 | Young Team by Mogwai
Buy used from: £5.99 Number one for me - the most life-changing record I've ever experienced. Beautiful and monstrous in equal measure - I only hope it did for you what it did for me.
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 | Electro-Shock Blues by Eels
Buy new: £4.98 / Used from: £2.00 Mark Everett is a fascinating character and nowhere is this more apparent than in this cathartic and profoundly human album.
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 | Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending; Tallis Fantasia by Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Buy used from: £30.11 The two most beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard: both The Lark Ascending and Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis are upsettingly haunting.
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 | Everyday by Cinematic Orchestra
Buy used from: £8.15 Thank you Gilles Peterson for introducing me to this album. The Cinematic Orchestra are undoubtedly Ninja Tunes' finest.
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 | Laid by James
Buy used from: £0.33 Dark and gentle acoustic songs, some sinister, some benign.
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 | Endtroducing..... by DJ Shadow
Buy new: £4.98 / Used from: £3.99 Seminal work, awesome debut and masterclass in sampling from DJ Shadow. An album that had a massive effect on my musical outlook.
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 | Dark Days Exit by Felix Laband
Buy used from: £26.22 Felix Laband creates tender electronica. Crisp beats and inventive use of random samples... "organic" is a bad thing to call any music, but this record just is.
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 | Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by Smashing Pumpkins
Buy new: £12.08 / Used from: £4.49 A hugely diverse and consistently brilliant double-album - packed full of brilliantly written songs, from soft lullabies to intensely aggressive chunks of heaviness.
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 | Madvillainy by Madvillain
Buy new: £6.98 Slick as f*ck. Madlib's expert production and MF Doom's graveltrap drawl are perfect together. The best hip-hop release this decade?
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 | Full Clip: a Decade of Gang Starr by Gang Starr
Buy new: £11.68 / Used from: £4.48 Another ideal combination - DJ Premier is the greatest producer of all time for me and Guru always entertains. Classic hip-hop.
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 | Colour It in by Maccabees
Buy used from: £5.92 Some of the best songs from the indie scene in I-don't-know-how-long. Reminds me of how music used to make me feel.
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 | Second Toughest in the Infants by Underworld
Buy used from: £6.99 A mesmerising collection of hypnotic and intricate tracks. "Pearl's Girl" in particular is head-implodingly entrancing.
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 | Pieces of You by Jewel
Buy new: £6.37 / Used from: £0.50 Poems set to beautiful, simple songs by Jewel, whose voice sounds unstoppable one minute and so fragile it barely exists the next.
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 | This is Tunng - Mother's Daughter and Other Songs by Tunng
Buy new: £6.78 / Used from: £5.94 A fantastic blending of folk and electronica; Tale from Black epitomises Tunng's style. Their first and finest.
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 | Black Boots on Latin Feet by Ezio
Buy new: £5.87 / Used from: £2.97 The best band from Cambridge ever... well apart maybe from Pink Floyd. Ezio deserve more recognition: this album is a finely crafted record featuring some of the best guitar playing I have ever heard.
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 | Whatever and Ever Amen by Ben Folds Five
Buy new: £5.47 / Used from: £2.50 Brilliant pop from piano maestro Ben Folds. Catchy and musically interesting songs, from the manically upbeat to the bleakly despondent.
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 | Rachmaninov - Piano Concertos Nos 2 & 3 by Philharmonia Orchestra
Buy new: £4.89 / Used from: £7.32 Piano playing of a very different sort - two spectacular works.
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 | Music for the Jilted Generation by The Prodigy
Buy used from: £2.98 Buy it. Listen to it. Rejoice. The Prodigy's second and best album should not be missed.
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 | Black on Both Sides by Mos Def
Buy used from: £4.99 Socially aware hip-hop - Mos Def is a breath of fresh air and a ridiculously good lyricist.
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 | Ready To Die by The Notorious B.I.G.
Buy used from: £1.29 Okay I don't agree with his sentiments, but you can't argue with his style. A proper classic from Biggie. He urinates all over Pac, by the way.
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