WARMER MIXTAPES #302 | by Gavin Miller and Thomas Ragsdale (Winter Son) of worriedaboutsatan and Ghosting Season
SIDE A | by Gavin Miller
1. dEUS | Instant Street
This song is pretty much responsible for me picking up a guitar and wanting to play Music, to be honest. I remember hearing it on an MTV2 show which Zane Lowe used to present, years and years ago, and thought it was the most extraordinary thing ever, as it's basically this really bittersweet Acoustic song, but with a massive Krautrock ending. I'd never heard that done before, so I was fascinated with it, and eventually led me to go and buy all their back catalogue. The Album Version of this track is even longer too, so when I picked that up my head was blown even more! To this day, it's still one of my favourite songs ever.
2. Boards Of Canada | Zoetrope
I love this tune, but it really doesn’t do much for about five minutes. Its swirling Melancholy hook gets me every time though.
3. Neko Case | People Gott A Lotta Nerve
I think I could honestly listen to Neko sing the phonebook, and it’d be lovely. This is such a gorgeous song.
4. Her Name Is Calla | Thief
It’s just such a beautiful, beautiful record.
5. Mount Kimbie | Maybes
A lot of people try to emulate this, but they really can’t. It’s Atmospheric, Haunting, yet Danceable and Groovy. Not a lot of people can do that.
6. Trentemøller | Take Me Into Your Skin
One of those songs that we heard and thought whoa, why aren’t we doing stuff like this?!... Such an Inspirational track, and one that still gets us moving.
7. Kimono | Tomorrow
Subtle, Powerful, and loaded with energy. I admit I’m a total Kimono super-fan, but this really is a great Rock record.
8. Radiohead | The Tourist
I remember getting OK Computer as a Christmas present one year, and I played it so much it ended up getting really scratched. It still has problems playing this song even now, but it's the one that stuck with me the most. Really beautiful and tranquil, yet with this crushing undercurrent. A very special record.
9. Big Star | Thirteen
I remember trying to play this on Acoustic Guitar for months, even though it's a pretty easy song to learn. It was a good day when I finally cracked it!
10. Sigur Rós | Glósóli
I’ve been a fanboy for years, and I think this song was the first time I actually stopped and thought wow. They’ve never bettered it, and thankfully left the Post Rock template behind, for the most part, after this.
+11. Underworld | Push Upstairs
Hearing this was probably one of the first times I'd been exposed to Dance Music which I really enjoyed. My brother was a DJ when we were growing up, so he played all these Dance records that I used to hate. Being a rebellious teenager, I always thought I was in the right, listening to Nirvana, Radiohead and Oasis, etc. Then I learned, mostly due to this track, that we were both right... Push Upstairs is just the weirdest thing when you write it on paper: a two note Piano riff, a pounding Kick Drum, and Karl Hyde softly intoning Push it! - it shouldn't work, but there's something about it that makes it work: it has this infectious energy that you just can't help but get into.
+12. Radiohead | Everything In Its Right Place
I could've picked any Radiohead song to be honest, as they've pretty much soundtracked my entire life. I chose this one though as it was a real turning point for them, and me in terms of what I thought Music could be and how it could Sound. I remember them playing one song from Kid A every day on Steve Lamacq's show on Radio 1, and I'd tape them off the Radio and listen to them on the way to 6th Form College the day after. I couldn't quite work it out at first - what the hell was this? No guitar riffs? No real singing? Where's the band?, etc., but then it just grows on you, it kinda sinks into your head and gets under your skin, and before you know it, you love it. I absolutely Love albums and songs that do that, and this one did it so effortlessly. I also Love albums that are overarching bodies of work, instead of just collections of songs, and it's down to Kid A that we make all Ghosting Season stuff in a similar vein today. It's jam packed with hidden layers and Complex sounds, and I love being able to pick out things like that.
+13. Can | Oh Yeah
Krautrock wasn't something I'd heard of up until I reached Music College, but it was largely down to Radiohead's championing of Can, due to them covering Thief on their Kid A tour, that I really started to get into it. Oh Yeah was one of the first songs I heard from Can, and it instantly blew me away. I couldn't believe Music like this had evaded me for so long! It was made in 1971, but still sounds like it's from the Future, even today. Absolute pioneers, and Tago Mago, the album it's from, is still one of my favourite records.
+14. Pink Floyd | Money
I absolutely love Pink Floyd, but it wasn't until relatively recently that I started to really appreciate their back catalogue. You can always remember the first time you start to look through your parents' Record collection, and I remember seeing the sleeve to Dark Side Of The Moon in my Dad's Vinyl collection and I instantly dug it out. It just looks so beautiful! As I was learning Guitar when I was younger, Money is just one of those songs that keeps coming back in Guitar magazines, mainly because of David Gilmour's power solos, so I kept seeing it and hearing about it. I used to make cassette tape compilations of stuff I liked from my parents' collection and listen to them in School, and the one day I played Money, I freaked out! It was just so awesome. It's a great sounding record too - the Production is Faultless. I guess it wasn't until a few years later, when I listened to the album in full, that I realised how amazing Floyd were and what an absolutely perfect album Dark Side Of The Moon is.
