The two hundred and twenty-seventh classical recording: #679 Maurice Ravel - La Valse

This piece is insane, as you'd expect from Ravel - thunderous in places, moving all over the place, a moving carnival of sounds that's hard to keep up with. It's incredibly visual in its sounds and it'll keep evoking different feelings.

The six hundred and twentieth album: #620 The Go-Betweens - 16 Lovers Lane

Adding a strings section to a rock band always makes the songs that use them lean towards the melancholic and here The Go-Betweens' last album of their original run has a majority of indie rock ballads, sounding contemplative as everything is kept subdued. The lyrics go from optimistic to slightly dark and sometimes stalkery, not that you'd tell from the music. It's a pretty nice setup that I ended up vibing with.

The eight hundred eighty-fifth song: One Armed Scissor - At the Drive-In

We're starting off with some hardcore punk, with a driving guitar, loud drums and a lot of screaming. The anger in this song is clear, the negative emotions overpowering more excited shouts. It gives you a good feeling of the mood, becoming powerful in its own right with it.

The eight hundred eighty-sixth song: Hate to Say I Told You So - The Hives

Following that, Hate to Say I Told You So starts off as a throwback, a rock song that could have been written in the sixties or seventies. The lyrics are the rebellious kind and aside from a few synthesizer sounds, it doesn't do anything you wouldn't have had back then. It strays from getting too poppy, while still staying memorable.

The eight hundred eighty-seventh song: Frontier Psychiatrist - The Avalanches

We've heard how far electronic music has come with samples, but this feels like it's one step further - the song is almost entirely samples, the 'lyrics' are taken from sketches and feel quite tongue in cheek, and there's this cobbled together feeling that's fascinating, even if it's weird to wrap your mind around as well.

The eight hundred eighty-eighth song: One More Time - Daft Punk

If I have to pick a point where I'm most comfortable with electronic dance music, it is, as I think it is for many others, at Daft Punk. There's a great melody and build up to the songs and there's that great balance between variety and repetition, creating a good song rather than only something to dance to. Add to that that we're still in an era where autotune is new and used to manipulate it well, rather than the crutch that's bothering me in some more modern songs, and you get the strange, but worthwhile effect.

The eight hundred eighty-ninth song: Stan - Eminem featuring Dido

I remember how much of an influence this song was and has become since its release. Before this, Eminem was quite an aggressive comedy rapper, more in it for diss songs than providing something special. On the other hand, this song was dark, there was a lot of depth to what it was saying and it's a comment on fame and fans that has become more notable in the decades after as social media amplified these voices and the connection between fans and performers has grown. It's a standout in its own right, with the video adding to that.

The eight hundred ninetieth song: Oh My Sweet Carolina - Ryan Adams feat. Emmylou Harris

This is a simple country ballad, telling its story without too much accompaniment. It's straightforward but works well with what it does.

The eight hundred ninety-first song: Fuck the Pain Away - Peaches

This bold portrayal of sex and gratification is something that feels like it couldn't have emerged sooner than this. It's honest, loud and in a way quite clear in what it's saying and that is a lot of its strength. The mechanic groove that it falls into as the title gets repeated is in contrast to the more sensual parts of the song, almost like it's separating the seduction and the act. It's bold and impressive.

The eight hundred ninety-second song: Feel Good Hit of the Summer - Queens of the Stone Age

This hit does its job quickly, jumps in with its list of various drugs repeated through the whole song, and finishes that before three minutes have passed. It doesn't need more - it has the sound, it has the lyrics, it gives you the experience and then leaves it alone.

The eight hundred ninety-third song: Ms. Jackson - Outkast

While former companion blog Before I Kick still has comments on its page about how Hey-Ya should be on the list, Ms Jackson works as well. It's an apology song, whose choruses really drive that home, while the rap verses feel raw. They are the sort of comments that don't necessarily belong to a relationship that last, but it hits up an honesty in what it wants to say at the moment. It's that catchy chorus that really drives it home though and feels strongest.

The six hundred and nineteenth album: #619 Happy Mondays - Bummed

From the start, there's an avant garde feeling to this album, although starting with a punk-influenced country song sets some different expectations for this album. For the most part, this is psychedelic rock, the electronics featuring heavily and everything in it feels a bit off, just a bit strange compared to what you'd expect. I don't know if it's something you can fully get or enjoy on a first listen, but there's something enthralling about the repeating happening with this dreamier sound, while never abandoning that rock sound.

The two hundred and twenty-sixth classical recording: #424 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Serenade for Strings

There's something gentle and soft about this serenade, going sweeter and kinder rather than going for a frantic mess. Hearing the various string instruments together really gives you that transcendent experience, a sound that reaches you deeply. As much as I enjoy having the variety of instruments, here it's enhanced by just featuring the string section.

The two hundred and twenty-third TV show: #843 The Only Way is Essex

We could only stomach three episodes of this - more to see a few different samples from different seasons than because I ever wanted to really watch more. The mix between realism and pre-written shows why actors and improvisers have decent training, as here you don't get any of that. The situations and drama are predetermined, with the lines improvised within what they want to say - not unlike, say, Curb Your Enthusiasm - but they're done by "normal" people whose money-filled glamorous life is meant to be accessible enough that people want to aspire to it. On an intellectual level, I get that people might be looking for a soap here that feels more real with actual people in it, but soon enough it feels like badly-acted soap operas that don't mean anything, with people I just can't like.

