Goodness gracious me. These top 10 lists are fun, but annoying at the same time. How am I supposed to judge every album I have and place them in a top 10? Oh, it's difficult. I'm going to take this time to just spout out ten of my favourites. I'm really just...procrastinating, but whatever. This is in no particular order: Belle and Sebastian "Boy With the Arab Strap" - It's personal to me, because it was my first and it evokes a gorgeous mood that no other album has ever been able to do. It's wonderful. The Clash "London Calling" - After years of indie-tweeness or whatever, I discovered this album, and found I like to rock. It's absolutely amazing all the way through. Each song gets me jumping or angry or sad or happy or whatever. It excites me everytime. Plus "The Card Cheat" has some of the saddest imagery I've ever heard. Radiohead "OK Computer" - This was very important to me as well. I bought it the day it came out, and listened to it virtually every day for a year. I'm not sure why, but I did. And I still love it. To a Smashing Pumpkins fan, it was a huge kick in the face. Well, it was for me. Billy Bragg and Wilco "Mermaid Ave." - What can you say about this album? It's fantastic. The Smiths "The Queen is Dead" - One of the first albums I ever heard that can be deeply sad, yet very amusing at the same time. Tracy Thorn "A Distant Shore" - So sue me, this is one of the perfect albums for some reason. She's got a great voice and the songwriting is terrific. Maybe it's just a personal thing. The Clash "Sandinista!" - A bit long perhaps, a bit much as well, but brilliant anyway. An incredible statement from one of the most impressively evolving bands. Ever. It makes me actualy enjoy reggae (although it's still only white-boy reggae, but give me a break). Blur "Blur" - I know I know, but I'm still young and it was the first album I ever liked all the way through. It turned me on to looking for stuff in magazines and paying attention to stuff critics mention. That's how I got into all this stuff in the first place. The Flaming Lips "Hit to Death in the Future Head" - Great, fuzzy, rock. Perfect for a hot summer day for some reason. Taught me buying something I've never heard before can be a wonderful thing. Tom Waits "Closing Time" - Is there a sadder, more beautiful song then "Martha"? Probably, but I can't think of it right now. Well, that was some pretentious wankery, wasn't it? I had fun though. I got pissed off about my papers and everything on Tuesday, so I just hopped in my car and drove the 6 hours to Athens alone to see Beulah. I met some smashing people, and it was a lot of fun. There's something oddly freeing about just dropping everything and driving on an open road for a long period of time. Maybe it's because I'm American and we have some sort of fixation on driving across big spaces. Is it a power thing? Do you Non-Americans feel this way? I can't wait until the belles concerts. I hope I can make it through exams and final papers okay. Peace out, -Matt P.S.: Yes Ann, it was me. You should still vent it anyway. Just send it to me if you don't want to bug anyone else. I love kindred spirits in times of despair. _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+