Jefflog

Within this post found on Marginal Revolution, Tyler Cowen offers up some interesting advice.

In general I favor approaches which shake us up, and force us to overcome our preconceptions and status quo biases. If you are at a very good restaurant, you often do best by ordering the course you think you are least likely to enjoy. I do not, however, recommend going to the restaurant you think you are least likely to enjoy. The trick is to keep part of your filter steady and strong, while, at the same time, inverting some portions of your expectations. I’ve never gardened, or wanted to garden, but the best book on gardening in Borders still might be worth my while. Or pick a genre of music you dislike — the more rabidly the better — and go buy what is supposed to be the best CD from that genre.

I love music, but there are truly more genres that I cannot stand than ones I love. Hong suggested that I wouldn’t be able to tolerate even the best CantoPop album. Rap/Hip-Hop is another genre I have a hard time I’d imagine I’d enjoy. But maybe I haven’t truly tried to listen to the best of what those genres have to offer.

So, I’ll leave the question up to my readers: for a given genre, what do you think is the “best” album in that genre?

I’ll leave you with a couple of suggestions from my favorite genres.

• Metal: Blackwater Park by Opeth
• Progressive Rock: In Absentia by Porcupine Tree
• Electronic: Classical Mushroom by Infected Mushroom