mattp | Music meme - snarfed from ihavecake

List 10 musical artists you like, in no specific order (do this before reading the questions below).

1. Penguin Cage Orchestra
2. Levellers
3. Gene
4. VNV Nation
5. Autechre
6. James
7. Placebo
8. Camera Obscura
9. Architecture In Helsinki
10. Sigur Ros

What was the first song you ever heard by 6? (James)
Sit Down. It was on a compilation album which I bought when at college. This time of year is when my social life started to develop so it's a period of lots of change and happy memories.

What is your favorite song by 8? (Camera Obscura)
Country Mile. I have no idea how she does it, but Tracyanne Campbell almost sounds like she's crying when singing this song. It's quite a moving piece and it has had me in tears each time I've seen it played live.

What kind of impact has 1 left on your life? (Penguin Cafe Orchestra)

mhw was visiting me one time when I lived in Manchester. We were leaving a music store when he spotted an album and said "For a fiver, you can't go wrong". Over a couple of months I bought the entire back catalogue, and I've even seen them perform live at their 10 year re-union gig last November. Having discovered them around the time of my health scare in 2004 it makes me think back to that. Not in a wistful way, but more in a celebratory way.

What is your favorite lyric of 5? (Autechre)
Their music doesn't have lyrics.

How many times have you seen 4 live? (VNV Nation)
None. I found out the other day that there was a gig of theirs in London very recently. Yet another occasion passed me by :-(

What is your favorite song by 7? (Placebo)
Teenage Angst. A trite answer, perhaps, but their live version, played much slower than the studio version is beautiful.

Is there any song by 3 that makes you sad? (Gene)
You'll Never Walk again. Once again a reference to my health scare, and chosen because that was a very real concern at the time. It all turned our OK in the in, but it does make me incredibly grateful and makes me think what could have been.

What is your favorite song by 9? (Architecture In Helsinki)
Neverevereverdid, the opening track to In Case We Die, though I can't isolate any particular reason why.

When did you first get into 2? (Levellers)
It was probably 1997, around the time my social life started. I can't be sure exactly when or which track/alum it was, but it was either of Zeitgeist or Mouth To Mouth.

How did you get into 3? (Gene)
A guy who I was at uni with was a fan and he introduced me to them.

What is your favorite song by 4? (VNV Nation)
I think it'd have to be Illusion. Interpretations of the lyrics seem to vary but to me it's about being true to oneself. Not that generally have a problem that that myself, but it's still important to me.

How many times have you seen 9 live? (Architecture In Helsinki)
None. They're only a relatively recent discovery. I heard them when out at Indie clubs, but not made an effort to seek them out. Then I got into last.fm and they appeared on my recommendations a couple of times.

What is a good memory concerning 2? (Levellers)
Any of the times I've seen them live, the most recent being earlier this year with

pinkoi.

Is there a song by 8 that makes you sad? (Camera Obscura)
Country Mile, perhaps, but it seems a cop out to use that song again. No others come to mind.

What is your favorite song of 1? (Penguin Cafe Orchestra)
Almost all of their work is unsung. Technicalities notwithstanding, I think it would be either of The Sound Of Someone You Love Who's Going Away And It Doesn't Matter, because it has a lot of passion (and also, incidentally, ought to win an award for the longest title), or Beanfields because it so bouncy.

How did you become a fan of 10? (Sigur Ros)
I'm not 100% sure. I know I discovered their second album () as a result of

snork_maiden - perhaps it was she who introduced me to their first album as well.