In music, artists strive for the utmost quality in their projects, whether it’s through a story being told through their music, or a passion project that they worked through blood sweat and tears to produce. Listeners often track the quality of the work done in these projects, through ratings, whether an album is on the higher half of 5 stars or the lower half, however there are very few albums in the world that can truly be considered a “0 Skip Album” a project where not one track should be missed. Here’s some of our picks for what could be considered a “0 Skip Album”

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To Pimp A Butterfly – Kendrick Lamar

The 2015 critically acclaimed album created by none other than Kendrick Lamar. The title of the project is a complex metaphor about the exploitation of Black art and identity by systemic forces and the music industry. It’s categorized as a “politically-charged” conscious rap album exploring a variety of political and personal themes traced back to race, culture and discrimination. The sound itself, features a fantastic blend of hip-hop with live jazz, a bit of funk and soul, fused together with what almost seems like a word poem based around survivors guilt with a resolution at the end.

Unlike other albums, Kendrick utilized a heavy amount of live instrumentation from established musicians in the industry, such as Thundercat, Kamasi Washington and Robert Glasper creating a detailed but old school vibe into modern production.

The album deep dives into Kendrick’s struggle with fame, as his psyche battles with depression and the responsibility of being a role model to his fans, as seen in the track “u”. The song is written by himself, and directed at himself, in a second person perspective confronting his own deep insecurities and the self-loathing he feels due to his fame. He directly addresses his own past choices in a mental breakdown in a hotel room as seen in the music video for the song released to YouTube in 2018. He circles back on the topic in the outro track “Mortal Man”, acknowledging that he too just like anyone else is just a regular person, and challenges his fans to stand by him when his flaws are exposed to the world.

Imaginal Disk – Magdalena Bay

While not an iconic name in the industry, the work Magdalena Bay accomplished on their project Imaginal Disk can only be described as perfect. It’s the band’s second studio album, and they’ve somehow managed to expertly craft together pop music that plays within the genres boundaries cohesively and yet continues to expand as the project progresses. The sounds can only be described as if optimistically out of this reality.

Imaginal Disk too plays onto the idea of a metaphor with the idea of self-growth and identity at mind. The story behind it is a message of learning what it means to be human and the two explore that throughout the project. Their hit single, “Image” is about exactly what it says, their own self-image, as she sings about her new polished ego and masking her deep insecurities behind a mask. “Killing Time” expertly describes the state of stagnant depression, the aimless waiting for something to come to her instead of going out and working on it herself is truly an accurate depiction of how some people let themselves waste their potential in the world. 

It’s perfectly wrapped up in their outro track “The Ballad of Matt and Mica” , both bandmates’ real names blending these experiences with their journey as musicians driving home the final meaning they emphasize on this project: perfection is a trap, to accept your flaws in this messy human reality.

The Dark Side of The Moon – Pink Floyd

This iconic Pink Floyd 8th studio album is one of the most unforgettable psychedelic rock albums of all time. There’s a reason you see so many people out in their everyday lives wearing t-shirts and sweaters with this album cover on it. It is absolutely beloved by the people (not to disregard it’s 741 weeks on the Billboard charts) and most share the same opinion that it holds no skips.

The project, often deemed as their most introspective, is a concept album which delves into the pressures of everyday modern life, specifically outlining time, wealth, death and madness. Written primarily by Roger Waters, The Dark Side of the Moon was heavily influenced by the psychological spiral of the band’s founding front man Syd Barrett who had left the group in 1968 due to his declining mental health. Upon release, listeners found the lyrics relatable, as people deal with these struggles in their everyday lives just as much as the next person does, since everyone resides within the same systemic struggles of running out of time to accomplish dreams or the lack of money to be able to provide for themselves and their families.

Production wise, Pink Floyd took a unique approach at the time of recording it, revolutionizing the concept of album formatting seamlessly blending the avant-garde production with their universally relatable lyrics. The project fits together perfectly, designed to be listened to as if it were a single rather than several separate tracks. Utilizing innovative tape loops, the project effortlessly blends tracks together to bleed efficiently into the next one creating a pristine stereo sounding journey ending across the same heartbeat.

Bloom – Beach House

Building a 55 minute hypnotic masterpiece, Bloom by Beach House delivers a flawless melancholic atmosphere containing the similar lush textures sonically creating a cohesive palette for the ears. The maintaining of bittersweet melancholy remains uninterrupted for the whole project, no genre switches or interludes to interfere with the drifting ambient lulls. 

From the opening track “Myth” which immediately hooks you into a majestic sweeping tone that transitions seamlessly into the next, up until the last track “Irene” which closes out on a slow burning crescendo, the project never loses your attention. Throughout the work, the project covers lyrically the topics of heartbreak, death, and lost love tied together with the longing inability to move on. The lyrics in some of these tracks are so straightforward you’ll hear it on first listen and yet somehow listeners have come to realize that even the most understandable lyrics have an even deeper meaning behind them, becoming suggestive of even larger things within. The incredible dark atmosphere, in addition to the heartbreaking nightmarish lyrics create an experience unlike no other worthy of saying it lacks a single skip.

Rumours – Fleetwood Mac

The creation of Rumours could have been avoided, however despite the unfortunate circumstances that brought together the chaos confined into sound that is this project, you won’t find many people who say they wish it never transpired. The record was created during one of the craziest romantic dramas within a group ever, with relationships within and outside of the band being shattered all simultaneously. However instead of breaking up the band, they came to one conclusion, they channelled their built up emotions of sadness, anger and frustration and poured it all into their music. Songs like “Go Your Own Way”, and “Dreams” were all shots between band members Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks at one another, where it got to the point where songs had to be pulled from the project and put onto a B-Side, like “Silver Springs”. The title Rumours came about due to the amount of gossip and speculation about the band’s fractured personal lives.

The outcome was surprisingly a well coordinated pristine soft-rock sound. The tight bass, punchy drums and clear cut vocals from Nicks, Buckingham and Christine McVie layered on-top of one another in a way that crafted a lush upfront vintage sound to create what can only be described as an atmosphere for a perfect mix. Shockingly despite the issues internally, they managed to maintain this consistently throughout the entire project in a way that was so impressive it’s easily dubbed as their best project and arguably one of the best albums of all time.

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