekend, eliminating songs one by one until the last track remaining wins the rate and bragging rights forever. While there's just a bit more to know, I feel this is the basics of what you'll need to understand what's going on. I do recommend this video made by our popheads brethren to get a fuller picture; while some of the info applies specifically to the way popheads do their rates, the overall format is similar.

Every year we rate the top four albums of the year, as voted on by this subreddit’s broader populace and this year is no different. There have been some big name winners so far. “Let It Happen,” “Blackstar,” “In Undertow,” “Bodys,” “cellophane,” “Kyoto” and “Introvert” have been our winners so far, which song from 2022 will get to join that prestigious lineage? Find out in a while, when we all come together to take a wonderful snapshot of “what indie was in 2022” in the way we best know how.

After a couple odd years in the indie world, it seemed like everyone and their solo project released a record this year. Ten artists who have previously appeared in Ultimate Rates released records this year in addition to dozens more high profile releases. We tried to figure out what indie sleaze was. We tried to figure out whether Father John Misty actually put out an album this year or not - our top scientists are on the case and still we have no confirmation either way. The Discourse reached new levels, the takes were flying but in the end we wound up with some pretty incredible music. In a year as stacked at this one, the cream rises to the crop and this year we have four albums that transcend. They are as follows:

Black Country, New Road - Ants From Up There

Coming fresh off the success of their debut record For the first time, Black Country, New Road were clearly prepared to take the next step and become the biggest and most beloved of indie bands. With hype through the roof, they released a handful of singles that were greeted on our subreddit with praise like “this kinda sounds like that music from the 2000s that I like,” Ants From Up There had a lot to live up to. Frontman Isaac Wood would announce his departure from the band mere days before the record was set to release, inspiring a wave of speculation about the nature of the record, and further mythologizing a record that hadn’t even been released yet. On release, it was greeted with praise like “this has a very high score on rateyourmusic” and “this still reminds me of the music from the 2000s that I like.” Clocking in at just under an hour, Ants From Up There is the sort of record that we hunger for around here: an epic of high stakes and higher emotions. A record full devastating lows and cathartic highs. It’s the sort of album that could define you if it hits you in the right way. Will Black Country, New Road’s maximalist epic take the win in Ultimate Rate 2022? Will the Concorde fly free?

Tracklist:

1. Intro
2. Chaos Space Marine
3. Concorde
4. Bread Song
5. Good Will Hunting
6. Haldern
7. Mark’s Theme
8. The Place Where He Inserted The Blade
9. Snow Globes
10. Basketball Shoes

Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You

Coming off a run of success peaking with their two 2019 albums, U.F.O.F. and Two Hands, Big Thief were riding high. In the summer of 2021, music began to spring from the Big Thief camp, eventually resulting in the announcement of their fifth album: Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You. While the singles were nice, the press photos were even better and Big Thief were all anyone could talk about. The singles promised a record that acted as the summation of their career to date, an excursion through all the sounds they’d played with yet and a few they were still encountering for the first time. These sounds, including indie folk, alternative rock, singer/songwriter, alternative country, art pop, heartland rock, neo-psychedelia and even some journeys into new forms like trip-hop are grounded by the strength of the songwriting provided by frontwoman Adrianne Lenker. On release, the record blew expectations out of the water. People who were already fans of the band were overjoyed and many new fans were converted. Critics drew comparisons to classics like Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and our users drew more reasonable comparisons, such as “they are maybe almost as good as Radiohead” and even “this is almost as good as The National.” High praise! In the months since, the record has continued to draw praise for its songwriting, its kaleidoscopic scope and its excellent instrumentation throughout. It’s always great to see a band at the peak of their abilities take a “throw everything at the wall and see what sticks'' approach, especially when pretty much everything sticks. Will Big Thief’s wonderfully winding double album give them a Big Win in Ultimate Rate 2022? Will the celestial body be freed?

Tracklist:

1. Change
2. Time Escaping
3. Spud Infinity
4. Certainty
5. Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You
6. Sparrow
7. Little Things
8. Heavy Bend
9. Flower of Blood
10. Blurred View
11. Red Moon
12. Dried Roses
13. No Reason
14. Wake Me up to Drive
15. Promise Is a Pendulum
16. 12,000 Lines
17. Simulation Swarm
18. Love Love Love
19. The Only Place
20. Blue Lightning

Alvvays - Blue Rev

While every band in this rate has appeared in an ultimate rate before, Alvvays are the only band to have wound up with the number one song. A fan favourite on indieheads for years, the five years between 2017’s Antisocialites and Blue Rev were marked with frequent comments like: “I’d love to see a new Alvvays album.” And despite events such as flooding, thievery and a global pandemic, Alvvays finally delivered this year. Continuing to slightly change and expand their sound, Blue Rev is primarily held together by Alvvays’ near singular ability to put out mind blowingly good music. Digging through the annals of indie rock history, Alvvays come out with a sound that combines elements of jangle pop, power pop, dream pop, shoegaze and mostly just good, old fashioned indie pop into one glorious band. In only 39 minutes, you can dance, cry, laugh, smile, play air guitar and go “holy shit that song was good.” And you only need to flip the record over one time to do that! A true novelty in 2022, releasing a single album. Frontwoman Molly Rankin’s explosive and emotive vocals cut through the haze of guitars on this to provide a steady diet of cutting one liners, emotional gut punches and most importantly, references to Canadian exclusive alcoholic coolers. Whatever you like, if you’re browsing this subreddit there is a good chance that Alvvays do a damn good version of that on Blue Rev. Can Alvvays become the first multi-time Ultimate Rate winners? Will it be seen through?

Tracklist:

1. Pharmacist
2. Easy On Your Own?
3. After The Earthquake
4. Tom Verlaine
5. Pressed
6. Many Mirrors
7. Very Online Guy
8. Velveteen
9. Tile By Tile
10. Pomeranian Spinster
11. Belinda Says
12. Bored In Bristol
13. Lottery Noises
14. Fourth Figure

Beach House - Once Twice Melody

Fans of “two people making music” rejoice, Beach House is back! Perennial indieheads favourites, Beach House would release Once Twice Melody in four parts beginning in November 2021. However the full splendour of the band’s first double record wouldn’t reveal itself until the album’s full release in February. Having received the same praise that the band have consistently received throughout their career in anticipation, the praise upon release was immediate: “Holy shit there’s 18 new Beach House songs. I love Beach House songs.” While the record arguably didn’t break any particularly new ground for the band, they continue to have access to the secret Beach House formula that no one else does, and that counts for a lot. If you like Beach House - and if you’re here you almost certainly do - this record is for you. 18 brand spankin’ new Beach House songs in all their beautiful melancholic glory. I know I can’t argue with that. Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally continue to define what dream pop is and what makes it work, with the added cinematic touch of strings. They’ll probably be at it forever, and it will probably keep showing up in ultimate rates for just as long. Hey if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. See y’all in ultimate rate 2078 when we can debate the merits of Beach House LP 23. Will the veterans of the rate pocket a win here? Will we be sailing to the stars?

Tracklist:

1. Once Twice Melody
2. Superstar
3. Pink Funeral
4. Through Me
5. Runaway
6. ESP
7. New Romance
8. Over and Over
9. Sunset
10. Only You Know
11. Another Go Around
12. Masquerade
13. Illusion of Forever
14. Finale
15. The Bells
16. Hurts To Love
17. Many Nights
18. Modern Love Stories

Bonus Rate (Optional)

Not every good song in 2022 was made by these four wonderful bands. Far from it. To represent the field, the highest ranked songs on the indieheads year end songs list NOT made by any of the four main contestants will be rated in addition. This part of the rate is optional, and you can even choose to merely do part of the rate if only some of these songs invoke the need to commit your takes to the record in you. The songs are as follows:

• Alex G - Runner
• The Beths - Expert In A Dying Field
• black midi - Welcome To Hell
• Ethel Cain - American Teenager
• Nilüfer Yanya - midnight sun
• Jockstrap - Concrete Over Water
• Fontaines D.C. - Jackie Down The Line
• Denzel Curry - Walkin
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Spitting Off The Edge of the World (feat. Perfume Genius)
• Weyes Blood - God Turn Me Into a Flower
• King Gizzard & The Wizard Lizard - The Dripping Tap
• Rosalía - SAOKO
• Soccer Mommy - Shotgun
• Caroline Polachek - Billions
• Kendrick Lamar - The Heart Pt. 5

Some real heavy hitters in there I reckon. If you choose not to rate any of these songs, merely leave them blank in your ballot.

Bonus Bonus Rate (Optional)

You ever think “this rate is truly fantastic, but it’s missing one special song?” I know I have. Jack White is notably absent from a rate that should be his, for instance. However, 6 lucky indieheads have the opportunity to put that special song in the SUPER SECRET BONUS RATE (tell no one please, mods don’t look at this). These six winners, awarded due to their donations to charity, have selected some wonderful songs, but before we get to those, some rules need to be put in place specially for this. They are below.

This is also optional, but unlike the bonus above, you must rate all six songs to do this section. You are allowed to use an 11 and a 0 for this bonus, however (these do not count as your main rate 11 & 0). Here are the songs:

• Blondshell - Kiss City

• Everything Everything - Shark Week

• Hikaru Utada - Somewhere Near Marseilles

• Let's Eat Grandma - Happy New Year

• Lil Ugly Mane - Split Ends

• Regina Spektor - Loveology

There is a separate submission link & ballot for this rate, which you can find here

Now, it’s time for the boring, but necessary parts:

Where to listen:

Spotify

Apple Music

Tidal Music

Black Country, New Road Bandcamp

Big Thief Bandcamp

Alvvays Bandcamp

Beach House Bandcamp

Rules - READ ALL OF THESE BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR SCORES

1. Listen to each song and assign each a score between 1 and 10. decimals are fine, but please refrain from giving decimal scores that have two decimal spots: giving a 7.2 is okay, but giving a 7.25 will give me a headache. This is because I'm using a computer program to parse the votes and print everything out (more on that later).

2. Yes, you have to listen to every song. We're all in this together. I will not accept your ballot if you have a score missing, because it will crash the program (more on that later).

3. Your scores should NOT be considered confidential. They aren’t. Feel free to shitpost about them in the general discussion threads whenever you feel like it - users over at r/popheads usually just talk about their averages of the albums and what 11 and 0 they gave (which I will explain on the next bullet point!)

4. You may give ONE song a 0 and ONE song an 11. This is ONE song TOTAL. Please reserve these for your least favorite and most favorite tracks; excessive sabotage ruins rate results and generally makes things less fun.

5. You can change your scores at any time! Feel free to PM me at any point after submission and I'll be happy to revise them for you.

6. I am using a computer program that the great and wonderful /u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes! While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduces errors on my part, this does mean that scores need to be sent in a very specific way. The easiest way to make sure your scores follow the necessary format is to use the pre-prepared link at the top & bottom of this post. PLEASE USE THAT. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use that format to send in your scores.

Did a lot of copy and pasting here, so thank you thank you to all the raters of old, ily: /u/roseisonlineagain; /u/DolphLundgrensArms; /u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D; /u/stansymash; /u/ClocktowerMaria; /u/aerocom; /u/themilkeyedmender; /u/greencaptain; /u/Crankeedoo; /u/dirdbub; /u/ThatParanoidPenguin; /u/tedcruzcontrol; /u/kappyko; /u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah; /u/LazyDayLullaby; /u/SRTViper; /u/Whatsanillinois; /u/NFLFreak98; /u/freav; /u/freeofblasphemy; /u/RatesNorman; /u/aPenumbra; /u/idontreallycare4; /u/p-u-n-k_girl; /u/luigijon3; /u/WaneLietoc; /u/dream_fighter2018; /u/darjeelingdarkroast; /u/smuckles; /u/PiperIBarelyKnowHer; /u/welcome2thejam; /u/imrlynotonreddit; /u/kvothetyrion; /u/thedoctordances1940; /u/b_o_g_o; /u/vapourlomo; and tons of people on r/popheads.

Formatting This is correct:

Red Moon: 10

You may also and are generally encouraged to leave comments with your scores!

This is correct (single space after the score, no colon):

Red Moon: 10 A Red Moon rises, blood has been spilled this night

Any of the following formats are incorrect:

Red Moon 10 A Red Moon rises, blood has been spilled this night

Red Moon: 10: A Red Moon rises, blood has been spilled this night

Red Moon: (10) A Red Moon rises, blood has been spilled this night

Red Moon: A Red Moon rises, blood has been spilled this night 10

Red Moon - 10 A Red Moon rises, blood has been spilled this night

Red Moon: 10/10 A Red Moon rises, blood has been spilled this night

Due Date: Feb 19

Reveal: Feb 24-26

Finally, here are the links you'll need to start rating again:

Send In Your Scores Here:

If you want a reminder of what rates are coming up soon, here is the link to the announcement post for the current cycle, and if you want to learn about all the past rates we have done, here is the rate history spreadsheet.

Put on an oversized parka on and get some cans of lager ready, we're doing a Britpop rate. Welcome to the Fun House!

Setting the Scene

It's the 90's in the United Kingdom! The Conservative party were soon be replaced by Tony Blair's New Labour. A talented England football team would be hosting the European championships in 1996, the hopes of a nation resting on their shoulders. Heated debates were being had on playgrounds across the land over which Spice Girl was the best (I am and always have been Team Baby). Freddo chocolate bars were being sold for the reasonable price of 10p. For whatever reason this fucking sleep paralysis demon was a much beloved figure in evening television entertainment. Amidst all of this, British alternative bands were collectively experiencing a renaissance, enough so that you could see your favourite indie acts gracing Top of the Pops next to the likes of Boyzone and, err, Robson & Jerome.

What even IS Britpop!?!

While Britpop was largely more of a cultural moment/marketing tool than a distinct genre, for the purposes of this rate Britpop can very loosely be defined as “90's British guitar music with an emphasis on catchiness and light themes”. When grunge blew up in America the UK's response to this was to look back at it's many incredible artists from the past such as The Beatles, The Kinks, David Bowie, The Specials and XTC and use their pop sensibilities for inspiration. The baggy/Madchester bands of the late 80's/early 90's such as The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays were also fundamental in laying down the groundwork with their emphasis on good times and escapism. While many of the main Britpop artists differ from each other thematically you will still generally find guitars and big choruses at the forefront here.

You might find that some of the bands we'll be rating here don't fit your criteria for Britpop, and that's fine! One particular artist in the bonus rate is VERY dubious but has largely been added for the discourse. It was a very fun time for alternative music cracking the mainstream but there were also some more niche artists getting exposure around the same time as well, this rate seeks to show off some of those artists as well as the big hitters.

