The Playlist

While I'm listing things I might as well get into music, because music is a quintessential part of everything I do. It's hard to be in a bad mood when listening to light bubbly reggae and it's hard to be unproductive while listening to some base-heavy old punk song. So in tandem with my recent list of books, I will now issue a list of my top six songs/artists/albums and their associated work mode/mood altering tendency.

1. Mozart - Well I gotta start this list off with the classic of classics. Inspirational, productive, whatever he's always a good choice.

2. Offspring (Smash) - Now I've been a fan of Offspring since I was like 10 years old and I still really thoroughly enjoy them. I'm not talking about anything they've done post 1996, the old stuff is what does it for me. If I have to weld or grind or do some single task for a long time, I blast some old offspring and power right through it.

3. Tom Waits - If I need some deep intellectual inner thinking I'll turn to this moody bastard. Of course he can be depressing and dower but damn if he doesn't bring out the rawest and most human qualities in his music. Good for the figuring out process.

4. The Amelie soundtrack by Yann Tierson - Okay so if I'm ever getting on a roll and stuff is starting to flow I'll throw this on. It makes everything feel so epic and climactic and beautiful that working to it makes me feel like a conductor in a scrap-metal orchestra (see also my entire dumpster divers sculpture which was built primarily to this soundtrack).

5. Steel Pulse or Black Uhuru - These are just two of my recent favorites, but if I want good vibes and a relaxed atmosphere to get through the tedium of difficult work, I'll put on either one of these guys or just one extensive reggae mix to zone-out to (but not too zoned out, just enough to get the job done in a calm and easy way).

6. Heart it Races as played by Dr. Dog - This song, originally by Architecture in Helsinki (not personally too familiar with them) has grown to be my current favorite and I often find myself starting or ending (or both) my day with this track. The pure energy that pulses through this song makes it a great track to get the ball rolling.

Thats all for now.

Mr. Glove will be on to complain shortly

-Z