Consider the acoustic change-of-pace. Sometimes, it comes from a desire to shift gears: a musician who’s worked primarily in an electric vein wanting to explore a different dynamic and all of the emotions that said dynamic can summon. At others, it can resemble an intentional artistic restraint: musicians or songwriters cutting themselves off from a previously essential part of their repertoire. Sometimes, entire genres can attract notice for turning off the amplifiers. Punk is a particular example, as seen on the 1991 compilation SST Acoustic, which collects work from the likes of Screaming Trees, Minutemen, and fIREHOSE.

This list of unexpected acoustic records covers albums made in the studio and recorded live; it encompasses punk and ambient work, cover songs and audio manipulations. These eight albums have little in common save their instrumentation and their relationship to the artist’s larger of body of work. Some fall into the camp of solo performers accompanied only by an unamplified guitar; others seek out a stranger space. … Read More