#TTLessentials - Must-Have Records In Your Collection

Ahmad Jamal Trio is Ahmad Jamal on piano, Jamil Nasser on bass and the monster Frank Gant on drums. On what is perhaps the finest post-bop, pre-fus...

You might've listened to this back when it first came out, but it's definitely worth a revisit. I know my ears were a little more biased a decade ...

Antena's Camino Del Sol is a classic work of dark psychedelic pop, made way back in 1982. It meets all reissue hype requirements: Factory Records c...

Originally released in 1995 by Aphex Twin, I Care Because You Do was his third full length effort. It was the first of his albums to break away fro...

Ahh, this one brings me back. The Dust Brothers-produced sophomore album from the Beastie Boys, when the OG white rappers were turning their sound ...

Capacity is the second album by Big Thief, recorded in snowbound upstate New York with now-frequent collaborator Andrew Sarlo. The tracks on Capaci...

Finally reissued! Boards Of Canada's highly anticipated follow up to their Warp debut gets a long overdue repress. Geogaddi arrived four years afte...

Another in-demand repress from the Warp crew! Boards fourth full length album released with no pre-hype, very typical of this low key Scottish duo....

Bob Marley & The Wailers' seminal 1973 album, and first for Island Records. While this isn't exactly a tough piece to find, looking for an uns...

Debut full-length from Birmingham, England’s Broadcast. The Noise Made By People came after the band signed to Warp Records and spent nearly three ...

30 years old and still potent as ever... Cypress Hill's self-titled debut. The album, available on colored vinyl, features audio remastered from th...

After a spell of being aggravatingly out of print, Daft Punk's Discovery finally repressed on their own Daft Life imprint. Here's Woodman's OG Lab ...

"Bump into each other..." Originally released in 1990, World Clique is the debut album from Lady Miss Keir, Supa Dj Dimitry, and Towa Tei, better k...

This was the first LP released on Greensleeves, and it couldn't get much more classic than this. It's basically a showcase for Dr. Alimantado, comp...

"Bitches ain't shit but hos and tricks, lick on the nuts and suck the dick..." Ahhh, quality ish. My earliest memory of this record was when Dr. Dr...

LA's Flying Lotus is being setup as the next Madlib-Diplo-DJ Shadow-type producer cash cow. The hype is well-warranted in my opinion, as Flying Lot...

Classic '94 full length from Guru and Primo on official double vinyl. Hard To Earn was finally supposed to make Gang Starr go gold, but was once ag...

A flawless compilation of Gil Scott-Heron’s early years. Originally released in 1974 on the Flying Dutchman label, this LP compiles Gil's best and ...

When Donuts first rolled into the Lab, I gave it a cursory listen, and, wanting to get home to the new episode of Lost as quickly as possible, toss...

You all know the "Think" break. You've heard it on "It Takes Two" and countless hip hop, B-more and jungle records. And by now you know it comes fr...

So tough! Metallica's debut set the stage for the ground they would cover over the course of their career. Kill 'Em All is Metallica at their most ...

20th anniversary edition! To celebrate 2 decades with one of MF DOOM's most beloved projects, Big Dada have made the album available in its origina...

What can you say about Minor Threat that hasn't already been said? The DC punk band, fronted by Ian MacKaye, launched the straight edge hardcore mo...

What can I say about this album? Easily in the top 10 of all time, there is no way to pick favorites on this album. Not even one okay track on here...

Official 12" reissue of this Lab all-timer! 2024 pressing with the original 6+ minute mix of "Bizarre Love Triangle" on side A, "Bizarre Dub Triang...

I have a folder with every Lab review written for the site. There's definite themes that emerge when you read the older ones. Let me set this one u...

"Remastered 2LP vinyl version of the classic 1987 compilation originally released via the legendary Factory Records. Substance compiles all of New ...

This is the album that New Order fans pretend not to like. As in: "I prefer their early, formative stuff like Movement or Power Corruption Lies." W...

Reissue of NOW's most popular album from 1995, Smoker's Delight, from the good folks at Warp. I always thought the cover and title had a lot to do ...

We'll spare you the Woodman review where he would write about drinking a 40 "in an hour dude," or that time he puffed a blunt and saw visuals while...

20th anniversary pressing of Portishead's classic 1994 debut, now on 180 gram vinyl. I don't care what kind of music you listen to, production-wise...

Pulling a page from Del's notebook, Madlib created Quasimoto in the studio laboratory. Part of the whole invasion schema, the Madlib production is ...

It’s hard to imagine a world today without Kid A. In October of 2000, the incorporation of sampling, synthesizers and computers in rock music was a...

Fresh off high-profile remixes and collaborations with A Tribe Called Quest, Janet Jackson and The Pharcyde, Jay Dee aka J Dilla was eager to draw ...

So much drama surrounded Slum Village's debut album: first they were dropped from Interscope, then Vol. 2 was released as a Euro import/boot, then...

A daunting task reviewing this record, but here's a try. Not to get all textbook, but 93 Til Infinity is one of finest embodiments of youthful expr...

Stereolab's fifth studio album from 1997, and arguably their best! Their sound here had tightened up even more (read: less rock-ish) since Emperor ...

There's so much to the Breeders' Last Splash. The sophomore album, from what was originally Kim Deal's side project from the Pixies, packs in a be...