It's pretty cool how certain songs will forever be linked with memories in your life. For me, many of those happened during my years in College (from 1996-2000). It's during that time that I found myself exposed to tons of music that I wouldn't typically listen to. You're around so many different people with passionate tastes that want to share their favorite song of the moment with you. Once in a while, you end up discovering something that resonates with you for a lifetime. Below are a few songs that instantly bring me back to College. Links to playable tracks are found below.

CRIMSON TIDE Theme & Madonna FROZEN: My roommate, Ankush, had this odd ritual of looping these particular songs on his computer to sleep to. Every evening I'd be listening to this stuff BLARING as I'd go to sleep. After a while, I kind of dug listening to them (even though I still have a hard time seeing Crimson Tide as appropriate "nap-time" music).

Prodigy- BREATHE: This was something I just heard and instantly fell in love with. As a dude raised on hip-hop, I wasn't big on Electronica or Drum & Bass... but the Wu-Tang-like Sword Slash Sound FX and menacing beat would immediately get me amped up. I completely forgot about this song until Jerry mentioned Orbital's music. I mistakenly thought Prodigy was Orbital (sorry!) but it ultimately got me to search and find this track. Still love it.

Cake- THE DISTANCE: Once again, my taste in hip-hop can be easily seen in my love for this track. I fell in love with this song the moment I heard it. I was SHOCKED to find that Ankush ended up buying the CD it was on (Fashion Nugget). I loved the album so much that I bought a copy for myself and now consider it an all time favorite.

CRIMSON TIDE THEME:

MADONNA-FROZEN:

PRODIGY- BREATHE:

CAKE- THE DISTANCE:

I admire how ambitious Trent Reznor's been with the freedoms of internet downloads. First he produced and released Saul Williams Niggy Tardust, now he's released a Nine Inch Nails instrumental album called "Ghosts".

You can download the first 9 tracks free. If you like what you hear, you can download the remainder of the album (a total of 36 tracks) for just $5. The download is VERRRY SLOOOW. Nonetheless it's a very nice package. In addition to the songs, you get a huge library of beautiful images, a pdf Album, and tons of promotional banners and logos that you can post to the web.

I'm not the hugest NIN fan, but really like what I've heard from the free 9 tracks that I downloaded. Ambient, sad, crisp... all the things that make a NIN production work EXCEPT Reznor's voice. And I don't mind that... it makes you appreciate how the music breathes. It's beautiful stuff... even though NIN is kind of known for their Goth/Electronica sound, this really fits nicely alongside my favorite Hip Hop Producers like DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, and El-P. It's all very beautiful, introspective, and sad.

I like the free stuff, so I'm definitely going to spend the extra $5 for the entire album.

YOU CAN FIND THE FREE DOWNLOAD HERE (JUST CLICK ON ORDER)