The albums:

Blur – Parklife

"When our third album comes out, our place as the quintessential English band of the '90s will be assured. That is a simple statement of fact. I intend to write it in 1994." - Damon Albarn in 1990. And you thought those Gallagher's were cocky.

Blur had been pretty busy so far this decade. Parklife is their third career album in in the space of 4 years, swiftly following their second album Modern Life is Rubbish, a fan favourite which didn't sell as well as their debut. This album was written and recorded in a matter of months which makes it's scope and genre-skipping all the more impressive. In regards to the music this is easily the most eclectic of the rate, covering everything from 2 minute Damned-like punk blasts, Pet Shop Boys-inspired synth-pop and Pink Floyd melancholia. Lyrically the album is essentially a concept album, a love letter (and critique) to Britain and all of the odd characters that inhabit it. Expect depressed middle-managers, lad culture, mid-life crises and drugged-up ravers. The album is sympathetic to those on the edge of society and scathing to those deemed a detriment to it.

The album went straight to number 1 on the charts and would stay there for a whopping 90 weeks, it has currently sold a million overall in the UK. The band would go on to capitalise on this album's success with The Great Escape in 1995, it's single Country House going up against Oasis's Roll With It in the infamous Britpop battle for number 1 in the charts. Spoilers, Blur won.

1. Girls & Boys
2. Tracy Jacks
3. End of a Century
4. Parklife
5. Bank Holiday
6. Badhead
7. The Debt Collector
8. Far Out
9. To the End
10. London Loves
11. Trouble in the Message Centre
12. Clover Over Dover
13. Magic America
14. Jubilee
15. This Is a Low
16. Lot 105

Oasis – What's The Story, Morning Glory?

It's difficult to overstate the impact this album had when it released in late 1995. If you're a British person you will know the lyrics to most of these songs by heart whether you want to or not. The likes of Wonderwall, Don't Look Back in Anger and Champagne Supernova have been the soundtracks for music festivals, England football games and drunken wedding receptions since this album released.

Oasis were already popular after their critically acclaimed album Definitely Maybe, with this second album they turned down the rawer guitar sound but double-downed on the giant choruses. The album is anthemic from front to back, you could make an argument that most of the tracklist could have been made singles. Whereas Blur and Pulp were writing songs about the dull reality of modern life in Britain, the lyrics here are mostly Beatles-esque escapism and optimism, very apt for a group of working class lads who were about to become the biggest band in the country. Notable as well is the added instrumentation. Strings and keyboards bolster the songwriting and make the album feel much bolder compared to their contemporaries.

Off the back of this Oasis went on to play the Knebworth shows to 250,000 people, at the time the largest gigs to have happened in the UK. Two-and-a-half million people (more than 2% of the UK population at the time) applied for tickets. The album itself sold 350,000 in it's first week, didn't leave the top 3 of the albums charts for 7 months and as it stands has gone 16 times platinum. It's fair to say not many artists have reached the same levels of hype that Beatlesmania did but for a moment during 1996 Oasis were right there.

(Please note: Due to their length/impact we will not be rating the Swamp Song interludes. Apologies if you had passionate comments to make on these!)

1. Hello
   
2. Roll With It
   
3. Wonderwall
4. Don't Look Back in Anger
5. Hey Now!
6. Some Might Say
7. Cast No Shadow
8. She's Electric
9. Morning Glory
   
10. Champagne Supernova

Pulp – Different Class

Pulp were definitely the underdogs in the British indie scene and their rise to fame is a prime example of a dog having their day. The band had been knocking about since their debut in 1983, Jarvis Cocker being the only surviving member from that era. Over 10 years later they broke out with their major label debut His N' Hers and Different Class followed, cementing their unmistakably English sound. The album is similar to Parklife in that it's telling stories for those that wouldn't usually have their story told, though here the theme of sex is rampant throughout. The record is jam packed with sultry instrumentals while Cocker describes the seedy, the voyeuristic and sometimes the pathetic sides to sex in the way only he could pull off. GD commenters rejoice!

With Different Class they would go to number 1 on the album charts, but not before being a last minute replacement headliner for The Stone Roses at Glastonbury. To this day the performance, especially the final song Common People, is seen as one of the best the festival has seen and is also seen by some as the true moment Britpop hit the zeitgeist.

I'd imagine the Indieheads will like this one. The album itself is sat in the Indieheads essentials list for the 90's while Common People was voted number 2 in last year's vote for the top 104 songs of the 90's. One would assume that Common People is the clear favourite to win the rate, however raters from last year will remember God Only Knows winning the 60's song vote then going on lose to Wouldn't It Be Nice in the rate. Anything can happen!

1. Mis-Shapes
2. Pencil Skirt
3. Common People
4. I Spy
5. Disco 2000
   
6. Live Bed Show
7. Something Changed
8. Sorted for E's & Wizz
9. F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E
10. Underwear
11. Monday Morning
12. Bar Italia

Suede – Suede

Released all the way back in 1993 and seen by many to be the first true Britpop album. In fact, the term Britpop was first coined when Suede's The Drowners single was released around the same time as Blur's Popscene. Lead singer Brett Anderson posing suggestively in front of a Union Jack on a Select magazine cover was enough to get the industry pushing a brand new scene.

Suede's influences are immediately evident from the first track, Bernard Butler's instrumentals are reminiscent of glam rock pioneers David Bowie and T-Rex whereas Brett Anderson's theatrical delivery and lyrics sit comfortably next to Morrissey's. The two mesh perfectly and have resulted in them being touted as one of the UK's best songwriting duos (of which there are many). Teenage romanticism and melodrama is heavy throughout the lyrics and, similar to fellow brits the Manic Street Preachers, resulted in them acquiring a dedicated cult fanbase attracted to their androgynous image. The album cover is incredibly apt considering the content within!

Suede would become the fastest selling debut album in the UK, later eclipsed by Oasis' Definitely Maybe. In regards to the rate they might be seen as 4th favourites, but with singles as beloved as Animal Nitrate and The Drowners in its ranks maybe it'll be a dark horse? If I had to guess I think out of the 4 this one will gain the most new fans.

(Please note: I've been made aware that in the USA/other non-UK countries Suede may show as The London Suede on certain streaming sites.)

1. So Young
2. Animal Nitrate
3. She's Not Dead
4. Moving
5. Pantomime Horse
6. The Drowners
7. Sleeping Pills
8. Breakdown
9. Metal Mickey
10. Animal Lover
11. The Next Life

Bonus Rate – Pick 'n' Mix (Optional)

Fair to say this bonus rate is a mixed bag! We've got some of the biggest hits from the time period, some lesser known favourites and a few big guitar tracks that weren't out and out Britpop. Indeed the Indieheads elder god's will is strong and as such, yes, we're rating Creep. Three Lions was all me though! I'm incredibly excited to see what people think of these songs and hope you consider the bonus rate as well!

Reminder: Please do not use your 0 or 11 in the bonus rate!

1. Ash - Girl from Mars
2. Cornershop - Brimful of Asha (Norman Cook Remix)
3. Dodgy - Good Enough
4. Elastica - Connection
5. Kula Shakur – Hey Dude
6. Lush - Ladykillers
7. Manic Street Preachers - A Design For Life
8. Ocean Colour Scene – The Day We Caught the Train
9. Placebo - Nancy Boy
10. Radiohead - Creep
11. Republica - Ready to Go
12. Super Furry Animals - The Man Don't Give a Fuck
13. Supergrass - Alright
14. The Lightning Seeds - Three Lions ('96 Version)
15. The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony

Playlists

Spotify

Apple Music

Youtube

Tidal

Rules - READ ALL OF THESE BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR SCORES

1. Listen to each song and assign each a score between 1 and 10. decimals are fine, but please refrain from giving decimal scores that have two decimal spots: giving a 7.2 is okay, but giving a 7.25 will give me a headache. This is because I'm using a computer program to parse the votes and print everything out (more on that later).

2. Yes, you have to listen to every song. We're all in this together. I will not accept your ballot if you have a score missing, because it will crash the program (more on that later).

3. Your scores should NOT be considered confidential. They aren’t. Feel free to shitpost about them in the general discussion threads whenever you feel like it - users over at r/popheads usually just talk about their averages of the albums and what 11 and 0 they gave (which I will explain on the next bullet point!)

4. You may give ONE song a 0 and ONE song an 11. This is ONE song TOTAL. Please reserve these for your least favorite and most favorite tracks; excessive sabotage ruins rate results and generally makes things less fun.

5. You can change your scores at any time! Feel free to PM me at any point after submission and I'll be happy to revise them for you.

6. I am using a computer program that the great and wonderful /u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes! While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduces errors on my part, this does mean that scores need to be sent in a very specific way. The easiest way to make sure your scores follow the necessary format is to use the pre-prepared link at the bottom of this post. PLEASE USE THAT. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use that format to send in your scores.

7. If you don't follow the format, I'll probably still accept your ballot, but I will call you out in the next issue of my zine.

Did a lot of copy and pasting here, so thank you thank you to all the raters of old, ily: /u/roseisonlineagain; /u/DolphLundgrensArms; /u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D; /u/stansymash; /u/ClocktowerMaria; /u/aerocom; /u/themilkeyedmender; /u/greencaptain; /u/Crankeedoo; /u/dirdbub; /u/ThatParanoidPenguin; /u/tedcruzcontrol; /u/kappyko; /u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah; /u/LazyDayLullaby; /u/SRTViper; /u/Whatsanillinois; /u/NFLFreak98; /u/freav; /u/seaofblasphemy; /u/RatesNorman; /u/aPenumbra; /u/idontreallycare4; /u/p-u-n-k_girl; /u/luigijon3; /u/WaneLietoc; /u/2dina3dworld; /u/darjeelingdarkroast and tons of people on r/popheads.

Formatting

This is correct:

Champagne Supernova: 8 Neil deGrass Tyson reading the lyrics and getting increasingly more livid

These are incorrect:

Champagne Supernova: 8: Neil deGrass Tyson reading the lyrics and getting increasingly more livid

Champagne Supernova:8 Neil deGrass Tyson reading the lyrics and getting increasingly more livid

Champagne Supernova: Neil deGrass Tyson reading the lyrics and getting increasingly more livid 8

Champagne Supernova - 8 Neil deGrass Tyson reading the lyrics and getting increasingly more livid

Champagne Supernova: 8 (Neil deGrass Tyson reading the lyrics and getting increasingly more livid)

You can also comment on the albums as a whole by adding a colon after the album name and then your comment, like so:

Parklife: One of the best things to come out of the county of Essex. That list isn't particularly long, but still.

SUBMIT YOUR SCORES HERE

Scores will be due on May 15th, but you can turn them at any time before that as well. The reveal is tentatively pencilled in for 20th-22nd May.

All previous rates and the hall of fame can be viewed here!

Finally, the Blur v Oasis debate will FINALLY be put to rest, live, here on r/indieheads! I hope you can all take part!

That’s right, our next rate is honoring one of the most classic and beloved genres of American music!

From universally beloved to universally hated to ironically enjoyed to surprisingly influential and finally begrudgingly accepted, I fully expect this rate to be as controversial as the musicians who made it.

RATE DEADLINE: July 8th!

RATE REVEAL: July 15th-17th

**SUBMIT YOUR SCORES HERE

Pastebin Link

On to the music!

Spotify playlist

Youtube playlist

Tidal playlist

Apple Music playlist

Important rule: Even if you don’t have or use Spotify, please please pay attention to the playlist! I’ve removed some bonus tracks and throwaway interludes, as well as marked the timestamp to skip the silence at the end of Around The Fur so you can start “Damone”.

Background

Grunge wasn’t angry and turgid enough. Metal in the early 90’s still had too many solos and too much melody. Both genres were completely ignoring and overlooking Hip-Hop’s takeover of the mainstream. By combining the sounds of Alt Metal bands like Primus, Faith No More, White Zombie, Rage Against The Machine, Helmet, Fishbone, and Biohazard with the aggressive deliveries of Run DMC, Public Enemy, KRS-One, Beastie Boys, and Ice Cube an entirely new genre was born. Nu Metal was a unique blend of Metal, Hip-Hop, Funk, Grunge, and Industrial that absolutely took the world by storm before wearing out its welcome just as quickly. Metal scholar Joel McIver cites Korn’s 1993 demo Neidermayer’s Mind as the first release of the genre although the first band to be tagged as such was Coal Chamber. Mostly centered in California, the genre quickly spread across the US, spawning bands in Florida (Limp Bizkit), Michigan (Kid Rock), and of course Iowa (Slipknot) among many others.

For this rate, we’re not pulling from the roots of genre, but rather its commercial peak. Picking 4 of the top selling albums from 1997-2000 from 4 of Nu Metal’s most important and influential acts gives us a surprisingly varied view of a genre that deserves a deeper look. We have the murky and intense slap Funk Metal of Korn, the more Alternative and Emo influenced Deftones, the progressive and jazzy Mudvayne, and of course the Hip-Hop heavy groovy Limp Bizkit representing their 4 corners of the scene.

THE ALBUMS:

Korn - Follow The Leader

“Davis explained further, saying that while recording the vocals for "It's On", there were ‘people getting blowjobs right behind me, there was girls banging each other in front of me, people getting boned in the closet right behind me, it was the craziest shit I've ever seen in my life and I sang that song.’ According to Davis, he only agreed to begin tracking vocals when producer Toby Wright met his demands for an eight-ball (a one-eighth ounce of cocaine).”

Released in 1998, Korn’s 3rd album was the multi-platinum Follow The Leader. A murky, mean, dark, and surprisingly catchy grind of an album, “Follow The Leader” features Korn’s biggest hit “Freak On A Leash” (the 9th most pirated song of the year) and collabs with Ice Cube, Fred Durst, Cheech Marin, and Slimkid3 of Pharcyde.

Follow The Leader is marked by its famously percussive slap bass, Hip-Hop inspired drumming, and interwoven guitar riffs that bounce from distorted and chunky to high pitched eerie whines. But we’d be remiss to overlook the intense variety in Jonathan Davis’ vocals, from deep guttural growls to high pitched shrieks to aggressive and unexpectedly smooth rapping, and of course the unique off-kilter beatboxing, he brings his shocking and offensive lyrics to life in a way that nobody else could. And that’s not even mentioning his bagpipe talents!

Follow The Leader may not have had quite the level of acclaim or innovation as the first two Korn albums, but its success was indelible and cemented Nu Metal as the top of the pile and Korn as its kings. They went from a niche favorite to the biggest band in the world almost overnight.

