Codeine

When released in 1990, Codeine's debut felt like the product of underground outsiders on the verge of homelessness. Years later, Frigid Stars, a slowcore classic, has lost none of its damaged intensity. But distance has revealed the disc's rightful place in rock history. Back then, the trio was seen as Sonic Youth street scum interpreting Joy Division's bleak post-punk. Nowadays, however, Codeine sounds equally in debt to Pink Floyd's mid-'70s atmospherics. What a cool realization.