Your favourite group/artist and your top 3 songs by them

Saw this question on forum I frequent. This, I guess, is my answer...

Today I'm gonna go with Meat Beat Manifesto.

1. Circles from Satyricon. I first heard this album on an overnight ferry to France to meet up with my then girlfriend for Valentine's Day. It was the beginning of the end of our 2 year relationship, and the lyrics just struck me. "Why do we idolise it, if we can't justify it?" Add to that a cool acid-jazz groove, and these great discordant harmonies, this song seems shorter than it really is (4.15 minutes), but mostly because I want it to last forever.

2. Now from 99%. I've only recently (like in the last few years) been able to play catch-up with MBM's earlier stuff. Now is the perfect introduction to the band, a funky, jazzy backbeat that could have been the backdrop to an early Public Enemy track. The lyrics are little wanting, and it can be a little jarring to hear a white guy from Swindon rapping, but all the hallmarks that would make this the band that should be much bigger are there.

3. Acid Again from Actual Sounds & Voices. Where does this opening sample come from? It's brilliant... "Are you unhappy?" "I'm happiest I've ever been. I'm not happy. I'm not happy at all, really. I'm very sad, I'm... I'm not happy. I'm so fat - I don't feel very pretty. I really don't." "You know a lot about drugs?" "Oh, I live for drugs. It's great. Just lately I... freaked out... on acid... I freaked out very, very badly. You know I don't think I'll ever take acid again and before I thought that was the best thing in the world. I never want it again. Never acid again." And a slow burning Moog tune explodes into one of the coolest, aggressive live-drum breakbeats ever recorded. The simple "acid again" sample, along with an extra "I dig that" slides around the groove, giving way only to gloriously psychedelic sitar refrains, 303 knob-tweaking, chunky guitar chords and housey-synth riffs. Once it starts all I want to do is dance my freaking arse off for 7 solid minutes. It's the perfect mixture of everything Acid has come to mean to the British public; pure psychedelic electronica.

Ahem. Luckily for everyone I have no ambition to a music journalist.