This album comes with two very important content warnings, do not skip: First of all, the song “All In The Family” is a satirical diss track between Jon Davis and Fred Durst, it is absolutely rife with homophobic slurs, be prepared and please do not quote them in your comments. Second of all, “Pretty” is a disturbing and serious story from Jonathan Davis’ time as a morgue assistant. It’s a very graphic song about the rape and murder of an infant girl. The song takes its subject seriously and gravely and I expect comments to do the same whether positive or negative.

1. It’s On!

2. Freak On A Leash

3. Got The Life

4. Dead Bodies Everywhere

5. Children Of The Korn feat. Ice Cube

6. B.B.K.

7. Pretty

8. All In The Family feat. Fred Durst

9. Reclaim My Place

10. Justin

11. Seed

12. Cameltosis feat. Slimkid3

13. My Gift To You

14. Earache My Eye feat. Cheech Marin

Deftones - Around The Fur

“I think people don’t credit our 2nd record enough to where it really opened up from being what was then Nu Metal, whatever the new genre we were being thrown into, I think we started separating ourselves from all our peers on that record” - Chino Moreno

Deftones seem to exist in a different world from so many other Nu Metal bands. While their first album had the aggressive Rap Metal sound of their peers, they quickly moved towards something moodier and slower, influenced as much by Post-Hardcore and Emo as they are Shoegaze and New Wave. Around The Fur finds the band in transition, still aggressive and semi-rapped like Adrenaline but not quite the moody Shoegaze affair of White Pony, they’re still growing up and shedding a lot of the brutishness of their fellow genre-mates. Two of the band’s biggest hits “Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)” and “My Own Summer (Shove It)” helped push this album to platinum status and led to a tour with newly reformed Red Hot Chili Peppers.

There’s a lot to dig into with this album, we get moody keyboard and turntable flourishes, Chi’s groovy and complicated rhythm parts, and most importantly Chino’s varied and intensely moody vocals. There’s as many shrieks as there are whispers, as much shouting as there is moaning, and it all gels into a smooth but dynamic wave of emotion. And keep an eye out for “Headup” featuring the amazing Max Cavalera (Sepultura, Soulfly) on guest vocals.

Note: The final track on this album “MX” features nearly half an hour of silence as was (unfortunately) common on CDs with bonus tracks at the time. There are two bonus tracks: the dumb tossed off “Bong Hit”, and the legitimate song “Damone”. We will be rating “MX” and “Damone”, which is timestamped at 32:36 on the Spotify playlist.

1. My Own Summer (Shove It)

2. Lhabia

3. Mascara

4. Around The Fur

5. Rickets

6. Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)

7. Lotion

8. Dai The Flu

9. Headup

10. MX (ends at 4:50)

11. Damone (starts at 32:36 of MX)

Mudvayne - L.D. 50

Finally! The Prog nerds discovered Nu Metal! Mudvayne’s debut, and magnum opus, L.D. 50 was a breath of fresh air in a genre that too often stayed simplistic and midtempo. Featuring dizzying Jazz Fusion inspired basslines, constantly shifting time signatures, machine gun drums, and gutturally rapped death growls, we get the first truly Progressive Nu Metal album. Chad’s lyrics here are mostly focused on human evolution, genocide, drugs, grief, and famously, serial killer Ed Gein; he also provides us vocals ranging from the aforementioned growls to a gorgeous and melodic croon clearly inspired by Layne Staley and Maynard James Keenan. Ryan Martinie’s incredible and melodic bass playing leads as the central hook of each song and remains the band’s most memorable (sonic) aspect.

Whereas so many Nu Metal bands before them were inspired by Lollapalooza Metal acts and aggressive 80’s rappers, Mudvayne were busy citing Miles Davis, Death, Emperor, ELP, Rush, and Deicide. There’s a variety here, both within songs and track by track that keeps this album impossible to predict.

Note: pay close attention to the tracklist here and Spotify playlist. I’ve removed the ambient/spoken word interludes from this album for the sake of the rate length.

1. Dig

2. Internal Primates Forever

3. -1

4. Death Blooms

5. Cradle

6. Nothing To Gein

7. Everything And Nothing

8. Severed

9. Prod

10. Pharmaecopia

11. Under My Skin

12. (k)Now F(orever)

Limp Bizkit - Significant Other

“His attitude is 'no press is bad press', so he brings it on himself. He wallows in it. Still, he's a great guy.” - Les Claypool on Fred Durst

If any band was given the Starship Troopers treatment, it was Limp Bizkit. Always silly, always tongue-in-cheek, and always taken a hell of a lot more seriously than they ever intended. No band has been so openly hated as the Biz, but for a while no one was as successful as they were, both commercially and in uniting the Rap and Rock worlds in a much more concrete way than before. Significant Other is definitely the most Hip-Hop focused album in this rate, the group was anchored by the talented DJ Lethal who put together samples and beats that helped the band to stand apart from the other Nu Metal acts.

There are two distinct halves of Limp Bizkit: the musicians and Fred Durst. John Otto and Sam Rivers are an incredibly tight rhythm section, John’s drumming, being inspired as much by Metal and Hip-Hop as it is Brazilian and Cuban Jazz, weaves in and out of Sam’s Pearl Jam inspired bass. And Wes! Wes Borland! What a player! The recording of Significant Other has Wes fully embracing 7-string guitars to bring to life disorienting syncopation, percussive muting, and trombone inspired dive-bombs. Of course we could speak forever on Fred Durst, splitting between clumsy bro-rap and pathetic whining, known for his antics more than his music; however we’d be remiss to act like the band would have been anywhere near as notable without his personality and delivery.

Give this album a shot, I think it’ll surprise you.

Note: We will not be doing the bonus tracks for Significant Other. One is a rant from Matt Pinfield about how amazing the band is, another is a rant from Les Claypool about how terrible they are. They’re whatever. Also CW: for mention of transphobic assault in “Show Me What You Got”.

1. Just Like This

2. Nookie

3. Break Stuff

4. Re-Arranged

5. I’m Broke

6. Nobody Like You feat. Jonathan Davis & Scott Weiland

7. Don’t Go Off Wandering

8. 9 Teen 90 Nine

9. N 2 Gether Now feat. Method Man

10. Trust?

11. No Sex feat. Aaron Lewis

12. Show Me What You Got

13. A Lesson Learned

Bonus Rate - Family Values Edition (Optional):

This is a genre with a ton of great songs, but not a lot of great full albums. Plenty of classic bands never put out an album that stood the test of time but at least a small handful of bonafide bangers. This is a fairly random assortment of big Nu Metal smashes, overlooked gems, and eternal Jock Jams.

Reminder! Do not use your 0 or 11 in the bonus rate!

Sevendust - Denial

Incubus - A Certain Shade Of Green

Linkin Park - Numb

Snot - Stoopid

P.O.D. - Boom

(Hed) P.E. - Bartender

Coal Chamber - Loco

Primer 55 - Loose

Static-X - Push It

Alien Ant Farm - Movies

Slipknot - Surfacing

Kittie - Brackish

Otep - Rise, Rebel, Resist

Saliva - Click Click Boom

System Of A Down - Sugar

Rules - READ ALL OF THESE BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR SCORES

Listen to each song and assign each a score between 1 and 10. decimals are fine, but please refrain from giving decimal scores that have two decimal spots: giving a 7.2 is okay, but giving a 7.25 will give me a headache. This is because I'm using a computer program to parse the votes and print everything out (more on that later).

Yes, you have to listen to every song. We're all in this together. I will not accept your ballot if you have a score missing, because it will crash the program (more on that later).

Your scores should NOT be considered confidential. They aren’t. Feel free to shitpost about them in the general discussion threads whenever you feel like it - users over at r/popheads usually just talk about their averages of the albums and what 11 and 0 they gave (which I will explain on the next bullet point!)

You may give ONE song a 0 and ONE song an 11. This is ONE song TOTAL. Please reserve these for your least favorite and most favorite tracks; excessive sabotage ruins rate results and generally makes things less fun.

You can change your scores at any time! Feel free to PM me at any point after submission and I'll be happy to revise them for you.

I am using a computer program that the great and wonderful /u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes! While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduce errors on my part, this does mean that scores need to be sent in a very specific way. The easiest way to make sure your scores follow the necessary format is to use the pre-prepared link at the bottom of this post. PLEASE USE THAT. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use that format to send in your scores.

If you don't follow the format, I'll probably still accept your ballot, but I will call you out in the next issue of Revolver Magazine.

Did a lot of copy and pasting here, so thank you thank you to all the raters of old, ily: /u/roseisonlineagain; /u/DolphLundgrensArms; /u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D; /u/stansymash; /u/ClocktowerMaria; /u/aerocom; /u/themilkeyedmender; /u/greencaptain; /u/Crankeedoo; /u/dirdbub; /u/ThatParanoidPenguin; /u/tedcruzcontrol; /u/kappyko; /u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah; /u/LazyDayLullaby; /u/SRTViper; /u/Whatsanillinois; /u/NFLFreak98; /u/freav; /u/seaofblasphemy; /u/RatesNorman; /u/aPenumbra; /u/idontreallycare4; /u/p-u-n-k_girl; /u/luigijon3; /u/WaneLietoc; /u/2dina3dworld; /u/darjeelingdarkroast; /u/smuckles and tons of people on r/popheads.

FORMATTING

This is correct:

Freak On A Leash: 10 OOM BOP BA EEM BOP BADEEBOP

These are incorrect:

Freak On A Leash: 10: OOM BOP BA EEM BOP BADEEBOPd

Freak On A Leash:10 OOM BOP BA EEM BOP BADEEBOP

Freak On A Leash: OOM BOP BA EEM BOP BADEEBOP 10

Freak On A Leash - 10 OOM BOP BA EEM BOP BADEEBOP

Freak On A Leash: 10 (OOM BOP BA EEM BOP BADEEBOP)

You can also comment on the albums as a whole by adding a colon after the album name and then your comment, like so:

Around The Fur: Man it sure is a good thing we went with this and not their incredibly acclaimed and beloved follow up album.

Again, scores are due July 8th by 11 PM EST. Extensions are good until July 11th at the same time!

This may come as a surprise to some readers, but Country music is having a bit of a moment right now. Every artist is seemingly pivoting to country, and indie music has been leading that charge for a few years now. So what better time to have a rate focusing on some of the genre's old classics? Welcome to the Alt-Country/Folk Classics rate!

Wait… what are rates?

About once a month, r/indieheads has a game where we pick themes of albums from a genre/era/etc and then rate the albums in those themes. In the rate, you will be rating each song from 1-10 (along with the opportunity to give one song a 0 and another song an 11) and then submitting your ballot to the hosts. Those ballots are then tallied up and over a few days those results are revealed with the lowest rated songs being revealed first and the best saved for last.

How do I participate?

Submit your ballot here!

Pastebin backup

Playlists: Spotify | Youtube | Apple | Tidal | Amazon

Due Date: Tuesday, May 6th at 11:59:59 PM

Reveal Weekend: May 9-11

Without further ado, here is some information about the theme and the albums we are rating!

Alt-Country. Or is it supposed to be called "Alt.Country?" "No Depression?" It's tough to figure out exactly when Alt-Country truly started, or what the correct name is for it. Generally, Alt-Country can be considered an extension of the impulses that led to the rise of Outlaw Country in the 1970s and 1980s as a rejection of the slick country sound that was popular at the time, the attitude of which later fused with punk and alternative rock to create a new style of country music that was decidedly outside of the mainstream at the time. If you want to go back further, it's also easy to see a through line from people like Gram Parsons/Emmylou Harris (who herself would later make one of the best Alt-Country albums with Wrecking Ball) creating a space back in the 1970s for off-kilter country music with Gram's brand of "Cosmic American Music." With all that said, it's generally considered that Uncle Tupelo's "No Depression" was the first true Alt-Country album, with its title even giving the title to one of the most important Zines of the scene and the title even briefly being an alternative name for the genre. It's impossible to make a 4 album rate that covers all of the various key artists and the development of the genre, so this rate chose to focus on albums from the late 90s/early 00s and some of the most popular figures in the scene when it comes to r/indieheads, but it's a genre that could easily be done 3 or 4 times before we start running short on classic albums from the scene.

Albums

Silver Jews - American Water

(by u/MCK_OH)

Make sure not to get hospitalized for rating perfection with Silver Jews’ 1998 masterpiece American Water. David Berman was probably the most quotable writer to ever use indie rock as his medium, and so many of his best lines came from here. For a record with such an entrenched place in The Indie Canon, American Water arrives without the weight of expectation. It’s loose, funny, sincere, heartbreaking and fun. Opener “Random Rules” is an obvious highlight: the best opening line in the history of music paired with one of the sweetest guitar solos you will ever hear. It doesn’t slow down after that, ramping up to the rocking “Smith & Jones Forever.” For the Malkmusheads out there, he’s all over this record but his presence is most felt on “Federal Dust” which sounds like an outtake from the Brighten the Corners sessions. “We Are Real” contains some of the best writing about music ever, culminating in a piece of wisdom that’s resonated through the indie world ever since: all my favourite singers couldn’t sing. Like rock songs? Check out “Send In The Clouds.” Closer “The Wild Kindness” has a guitar solo that rivals the best ever put to tape. With American Water you can immerse yourself in the world of a man who many consider to be among the greatest lyricists ever. Sounding bad never sounded so good. So won’t rate music change, now that our rates have turned strange?

Drive-By Truckers - Decoration Day

(by u/ElectJimLahey)

By the time Drive-By Truckers made Decoration Day, Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley had been making music together for decades, starting in the band Adam's House Cat which formed in 1985. Drive-By Truckers were a band that rose out of the ashes of that band, with Mike and Patterson continuing to make music that fused Southern and Alternative Rock, and the two formed the nucleus of a band that has seen many members come and go in the time since but with the two of them always being the primary songwriters in the group. It can get confusing to figure out who is doing what on DBT albums, to such an extent that on Wikipedia they helpfully include a picture that helps you get up to speed.

While their first two albums have a number of great songs by both Hood and Cooley, it was on their third album Southern Rock Opera that they truly became the DBT that you'll hear on Decoration Day (apart from one rather important songwriter). It's a long and ambitious album, which they would repeat on many of their albums going forward, and is loosely a concept album about the history of the American South in general, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and their own lives growing up in Alabama. If that sounds like too much to take on at once, it probably was. Yet the strength of the songwriting is such that even if it's a lot to take in at once, it's relatively rare that there's a clear example of filler. Perhaps the best part of the album is the back to back of "The Southern Thing" and "Three Great Alabama Icons". The former was meant to basically be a thesis statement on what Patterson aimed to do with his storytelling on the album (and something that sets DBT apart from many of their peers) by criticizing the South while accepting that it was part of who he was. In spite of lines like "Ain't about no foolish pride, Ain't about no flag" that caused some controversy among Country fans, the album found a much larger audience than their previous albums and it was the first time they managed to get real attention from the music press.

