Speaking as someone who spends a good chunk of his time writing about music, I'd love to think that most people come to find music they like by fairly direct means. Like reading about it. Boy, that would make me feel good. But you and I both know that although it happens that way some of the time (enough of the time to keep me doing what I do), we music lovers often come to find new things we like by more circuitous routes. Like how I came to learn that I very much like BT (real name Brian Wayne Transeau): his song Never Gonna Come Back Down (

) was featured on the soundtrack for Gone In 60 Seconds, a movie I never saw but once gave away the soundtrack record as a lowly radio promotions intern. Mike Doughty, now well-known enough as a solo artist but then famous only to hardcore Soul Coughing fans, is featured on the track and thus was mentioned on the CD's cover. A hardcore fan I was indeed, and so I went about finding a way to hear the track when I got home that night. Not an easy task, mind you, because although such times seem prehistoric, a few years ago it was much harder than it is now to just hear anything you wanted to on the Internet (legally).

Long story short: Loved the song, kept digging, loved the rest of the record it appeared on:

, released way back in 2001. Other key tracks from that one:
the very chill Satellite (), and coming straight out of clubland: Mercury And Solace () featuring Jan Johnston -- whose name you might not know, although you're guaranteed to know the voice. This woman has vocals on practically every trance track ever made (possible exaggeration).

, BT's 2003 follow-up, is also really good, but it might have been even cooler. In very late 2001, BT's studio was burglarized. Around $75,000 worth of equipment was lost, but perhaps more tragically, collaborations with the likes of Sarah McLachlan and Peter Gabriel disappeared and were never redone. Total. Bummer. But Despite the loss of work and equipment, is (for lack of a better term) awesome. For proof, sample the new-wavey Somnambulist (), the hip-hoppy Knowledge of Self () Knowledge of Self , and the clubby (once it gets going) Communicate ().