They're in whatever order you want them to be in.
Amesoeurs - Amesoeurs
The first real album I'd heard that only had Black Metal as an influence. It definitely blew me away. It also lead me on to find The World Comes to an End in the End of a Journey, which is another incredible album. The biggest thing is the imagery it evokes, which is so hard to explain. But the things I can pin down are a city (around sunset) after it just got done raining. For this reason, the cover is perfect. I know the designer knew what he was doing (he's a member of the band, so he definitely does). I love it so much that I have it on a t-shirt! It's just a perfect example of the music, the cover, and the imagery of it all combine perfectly. That is unbelievably rare.
Burial - Untrue
I'd never bought an album on impulse, but after hearing a couple of his songs, I just went for it. I was shocked to see it at my FYE. Our electronic section is all of 15" wide, the other half being dedicated to comedy music. Because I was so in to club oriented electronic music, it took awhile for it to click. I had never been exposed to stuff like this before. In time it not only clicked, it changed my taste altogether. After trying to find stuff like it (and coming up with Desolate and S.Y.N.K.R.O.), I'd decided that I just need to stick with Burial. One of the best things is how this album evokes night time for me, which is just perfect. Well, except for Homeless that is.
Moonshine's Trance Classics
At this point in time, me and my sister were JUST getting into electronic music. We had the obligatory Sandstorm, and a couple random tracks like BT - Dreaming and Three Drives - Sunset on Ibiza. When we found that they were all considered Trance, we knew that we should get a CD filled with it. While at The Wall (now FYE), this one jumped out at us. It ended up sort of solidifying the love I had for Trance, and just the feelings I got from hearing it for the first time were unbelievable. Now I check for new stuff on a day to day basis. I'm just as addicted as ever.
Sigur Rós - Takk
This one is quite a new addition. For awhile there, I'd just figured that I could find uplifting and beautiful songs in the realm of Trance music. Not that there wasn't beautiful tracks in other genres, but rather this specific feeling. Think euphoria and goosebumps. Well, this album changed that. Wonderfully melodic, unbelievably gorgeous, and completely accessible. I've checked out all their other albums, but this is my favorite from them.
Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds - Live at Luther College
Sometimes an album can be good by itself, and I will wholeheartedly enjoy it, but when it's got memories tied to it, it will definitely become a favorite. I have memories of listening to this on the way to Lehigh Valley Mall, which was always quite an important trip. As I remember, we'd either listen to him (if I was with my brother), or we'd listen to a special night show where they'd play a lot of electronic stuff (if I was with my sister). So it sort of helped me love both. In addition, I remember we had to buy it again because it got too scratched up. The next day we left with my family to go to Long Beach Island, and this was the soundtrack. That, paired with the simple fact that the songs are just so easy going and simply enjoyable, make it easy to listen to no matter how I'm feeling. It never fails to bring back an innumerable amount of memories, which is almost as important as the music itself.
The Tallest Man on Earth - Shallow Grave
For quite awhile, music (more than anything) was a form of escapism for me. I liked listening to music than in no way, shape, or form, made me think of this whole area that I've grown up in. It's repulsive. Small towns. Farms. Bars. Rednecks. I'd put Country, Bluegrass, and Folk into a basket of "no-no" genres that I would never go near. After seeing the cover of this album, I figured I would give it a shot. Yes, I had taken Folk out of the no-no genre basket. At first I was hesitant, because some songs did evoke the same feelings as country, but most are just perfect. The lyrics are impeccable, and the melodies are simply fantastic. One of my favorites is "Where do my Bluebirds Fly", probably because of it's pleasant and subtle sounding darkness, and it's this same reason that I love "It Will Follow the Rain". The other tracks do make me think of home, but in a good way. Not the bars or rednecks, but the sunlit trees in Summer and the wonderfully cold nights of Winter (which is actually when I first got this album).
Those Poor Bastards - Hellfire Hymns
Gothic... COUNTRY? I don't think so Tim. Well, I guess I'll let it slide just this once. I remember listening to this for the first time not knowing what to think. It sounds so unusual and so original that it almost felt like it could be some kind of soundtrack. I had no idea where to go afterwards, because it's not like anyone else sounds anything like them. So from then I on I made sure to just keep an eye out on weird stuff that can't be classified. Unfortunately, nothing has really "stuck". But at least this album has! The closest thing was the darker tracks on Tom Waits' Alice, but that's about it.
Cusco - Apurimac III/Sacred Spirit - Chants and Dances of the Native Americans
The reason I'm putting these together is because I got them at the same time, and the reasons I love them are pretty much the same. Well, I Was a weird kid to put it lightly. One of my favorite genres was New Age, and I was especially a fan of Native American music. I wasn't sure why, but later I'd realized it was probably because of the larger than life feeling it gave me (which I would later get from Trance). The music on both albums is gorgeous, but the music in Apurimac III is strictly instrumental. Sacred Spirit, on the other hand, has more vocals involved. I was never able to find any other Native American inspired albums that I would enjoy so thoroughly, but that's probably because they were both created by a bunch of Germans who were sort of stylizing it as opposed to making it realistic. I don't listen to Apurimac III all that much, but I still listen to the Sacred Spirit every now and again, as well as stuff from Verdell Primeaux and Johnny Mike. These would push me onto other New Age acts, like Adiemus and Enigma, as well as inspiring me to move into other parts of the world, like Africa!
Flica - Nocturnal
As I've mentioned time and time again, for me, the music is only as good as the imagery and feeling that it evokes. One of my favorite times of day is right past the sun goes down, where everything is cast under an orange/pink hue. When looking at the cover, I can't help but notice that it's spot on. Maybe that was his whole intention? But regardless. It's calming, it's beautiful, and most importantly, it takes me to places I'd much rather be. It's one of the only albums I have on my iPhone that is almost entirely in tact. Usually I get a couple albums from someone who I like, and take the songs I like best from all of them. But in this case, it's the opposite! Nocturnal is the only album from Flica that makes me feel this way.
Arms & Sleepers - Black Paris 86
The amount of albums I found on accident is pretty amazing. This is one of them. I was just Googling the album art for Jacaszek's Treny when I saw a very vibrant blue cover. I was intrigued, and I figured if it was on the same site as Treny, I'd probably like it. Well, I don't listen to Treny much at all anymore and I have every Arms & Sleepers album. I think that should put it all in perspective. However I don't feel that they'll ever top this one. When I first looked them up, I'd read:
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Arms and Sleepers began one night in the back of an ambulance in Cambridge. In an alleyway a man was bleeding with a cassette player in hand, the play button still on. What sounded like recordings of a gospel choir blared from the tin speaker, while down the street a jazz band could be heard.
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This sort of set the tone for what I was expecting, especially the bit about the Jazz band. I'd always wanted to get into Jazz, but just never could. This album has a bit of it in there somewhere, but it's also thoroughly Electronic. In other words, perfect. Since I keep talking about imagery so much, this album reminds me of downtown
Bethlehem. Not so much Bethlehem specifically, but the feeling I get from Bethlehem. It's sort of a small (but relatively big) town on a hillside. Every year there's a festival called Musikfest, which I always attend. The bustle of people and the time of day mixed with all the music is just perfect. For whatever reason, I could just see them playing this and it fitting RIGHT in. What I like so much is that it's balanced. It's dark, but not distant or cold. It's electronic, but still feels organic. I can't see this ever leaving my collection.