+15. The Beatles | A Day In The Life
Speaking of my parents Record collection, the first real encounter I had with the Beatles was down to a tape my Dad had, which I think was just labelled The Beatles, so I borrowed it, and gave it a go. The first track was A Day In The Life, and it was so strange, I remember it almost scared me! It was like some strange, otherworldly artifact I'd discovered, beamed down from another planet. I love songs that sound like they're kinda normal, but then go off on completely bizarre tangents and slip into something very weird, and this song is the epitome of that. It's an absolutely glorious piece of Music.
+16. R.E.M. | Pilgrimage
When I was younger, I used to absolutely love R.E.M.. The first album I ever bought was Monster by R.E.M.. That shiny orange cassette came everywhere with me. This was back when cassettes were still an actual format you could buy in shops, not just niche Hipster things. Anyway, I loved R.E.M. and collected their albums as quickly as I could. Murmur (which this song is from) was, and still is, one of the finest examples of Songwriting out there, and I remember playing Pilgrimage and having it cemented in my head for days. The best bit about listening to it was due to the tape as well I think. It had this really warm hiss all over it, and I remember loving that - it made everything sound so Alien, but Inviting; like you were listening to History or something.
+17. Sigur Rós | Olsen Olsen
Not the most common of choices for SR tracks, I know, but this one was probably the first track of theirs I heard. It was when they were touring with Radiohead in about 2000 or something, and wanting to know more about them, I downloaded this track, completely on a whim, from Napster, and just absolutely fell in Love with it. So much so that I ordered the album from a shop via the forgotten Art of Melody Maker adverts. I wrote a cheque for £10 and stuck it in an envelope, and sent it off, and about 2 weeks later, the album arrived and didn't leave my Stereo for months. I saw them play on a tour they did just after that album and it was just epic, but in the most understated way possible. It's weird seeing them fill sports halls and enormo domes now, as that first gig I saw them at was no more than a 150 capacity venue, at a Victorian Music Hall in Leeds. Needless to say, it was pretty special.
+18. Godspeed You! Black Emperor | Mladic
A new one, but still very special. You might have guessed by now, that I spent a lot of time in my formative years listening to a lot of Post Rock, and obviously you can't do that without at least coming into contact with Godspeed. I've always been a fan, so when they announced their return, I was excited but kinda scared that they'd mess it up. Mladic sounds so unbelievably raw and powerful though, it just absolutely knocked me sideways the first time I heard it. The Dynamics, the Aggression, the Power, the Hypnotic Rhythm - it's all here, and they make it sound so Effortless, like it's just some guys in a garage having a jam. Incredible piece of Work.
+19. Boards Of Canada | Amo Bishop Roden
When I first started exploring Electronic Music, like a lot of people, I headed straight to the Warp roster, and found an instant affinity with BOC. So Melodic, beautiful and covered in Analogue Hiss, it sounded like it was made about 20 years before it actually was, and that was so inviting for me. I instantly wanted to explore their Music and get into their whole world. This track and their early albums really inspired me to start making Electronica, and to not be afraid to start using more Traditional instruments with it.
1. Pulp | Mis-Shapes
This was the first piece of Recorded Sound I heard that really turned me onto this whole Music thing. I was 12 (I think), and not really into anything in particular. Different Class was my first REAL CD. When I put the disc in, and pressed play for the initial run-through, I just knew that this would be it for me from now on. I grew up on Anlaby Road, Hull (UK), and I really thought those lyrics were coming from me.
2. Idlewild | Roseability
I haven’t heard many bands like Idlewild in a long time. Roseability is a furious track, and I Love the tone on the guitars in this track, and the backing vocals. The bit were his voice breaks into a scream gives me goose pimples every time I hear it. I suppose it’s a bit of an anthem. They hard totally Hardcore followers, they were a proper band.
3. Goldie | Timeless: Inner City Life/Pressure/Jah
This track is split into 3 sections, clocking up an epic 21 minutes. When I was 14 Drum ‘N’ Bass was filtering its way through my School, coming from older brothers, and I bought this album after hearing about Goldie. It completely took over my mind and a couple of other people’s for a good while. It’s beautiful, Complex, Deep, and Chaotic. A sheer masterpiece of a track. I think Goldie is the greatest musician of the Urban genre who ever lived. No one will ever beat this album, not Burial, maybe not even Massive Attack.
4. Radiohead | Idioteque
When I was leaving School me and my friends were getting ready for the new Radiohead release (Kid A), and wondering what direction the band will take. When we listened to the album in full, half of us didn’t understand it, but those of us that did fell in Love with this song. Those beats, that simple melody, and that chorus line… It’s probably just gibberish, but we debated what he was singing about for weeks.
