5 Indie Rock Releases From 1998 That Still Hold Up!

1998 was by all accounts a fantastic year for Indie! These are the 5 albums we think have stood the test of time and become all time classics! There were a lot of runners up, so if you think we missed stuff like Air or Elliott Smith, let us know! 

Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea came out February 10th 1998 and was an instant hit in college radio and then gradually took the entire world by storm. Many still consider this to be the perfect album. Pretty much every indie rock fan can sing every word by heart. Our very favorite pop culture reference to Aeroplane is on Parks & Rec when April says Jeff Mangum is her favorite musician upsetting Andy. Time has definitely proven that Mangum deserves his massive cult like following.

Believe it or not, there was one album in 1998 that CMJ reported had more radio play than In The Aeroplane Over the Sea! It was The Halo Benders' The Rebels Not In. The Halo Benders featured Built to Spill's Doug Martsch and K Records founder Calvin Johnson.  The opening track "Virginia Reel Around the Fountain" is one of the most wonderfully unexpected point and counter point dual singing arrangements ever created. Calvin's rich baritone makes this track completely irresistible. If you've never heard it, listen here! 

The funniest thing to say about Belle and Sebastian's The Boy With the Arab Strap is Pitchfork absolutely hated this record when it came in September out giving it 0.8/10. At the end of 1998, Pitchfork then listed it as the #11 record to come out in 1998. It went from their most reviled to one of their most beloved records in a matter of months. None the less, it has definitely stood the test of time and is considered one of the best indie rock albums of all time. 

Tortoise's TNT was their third album and hit the scene with a kaleidoscopic mish mash of genres that impressed critics and fans alike. Blending diverse genres like jazz, electronic, dub, and krautrock into an instrumental rock sound, influencing countless independent bands, Tortoise was one of the most influential bands in the 1990s post rock movement. 

It is hard to believe Music Has the Right to Children is the debut release for the Scottish electronic music duo Boards of Canada. This album seemed like a revelation when it came out. But it only scratched the surface of the magic Boards of Canada would go on to create in the early 2000s.