I was asked not just about general influences, but singular moments in time where my views on the music I would eventually make changed and approximately when I experienced them. While it would be easy just to write a list of 'favorite songs' and call it a day, I found that actually thinking about specific songs that lead to new genre discoveries, or new musical trains of thought was more difficult. Which singular entities encapsulated the influential concepts the best? I have genuinely tried to think of tracks since 2007, but no such luck thus far. I have thought of many tracks that re-affirm what I had already known, such as 2008 - Portishead, Machine Gun, but many of those concepts that I enjoy so much I had already discovered 12 or more years prior.

So here is my list of singular moments in time where my views on the music I would eventually make changed.

1986 - Hirokazu Tanaka, Metroid [Main Theme]
1987 - Kinuyo Yamashita, Satoe Terashima, Wicked Child
1989 - Takashi Tateishi, The Mega Man 2 OST [Almost in its entirety]
1994 - Nine Inch Nails, Closer
1994 - Napalm Death, Twist the Knife (Slowly)
1995 - Massive Attack, Protection
1995 - Fear Factory, The Demanufacture Album [Almost in its entirety]
1996 - Yasunori Mitsuda, Corridors of Time
1997 - Chemical Brothers, Setting Sun
1999 - Infected Mushroom, Overload (Deedrah Remix)
2000 - Tabla Beat Science, Palmistry
2001 - Wumpscut, Koslow (First Take)
2002 - Lustmord, Cellular Blur
2004 - Technical Itch, The Hand
2005 - The Wretch, This is Terror
2007 - Patrick Jumpen - The Secret

While strangely difficult to compile, this was actually a fun trip down memory lane. Would any of you care to make a list of your own? Even you 'young'uns' whose lists may not go back quite as far :p.