Normally I post an individual band, or their album and try to say why it is that I enjoy their music. This time, I thought I would display my top 10 bands of all time (not really of all time, just since I started using Last.fm to track my musical interests). I don’t forsee this list changing all that much, certainly not the top 3 entries, they are my fallbacks (simply because I love their music so). The rest of the entries will probably normalize as time goes on. Take for instancet the Red Hot Chili Peppers (#5 as of this post), I have been listening to their new album, Stadium Arcadium a bit which has skewed their ranking. In the future, as my playlist grows and more data is collected, I presume that it will be extremely difficult for any new band or album to drive itself into my top ten.

Mogwai’s “Oh! How The Dog’s Stack Up” off of the album Come on Die Young. Mogwai is one of the bands that when they come into rotation on my MP3 player or on some internet radio station (not mainstream enough for broadcast?) I don’t realize it is them until the song is nearly over. While typically phenomenal, it isn’t music that is instantly recognizable. Mogwai’s music seems to settle a few layers behind my conscious thought and percolate. I absolutely love it!

P.S. I really wish Blogger had categories, one of a few reasons I am working on creating my own blogging engine.

Depeche Mode!

I can still remember the first time I heard “People Are People“, it was at a particular intersection (mapped here) on my way home from school. While the moment was not a groundbreaking moment in the formation of my musical tastes, it was a precursor to a much more influential album, Violator. I remember the anticipation I felt placing Violator in my tape player. I remember listening to each song in succession and wondering how anything could sound so amazing. I can’t tell you how many times I listened to that album, probably thousands. I would play it with my headphones on and marvel at the complexity and beauty of the deeply layered sound. I remember spending countless hours discussing it with my friends. I remember being fascinated with the design of the leaflet and the single rose on the cover of the cassette. Violator was truly a formative album for me. Violator helped get me hooked on music in general. I would spend every last dollar on the newest maxi-single just to get some new remix of a song I had heard thousands of times or some completely new and promising B-Side! In the case of the “World In My Eyes” single alone, it was worth every penny.

Muse Origin Of Symmetry, if you like their most recent offering Absolution with songs like “Time is Running Out” then you will definitely enjoy this album. Origin of Symmetry isn’t like the typical initial offering from a band that has found commercial success with their sophmore effort, it is every bit as strong as Absolution. It was referred to me by a friend at a party who was playing a bit from the first track, “New Born” and I was very impressed. With that, I suggest getting this album and giving it a good listen.

PJ Harvey’s Uh Huh Her, the album is phenomenal. I absolutely love her voice. I particularly enjoy “The Letter”, fantastic guitar sound and of course amazing singing. I highly suggest picking this album up. If you don’t have any PJ Harvey yet, this would be a good place to start, you will get hooked.

The Cure’s Lost Wishes E.P.

1. Uyea Sound
2. Cloudberry
3. Off To Sleep
4. The Three Sisters

Depeche Mode has a new album coming out in October! The new single, “Precious”, is encouraging. DM’s latest effort, while not bad by any means, was not as good as I had hoped it could be.

Information from depechemode.com/news