Greetings everyone! Today I turn 27 years old, which means I've entered my Kurt Cobain year, which hopefully ends much better for me than it did for him. Just because it's my birthday doesn't mean I'll shirk my duty to provide you with some great tunes. 

Starting off, we'll begin with a song from a Finnish metal band who categorize themselves as "love metal" (not a real subgenre, but then otherwise it's difficult to place them in a single box, as their music straddles a few subgenres). This is HIM, and the song is called "Wings of a Butterfly." 

Next up we have a band that's always had a certain aura of mystique and intrigue. The Mars Volta's unique sound is a product of their progressive rock ethos and their Latino background. Hailing from El Paso, TX near the Mexican border, the band's members (before their 2012 breakup) were entirely children of that liminal cultural space, and this informs their music which draws on influences from both sides of the borderline. This particular song is my favorite of theirs, "The Widow." 

Now we'll change gears a bit and look at some underground hiphop from one of my favorite little known rappers, New York's own C-Rayz Walz. This song from his album Ravi Pops is about authenticity, a sense of belonging, and the danger of cultural disintegration. Among other things it includes the wonderful line "the fire from the crackpipe made the day dark." This is "Camouflage." 

Last up is a song so powerful, so earth-shatteringly majestic in scope that mere mortal ears cannot possibly contain its grandeur. I of course refer to the theme song from Duck Tales: