While the vast majority of the time I'm spinning, I'm either doing so to improvised sessions by drummers or canned music that's been selected by my fire performance troupe, I frequently find that those rare opportunities when I get to put on my own music for a solo performance are some of my best. Beyond the fact that I know the peaks and valleys of the music and can pace my performance to it, frequently there are people in the crowd that know the song I'm spinning to and on some level, I think the shared experience of enjoying that piece of music does something to help them appreciate my performance.

This can also make prepping for the performance more difficult as it's always tempting to put your current favorites into the playlist and frequently these aren't appropriate for performance as they can be too obscure for an audience to latch onto or not appropriate to the mood of the event. For my first year of spinning, I frequently practiced while listening to Silversun Pickups' first album, Carnavas, which is an awful record to spin to live as it's full of bizarre tempo changes and abrasive walls of noise (all of which I love, but am frequently in the minority in loving). A good beat is always helpful, but sometimes can be overwhelming as well.

In no particular order, here are my current top 5 favorite songs to spin to:

• "Feel Good, Inc" - Gorillaz
• "Hands In" - Patrick Lee
• "Rods and Cones" - Blue Man Group
• "One Pure Thought" - Hot Chip
• "Let Go" - Paul Van Dyk

I always love being turned on to new music, so if any reader have any favorites, feel free to post them.