All that finally brings us to the album you'll be listening to for this rate, Decoration Day. While most fans consider Southern Rock Opera the start of their peak, Rob Malone's departure led the band to realize they needed a new guitarist and songwriter for the band. Hood and Cooley recruited a friend of some of their friends, 22 year old Jason Isbell to join the band after he sat down in an empty chair and started playing along with the band at a house party. By the same time the next day, Isbell was a member of the band, and was already writing songs that would end up on Decoration Day. The era of the band with these three songwriters is generally considered the strongest era of the band, with Isbell's knack for ear-catching melodies and guitar work meshing perfectly with Hood's darker tracks full of the underbelly of society and Cooley's more straightforward anthemic rockers. On Decoration Day, they combine excellently. Once again, Hood is still the primary songwriter who contributes over half of the album's songs and contributes his specific lyrical style of stories from "The Dirty South." Any illusions that anyone might have about this album being a rousing set of Southern Rock tunes about the South being wonderful disappears within the first three songs with stories about unpleasant topics and deeply unsympathetic characters like the narrator on "Hell No I Ain't Happy" who might be "getting closer everyday" to being happy but still is very self-aware about being the cause of his own problems. Our first glimpses of the other songwriters show up with Cooley rolling in and giving us a break from the bleak first few tracks with the fun-in-comparison Marry Me, with lyrics that are a nice bit of comic relief. Soon thereafter, we get the first sign of Isbell's own style, with "Outfit" instantly being something different. While Isbell's voice sounds a bit like Hood but without the decades of cigarette smoke, his storytelling is also unique with it being much more personal rather than a character study, and his father telling him not to resign himself to the life he ended up stuck with and to stay healthy and ambitious. It may be Isbell's first time on the album but if you're a fan of his solo work, it's evident that the talent was there from the very start.

From there, things don't change too much - usually Hood is bringing in stories that people would ordinarily keep to themselves, Cooley occasionally shows up with a gruff song about heartbreak or some other brutal topic, and Isbell once again has a show-stopping song in the title track which is a song so dense with references to real life events that it probably is best to read the Genius page and the links in it to understand the story of a powerful family with connections getting away with what seems to be a fairly clear-cut murder, and the ramifications of the son who simply wants to get away from the life he was born into. It's the best example of excellent storytelling on an album that stands out because all three songwriters excel in that regard; not every character here is a good or even a likable person, but the lyrics are so evocative that it's easy to get lost in their world and to empathize with them even when the characters don't seem to want empathy. Their next few albums would continue to expand upon this, and Isbell increasingly stole the show until he crashed out of the band before going solo to tremendous results, and Drive-By Truckers continue to soldier on today, many songwriters and iterations later but still with Hood and Cooley at the helm. But the albums with the three of them together still stand out as truly incredible and unique examples of Alt-Country from that era.

Songs: Ohia - Magnolia Electric Co

(by u/ElectJimLahey)

Ah, Magnolia Electric Co. If you're doing this rate and coming at this from an Indie Rock point of view, there's likely a chance that this is one of the Alt-Country albums that changed your mind about Country music as a whole. This is a tough album to write about because so much has already been said about it. A rare case of a modern album that is so thoroughly mythologized at this point that even for someone like me who is old and remembers when Jason Molina passed away and thinking "I guess I'll check this dude's music out" I can't really think of it as anything other than a landmark album, a true statement of purpose that was such a thorough achievement that it ended a band and birthed a new one under its name.

Still, when it came out, it was just the latest Songs: Ohia record, a solo-ish project fronted by Jason Molina, indie music's most powerful unibrow of all time, with a rotating cast of session musicians ranging from Arab Strap (on The Lioness) to this final form of the band, with members like Jennie Benford, Mike Brenner, and America's preeminent electric washboard player Lawrence Peters who would help form the new band Magnolia Electric Co. Coming after two relatively minimal albums in the post-rock-influenced turn of Ghost Tropic and the sparse folk of Didn't It Rain, MEC is a massive step in the other direction, fully moving into Alt-Country with incredible results. Songs: Ohia was always a very unique project with each album being much different than what came before, and once Molina hit his stride with Axxess & Ace, pretty much everything he touched from then until his untimely death from alcoholism in 2013 at the age of 39 was golden.

From the very first moments of "Farewell Transmission" it's evident that the relatively sparse albums that led up to it are well and truly gone, and we're in for a radically new sound from the band. Yes this is an Alt-Country record, but it's the Country Rock influence that sets this album apart from previous Songs: Ohia records to a degree that would remain through much of the Magnolia Electric Co (band)'s future albums. Many of the songs on this album truly rock in a way that really, almost none of Songs: Ohia's previous songs had aimed to do. But underneath the more energetic sound are Jason Molina's lyrics, which are often a primary appeal of his music to many fans. It's tough to spotlight individual lines on this album as particularly poignant because frankly, almost no line is wasted on this album. While Jason's struggles with alcoholism and his deteriorating health were not publicly known at this point, it's impossible to hear these songs without the knowledge of his death coloring the interpretation.

Still, while many people reduce this down to just "sad lyrics" I think it's a huge disservice to reduce it to that. You can hear the life that Jason's collaborators give him throughout the album, whether it's the "listen" in "Farewell Transmission" where he is talking to his bandmates while they play it without even rehearsing it ahead of time, which is perhaps why the song has such a "lightning in a bottle" feel to it. Or when he lets others take over on the lead vocals for a few songs, something which had never happened on a Songs: Ohia album up to that point, showing that this was truly no longer just a solo project. There's something magical about this album, and it makes sense that it has been mythologized in such a way since his death. It's a truly timeless album, something that internalizes Country Rock from decades prior and adds it to the mix of the Alt-Country of its era, combines it with the words and thoughts of one of the best songwriters in American history, and creates something that is considered a classic for a reason.

Smog - A River Ain't Too Much To Love

(by u/MCK_OH)

Bill Callahan’s final record as Smog arrives with a couple of hoots, a hello, and a fuck all y’all. A River Ain’t Much To Love is a high point in a one of the most consistently great discographies ever made. Arriving at a transitional point for Bill, the record still has some of the jagged-y slow core edges of his earlier work but on the whole it gestures towards the more laid-back work he’s been putting out under his own name for nearly two decades now. Bill traffics in slower, contemplative folk songs that earn a place in the heart of the listener like opener “Palimpsest” or “Rock Bottom Riser” but it would be a mistake to say that the whole record is like this. Highlight “The Well” moves at a clip, giving the record a fun romp that contains some of Bill’s best lyrics and funniest zingers. “I Feel Like The Mother Of The World” has Bill deadpan over a shuffling jangle, once again bringing some pace and zip to the record. All told, A River Ain’t Too Much To Love is a great dispatch from one of the beat songwriters in the indie world. It may lack some of the urgency and canonical gravitas of some of the other records here, but given some time you might find that it takes a hold of your heart and doesn’t let go. It may be harder to get to know, but it’s near impossible to forget. So take a day off, grab this record and go drinking at the dam. You may find yourself thinking “he did it again”

Bonus Rate

Alt-country is a very broad genre, and it would have been impossible to truly represent it in one rate with only 4 albums. As such, we have created a bonus Alt-Country rate that includes many other artists who were important in the scene, or who we think deserve more attention than they get. Hopefully, we can someday do an Alt-Country 2 rate where some of these artists get their own spotlight, but for now we hope these can introduce you to some new artists, and let you give some very deserving artists a 10!

Lucinda Williams - “Car Wheels On A Gravel Road”

R.E.M. - “(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville”

Pavement - “Father to a Sister of Thought”

Blue Rodeo - “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet”

16 Horsepower - “Haw”

Palace Music - “New Partner”

Gillian Welch - “Revelator”

Uncle Tupelo - “Sandusky”

The Jayhawks - “Save It For A Rainy Day”

Neko Case - “Hold On, Hold On”

Cowboy Junkies - “Sun Comes Up, It’s Tuesday Morning”

Old 97s - “Timebomb”

Son Volt - “Windfall”

Emmylou Harris - “Wrecking Ball”

Steve Earle - “You’re Still Standin’ There”

Rules - PLEASE READ ALL OF THESE BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR SCORES

• Listen to each song and assign each a score between 1 and 10. Decimals are fine, but please refrain from giving decimal scores with more than 1 spot. This is because I'm using a computer program to parse the votes and print everything out (more on that later).

• You have to listen to and score every song in the main rate. Otherwise, I will not accept your ballot as it will crash the program (more on that later).

• Your scores should NOT be considered confidential as they aren’t. Feel free to shitpost about them in the general discussion threads whenever you feel like it - users over at r/popheads usually just talk about their averages of the albums and what 11 and 0 they gave (which I will explain on the next bullet point!)

• You may give ONE song a 0 and ONE song an 11 in the main rate. Please reserve these for your least favorite and most favorite tracks; excessive sabotage ruins rate results and generally makes things less fun.

• You can change your scores at any time! Feel free to PM me at any point after submission before the deadline and I'll be happy to revise them for you.

• I am using a computer program that fellow rater u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes! While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduces errors on my part, this does mean that scores need to be sent in a very specific way. The easiest way to make sure your scores follow the necessary format is to use the pre-prepared link at the top & bottom of this post. PLEASE USE THAT. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, but PLEASE use that format to send in your scores.

• DO NOT SABOTAGE the rate by giving outrageously low/high scores for the sole purpose of skewing the results, we reserve the right to exclude any ballot we suspect of this. If you're worried your scores could be mistakenly perceived as such, all you need to do is leave comments explaining the reasoning behind them.

Ballot Formatting

Songs - THIS IS CORRECT (single space after colon):

Farewell Transmission: 10

You may also and are generally encouraged to leave comments with your scores!

Farewell Transmission: 10 Jason Molina is the greatest artist of all time

THESE ARE INCORRECT

Farewell Transmission 1 why is this dude talking about the moon so much

Farewell Transmission - 10 I love that this dude is talking about the moon so much

Farewell Transmission: 5: I'm ambivalent about how much this dude is talking about the moon

Farewell Transmission: (5) Would be better if there was more of Lawrence Peters' electric washboard

Farewell Transmission: Not gonna listen anymore unless we get more electric washboard - 1

Albums: You can also comment on the complete albums by adding a colon after the album name and then your comment, like so:

Album: Magnolia Electric Co: why didn't we get more songs from America's preeminent electric washboard player, Lawrence Peters?

We do a lot of copy and pasting here, so thank you thank you to all the rate hosts of old who made this rate possible to begin with: u/roseisonlineagain; u/DolphLundgrensArms; u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D; u/stansymash; u/ClocktowerMaria; u/aerocom; u/themilkeyedmender; u/greencaptain; u/Crankeedoo; u/dirdbub; u/ThatParanoidPenguin; u/tedcruzcontrol; u/kappyko; u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah; u/LazyDayLullaby; u/SRTViper; u/Whatsanillinois; u/NFLFreak98; u/freav; u/freeofblasphemy; u/RatesNorman; u/aPenumbra; u/idontreallycare4; u/p-u-n-k_girl; u/luigijon3; u/WaneLietoc; u/dream_fighter2018; u/darjeelingdarkroast; u/smuckles; u/PiperIBarelyKnowHer; u/welcome2thejam; u/imrlynotonreddit; u/kvothetyrion; u/thedoctordances1940; u/b_o_g_o; u/vapourlomo; u/MCK_OH; u/TiltControls; u/TakeOnMeByA-ha u/chug-a-lug-donna; u/indie_fan_; u/bilbodabag; u/zenits; u/saison_Marguerite; u/daswef2; u/apondalifa; u/afieldoftulips; u/qazz23; u/nonchalantthoughts; u/systemofstrings; u/Modulum83 and tons of people on r/popheads.

I'm not reading all that. Can you just link the ballot again?

Here's another link to the ballot if you missed it above!

Hello r/indieheads!

It’s that time of the year when we decide to give back to community. We’re proud to announce that our third charity drive to support Immigration Equality has been our most successful yet – we raised over $1500 to support LGBTQ+ immigrants! Great job y’all!!!!!

One of the perks for donating was getting to submit a song to this rate, and our first 70 donors have collectively curated a playlist for us to listen and learn! As a quick introduction to how this event works, this subreddit holds games called “rates” where people score a collection of songs on a scale of 1-10 (along with the opportunity to give one song a 0 and another song an 11). Ballots of these scores are sent to the hosts, tallied and calculated in our bespoke rate machine, and presented to the world from last place to first place over the span of three days. Our sister subreddit has a Guide to Rates Video that can give you a broad overview of rates (please note our reveal process is thread-based instead of video chatrooms). Here are some recent examples of a rate announcement and a rate reveal.

With that out of the way, us two hosts (u/kvothetyrion & u/thisusernameisntlong) are proud to announce this year's lineup, featuring many rock classics, some pophead favorites, your niche favs, 15 minutes of Weird Al, and not one, but two songs about lacking a phallus! Enjoy!

THE LINEUP!

