10 Best Instrumental Rock Music Albums Of All Time

You can be forgiven for not having heard of Paul Newman, an Austin-based outfit who, between 1997 and 2005, released four extraordinary albums. It's fair to say that, outside of their native state, you could travel a long way before meeting anyone who recognized the name (music-wise, at least).

In fact, Paul Newman took their moniker not from the legendary filmstar, but from their bass player's real name. Alongside the aforementioned Newman, we have Craig McCaffrey (guitar, vocals), Anthony Nozero (drums, tuba) and Edward Robert (bass, electronics).

Wading into the duplicitous waters of genre labels, you could certainly throw the Math-Rock net over Paul Newman, but that would be to miss their smouldering intensity, slow-burning emotion and bursts of manic energy. They were, above all, entirely committed to their sound. We could have chosen any of their albums for this list, but here, with 2000's Machine Is Not Broken, is a good place to start.

Throughout every track in this set you can hear the players' focus and drive. They deserve to be better-known so, if you enjoy this sample, please do dig out their other records.