Music Snapshot

Scott Hardie | May 1, 2004
My imminent task in the ongoing process of packing is to put away my CD collection. I keep all 300 discs in a carousel-style player on my desk because I hate to fiddle with the jewel cases and I really love having 300 discs on "shuffle all." But when it comes time to move, I can't just take the player as it is, because the discs will fall out of their little notches and wind up in a disastrous pile in the center of the player with scratches all over them. I have to put each one back in its original jewel case and pack those away in big boxes. That's not a problem, except that I'll be out of music for a week or more, and I can last about as long without music as I can last without food.

The solution is my traveling case, which holds 30 discs. And so I get to choose which albums will hold me over for the next week. This isn't just a question of what 30 albums I'd take with me to a deserted island -- that answer lends itself to the CDs that are all-time favorites of mine, like Satriani's "Crystal Planet" and Metallica's black album. No, the result here is more of a snapshot of my current musical tastes, which are different from three months ago and will change in three more months. Some are brand new, some are old favorites. I'll put up my list and I invite you to do the same. What music couldn't you live without for the next week of your life?

Elastica "Elastica"
The Distillers "Coral Fang"
Jimi Hendrix "The Ultimate Experience"
Pearl Jam "No Code"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "By the Way"
Southern Culture on the Skids, "Mojo Box"
The Donnas, "The Donnas Turn 21"
Bjork, "Post"
Duncan Sheik, "Daylight"
White Town, "Women in Technology"
The Cardigans, "Life"
The White Stripes, "Elephant"
Less Than Jake, "Hello Rockview"
Smashing Pumpkins, "Adore"
Garbage, "Beautifulgarbage"
Fiona Apple, "When the Pawn..."
Aimee Mann, "Magnolia" s/t
Metallica, "St. Anger"
Guns N Roses, "The Spaghetti Incident?"
AC/DC, "Stiff Upper Lip"
Megadeth, "The World Needs a Hero"
Tool, "Lateralus"
Joe Satriani, "Strange Beautiful Music"
Liam Lynch & Matt Crocco, "Camp Sunny Side Up"
Candy Dulfer, "Right in My Soul"
Kylie Minogue, "Fever"
Don Davis, "The Matrix Revolutions" s/t
Nobuo Uematsu, "Final Fantasy X-2" s/t
Vangelis, "Oceanic"

Lori Lancaster | May 1, 2004
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Erik Bates | May 1, 2004
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Jackie Mason | May 3, 2004
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Anna Gregoline | May 3, 2004
Wow, this is too hard.

Scott Hardie | May 3, 2004
30 is too many? I thought so, but I was sticking to the number on the case. Name fewer if you'd like.

Nadine Russell | May 3, 2004
This is a hard one. I don't know if I can narrow it down to 30. I'll give it a shot though.
1. Sinclair - Self Titled
2. The Killjoys - Starry
3. Sloan - Self Titles
4. Everclear - Sparkle and Fade
5. Matthew Good Band - Beautiful Midnight
6. Matthew Good - Avalanche
7. Matt Mays - Self Titled
8. The Trews - House of Ill Fame
9. Treble Charger - Maybe It's Me
10. Odds - Bedbugs
11. Hole - Live Through This
12. Buck 65 - Talkin' Honky Blues
13. Ani DiFranco - Little Plastic Castle
14. Daft Punk - Homework
15. Crush - Face In The Crowd
16. Ani DiFranco - Not A Pretty Girl
17. Grand Theft Bus - Birth of Confusion
18. Pearl Jam - Ten
19. Live - Throwing Copper
20. Moby - 18
21. Jale - Dreamcake
22. Hayden - Everything I Long For
23. Nirvana - Nevermind
24. Fatboy Slim - You've Come a Long Way Baby
25. Weezer - The Blue Album
26. David Usher - Morning Orbit
27. Sloan - Smeared
28. Tom Petty - Greatest Hits
29. Radiohead - The Bends
30. Matthew Good Band - Raygun

Jackie Mason | May 3, 2004
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Erik Bates | May 4, 2004
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Anna Gregoline | May 4, 2004
You like the Beautiful Garbage album? I thought it was their weakest.

Melissa Erin | May 6, 2004
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Erik Bates | May 7, 2004
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Scott Hardie | May 8, 2004
I like it too, but I'm not familiar with their other albums, so I can't say whether it's better or worse. I think I once told you, Anna, about how I interpreted each song as representing a different personality in a patient with disassociative identity disorder, since some of the "identities" that the singer adopts in the songs are stereotypical and even cartoony, and some songs refer to the other identities by name, and there are repeated mentions of there being multiple voices/selves. Anyway, I doubt it's what Garbage intended at all, but that's how I like to imagine the album.