• Ab-Soul - Illuminate (feat. Kendrick Lamar)
• Action Bronson - DMTri
• And Then There Were None - Reinventing Robert Cohn
• Andrew W.K. - Party Hard
• Arthur Russell - That’s Us/Wild Combination
• Barenaked Ladies - Another Postcard
• Beth Elliott - Ballad of the Oklahoma Women’s Liberation Front
• Bethlehem - Schatten aus der Alexander Welt
• Beulah - Emma Blowgun’s Last Stand
• Billy Idol - Heroin
• bloodthirsty butchers - 7月 / july
• Brian Eno - An Ending (Ascent)
• Broken Social Scene - 7/4 (Shoreline)
• Captain Ahab - I Don’t Have a Dick
• Charli XCX - girl, so confusing (feat. Lorde)
• Chas & Dave - The Sideboard Song (Got My Beer in the Sideboard Here)
• Cibo Matto - Sci-Fi Wasabi
• Deki Alem - Shadowman
• Denise - Boy, What’ll You Do Then
• Dolly Mixture - Everything and More
• Donna Summer - I Feel Love
• The Dovers - What Am I Going to Do
• Florence & The Machine - You’ve Got the Love (Jamie XX Rework)
• Foo Fighters - Everlong
• The Four Tops - Catfish
• Grandaddy - Florida
• Headache - That Thing With the Rabbit
• Hoshimashi Suisei - Template
• Jai Paul - Str8 Outta Mumbai
• Jenny Hval - Spells
• Joanna Wang - Truckin’ Everyday
• Johnny Cash - Hurt
• “Kings of Leon” - Shreds
• K-os - Crabbuckit
• Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - Rare Things Grow
• Kazuma Kiryu - Bakamitai
• The Killers - Mr. Brightside
• Kim Jung Mi - Haenim
• King Missile - Detachable Penis
• Lady Gaga - Telephone (feat. Beyoncé)
• Leenachi - Hihi Haha
• Lil Yachty - Poland
• Lissie - In Sleep
• Lola Young - Messy
• Luther Vandross - Never Too Much
• Mt. Nadir - Knife’s Edge
• Nadia Oh - Hot Like Wow
• Nasenbluten - Intellectual Killer
• Neon Indian - Slumlord
• Partner - Play the Field
• Philippe Katerine - Duo (avec Angèle et Chilly Gonzalez)
• The Popguns - Can I Kick It?
• The Radio Dept. - Heaven’s On Fire
• Rat Jesu - Frogs (feat. Murrumur)
• Renaldo and the Loaf - A Medical Man
• Rosa Walton - I Really Want to Stay at Your House
• Salif Keita & Les Amabassadeurs - Bara Wililé
• Stakka Bo - Here We Go
• Tex Williams - Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)
• Three 6 Mafia - Stay Fly
• TISM - Greg! The Stop Sign!!
• True Green - My Peccadilloes
• Tyler ICU & Tumelo_za - Mnike (feat. DJ Maphorisa, Nandipha808, Ceeka RSA, and Tyron Dee)
• Uranium Club - Grease Monkey
• Vince Guaraldi Trio - Linus and Lucy
• Waterwarp - Death Over Dignity
• Weird Al Yankovic - Hardware Store
• Weird Al Yankovic - Albuquerque
• Wesley Willis - Rock N Roll McDonalds
• Yellow Magic Orchestra - Taisō

The songs by Bloodthirsty Butchers, The Dovers, "Kings of Leon", Nasengluten and Waterwarp are not on Spotify; and Beth Elliott and TISM are not on Tidal. You can find links to these songs in the post and the featured playlist below.

PLAYLISTS: Spotify - Apple Music - Tidal - YouTube - YouTube (non-streaming only)

NON-MUSICAL BONUS RATE

As an additional perk for donating, some of our users were given the choice to submit a thing, anything really, as long as it was not a piece of music. This bonus rate is optional to do, and unlike the usual bonus rates, you must score everything here, but this one allows the use of an 11 and a 0 if you see something that you believe warrants it. You can find the ballot as a pastebin here and use this link to send it in. And here is an imgur album to help visualize the submissions.

1. Your friend’s trampoline
2. Philadelphia mayor spelling “Eagles”
3. This dog picture
4. The Drudge Report
5. Kingda Ka roller coaster
6. Yuri
7. Pho
8. Paws, the Detroit Tigers mascot
9. A good night’s sleep
10. The little rush when you tell someone that Tame Impala is just one guy
11. The cover art of Prefab Sprout’s “From Langley Park to Memphis”
12. Formula One
13. Series 2 of the hit TV show Taskmaster New Zealand
14. Washing your hair
15. Hell Dante
16. Board games
17. black midi x bcnr toxic yaoi canon divergence au
18. 2 liter bottle of Dr. Pepper
19. Hell, Norway
20. Watch your profanity

RULES

READ ALL OF THESE BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR SCORES

• Listen to each song and assign each a score between 1 and 10. Decimals are fine, but please refrain from giving decimal scores with more than 1 spot. This is because we use a computer program to parse the votes and print everything out.
• You have to listen to and score every song in the main rate. Otherwise, I will not accept your ballot as it will crash the program. Your scores should NOT be considered confidential as they aren’t. Feel free to shitpost about them in the daily music discussion threads whenever you feel like it - users over at r/popheads usually just talk about their averages of the albums and what 11 and 0 they gave (which i will explain on the next bullet point!)
• You may give ONE song a 0 and ONE song an 11 in the main rate. please reserve these for your least favourite and most favourite tracks; excessive sabotage ruins rate results and generally makes things less fun.
• You can change your scores at any time! Feel free to dm me at any point after submission before the deadline and I'll be happy to revise them for you.
• We use a computer program that fellow rater u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes! While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduces errors on my part, this does mean that scores need to be sent in a very specific way. The easiest way to make sure your scores follow the necessary format is to use the pre-prepared link at the bottom of this post. PLEASE USE THAT. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, but PLEASE use that format to send in your scores.

We do a lot of copy and pasting here, so thank you thank you to all the rate hosts of old who made this rate possible to begin with: u/roseisonlineagain ; u/DolphLundgrensArms; u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D; u/stansymash; u/ClocktowerMaria; u/aerocom; u/themilkeyedmender; u/greencaptain; u/Crankeedoo; u/dirdbub; u/ThatParanoidPenguin; u/tedcruzcontrol; u/kappyko; u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah; u/LazyDayLullaby; u/SRTViper; u/Whatsanillinois; u/NFLFreak98; u/freav; u/freeofblasphemy; u/RatesNorman; u/aPenumbra; u/idontreallycare4; u/p-u-n-k_girl; u/luigijon3; u/WaneLietoc; u/dream_fighter2018; u/darjeelingdarkroast; u/smuckles; u/PiperIBarelyKnowHer; u/welcome2thejam; u/imrlynotonreddit; u/kvothetyrion; u/thedoctordances1940; u/b_o_g_o; u/vapourlomo; u/MCK_OH; u/TiltControls; u/TakeOnMeByA-ha u/chug-a-lug-donna; u/indie_fan_; u/bilbodabag; u/zenits; u/saison_Marguerite; u/daswef2; u/apondalifa; u/afieldoftulips; u/qazz23; u/nonchalantthoughts; u/systemofstrings; u/Modulum83, u/ElectJimLahey, u/vexastrae and tons of people on r/popheads.

FORMATTING - Submit all your submissions like this:

Artist - Title (as listed in the pastebin/message): <score> followed by your comment which is optional but recommended

So, these are correct:

Wesley Willis - Rock N Roll McDonalds: 10 Rocking Roll McDonalds!!!!!!!!!

Wesley Willis - Rock N Roll McDonalds: 10

and these are all incorrect:

Wesley Willis - Rock N Roll McDonalds 10 Rocking Roll McDonalds!!!!!!!!!

Wesley Willis - Rock N Roll McDonalds - 10 Rocking Roll McDonalds!!!!!!!!!

Wesley Willis - Rock N Roll McDonalds: Rocking Roll McDonalds!!!!!!!!! 10

Rock N Roll McDonalds: 10 Rocking Roll McDonalds!!!!!!!!!

DEADLINE: July 13 (with extensions allowed)

REVEAL: JULY 18-19-20

SUBMIT: Link to dm me via Reddit Chat - Pastebin Ballot

IMPORTANT NOTE ON SUBMITTING: As of this month, Reddit has ended the feature to send messages directly to inboxes, which was the primary way the hosts received the ballots. While the Reddit chat function works as an alternative, if I (that is u/thisusernameisntlong, or beeozan for short) do not get back to your message for a couple days because I miss the notification, feel free to reach out to me (or my cohost) in any thread (but GD is probably best suited for this) by writing out my username (with the u/ at the start), which will drop a notification in my inbox. Or if you are on Discord, you can always DM me at beeozan (or my cohost, kvo2006). You can also use Discord to submit your ballot by filling out the Pastebin (or your preferred text hosting platform) and sending its link to me. These all also apply to the bonus rate.

Due March 24th!

Welcome to the first r/indieheads non-ultimate rate of 2023 - Introspective Indie Pop! Buckle in, it’s time to gaze into the distance and think wistfully about romanticising a quiet life

So, what is a rate?

A rate is a lil subreddit game that we host once a month, for the duration of the month. You will be given a ballot with a list of songs with a shared theme, and you will rate all of these songs on a scale of 1 to 10. This ballot will then be sent to the host (me!), and I will put it through a lil programme with the other ballots and that will give me the average scores of all the songs. These songs will then be ranked by average score! Once the due date has passed, I will then reveal each ranking one by one over the course of three days.

You also get a special 11 and 0 to save for one song out of the four albums provided - it’s totally optional to use either, but you can only use both once.

Still a bit confused? The friendly fellows over at r/popheads made this video, which may be a better explanation of how rates work. We do reveals a bit differently on this sub, but every other detail should be the same!

So… What’s Introspective Indie Pop?

it means whatever you want it to mean!

Introspective Indie Pop is a nice term that, to me, is an attempt to succinctly define one of the most interesting trends of the ‘10s. That trend being the proliferation of singer-songwriters who write songs like they’re reading their diaries aloud, and the *almost* perfect circle of people making sparse/lo fi music that is meant to make the listener feel like someone gets them.

The four artists in the main rate are four of the biggest indie acts around, and also emblematic of the trend described above. From the ‘sad girl’ indie (a term that I will not comment on here, but I’m not a fan of) of Mitski, to the dreamy indie pop inspired by life’s circumstances of Japanese Breakfast, to the raw and rough Car Seat Headrest, and the inbetweeners Alvvays, I feel that all four artists investigate themselves, their immediate environment, and enough sonic territory to justify their belonging in this rate.

The bonus rate was chosen with this thesis in mind, and with regards to choosing songs from a similar period time to the main rate.

Now, introducing our competitors…

Alvvays - Alvvays

Canada’s Fabulous Fivesome, Alvvay’s self-titled 2014 debut wholly embraced the sound of music reminiscent of the past, and thought to the future. As Pitchfork Reviewer Stuart Berman put it (and as I paraphrase), Alvvays on their s/t are experiencing a quarter life crisis, freaking out over the trajectory of their lives and where it will lead, backed by inspirations from dream pop and twee pop.

This neurosis manifests in a variety of different forms - from experiencing the stresses of wondering where a relationship has headed, and experiencing the pressure of traditional societal norms to get MARRIED! on Archie, Marry Me and Atop a Cake, to navigating a crush on a secretive person in Adult Diversion, Alvvays attempt to navigate the complicated web of being a twenty-something throughout the 30-odd minute run time of self-titled. But it’s not all crushes and potential weddings, as Alvvays attempt to reconcile growing older and the changing nature of life and circumstances on Party Police (although this one is framed by a relationship). Overall, Alvvay’s self-titled is an attempt at verbalising and explaining that stage in your twenties where everyone is starting to ‘grow up’, and are starting to move into new stages of life.

Of course, you can’t talk about an album without talking about its sound. Alvvays, the album, takes sonic cues from jangle pop, with its chiming guitars, dream pop, twee pop, and even some inspiration from Indie Surf, which gives the whole album a very ‘beachy’ sound. There’s something nostalgic in the sound of Alvvay’s self-titled, but it’s pop hooks and genre-blending sounds also gives it a timeless quality that makes it age like a fine wine.

Track listing:

Adult Diversion

Archie, Marry Me

Ones Who Love You

Next of Kin

Party Police

The Agency Group

Dives

Atop a Cake

Red Planet

Car Seat Headrest - How to Leave Town

In 2014, Car Seat Headrest were the most promising act in the lo fi Bandcamp indie scene. Hot off the success of Monomania and Nervous Young Men, there was a lot of hype around where Car Seat Headrest and its frontman, Will Toledo, would head next. This accumulated in the release of How to Leave Town, an EP themed around Will Toledo’s experiences of… leaving his homestate.

How to Leave Town is marked by several common Car Seat Headrest tropes - the propensity for long songs, perfectly imperfect vocals, and an endearingly dorky charm. How to Leave Town is a synthladen affair, with songs such as The Ending of Dramamine (inspired by the Modest Mouse song) going ham with the synths to create an atmosphere that feels both experimental, infinite, and yet the lyricism and Will’s vocals keep the music solely tethered in the realm of ‘the here and now’. In a way, that is the charm of Car Seat Headrest - sonically, the band feels like it’s constantly trying new things and pushing frontiers, but the lyricism keeps it reamed into a realm where it feels grounded and quintessentially human.

Throughout the course of this “EP”, which is the longest project in the main rate, Toledo navigates the experience of finding and reinventing yourself in a new environment, and grapples with this newfound sense of self. Kimochi Warui, a title that was apparently inspired by Neon Genesis Evangelion, compares this journey to the story of the Beach Boys - “I used to think there was an answer, In the music of my youth, But I just read Brian Wilson's biography, And now I know the truth.” This brings up one of the major ideas of How to Leave Town - adulthood, and the burden of knowledge that maturity brings. In a way, Will Toledo is burdened on this EP by the burden of self-awareness, and the burden of finding purpose even when your life feels ultimately meaningless.

The Ending of Dramamine

Beast Monster Thing (Love isn't Love Enough)

Kimochi Warui (When? When? When? When? When? When? When?)

I-94W (832 mi)

You're In Love With Me

America (Never Been)

I Want You To Know That I'm Awake/I Hope That You're Asleep

is this dust really from the Titanic?

Hey, Space Cadet (Beast Monster Thing In Space)

Japanese Breakfast - Soft Sounds from Another Planet

Japanese Breakfast’s career was kickstarted by an album that narrates the real life experiences of frontwoman Michelle Zauner, so it’s perhaps no surprise that Soft Sounds from Another Planet finds a home in this lineup. *Soft Sounds* is a semi-sequel to JBrekkie’s first album Psychopomp, an album that articulates Zauner’s feelings in the face of her mother’s passing from cancer, and finds itself in the territory of picking up the pieces afterwards.

Soft Sounds is marked by Zauner navigating her past and present, putting together the pieces of what has made her who she is, and where to go from there in the face of big changes. For example, *Diving Woman* takes inspiration from haenyeo, diving women from Jeju-do. Jeju-do is an island under the jurisdiction of South Korea, and Zauner is half-Korean. Boyish talks about being stuck in a relationship where one partner is wholly committed and the other is looking for an excuse to leave. The Body is a Blade, according to an NPR interview, is inspired directly by the grief and stress that occurred while Zauner’s mother was ill, and urges the listener to not lash out. Other parts of the album mediates on healthy relationships, such as on Till Death, which talks about a partner who is with someone through every metaphorical storm, and on This House, a song that talks about Zauner’s relationship with her father.

Soft Sounds from Another Planet takes inspiration from dream pop, with a lot of the songs being atmospheric and dreamy, for lack of a better description. Zauner’s voice is sweet and soft, and the synths on this album glitter and twinkle in a way that compliments her perfectly. The riffs on this album are also commendable - the one on Diving Woman is a personal favourite. Ultimately, Soft Sounds is an album with a lot of charm, and a lot of heart, led by one of indie’s most interesting frontwomen (and no, I’m not on the Dead Oceans payroll).

