tune in, zone out

It's been a week of speaking to old friends on the phone... thanks to the people who have called me out of the blue this week. I rarely get called at home, so it's always a nice surprise to hear from people... As a general rule I'm utterly hopeless at keeping in touch with people - months, or years, will slide by before I get up and do anything about it. Maybe tonight it's my turn to make a phonecall.

I'm in a musical mood today. I just discovered Juno Reactor's Bible of Dreams album - how did I manage to miss this one? I've listened to their earlier stuff, and plenty of the more recent stuff... but this made my day :)

I thought I'd collect some song-related thoughts - many of these were originally written in a meme that passed by kikilon's journal a while ago. These are a few favourite songs, and the reasons why they stick in my memory.

• Apocalyptica: Ruska. A beautifully sombre instrumental, it tends to creep up on me. This band makes me want to learn cello...


• VNV Nation: Beloved. Many, many good memories associated with the track, despite the bittersweet lyrics. It summed up the good parts of 2004.


• Tool: Eulogy. I played it all the way through 1996/7, through good and bad. We played it in the senior common room after my best friend's funeral, loud enough to be heard halfway across the school... when the staff noticed who was in there, they decided to leave us alone for a while. I'm still grateful for a chance to say goodbye amongst a group of good friends.


• Aphex Twin: Didgeridoo. Late-night painting and thesis-writing music. Listen in, focus, and tune out the world.


• Apoptygma Berzerk: Starsign. My cheesy EBM music :) Included in the list for the huge grin I had after witnessing an entire bar of goths breaking out into spontaneous song for the chorus, late one night at Psychonaut.


• Wumpscut: Wreath of Barbs. More memories of late nights at clubs. The first time I heard it, I'd been dancing for almost seven hours - it made for a good winding-down song, before my body gave out. Grabbing my umpteenth bottle of water from the bar, I was asked if I was taking anything... they wanted to know what would stay in your system for that long :) I shrugged, told them that I was training a lot, and left it at that...

What songs have stayed with you over the years?