5 Albums I Can’t Live Without: Ken Vasoli of the Starting Line

5 Albums I Can’t Live Without:

1

Clinging to a Scheme, The Radio Dept.

The Radio Dept. and this record in particular delivers a flawless and delightful example of understated melodic brilliance. There is nothing to skip here, it’s a shimmering gem front to back. The elevator pitch would be to call this a lo-fi pop record, but that description really undersells the delicate perfection in TRD’s songwriting. The music on Clinging to a Scheme is minimal but measured so perfectly. The drums are all programmed or looped on relatively rudimentary sounding equipment, while the clean guitars, warm keys, and calming vocals float and fold into the sequences with tact and humble nuance. The lyrics are flawlessly penned with lines that read both sensitive and profoundly bold.  As a bass player, I LOVE how much the lines play into the upper register of the neck and also get doused in a slick spring reverb from time to time. I play this album and am able to instantly conjure a memory of riding my bike on a hot day in 2010, bombing down an empty hill feeling the wind cool my skin and pure bliss while these songs filled my ears. A perfect moment.

Funny story! A few years after I fell in love with this album I played some festival shows in Australia alongside another favorite band of mine, Millencolin. One night at a fest after-party, I saw the singer of Millencolin standing next right outside the bar. I felt bold and introduced myself as a fellow musician and longtime fan. We engaged in small chit chat. I knew that Millencolin were from Sweden, so I had excitedly asked him if he listened to the Radio Dept. (also from Sweden and have been at it for quite some time). Do you know what he said??? “…No.” That conversation pretty much wrapped up then and there. 

2

Some Kind of Cadwallader, Algernon Cadwallader

I’m realizing through this exercise that I achieve different benefits from specific records that I favor in the collection, this one in particular delivers a sure shot, supercharged dose of happiness to my dopamine receptors. Algernon has always impressed me since the get-go. Full disclosure, they happen to be friends and from the neighborhood, but that plays zero part in securing this coveted No. 2 spot. Just a solid bonus! I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Algernon Cadwallader perform everywhere from Gazebos and VFWs to the finest Philadelphia stages over the years. They have always struck me as one of the most uniquely original modern punk bands of my generation, not just locally but globally! These guys are undisputed trendsetters. I hear their influence in countless bands who came to follow. They nail this signature combination of glass sharp dueling guitar tones and heady rhythms juxtaposing one of the most on-point raw, guttural vocalists in the game who also manages to display impressive pitch control. Perhaps the most naturally “cool” bands I’ve come to know and love. They’ve never taken themselves too seriously or compromised their style to serve mainstream audiences. Always retaining their magic and integrity every step the way. 

This debut album, Some Kind Of Cadwallader, felt like a classic punk piece to my ears upon first listen. Equal parts airtight performances with just enough scrappy rambunctious energy equating to a brilliant sonic roistering. The moment I heard the gang hook erupt “Oh man, it’s taken me over!” on Track 2, I knew this LP would be a mainstay of the music collection. Big fun-in-the-sun, skateboards-by-the-beach kind of music. I only recently started looking up the words I was previously unable to decipher by ear and I can now confirm the lyrical wit is by all accounts unmatched! 

A beautiful coincidence. Early into dating my now wife a decade ago I visited her apartment in her home state of Texas. I was thumbing through her record collection and was joyously surprised to discover that she also owns and loves this Algernon record. Now we have two copies in our home! Kismet!

3

You Fail Me, Converge 

This is the unequivocally heaviest record I’ve ever heard by my absolute favorite heavy band. Listening to Converge music is not typically a shared experience for me. This is the only album of my five picks that I’m ashamed to say I don’t own on vinyl, for the sole reason I fear I would likely disrupt my loved ones in the household if I amplified this pummeling masterpiece through the living room speakers. (My wife has affectionately referred to this as “dude music.”) Therefore this is a bigtime headphones and solo car ride album for this dude. I am a runner. Not a fast one, but I do run often. I’ve timed myself repeatedly and I can scientifically say with confidence NO ONE MAKES ME RUN FASTER than Converge (by a huge margin!). This album is the perfect example of brutal sonic violence with unmatched rhythmic intelligence and relentless intensity within the punk universe. 

