A Musical Baton

A musical baton has been passed to me by Stan and Ethan. Who am I to refuse them?

Total Volume of Music Files on My Computer

Big Bear: Big Bear
Throat-shredding shrieks and mathy metal guitar chugging that somehow owes more to Slint than the Dillinger Escape Plan. Amidst all the starts and stops and time changes, it still manages to swing. Refreshing stuff.

(See an up-to-date list of recent music purchases in Consumption.)

“Keep Their Heads Ringin’” by Dr. Dre
“When I rock the spot with the flavor I got / I get plenty of ass, so call me an ‘asstronaut.’” Need I say more?

I’m really more of an album guy than a singles guy:

Def Leppard: High ’n’ Dry
Probably their finest hour, when they still had ten arms, inexhaustible libidos, and Mutt Lange’s production still sounded more like AC/DC and less like Shania Twain.
Low: Things We Lost in the Fire
Low has ascended into my list of all-time favorite bands in just a few short years, and they are currently the best-represented band in my collection, with 171 tracks totaling over thirteen hours in iTunes. Their music is typically incredibly slow, with spare arrangements and achingly beautiful harmonies.
Misfits: Walk Among Us
Speaking of all-time favorites, I think these guys top the list. Glenn Danzig’s uniquely melodic fascination with B-grade horror and trashy exploitation has still seen no equal.
Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians
My favorite minimalist composer, whose subtle variety in repetition is still revolutionary forty years later.
Tortoise: TNT
For my money, possibly the most important band of the nineties, pooling influences from dub, krautrock, post-punk, ambient electronica, and jazz to create a prismatic instrumental genre all its own.