I could spit on a stranger.

It’s hard having a 2 gig iPod when 50 gigs of your hard disk space is filled with wonderful awesome music. What I do is that I store select tracks from various albums in my iPod so I can have them everywhere. But then again, there are albums that are just awesome that I have to shove them all no matter how big the space they would occupy.

So, here are the five albums that will never ever leave my iPod. Srsly, they will stay there forever until Jonsi, my iPod dies.

Daniel Johnston
The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered, Covered

Daniel Johnston just blows me away with every song he writes. In fact, he’s really the main inspiration and influence for El Explorador (that’s my one-man band). He’s got hundreds and hundreds of songs, but The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered, Covered compiles Mr. Johnston’s best work.

The first disc features 20 awesome artists (which includes Death Cab for Cutie, Bright Eyes, Tom Waits, M. Ward, and The Flaming Lips) doing their own version of Daniel’s songs that are included in the second disc. The second disc has 18 of Daniel’s gut-wrenching, ultra raw, in your face songs–all in their pristine lo-fi condition.

Seriously, Daniel Johnston belongs to the best singer-songwriters in the face of the earth. Equipped with his raw and emotional songs, Daniel just HAS to be on my iPod wherever I go.

(You can download the entire first disc (Covered) over at my Multiply. Sorry, friends only!)

Death Cab for Cutie
The Photo Album

The Photo Album is like this wonderful collage of songs. Whenever I listen to this album, there’s these overwhelming pictures inside my head. Virutally every song in the album paints a picture. Play ‘Steadier Footing’ and I see a girl and boy talking in the front porch. It’s the dead of the night and they’ve got cigarettes tucked between their fingers. Play ‘Styrofoam Plates‘ and I see a young man in his black coat and tie throwing his father’s ashes towards the cold and dead sea. Play ‘Coney Island’ and you can see a carnival with all the lights out; In the center of that image is a guy and a girl holding hands and smiling as they walk away.

Shet, I just love this album.

American Football
Self-titled

American Football only released one LP and one EP; both of which are in my iPod. It’s the straightforward emotional lyrics and the math-y time signatures that made me cherish this album. American Football is this awesome collection of songs that deals with romantic relationships and dead-ends. There are songs that talk about the personal struggles of breaking up with someone (The Summer Ends), walking away from someone (I’ll See You When We’re Both Not So Emotional), and issues about the after-break-up dilemma (Never Meant). Wow, it’s the perfect break-up album.

Because girls just LOVE breaking up with me, I love this fucking album.

Neutral Milk Hotel
In The Aeroplane Over The Sea

Here’s an album that celebrated it’s 10th anniversary last Febuary but still, it’s fucking untainted. I’d say this is the ultimate lo-fi album that everyone should keep inside their iPods. The songs are sometimes haunting, but that’s what makes it fascinating. God, the music is just luscious–there is not one boring moment in this album. You’ve got drums bumping through your eardrums, horns that are blazing with power, acoustic guitars, accordions and even singing saws that can seriously crawl under your skin.

It’s also one of those albums that you just HAVE to listen to chronologically (perfect for iPod’s gapless track function). All the songs are interconnected to one another with themes that range from sexual exploration and accepting the fact that everyone will die. Jeff Mangum stated that the entire album is built upon his recurring dreams about a Jewish family running away from the Nazis; there are countless references to Anne Frank inside the songs.

Seriously, In The Aeroplane Over The Sea is one of those albums that sucks you in and never lets go. Rest assured, give it another 10 years and it will just increase in popularity.

Death Cab for Cutie
Transatlanticsm

What can I say, I’m a fucking Death Cab for Cutie fanboy. Transatlanticsm, is without a doubt, my favorite Death Cab for Cutie album (top 2 would be The Photo Album and top 3 would be Plans). My day would not be complete if I didn’t listen to album. If The Photo Album is the DCFC album that can make you see things (not the trippy kind), Transatlanticsm is the album that makes you feel things. The stories tucked inside the songs written by Ben Gibbard and Chris Walla come alive every time you hit the play button; at times it makes you feel like you’re hovering over the people inside the songs as they play their lives, and at times Ben sings these songs that you’d think was written specifically for you.

If American Football’s LP was for break ups, Transatlanticism is all about missing someone. That feeling you get when all of the sudden, you miss everyone–that they’re like halfway around the world and you can’t get to them. Whew. So, if you still haven’t heard the entire album, gah, you’re missing out on stuff.

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There you go! Hmmm… I’ll probably post a review soon, I’m thinking about reviewing Joyce Bernal’s Booba Trilogy: Booba, Masikip sa Dibdib, and Super B. I’ll work on it! It’s a long overdue project for the PKI Commune blog. I’ll get down to it soon.

So, what about you guys? What albums can you not erase from your iPods?