The sonics on You Fail Me are downright blistering! I purposely chose the “Redux” version for the newer and improved Kurt Ballou mix. The sound has a deep low-end gut punch, the finest bass guitar growling tone I could ever dream up,  and drums that BITE like a goddamn grizzly bear. Some other great albums have a one-two punch with exciting first tracks, right? Well, this baby has six devastating haymakers lined up immediately after the “First Light” bending guitar intro. No other music energizes me quite like Converge does, especially on this album. For that alone, they deserve a clinched spot in this hypothetical eternal rotation.

4

Shades of Blue: Madlib Invades Blue Note, Madlib

This monumental album is a perfectly executed culmination of several personal favorite aspects of the music world, namely the union of top shelf instrumental hip-hop production and the legendary Blue Note Records jazz archives. It is of my own passionate opinion that Otis Jackson Jr., a.k.a. Madlib, is the greatest living producer this world has to offer. There is something in the way his pocket always sits so flawlessly in a collage of supremely chosen instruments and textures weaving together with such charismatic style. I think this album best showcases the man’s extraordinary talents as an audio visionary with a knack for sample-based production far ahead of his time. I marvel at the achievement of how he blurs the line between sampled and recorded material so seamlessly. I house plenty of jazz as well as instrumental hip-hop records in the collection, since neither of these genres are represented on the rest of this list, Shades of Blue is an absolute no-brainer to keep on deck forevermore. 

5

Selected Ambient Works Volume II, Aphex Twin

I recently had dinner catching up with a longtime friend and electronic music collaborator, and he joked that the older and deeper one gets in this genre of music [it] always leads to collecting ambient albums and cassette tapes, and I am admittedly guilty of both right on schedule. Coincidentally he was also revisiting SAW VII regularly in his recent listening rotation. This brought up an intriguing question: asking each other what it is that makes this record so special?  My friend’s response was something astute along the lines of “it’s just so innocent.” That really stuck with me and I couldn’t agree more. 

To know Richard D. James and his body of work, is to understand that his style of sound is fearlessly ever-changing while existing in his own vast (yet cohesive) universe. He is perhaps best known for his work on more drum-and-bass-leaning records. This album is essentially and famously drum-less, practically wordless while revealing from its core a sprawling sonic bed of transcendently stretched and drenched loops blossoming with marvelous grace. The music itself feels like an effortless and purely guilt-free expression of art. There was speculation between my friend and I if some of these pieces were initially unfinished starts intended for more elaborate final compositions. Regardless of whether or not that theory holds water, Richard made a masterfully prophetic decision to exercise such an elevated level of restraint by keeping the field of sound so confidently minimal. The experience of listening to this record is unlike any others in my collection, it emits a potently hypnotic transmission. I find it can transform the room in a drastic way. As boneless and wordless as this album is, it somehow feels CATCHY in a way that my brain gravitates towards before any pop song melody I’ve heard in my life. I feel as though could listen to that same “#21” arrangement on loop for an eternity, and have caught myself humming that tune in my head with no accompaniment.

I nabbed the 4-LP Expanded Edition of this album earlier this year and the records have rarely left the turntable. That’s the other nice thing about this album, the music is sprawling, plentiful and never rushed. It’s an unforgettable floating trip across a divinely serene atmosphere. One of my favorite parts of the 2024 physical record is a message included in the “Rhubarb Notes” written by Richard. It reads: “My mum gave me so much love, dedicated her life to me, filled me to the brim with confidence, and somehow managed to be a nurse at the same time. That love she gave can now be felt by millions all over the world and beyond through this music. Thanks for everything Lorna James!” As a guy who lost his mom four years ago, these words hit me with a weighty significance and drew my relationship to this music even closer. What a magnificent triumph to honor the irreplaceable love of a mother. Bravo, Richard.