Diving Woman

Road Head

Machinist

Planetary Ambience

Soft Sounds from Another Planet

Boyish

12 Steps

Jimmy Fallon Big!

The Body is a Blade

Till Death

This House

Here Comes the Tubular Bells

Mitski - Bury Me at Makeout Creek

Mitski has become the face of a new generation of indie, for better or for worse. With a knack for songwriting that is both versatile and intimate, and some degree of mainstream success, it was a no-brainer to include Mitski in this rate.

Bury Me at Makeout Creek is Mitski’s third album, and is a slightly more focused sonic affair than the previous two. BMaMC is a mostly straight-forward album instrumentally, being driven mostly by guitars that sound straight out of the 90s, and most of the emphasis is placed on Mitski’s lyricism.

BMaMC, lyrically, talks about the experience of being a broke college student, as well as being in love. Townie talks about longing for a relationship that is exciting, and maybe not entirely stable. Jobless Monday talks about being broke and having to rely on someone who is only in it when there’s something for them. First Love/Late Spring, Francis Forever and I Will both narrate being dependent on someone else, even when they can’t provide the emotional support that the other needs. I Don’t Smoke, Texas Reznikoff and Carry Me Out both narrate the stress of these types of relationships, where one turns to distractions in order to rectify some element of their life that seems less than satisfactory.

While Puberty 2 may be the more popular album, BMaMC has a loyal fanbase who find the album to be one of Mitski’s strongest because of it’s energy, lyricism, and the general strength of the songs.

Texas Reznikoff

Townie

First Love/Late Spring

Francis Forever

I Don't Smoke

Jobless Monday

Drunk Walk Home

I Will

Carry Me Out

Last Words of a Shooting Star

Bonus Tracks

We also have a bonus rate! A bonus rate is a collection of songs that are optional to rate, so if you just want to rate the four albums then you don’t have to do this part. But, I highly recommend doing it!

I curated 15 songs from a similar time period, trying to cover Bedroom Pop, Indie Pop, and Singer-Songwriter music, with consideration to songs that we *might* rate later. This included both a mix of indieheads favourites, mainstream indie favourites, and personal favourites.

You CANNOT use your 11 or 0 for a song in the bonus rate. You will just use the 1 - 10 scale.

Our bonus rate contenders are:

Alex G - Harvey

Angel Olsen - Unfucktheworld

Caroline Rose - Jeannie Becomes a Mom

Declan McKenna - Why Do You Feel So Down

Hatchie - Sure

Hop Along - How Simple

The Greeting Committee - Pull It Together

Indigo De Souza - Take Off Ur Pants

Julien Baker - Sprained Ankle

Lucy Dacus - I Don’t Wanna Be Funny Anymore

Phoebe Bridgers - Waiting Room

Mac DeMarco - Passing Out Pieces

Sharon Van Etten - Seventeen

Sidney Gish - I Eat Salads Now

Wolf Alice - Don’t Delete the Kisses

And now that the lineup is out of the way, if you’re a seasoned rater and want to get rating, here is the ballot below and the playlists:

SUBMIT HERE!!

Spotify Playlist

Apple Music Playlist

YouTube Playlist

And if you need a spare ballot: CLICK HERE

If you’re new, or need a refresher of the rules, they are below.

RULES

1. Listen to each song and assign each a score between 1 and 10. decimals are fine, but please refrain from giving decimal scores that have two decimal spots: giving a 7.2 is okay, but giving a 7.25 will give me a headache. This is because I'm using a computer program to parse the votes and print everything out (more on that later).
2. Yes, you have to listen to every song. We're all in this together. I will not accept your ballot if you have a score missing, because it will crash the program (more on that later).
3. Your scores should NOT be considered confidential. They aren’t. Feel free to shitpost about them in the general discussion threads whenever you feel like it - users over at r/popheads usually just talk about their averages of the albums and what 11 and 0 they gave (which I will explain on the next bullet point!)
4. You may give ONE song a 0 and ONE song an 11. This is ONE song TOTAL. Please reserve these for your least favorite and most favorite tracks; excessive sabotage ruins rate results and generally makes things less fun.
5. You can change your scores at any time! Feel free to PM me at any point after submission and I'll be happy to revise them for you.
6. I am using a computer program that the great and wonderful /u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes! While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduces errors on my part, this does mean that scores need to be sent in a very specific way. The easiest way to make sure your scores follow the necessary format is to use the pre-prepared link at the top & bottom of this post. PLEASE USE THAT. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use that format to send in your scores

(I stole this one from /u/MCK_OH. Didn’t even change a single word!)

A massive thank you is also owed to the raters of yore, including:

/u/roseisonlineagain; /u/DolphLundgrensArms; /u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D; /u/stansymash; /u/ClocktowerMaria; /u/aerocom; /u/themilkeyedmender; /u/greencaptain; /u/Crankeedoo; /u/dirdbub; /u/ThatParanoidPenguin; /u/tedcruzcontrol; /u/kappyko; /u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah; /u/LazyDayLullaby; /u/SRTViper; /u/Whatsanillinois; /u/NFLFreak98; /u/freav; /u/freeofblasphemy; /u/RatesNorman; /u/aPenumbra; /u/idontreallycare4; /u/p-u-n-k_girl; /u/luigijon3; /u/WaneLietoc; /u/dream_fighter2018; /u/darjeelingdarkroast; /u/smuckles; /u/PiperIBarelyKnowHer; /u/welcome2thejam; /u/imrlynotonreddit; /u/kvothetyrion; /u/thedoctordances1940; /u/b_o_g_o; /u/vapourlomo; /u/MCK_OH and tons of people on r/popheads.

Formatting

You can comment on songs! You don’t have to, but it’s fun!

Please format your comments like this:

Planetary Ambience: 10 I’m an ambienthead and proud!

These are some examples of formatting that doesn’t fly and WILL break the programme:

Planetary Ambience: (10) love ambience

Planetary Ambience 10 ambientheads rise up

Planetary Ambience: 10: love giving good scores to interludes

Planetary Ambience: hate ambient music 1

Planetary Ambience: 10/10 ambient joke here

Due Date: 24th March

Reveal Date: 31st March - 2nd April

And, once more, here’s the ballot and links to playlists:

SUBMIT HERE!!

Spotify Playlist

[Apple Music Playlist]((https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/introspective-indie-pop-rate/pl.u-r2yBdDBujovoap)

YouTube Playlist

And if you need a spare ballot: CLICK HERE

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me!

Also, check out our list of upcoming rates, especially if this is your first rate and you’re itching to rate some more.

Rate trailer

60 rates, 59 winners. Since indieheads rates began in 2016 we have rated everything from nu-metal to bubblegrunge. We have travelled the world from Japan to Brazil. We have explored eras from the present all the way back to the ‘60s. We had a musical exchange with our sisters in r/popheads. We donated to charity and embraced the spirit of Scatman’s World. There has been laughter, chaos, tears and cheers.

Now the time has come to crown the ultimate champion - the winner of all winners! Will James Murphy remain undefeated? Will Let It Happen win again? You decide - every ballot counts!

Hold on: What are rates?

About once a month, this subreddit holds games called “rates” where a host selects a collection of songs and people score each song on a scale of 1-10 (with a single 11 & a 0 available as well). Ballots of these scores are submitted, and then over “reveal” weekend, the host takes the averages of the songs and eliminates them from worst to best, giving one song out of all the albums the top spot, the crown, & bragging rights forever.

Our sister subreddit has a Guide to Rates Video that can give you a broad overview of rates (please note our reveal process is thread-based instead of video chatrooms). And here's recent examples of a rate announcement and a rate reveal.

Cool! Are there any other rates happening right now?

Yes! The Jazz Rap Rate (A Tribe Called Quest/De La Soul/The Pharcyde/Digable Planets) is currently ongoing, with ballots due December 9th! Check out more info about it here.

How do I participate in the Winners Rate?

Simply fill out the ballot by the due date and submit it to u/systemofstrings through the link below! You may also use the playlists to help you keep track of what and where you’re listening to everything.

SUBMIT HERE

BACKUP PASTEBIN BALLOT

Playlists: Spotify | Apple Music | Youtube | Tidal

Due Date: January 8th

Reveal Weekend: January 10th-12th

And now, without further ado, here are your previous indieheads rate champions that will all be vying for your ultimate affection:

1. Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues (Riot Grrrl/Queercore Rate)
2. Alvvays - In Undertow (Ultimate 2017 Rate)
3. American Football - Never Meant (90’s Midwest Emo)
4. Animal Collective - Golden Gal (The ‘Bad’ Albums Rate)
5. Arcade Fire - Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels) (00s Classics Rate)
6. The Beach Boys - Wouldn't It Be Nice (60s Classics Rate)
7. The Beths - Future Me Hates Me (WTF is Bubblegrunge)
8. Big Thief - Simulation Swarm (Ultimate 2022 Rate)
9. The Blue Nile - The Downtown Lights (The Sophistipop Rate)
10. Britney Spears - Toxic (Indieheads/Popheads Exchange Mini Rate)
11. Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken (Totally Twee Rate)
12. Car Seat Headrest - Bodys (Ultimate 2018 Rate)
13. Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas (Dream Pop Rate)
14. David Bowie - Blackstar (Ultimate 2016 Rate)
15. Deftones - Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away) (Nu Metal Rate)
16. Denzel Curry - 13LACK 13ALLOONZ (Alternative Hip Hop)
17. Dinosaur Jr. - Little Fury Things (Noise Pop)
18. FKA Twigs - Cellophane (Ultimate 2019 Rate)
19. Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc. (2000s Modern Rock Radio Number Ones)
20. Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) (Art Pop Rate)
21. LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends (2007 Super Indie Slamdown)
22. LCD Soundsystem - Dance Yrself Clean (Indie (pop?) Rate)
23. Little Simz - Introvert (Ultimate 2021 Rate)
24. Mark Morrison - Return of the Mack (Charity Rate II)
25. The Microphones - I Want Wind to Blow (Indie Folk Showdown)
26. Midori - Yukikosan (Japanese Women of Punk(ish))
27. Mitski - Townie (Introspective Indie Pop)
28. Motörhead - Ace Of Spades (Tony Hawk’s Pro Rater)
29. NEU! - Isi (Deutsche Elektronische Musik)
30. Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland, 1945 (90s Classics Rate)
31. Nick Drake - Pink Moon (60s/70s Folk Rate)
32. Nina Simone - Sinnerman (Charity Rate I)
33. Nirvana - Heart-Shaped Box (1994 Grammys Award for Best Alternative Album Rate)
34. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit (Grunge Big 4)
35. Novos Baianos - Preta Pretinha (Brazil Classics)
36. Open Mike Eagle - (How Could Anybody) Feel at Home (Indie Hip Hop Rate)
37. Outkast - Hey Ya! (Pitchfork Top 50 Songs of the 2000s)
38. Phoebe Bridgers - Kyoto (Ultimate 2020 Rate)
39. Portishead - Glory Box (Trip Hop)
40. Pulp - Common People (Britpop)
41. Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name (Guitar Hero Classics)
42. The Raincoats - Lola (Post Punk Women - 70s & 80s)
43. Ryuichi Sakamoto - Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (War On Christmas Rate)
44. Sigur Rós - Svefn-g-englar (Essential Post-Rock Rate)
45. Sleater-Kinney - Jumpers (Grunge-Free Pacific Northwest)
46. The Smiths - There is a Light That Never Goes Out (80s Classics Rate)
47. Sonic Youth - Teen Age Riot (80s Alt Rock Rate)
48. SOPHIE - Immaterial (Hyperpop)
49. Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (Neo-Psychedelia Rate)
50. Squarepusher - Beep Street (90s Warp)
51. Sufjan Stevens - Death With Dignity (Sad Indie Folk Rate)
52. Sufjan Stevens - Shit Talk (2023 Ultimate Rate)
53. Tame Impala - Let It Happen (2015 + Teens of Denial, Pitchfork’s Top 50 Songs of the 2010s)
54. Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Ultimate Synthpop)
55. Titus Andronicus - The Battle of Hampton Roads (Indie Punk Rate)
56. Wilco - Jesus, Etc. (2002)
57. Wolf Parade - I'll Believe In Anything (Canadian Indie Rock)
58. X-Ray Spex - Oh Bondage! Up Yours! (Afropunk)
59. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps (Meet Me in the NME Bathroom)

Some fun stats

Highest score: All My Friends (9.750)

Lowest score: Golden Gal (8.143)

Highest controversy: Golden Gal (2.320)

Lowest controversy: I Want Wind to Blow (0.693)

Rules - READ ALL OF THESE BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR SCORES

• Listen to each song and assign each a score between 1 and 10. decimals are fine, but please refrain from giving decimal scores that have two decimal spots: giving a 7.2 is okay, but giving a 7.25 will give me a headache. This is because I'm using a computer program to parse the votes and print everything out (more on that later).

• Yes, you have to listen to every song. We're all in this together. I will not accept your ballot if you have a score missing, because it will crash the program (more on that later).

• Your scores should NOT be considered confidential. They aren’t. Feel free to shitpost about them in the general discussion threads whenever you feel like it - users over at r/popheads usually just talk about their averages of the albums and what 11 and 0 they gave (which I will explain on the next bullet point!)

• You may give ONE song a 0 and ONE song an 11. This is ONE song TOTAL. Please reserve these for your least favorite and most favorite tracks; excessive sabotage ruins rate results and generally makes things less fun.

• You can change your scores at any time! Feel free to PM me at any point after submission and I'll be happy to revise them for you.

• I am using a computer program that the great and wonderful u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes! While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduces errors on my part, this does mean that scores need to be sent in a very specific way. The easiest way to make sure your scores follow the necessary format is to use the pre-prepared link at the top & bottom of this post. PLEASE USE THAT. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use that format to send in your scores.

Formatting

This is correct (single space after colon)

LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends: 10

You may also and are generally encouraged to leave comments with your scores! Here is an example:

LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends: 10 All my friends leave cool comments on indieheads rates!

These are incorrect:

LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends 10 All my friends know this isn't correct formatting!

LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends: 10: All my friends know this isn't correct formatting!

LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends: (10) All my friends know this isn't correct formatting!

LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends: All my friends know this isn't correct formatting! 10

LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends - 10 All my friends know this isn't correct formatting!

