For music that matters to me, I choose to pick childhood music, which lives with me and that I can always sing.

Childhood music: all of Daft Punk, a good chunk of Guns and Roses, Goo goo dolls, Modest Mouse, Prodigy; absolutely all of Beatles, by heart, years before I could understand a word of English; a bunch of soundtracks (Hair, Rocky Horror Picture Show, all of Disney, in both French and English) but also, less known:

• <a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lriPAb2Mfwk&amp;list=PLmyxuTMSWJXbQjuW5vcl_lHVlStW1Zesc>After Virtue by Wim Mertens</a>: Melancolic and mellow. Listen on a silent rainy day.
• <a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyInwOegevQ&amp;list=PLdWvQFeRzarAdvKrRS7N_bn9otIqjaSKG>Madar by Jan Garbarek, Ustad Shaukat Hussain, Anouar Brahem</a>: I used to want to listen to all the music of the world, and so I collected a lot of fusion/new age-y music; some is cheap, but this is not. At the same period I used to listen to a lot of Ismael Lö, which I can barely find on youtube (and definitely not a full album), but here's one song I like: <a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaGBYHOQROo>Dibi Dibi Rek</a>. There's also <a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVLip7VmPKE>Gitans by Titi Robin</a>.
• <a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJYHlpxz-l8&amp;list=PLCqI7EIH--rX18CaTD2ZvKmRQPAOWTjWq> Dom Za Vešanje (Time of the Gypsies) by Goran Bregovic &amp; Weddings and Funerals orchestra</a>: I don't think anyone needs presenting Goran, but I did listen to his music a lot (know most of it by heart without understanding a word), so here it is.
• <a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9bmWpXkOQU&amp;list=PLKlbTXjy-F6pl_-u9MKZoDObTC0MU81ty>Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels</a>: The first CD I bought myself with my own hard-earned money. I was 14 or so? I listened to it in a loop non-stop.
• Honorable mention to <a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtVyl402W5s&amp;list=PLmFG5NeoWfoUMAXY0d3nrH460v9P34hsh>Rufus Wainwright</a> and <a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apbYzvBWQ8c&amp;list=PLiN-7mukU_REO4iwaaB7y7hYZ2OP5Aztz>Anthony and the Johnsons</a> which I always find myself humming when I have nothing to do. The songs stick for whatever reason. If you don't know them and will only listen to one song, please listen to their collaboration on <a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeyW1e8XRMA>An Old Whore&#39;s Diet</a>

The music that sounds best to my ears is a bit... dissonant? I don't know if there's a music word for it. I also don't have many examples because there are few artists and tracks that do it. Here are a few examples I can remember:

• <a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D7vbuo7zCo>Black Eye / Burnt Thumb by Metronomy</a>
• <a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g7Q8ZGhC2s&amp;list=OLAK5uy_mGy2XHO_iuRHzN_QHcOcz9R5_yowNEp-c&amp;index=10>Organ Donor by DJ Shadow</a>
• <a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QjkIzsTBNw>The Gulag Orkestar by Beirut</a>

xananax said:

The music that sounds best to my ears is a bit... dissonant? I don't know if there's a music word for it. I also don't have many examples because there are few artists and tracks that do it. Here are a few examples I can remember:

• <a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D7vbuo7zCo>Black Eye / Burnt Thumb by Metronomy</a>
• <a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g7Q8ZGhC2s&amp;list=OLAK5uy_mGy2XHO_iuRHzN_QHcOcz9R5_yowNEp-c&amp;index=10>Organ Donor by DJ Shadow</a>
• <a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QjkIzsTBNw>The Gulag Orkestar by Beirut</a>

you can call those dissonant indeed, very cool selection