The one hundred and twenty-fifth book: #470 Foundation - Isaac Asimov

THis obviously isn't the first time I've read the Foundation series before - although, between library availability and going by titles, I believe I read the prequels before reading the original trilogy. Rereading them now, with a more critical eye, has been good, and shows off some of the great building that surround these stories.

Originally a collection of short stories, they go through the happenings of the Foundation, an organization first said to write a galactic encyclopedia, but later revealed to be focusing on the rebuilding of a second Empire in the far future. It's a great setup that allows things to go elsewhere - and their basis in the fall of the Roman empire makes it have quite a clearanalogy to how things go.

Each of the stories manages to build a strong world that evolves and shifts through the years it covers, and although the initial setup seems like it might get repetitive - there's a crisis, a solution is arrived at, Seldon appears in a projection from the past to confirm it - soon after it turns to not need that, and there being an instinctual understanding from some people on where to go next. It's an interesting take that looks at the long story of a world, and it's enticing me to go back to the series and read more of it again. I just feel safe to do do so again now.

The six hundred and eighteenth album: #617 Mudhoney - Superfuzz Bigmuff

Starting off as a short album - punk length - the later rerelease expanded this to full size. What that does is add a bunch more tracks that are in the same vein as the original - loud, unapologetic punk music, with screamed vocals and more of a variety of guitar sounds. I'd argue it's simple but effective - the sound is incredibly punky, but there's a decent melody and variation in the sound and it all creates the right feeling.

The eight hundred seventh-fifth song: Save Me - Aimee Mann

This is a simple (post-)love song, sweet and pleasantly accessible. It's nothing complicated, but it works well.

The eight hundred seventh-sixth song: No One Will Ever Love You - The Magnetic Fields

While the vocals of this song are for a fairly simple and straightforward pop song, the heavy electronic instruments gives it that nineties feeling that adds pressure to it. It's not heavy, but it's much more present than you otherwise would, combining two straightforward but distinct elements in something that makes it more unsettling sounding.

The eight hundred seventh-seventh song: Surfacing - Slipknot

Slipknot's heavy metal is, for me, too far into the other side, where it becomes a bit too much. With that said, it does what it does quite well, The percussion is incredibly heavy through the track, while the melody is in there sporadically.It's aggressive lyrically as well, and there's something really effective about the entire track.

The eight hundred seventh-eighth song: Scar Tissue - Red Hot Chili Peppers

I quite enjoy RHCP, even though they've never really been my favourite, and Scar Tissue is pretty good. It's light and simple, the track being quite melodic and sweet even as Kiedis' rougher vocals contrast with it. It's mostly just so sweet and caring in a weird way, something that works well here.

The eight hundred seventh-ninth song: Ms. Fat Booty - Mos Def

There's a nice, gentle flow to this rap song. Both the gangster rap and the looser styles that are more common these days are rap styles that don't suit me as much, but this older style is that much nicer and accessible and the various additions are as nice.

The eight hundred eightieth song: Caught Out There - Kelis

As a nice hip R&B track, the verses of this song are pretty sweet and nice. The shouted chorus, on the other hand, really stands out with their shouting anger that really bring out a lot more of the emotion. It's really engaging and what really makes the song a standout.

The eight hundred eighty-first song: Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? - Moby

It feels like there's a real pull going on. While on the whole, this song has a fair bit going on, there's a sparseness in the simple vocals and the high, dreamy, music adds to a sense of weightlessness of the entire song. It's engaging and feels tuned to the right level, with an impressive amount of emotion in it.

The eight hundred eighty-second song: I Try - Macy Gray

While I Try is a strong soul song - there's nothing bad to say about it, it hits all the notes and is really good that way - Macy Gray's vocals are what really stand out. They're raw and dark rather than the mellow, flowing sound that you usually get from soul performers, but it's that sound that actually builds on everything else.

The eight hundred eighty-third song: U Don’t Know Me - Armand Van Helden

Seemingly the only dance track for this year - I think we can contribute the dearth of these to the comparative lack of attention given to this era in music - this is a strong candidate. The beat is strong throughout, but what makes it stand out above and beyond that is the track's vocal performance. It's a good song, giving a lot of room in the mix to add more meaning to the track. It might not matter in the club, but threading it through as both a music and text gives it a lot of context outside that as well.

The eight hundred eighty-fourth song: Race for the Prize - The Flaming Lips

The initial lyrics of this song sets it up as being about something different from most songs - especially as the title could easily imply a love song anyway. Instead, it covers a race for a cure between two scientists, something as lofty but not something you tend to see explored like that. It's all layered through a poppy rock song, with some loud drums for part of it and a heavy synth use, which again contrasts with the text of the song. It's a neat combination, and something nice and different to listen to - while creating more room for future indie bands to experiment with their songs.

The six hundred and seventeenth album: #618 REM - Green

It feels like there's something grown up about enjoying REM. The tracks are accessible, but it's the layers that are in the music that stand out, the harmonies on a rock song that harken back to older songs but in a way that feels modern here. The lyrics have a lot more to say, while the music has more to discover and needs a few listens. It works on so many levels, it's really good