Gensokyo for the Listener
I've put together an album of my favorite Touhou music, designed for easy listening in MP3 format.
For those of you who don't know what Touhou is, it's a series of very hard Japanese shooter games created by a single person, "ZUN," in his spare time. He creates the levels, designs the characters, writes the music, and draws everything in the game. He's extremely good at all of this except the drawing part. He somehow manages to put out a game every year.

Unlike most shooters, Touhou games are fantasy-themed, with characters who live in a kind of kitchen-sink eastern fantasy realm called "Gensokyo." The main characters, a shrine maiden named Reimu and a witch named Marisa, solve most of Gensokyo's troubles through games of "danmaku" with local spirits and youkais.

Anyway, incredibly difficult shooters are not for everybody. But, I think ZUN's music is excellent and more people should be exposed to it. I've assembled a collection of 10 songs (5 stage themes and 5 boss themes) that I am very fond of throughout the series, totaling about 50 minutes. If you have any interest in game music, I would encourage you to give it a shot, particularly if you've never played any of the games.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4GRHP6S3

Although I included them in the file, repeated here are my notes on the 10 songs I included.

The Gensokyo that the Gods Loved
TH10, Stage3.
A song conveying the beauty of nature in autumn. It has a good melody and low tension.
ZUN describes this song as "bursting with the heavy verses of Gensokyo," whatever that means.
Maybe it means that it makes extensive use of ZUN's favorite instruments:
The piano and the crappy-sounding trumpet.

Green-Eyed Jealousy
TH11, Stage2 Boss "Mizuhashi Parsee."
A song for a battle with a wicked and jealous spirit. The emotion in the song conveys her bitterness.
It's a passionate song that makes it sound like a lot is on the line.
The climax at 0:54 or so with the fast-paced piano is really excellent.
It puts on the tension as you are dodging danmaku.

Fall of Fall
TH10, Stage4.
A light-hearted stage theme. (Though the stage itself always pisses me off.)
I couldn't decide whether to put in this or "The Gensokyo that the Gods Loved," so I put in both.
I think they have a similar feeling, though. That kind of nature-invoking sound.

Native Faith
TH10, Extra Boss "Moriya Suwako."
A battle with a playful god. ZUN descibes this as "A cheerful, chaotic piano piece from hell."
He says that as if he plays the piano himself. I don't think he does, though.
It has a lot of tension to it, but it is playful rather than serious like you'd expect for a boss battle.
In that way, it's sort of the opposite of "Suwa Foughten Field."

Lullaby of a Demonic Hell
TH11, Stage5.
I put this in at the last minute. It took a while for this song to grow on me.
It's a song for an abandoned place. Nobody's there except ghosts. You get that feeling from the song, too.
Well, there's one other person there: a cat who controls ghosts.
But, her boss theme really sucks, so I didn't include it.

Shojo Satori ~ 3rd Eye
TH11, Stage4 Boss "Komeiji Satori."
A "gothic lolita" inspired theme with a dramatic rhythm and a dark tone.
Like the last song, it's atypical for ZUN. That's why I paired them up.
This song gives you a good idea of Satori's fancy and malicious personality.
The beginning really sounds like a Spanish dance.

Cinderella Cage - Kagome Kagome
TH8, Stage5.
An eastern-sounding song thick with personality and emotion.
The melody is based on a nursery rhyme sung in a Japanese children's game.
With its very Japanese sound, I think the song is supposed to be associated with Kaguya, the moon princess (and villain of the game).
But, Kaguya herself doesn't appear until stage 6. So, instead it's usually associated with the impish bunny girl, Tewi.
The Shibuya-Kei remix suits her better, though: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZGpM0SDu0s

Shoot for the Moon, Immortal Smoke
TH8, Extra Boss "Fujiwara no Mokou."
Theme song of Fujiwara no Mokou, the immortal girl cursed to eternal loneliness.
The metronome represents the passage of time, I think, as she's lived a thousand years of sorrow.
The climax at the end with the serious business trumpets is just awesome.
One of my very favorite songs in the whole series.

Imperishable Night.
TH8, Stage4.
Although most Touhou games are kind of laid back, Touhou 8 is a very tense game about trying to get somewhere before it's too late.
This song conveys a strong feeling of haste as you fly through the forest at high speeds.
Maybe you're trying to save someone's life. Possibly even the fate of the world is at stake.
Actually, it's nothing like that, but that's what the song feels like to me.

Suwa Foughten Field
TH10, Stage6 Boss "Yasaka Kanako."
My favorite boss theme in the series. Incidentally, it goes with my favorite boss fight in the series.
This song just has an overwhelming gravity, fitting for a battle against a god.
It's an extremely intimidating boss, and this song only makes it worse.

I hope you enjoy it.