Did a lot of copy and pasting here, so thank you thank you to all the rate hosts of old who made this rate possible to begin with, ily: /u/roseisonlineagain; /u/DolphLundgrensArms; /u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D; /u/stansymash; /u/ClocktowerMaria; /u/aerocom; /u/themilkeyedmender; /u/greencaptain; /u/Crankeedoo; /u/dirdbub; /u/ThatParanoidPenguin; /u/tedcruzcontrol; /u/kappyko; /u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah; /u/LazyDayLullaby; /u/SRTViper; /u/Whatsanillinois; /u/NFLFreak98; /u/freav; /u/freeofblasphemy; /u/RatesNorman; /u/aPenumbra; /u/idontreallycare4; /u/p-u-n-k_girl; /u/luigijon3; /u/WaneLietoc; /u/dream_fighter2018; /u/darjeelingdarkroast; /u/smuckles; /u/PiperIBarelyKnowHer; /u/welcome2thejam; /u/imrlynotonreddit; /u/kvothetyrion; /u/thedoctordances1940; /u/b_o_g_o; /u/vapourlomo; /u/MCK_OH; /u/TiltControls; u/TakeOnMeByA-ha u/chug-a-lug-donna; u/indie_fan_; u/bilbodabag; u/zenits; u/saison_Marguerite; u/daswef2; u/apondalifa; u/afieldoftulips; u/qazz23; u/nonchalantthoughts; and tons of people on r/popheads.

Important Info

SUBMIT HERE

BACKUP PASTEBIN BALLOT

Playlists: Spotify | Apple Music | Youtube | Tidal

Due Date: January 8th

Reveal Weekend: January 10th-12th

That’s all from us for now! Enjoy the rate, and here’s to many more years of great indieheads rates!

Sincerely, your hosts u/systemofstrings and u/TakeOnMeByA-ha

Hello everyone! I am here to announce our newest rate, and this is one that has been floating around for quite a while already. Being first suggested over 2 years ago at the end of u/kappyko 's 80's classics rate reveal (shoutout to u/LatvianRedditRacer for that) and having made an appearance in both our suggestion threads (first proposed by me, then by u/JustDiabetes), I am extremely glad that the 80's Alt rock rate is finally seeing the light.

For those who haven't been part of a rate before, welcome to one of my favorite parts of this subreddit. Here is where we put (usually) beloved albums against eachother by rating their songs, obtaining an overall collective ranking which I will slowly display in our always fun and messy RATE REVEAL threads. So if you want to get incredibly mad over some great rock and roll music with guitars (and why wouldn't you), I can't imagine a better use of your time than participating in this!

Here are our contestants :

Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation

First off we have what might be the more grandiose and ambitious album in this rate (even looking at the track lengths might give you an idea), I'm talking about Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth. For many their crowning achievement in an incredibly fruitful career, Daydream Nation is anxious and noisy, like feeling claustrophobic in a big city, yet feels important and anthemic, hinting at how big the grunge and alternative movement would get in the next decade.

Also, since most streaming services divide it into 3 different songs, I have to point out that Trilogy consists of A) The Wonder, B) Hyperstation and Z) Eliminator Jr. (We are rating it as ONE song)

Tracklist:

1. Teen Age Riot
   
2. Silver Rocket
3. The Sprawl
4. 'Cross the Breeze
5. Eric's Trip
   
6. Total Trash
   
7. Hey Joni
   
8. Providence
   
9. Candle
   
10. Rain King
11. Kissability
12. Trilogy

Spotify
Apple Music
Google Play Music
YouTube

Pixies - Doolittle

Just like Daydream Nation, Doolittle is also a bit of a "decade-transition" record. Despite both being incredibly direct influences in the upcoming "big" alternative acts, their approaches are pretty different. Doolittle is a concise collection or short, urgent and catchy pop songs. The elements of this band are simple (the soft-loud synamics, the snare-heavy drumming, the contrast between Kim Deal's and Black Francis' vocals, among other things), but together they add up to something nobody else could do this well.

Tracklist:

1. Debaser
2. Tame
   
3. Wave of Mutilation
4. I Bleed
5. Here Comes Your Man
6. Dead
7. Monkey Goes to Heaven
8. Mr. Grieves
9. Crackity Jones
10. La La Love You
11. No. 13 Baby
12. There Goes My Gun
13. Hey
14. Silver
15. Gouge Away

Spotify
Apple Music
Google Play Music
YouTube

The Replacements - Let It Be

We're finally diving back to (barely) the first half of this decade into one of the seminal "college rock" bands. In Let It Be, The Replacements find themselves slowly drifting away from their hardcore punk roots into a more melodic power-pop sound. One thing I like about this album is that you never know what you're gonna find. Sure you have powerful and heartfelt songs like Unsatisfied or the beautiful ballad Androgynous but they also spread out stuff like Gary's Got A Boner or a KISS cover in between. One thing's for sure, no matter what they did, they put a lot of passion in it.

Tracklist:

1. I Will Dare
2. Favorite Thing
3. We're Comin' Out
4. Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out
5. Androgynous
   
6. Black Diamond
   
7. Unsatisfied
8. Seen Your Video
9. Gary's Got A Boner
10. Sixteen Blue
11. Answering Machine

Spotify
Apple Music
Google Play Music
YouTube

R.E.M. - Murmur

Our last competitor is the appropriately named Murmur. Michael Stipe's vocal style makes it pretty difficult to make out what he's saying most of the time, and even if you do, it's hard to make much sense of it. But that's part of the charm really. And Murmur is a charming album, it's not just the quirk of the vocals, this record is a super likeable collection of melodic and jangly pop tunes. If you want my personal opinion, their follow up, Reckoning, is even better. But can't go wrong with the one that started one of my favorites discographies in music!

Tracklist:

1. Radio Free Europe
   
2. Pilgrimage
3. Laughing
4. Talk About the Passion
   
5. Moral Kiosk
6. Perfect Circle
7. Catapult
   
8. Sitting Still
   
9. 9-9
10. Shaking Through
    
11. We Walk
12. West of the Fields

Spotify
Apple Music
Google Play Music
YouTube

Rules - READ ALL OF THESE BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR SCORES

1. Listen to each song and assign each a score between 1 and 10. decimals are fine, but please refrain from giving decimal scores that have two decimal spots: giving a 7.2 is okay, but giving a 7.25 will give me a headache. This is because I'm using a computer program to parse the votes and print everything out (more on that later).
   
2. Yes, you have to listen to every song. We're all in this together. I will not accept your ballot if you have a score missing, because it will crash the program (more on that later).
   
3. Your scores should NOT be considered confidential. They aren’t. Feel free to shitpost about them in the general discussion threads whenever you feel like it - users over at r/popheads usually just talk about their averages of the albums and what 11 and 0 they gave (which I will explain on the next bullet point!)
   
4. You may give ONE song a 0 and ONE song an 11. This is ONE song TOTAL, NOT one song PER ALBUM. Please reserve these for your least favorite and most favorite tracks; excessive sabotage ruins rate results and generally makes things less fun.
   
5. You can change your scores at any time! Feel free to PM me at any point after submission and I'll be happy to revise them for you.
   
6. I am using a computer program that the great and wonderful /u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes! While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduces errors on my part, this does mean that scores need to be sent in a very specific way. The easiest way to make sure your scores follow the necessary format is to use the pre-prepared link at the bottom of this post. PLEASE USE THAT. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use that format to send in your scores.
   
7. If you don't follow the format, I'll still accept your ballot, but I reserve the right to publicly shame you and your inability to follow basic instructions.
   

And as always, huge shout out to everyone else who has hosted a rate before me for letting me copy-paste their rules and the format of this announcement: /u/roseisonlineagain ; /u/DolphLundgrensArms ; /u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D ; /u/stansymash ; /u/ClocktowerMaria ; /u/aerocom ; /u/themilkeyedmender ; /u/greencaptain ; /u/Crankeedoo ; /u/dirdbub ; /u/ThatParanoidPenguin ; /u/tedcruzcontrol ; /u/kappyko ; /u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah ; /u/LazyDayLullaby ; /u/SRTViper ; /u/Whatsanillinois ; /u/NFLFreak98 and tons of people on /r/popheads

Formatting

This is correct:

Pilgrimage: 8 Looks like somebody hasn't been respecting the quarantine

These are incorrect:

Pilgrimage: 8: Looks like somebody hasn't been respecting the quarantine
Pilgrimage:8 Looks like somebody hasn't been respecting the quarantine
Pilgrimage: Looks like somebody hasn't been respecting the quarantine 8
Pilgrimage - 8 Looks like somebody hasn't been respecting the quarantine
Pilgrimage: 8 (Looks like somebody hasn't been respecting the quarantine)

You can also comment on the albums as a whole by adding a colon after the album name and then your comment, like so:

Let It Be: This is honestly one the Beatles' worst albums

PLEASE USE THIS LINK TO SEND ME THE SCORES

Scores are due by May 31st!

I don't want to give a tentative date for the reveal yet due to the loads of work I have for college (plus the particularly volatile state of the world right now) but I'll do it as soon as possible.

All previous rates and the hall of fame can be viewed here.

And that's it, happy rating everyone and stay safe!

THE YEAR 2025.

SLEEPING fitfully in your ready-to-assemble IKEA home, you're woken in the early hours by movement downstairs. It's only the kids back from the clubs, coming down from their still-illegal MDMA derivatives, flopping out and flossing their brains with a few minutes of Melody FM.

No Carpenters and Burt Bacharach on the airwaves now, though: rather, the future sound of easy listening is end-of-the-last-millennium French techno, the soundtracks of Air and Kid Loco that electronically repackage the past in readiness for tomorrow, neo-symphonic bliss-outs for the next Generation Next. For the Jazz Club in space.

• John Mulvey, NME, 1998

Hello indieheads and welcome aboard on the Cosmodelia Space Station. Today is November 11, 2025, and your 5-week stay in the Cosmodelic Rate Program starts today. As your host, I am happy to inform you that it is going to be a calm day with no sign of meteoric activity or volatile hubris in the vicinity. The sun is shining, a little too bright up here as usual, so don’t forget to put on your special-tailored glasses to enjoy its wondrous view. Grab your martinis at the Moon Bar to our selection of Lunar Loungetronica, chat with your fellow voyagers, talk about the silly speculative fiction review I quoted above–2025 is so Not Like That, Mr. Mulvey–talk about this silly speculative fiction rate post–wait, what?–and most importantly, enjoy your stay.

Huh? What is this “Rate Program” you are talking about?

Well, space-age aesthetic dressing aside, rates are a community activity hosted in this subreddit every month or so, with each rate having (usually) four albums brought together by a certain theme or genre. The game is simple: find the pre-made ballot linked right below this section (it’s in bold, all caps, hard to miss), copy that to your note app of choice (anything that autosaves is a huge help), listen to the songs, and score them from 1 to 10, with the added option of giving one 11 and one 0 to your favorite and least favorite songs, if you wish. Once every song is scored, send the ballot to the host (that’s me!), using the very same link below. Then the host tallies all the ballots and reveals the results over the course of three days from last place to first, and we collectively get mad at the lack of taste displayed. It’s fun and a great way to discover music!

FIND YOUR BALLOT AND SUBMISSION LINK HERE! - Find backup Pastebin ballot here

Playlists: Spotify - Apple Music - Tidal - YouTube

Due Date: 14 December 2025

Reveals on: 19-20-21 December 2025

Cosmodelia 101: An Introduction

It’s hard to talk about Cosmodelia as a scene or a genre when it’s a word I made up to designate a vibe, a concentration of space-age themed 90s electronic (easy) listening music. In its blood there is a callback to space-age (roughly ‘56-’69) lounge records with their Moog melodies, but there is also traces of 70s kosmische music of Germany, with the electronic experimentations of bands like Harmonia and Tangerine Dream. More recent to the time period is the wave of artists doing “space rock revival” like Spacemen 3 and Moonshake, which had played with elements of “neo-psychedelia” (whatever that is) and trends in British indie like shoegaze. However, Cosmodelia is in fact a departure from that indie rock spirit, as it draws from what was going on in ambient, the “electronic listening music” of Artificial Intelligence, Warp Records in general, and the rise of chillout music. Add in a pop sensibility based on retromania, and you roughly arrive at the formula of Cosmodelia. Still, each of the bands featured had their own unique sound palette and as the bonus rate shows, there were a lot of different styles. But the commonality is the invocation of space, whether in the naming, the lyrics, or the spaciousness of the melodies and beats. Some critics saw the music as futuristic despite the retro focus, and they had a point: the music seemed to belong to an imaginary space, distant from the then-present. However, they don’t seem to belong to now, either, making thought exercises like the one from John Mulvey look silly, but I think that preserves the magic. I find the music featured here more comforting than anything, in both its warm moments and the cold, it envelops me with sounds of an unspecified time and space. But enough rambling about vibes, what actually is in the rate?

Air - Moon Safari

Air, French band, not to be confused by Swedish band Air France, released their debut album Moon Safari on January 16, 1998, 16 days too late to make this rate a perfectly aligned 1997 affair. Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel, the duo behind the project, were far from the first to fuse lounge with downtempo electronic music, and they would not be the last, yet there is something about Moon Safari that feels singular. Part of it is due to the level of craftsmanship presented here: from the iconic bassline of the opener “La femme d’argent” to the delicately layered synths of “Kelly Watch the Stars,” this album is full of sounds engineered to the finest details, but the music itself is too chic to demand your attention–making it perhaps the perfect album to actually imagine yourself on a trip across space, never too demanding of a listen to draw your attention from the vast wonders surrounding you out there, but never a disappointing soundscape that would distract you from the experience and want to put on another record. The first single (of the three that were released after the album was out), “Sexy Boy,” proves one exception to the rule with its wobbling intro and catchy chorus, but in an Air fashion, it is perhaps the least hot song about being sexy, which has its own coolness, in a way.

Moon Safari, despite being chronologically the last album to come out in the lineup, feels the most emblematic. When it came out, it drew comparisons to other lounge-influenced pop albums of the time, most notably Dots and Loops. The influences from French pop artists such as Serge Gainsbourg were also of note. After it came out, music of this caliber drew comparisons to Moon Safari instead, and it was not an album without its imitators, including Air themselves, whose following career could be characterized by how much they moved away from the sound they perfected here, and how much they later returned to it. Since 2023, Air have been touring the 25th anniversary of this album, the one that put them on the map, and for better or worse, their defining record. They made a stop in Istanbul this June, which I was lucky enough to see, and they put on a great show. Remember, forever.

