I remember my friend Tim Ortopan was so excited after he bought Rainer Maria’s latest (well, April ’06) album Catastrophe Keeps Us Together that he had me listening to it within 24 hours of purchase. It’s a shame there don’t seem to be any free, legal and full-length MP3s from Catastrophe… available to post here, because they’d be a good fit at the top of our list, showing the all-important change over time (“delta” from science class, right?). If you can’t hear the development and maturity of a band while working bottom-up through the selection of songs below, go get your earwax cleaned out! Obviously, I think Catastrophe… continues this trend with wonderful results. From pounding drums and entwined screaming voices back in the ’90s to today’s complex and melodic sounds, Rainer Maria just makes good music.