Recently, I got tired of listening to the same music over and over again. Never mind that my iTunes boasts something like 4,000 songs and I could theoretically listen to my music for 23 days uninterrupted, without ever repeating a track.

Alas, my musical tastes tend to drift, morph and reinvent themselves over time. Sure, I enjoy listening to some of the old stuff - sometimes. But the mood really has to strike. I have to feel particularly blue and in need of some serious *soul* to be able to listen to Mahalia Jackson, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Nina Simone - no matter how great they are. Or I have to be in a bouncy, sentimental-of-my-youth mood to be able to enjoy Prince, Madonna, Michael Jackson and other 80s music.

Lately, I just seem to be drawn more to dark, hard melodies with deep, rich sound carpets. Linkin Park rock my world. So does Korn, Marilyn Manson, Deftones, Rage Against The Machine, Disciple. And then there are my good old friends The Cure and Depeche Mode.



So I went out and acquired new tunes yesterday.

Amazing, really. The way music can elevate one's mood, suck you in, put you into a different state of mind, completely occupy you. Like honey on the tongue, it melts and sweetens the sound waves traveling to your brain. You can let yourself fall, get lost in them, swim in them like in an ocean of warm velvet.

And there is so much cool stuff out there now. Remixes, covers, mash-ups, obscure "live" versions. Covers of covers. New bands covering old bands. Linkin Park doing Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence". Marilyn Manson doing "Personal Jesus" and Madonna's "Like A Virgin" (admittedly a bit of an acquired taste). The Cure covering "World in Your Eyes".

And then there are songs I've never heard of because they either never got popular or got lost on some album nobody bought. But if I listen to them a few times, they quickly become friends. Ever heard of "Free Love"? Even die-hard Depeche Mode fans will surely shake their heads. But really, it's an excellent track I've just fallen in love with. No idea where it had been hiding all this time though...

In many ways, it's like unearthing treasures. Who then become part of the tapestry of your life. So sweet, so vibrant, so encompassing, so precious.

Enjoy the Silence.