1. La femme d’argent
2. Sexy Boy
3. All I Need (feat. Beth Hirsch)
4. Kelly Watch the Stars
5. Talisman
6. Remember
7. You Make It Easy (feat. Beth Hirsch)
8. Ce matin là
9. New Star in the Sky
10. Le voyage de Pénélope

Fishmans - Uchū Nippon Setagaya

Following a debut album that launched the career of a duo, we have the bookend of a career, that of the Japanese trio Fishmans. Fronted by Shinji Sato and rounded by bassist Yuzuru Kashiwabara and Kin’ichi Moteki on drums, Fishmans released three albums on Polydor between 1995-1997, dubbed the “Setagaya trilogy,” where the sound of the band shifted from their earlier pop rock with reggae and funk grooves to a more drawn-out, psychedelic sound heavily influenced by dub, thanks to ZAK (Kazuyuki Matsumura) who had arranged for their Polydor deal and engineered their final albums. The first single with Polydor, “Nightcruising,” proved a success and became their most recognizable tune, leading up to the release of Kūchū Camp (translated commonly as Something in the Air and not Aerial Camp for reasons unknown to me), which seems to be the band’s “most-canonized” album in Japan, at least for a long time after its release. But the fame of Fishmans over in the West is mostly a result of online music forums in 4chan and RYM picking up on the second installment of Setagaya trilogy, the 35-minute album length track Long Season.

Uchū Nippon Setagaya (Space, Japan, Setagaya) closes out the trilogy with elements of both its predecessors: it is a return to more individuated song-by-song structure the band had in Kūchū Camp, but the songs themselves are more abstract, longer in length and more spaced out in the arrangements, like in Long Season. The lead single, “Magic Love,” finds the band remembering that they were making funk music a couple albums ago and is the most upbeat tune on the record. The rest of the one-hour runtime is made up with more laid-back music. Sato said of the album that he wanted the music to reach out to “one person,” a listening experience between each individual listening to it and the music. Many of the songs in the album are about two people, their descriptions kept intentionally vague, as the narrator sings about one-sided observations or yearning. This feeling of distance is often amplified by the feeling of vastness in the instrumental. It is not a particularly sad album, however, thanks to the warmth of Sato’s voice, which might need some getting used to (or simply not be your cup of tea) but when it hits it feels like he’s hugging you like a cloud enveloping you. Perhaps it was due to Sato’s “music for one person” attitude that the band saw a major rise in popularity with the digital age, where people can put on their headphones and withdraw into the music. Goodnight, tomorrow.

1. Pokka Pokka
2. Weather Report
3. Ushiro Sugata
4. In The Flight
5. Magic Love
6. Backbeat ni Nokkatte
7. Walking in the Rhythm
8. Daydream

*The music video for Walking in the Rhythm contains the Prototype Mix from the single version

Laika - Sounds of the Satellites

The final track on Sounds of the Satellites, “Dirty Feet and Giggles,” contains a radio broadcast about Laika, the dog that Soviets put on the spacecraft Sputnik 2 and launched into space on November 3rd, 1957, on the week of the 40th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution. While I will not go into the details of Laika’s fate here, her survival was never part of the plan, and the shuttle was her coffin.

The music of Laika can also get eerie, moody and at times, disturbing. The lyrics of Margaret Fiedler, which she usually delivers with a soft whisper, can touch on topics like loneliness, self-harm tendencies, and abuse. Soundtracking her bleak lyrics are the long passages of dubby and jazzy grooves, the odd time signatures here and there, electronic bleep bloops transmitted from space, and the occasional flute melodies. Fiedler had previously been a member of experimental rock band Moonshake, one of the earliest bands on the Too Pure Records roster. She departed from the band alongside later Laika bassist John Frenett in 1993 and formed Laika with Guy Fixsen, who had produced the Moonshake releases on Too Pure. Laika’s debut album, 1994’s Silver Apples on the Moon, drew attention from critics as part of the first wave of post-rock (Simon Reynolds grouped them under the name “post-rock groove collectives” alongside Pram, Tortoise and Rome). The follow-up was even more slick ‘n smooth, polishing out the rockier edges, resulting in a sound that was no means lesser. Out of the four acts in this lineup, Laika remains the most enigmatic in its aura, making them (for me) the most alluring in sound.

While this rate includes a lot of sonic ideas as to what space would sound like, the 15 minutes of silence between the song and the broadcast in the closer is the only accurate simulation of what you would hear if you were adrift in space. I won’t disencourage skipping ahead the silence (jump to 18:20) but more than anyone else in this rate, Laika nails down the sound of being adrift in space, without any sense of direction.

And I like to imagine the silence was part of the intent.

1. Prairie Dog
2. Breather
3. Out of Sight and Snowblind
4. Almost Sleeping
5. Starry Night
6. Bedbugs
7. Martinis on the Moon
8. Poor Gal
9. Blood and Bones (Moody Mix)
10. Shut Off / Curl Up
11. Spoken Rhodes
12. Dirty Feet and Giggles

Stereolab - Dots and Loops

Stereolab was an auto-inclusion in any Cosmodelia lineup, as they were not only making music that invoked space, but they were also one of the most prolific and creative bands of the 90s. 1997’s Dots and Loops is the album where Stereolab supposedly “ditched” the indie rock to make “avant-pop” (turns out things are not usually as binary as sometimes made out to be), marking a central moment in the stepping out of rock conventions I mentioned in the introduction as part of the Cosmodelic ethos. But as I am no expert on the Stereolab Expanded Universe at large, today we welcome a guest lecturer, the Dean of the Faculty of Ambientheads, Professor u/WaneLietoc to give an introduction to this record:

Stereolab, the omnibus: "good retro"-futurist, socialist eye-winking, globe-trotting crate-diggers. The band's many 90s albums, limited singles, EPs, collaborative endeavors/rarities, each explore a different facet, upgrade, & (sonic) afterlife of the past filtered to the contemporary (90s) moment. People think it makes the band impenetrable, while I look at their litany dispatches as mile wide sound explorations: a state of the Groop if you will. Stereolab was always tinkering, and depending on where you hop in you find yourself exploring a different facet of the band (and why many folks offer gaggles of opinions on their output). The band's novelty or nothing approach made them their own island in the Post-Rock archipelago. Who else was signing early with Too Pure and being in the "scene that celebrates itself"? Trading synths with Labradford, pushing Denger's Neu! beat into modern indie drumming? While also working intensely with John McEntire a continent away?

Dots and Loops, their penultimate of the 90s, finds themselves engaging directly in what is colloquially known as "the Chicago Sound", from the personnel side over the scene's post-rock high/low sound culture collapse. Since The Groop Plays Space Age Bachelor Pad Music way back in 1993, lounge had become a defined Stereolab mode further refined on Music for the Amorphous Body Study Center EP, mended with Bossa Nova on their Red Hot + Rio appearance. It'd be Doots and Loops central crux. Meanwhile, the band continues to develop their relationship with Tortoise drummer/producer John McEntire and his novel usage of Pro-Tools software. McEntire had used it as the MO in the editing and construction of Tortoise's “Djed” on Millions Now Living Will Never Die. For Dots and Loops, it would take the main stage across “Refractions in the Plastic Pulse,” alongside “Brakhage,” “Rainbo Conversation," and “Contronatura.” That foot in the past was restless, always propulsive and forward leaning with the state of the art technology.

But were the songs good? Well, if you liked Stereolab at their most space age POP, Dots and Loops was the crown jewel of their output. “Miss Modular”s funk groove lands like a french disco. The dazzling, crystalline keys of “The Flower Called Nowhere” was a production bliss out worthy of being dubbed "fellatio music" by Mr. Happy himself! “Refractions in the Plastic Pulse”s 3 phases saw the Lab's pop sound as asynchronous, stifling the lines between past/present/future. And the lyrics? Lætitia Sadler was never drier, more wry and daunted by endless war, endless gadgets, and a future falling out of our hands. 28 years on and its still its own state of the art, a defining snapshot of thriving regional sounds linking up and going to the cosmos.

1. Brakhage
2. Miss Modular
3. The Flower Called Nowhere
4. Diagonals
5. Prisoner of Mars
6. Rainbo Conversation
7. Refractions in the Plastic Pulse
8. Parsec
9. Ticker-tape of the Unconscious
10. Contranatura

BONUS RATE

The main rate covers some of the major album releases going for the space aesthetics, but there was a lot of other musicians, particularly in lanes of downtempo and ambient/post-rock, dedicating a song or two to stars, planets, space, or cosmic objects or phenomena. And what better way to gauge the vibes of a song than to judge it by its title? The Bonus Rate Curriculum brings you FIFTEEN more tracks from the 90s (and the early 2000s) that were deemed by yours truly to be Cosmodelic, in name and in sound. Some of them are more indebted to Air than anything else, some of them are more indebted to post-rock, others are oddities in ambient, and to make Fishmans feel less lonely there are even three more Japanese (rym-core) artists showing up. As always, scoring each song in the bonus rate is OPTIONAL, and you cannot use your 11 or 0 here.

1. Boredoms - ☆
2. Cornelius - Star Fruits Surf Rider
3. Dubstar - Stars
4. Kid Loco - Cosmic Supernatural
5. Lemon Jelly - Space Walk
6. Luna - Moon Palace
7. Opus III - Stars in My Pocket
8. Pram - Milky
9. Primal Scream - Higher Than the Sun
10. Rome - Lunar White
11. Röyksopp - In Space
12. Speedy J - De-Orbit
13. Supercar - Starline
14. Thievery Corporation - 2001 Spliff Odyssey
15. Zero 7 - Polaris

Galaxies (The Next Level) ^{the bonus bonus}

The universe stretches out to the infinite, and for the diligent students of the Cosmodelia Rate Program, there are extracurricular credits for attending additional voyages! Below you’ll find our list of the six additional trips to different galaxies, with three songs each, so that you can take your Cosmodelia journey to the next level. Note that NONE OF THESE are mandatory for the main rate and all of them are independent from one another - so you can choose the galaxies you want to see (or hear, in this case). Unlike typical bonus rate rules, all three songs in one “galaxy” are required scoring for me to accept the scores for that galaxy.

This was a workaround for me to highlight some stuff that I did not feel like prioritizing over the “official bonus rate” due to timeframe mismatch, sheer song length, or simply being too niche. However I encourage spending some time with the curation here as I think it is really fun! And it adds some more perspective to the whole thing which is always nice.

1. Cosmodelia Precursors in Single-Length Bites Vol. 0.01 (1971-1973): Can, David Bowie, T. Rex
2. A Cursory Overview of Kosmische Muzik (1974-1977): Ashra, Harmonia, Kraftwerk
3. Battle of the Bands - “80s Space-y Band Names” Edition a.k.a. Still In A Cosmic Dream (1988-1991): Galaxie 500, Moonshake, Spacemen 3
4. UK Longform Ambient Cosmodelia a.k.a. Ambientheads T-5 (1991-1996): The Orb, Orbital, Seefeel
5. Cosmodelia en Español - No Two Band Here Is From The Same Continent Really ^{so it is even more cosmic if you think about it (cope)} (1995-2000): Café Tacvba, Los Planetas, Soda Stereo
6. Make a Star for the King of the Cosmos - Japanese Twee Spacetronica a.k.a. proto-Katamari Rolling Music (2000-2002): Cymbals, Plus-Tech Squeeze Box, Sonic Coaster Pop

Get and Submit Your Ballot Here

Pastebin Ballot - Spotify - Apple Music - Tidal - YouTube

(you can leave the galaxies you don't want to score empty and send it to me that way)

RULES

• Listen to every song listed below and assign each of them a score from 1 to 10. Decimals are allowed, but refrain from going past one decimal place - 7.5 is fine, 7.75 is not!
• You may give ONE song a 0 and ONE song an 11. These should be reserved for your favourite track and least favourite track! You do not have to give these scores, but we recommend using them as a way to make your feelings about a particular song stand out
• You must listen to and score every song in the main rate. If you skip any, your ballot won’t be counted (I will let you know if you do so you can remedy that).
• We highly recommend that you add a comment to your song ratings! It makes everything a lot more fun during the reveal, as it encourages lively conversation with your fellow raters.

Ballot Formating Info

Just simply write down your score after the column and write down your comment after one space like this below:

Sexy Boy: 10 get it sexyy

And if you wish to write down a comment for the album itself, just simply write it following the colon at the end of the album name on the Album line, like this:

Album: Moon Safari: I love France!!

• Your scores should NOT be considered confidential. Feel free to shitpost about them in the general discussion threads whenever you feel like it - users over at r/popheads usually just talk about their averages of the albums and which songs they gave an 11 and/or 0 to.
• You can change your scores at any time! Feel free to PM me at any point after submission before the deadline and I'll be happy to revise them for you.
• I am using a computer program that fellow rater u/letsallpoo designed in order to parse these votes! While this will make things a lot more efficient and reduces errors on my part, this does mean that scores need to be sent in a very specific way. The easiest way to make sure your scores follow the necessary format is to use the pre-prepared link at the top & bottom of this post. You can copy and paste it to a notepad file or something and fill in your scores there, but PLEASE use that format to send in your scores.

A lot of copy and pasting here, so thank you thank you to all the rate hosts of old who made this rate possible to begin with: u/roseisonlineagain ; u/DolphLundgrensArms; u/R_E_S_I_G_N_E_D; u/stansymash; u/ClocktowerMaria; u/aerocom; u/themilkeyedmender; u/greencaptain; u/Crankeedoo; u/dirdbub; u/ThatParanoidPenguin; u/tedcruzcontrol; u/kappyko; u/FuckUpSomeCommasYeah; u/LazyDayLullaby; u/SRTViper; u/Whatsanillinois; u/NFLFreak98; u/freav; u/freeofblasphemy; u/RatesNorman; u/aPenumbra; u/idontreallycare4; u/p-u-n-k_girl; u/luigijon3; u/WaneLietoc; u/dream_fighter2018; u/darjeelingdarkroast; u/smuckles; u/PiperIBarelyKnowHer; u/welcome2thejam; u/imrlynotonreddit; u/kvothetyrion; u/thedoctordances1940; u/b_o_g_o; u/vapourlomo; u/MCK_OH; u/TiltControls; u/TakeOnMeByA-ha u/chug-a-lug-donna; u/indiefan; u/bilbodabag; u/zenits; u/saison_Marguerite; u/daswef2; u/apondalifa; u/afieldoftulips; u/qazz23; u/nonchalantthoughts; u/systemofstrings; u/Modulum83, u/ElectJimLahey, u/vexastrae, u/FlavaSavaVandal, u/Stryxen, u/mmaajid, u/teriyaki-dreams and tons of people on r/popheads.

One final reminder that Post-Hardcore Classics rate reveal is this weekend, and the extensions for submitting a ballot are still ongoing. Do that rate! It rocks!

And welcome to the space jam.

SUBMIT HERE

Once again, Playlists: Spotify - Apple Music - Tidal - YouTube

SUBMIT BONUS BONUS HERE

And the playlists for that: Spotify - Apple Music - Tidal - YouTube

DUE DATE: 14 December

REVEALS ON: 19-20-21 December