5. Deftones | Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)
Deftones are probably my favourite band of All Time. This song is pretty heavy, but they get this amazing Atmospheric Sound, it’s Uplifting. It’s not Aggressive, even though it’s Ridiculously Brutal! This was one of the first Metal tracks I heard, and I still regard to be my favourite.
6. Stanley Myers | Cavatina (Played by John Williams)
This piece of was made popular by the film The Deer Hunter. My dad was really into the piece and wanted me to learn how to play it one day. It’s quite a difficult piece of Music to play (about grade 6 or 7), but I started learning Classical Guitar and I pretty much nailed it after about 2 years (which is really good).
7. Ludovico Einaudi | Eros
I’ve seen this performed Live a few times and the experience is incredible. I Love how Ludovico is in his 50s, but is starting to incorporating Electronica in his work. I heard a lot of his die-hard fans are going off him, but I can’t get enough. The Rhythmical aspects of this track are pretty extraordinary.
8. Explosions In The Sky | Your Hand In Mine
EITS have given us countless imitators, but none of them can get it right. The trick is to not drench your guitars in Reverb and Delay, but spend Time learning to really play the Instrument, and getting a beautiful tone from just the amp. The duelling melodies are incredible in this track, they’re like voices.
9. Arvo Pärt | Fratres (For Violin, String Orchestra and Percussion; Played by Gil Shaham, Roger Carlsson and Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Conductor: Neeme Järvi)
Fratres (translates to Brothers) is a piece that can be play by any combination of instruments (I think). It has 9 chords that are played in sequence, but each time are highlighted by a different instrument. The piece explores the Tonal characteristics of Instruments in Music. This is a lesson in how to Shape and Structure Music using the same Chords and Harmony, and by just repeating them each time playing with most Force and Velocity. It's a Torturous piece of Music that I got given to me years and years ago, and I've loved all of Arvo's Music ever since. It got me into Writing Simple Music, but concentrating on building up Sounds.
10. Keith Jarrett | The Köln Concert: Part I
Jarrett’s Piano skills are, in my opinion, the greatest in the World and this recording of a mostly improvised concert demonstrates exactly why. You can even hear him kicking the Piano, and singing to himself. It’s a very intimate record.
+11. Francisco Tárrega | Recuerdos De La Alhambra (Played by Alexandre Lagoya)
One of the greatest pieces of Music ever written, it must be!!! It's written about the fountains and waterfalls that are spread around the Alhambra Palace in Granada, and the melody is supposed to mimic the sound of the Water. There's an immensely Tragic tone to it as if something terrible has happened, but it's also incredibly Romantic. It's always been a piece if Music I've held close to me as I've attempted it countless times and it's always gotten the better of my abilities! I even went to visit the palace to experience how amazing they really are. I always laugh when people say that 'so and so from xxxxxx band is an amazing guitarist', but then I tell them to listen to this and they're Speechless.
+12. Radiohead | Let Down
Definitely one of the band's most under appreciated songs. Thom Yorke's voice is almost at breaking point during this track and there are some heart wrenching backing vocals that give me goose bumps towards the end! I was really into the chimey guitar stuff in this and the monotone vocals. That and the lyrics are quite Nonsensical, but have a hypnotising climax. There's also some weird Electronic sounds at 3:35 too, and I always wondered how they made those sounds.
+13. Kate Bush | Snowed In At Wheeler Street (feat. Elton John)
This is from the album 50 Words For Snow, released a few years ago. It's basically a conversation between Kate and Elton John talking about how their biggest regret in Life was drifting apart. They keep seeing each other a different points in their lives, but are always too far away to reach out and speak. But now they've managed to say the things that they've always wanted to. There's a part of the song were Elton's voice roars like a bear, tearing through pretty much every Emotion you can think of. I love this song because I have experienced these exact happenings.
+14. Ludovico Einaudi | Waterways
Einaudi gets a bad rep sometimes for being too obvious or whatever, but I think he writes the most Emotional melodies and this track has something special about it. Although there isn't any singing in his Music it's all very Lyrical and it speaks to you. There isn't much Instrumental Music that can do this. AND he plays Live Electronica, so for a 60 year old guy that ain't bad going.
+15. Cream | White Room
My dad is a HUGE Clapton/Cream fan, and we always used to have this on in the car. He's a massive fan of heavier Blues stuff from the 60/70s, and he was a true Hippy too. All my passion for Music comes from him. He plays the bass like Jack Bruce and gets the MEANEST sound from an early 80s Tokai. White Room got my into playing Lead Guitar, Fender Strats, and Wah Wah Cry Baby pedals. There's a bit of Feedback at 4:00 that is to die for.
+16. Leonard Cohen | Famous Blue Raincoat
This is another song my dad used to play a lot. I remember it because it has the most amazing final line in any song, which is just sincerely, L. Cohen. He is singing a song and then you find out it's been a letter all along.
+17. PJ Harvey | The Garden
I'm into PJ Harvey's sleazy stuff, which is quite smokey and reminds me of Burlesque bars, or something like that. This song is great to walk around a city with at night, taking in the sights, but blocking the Sound out.
+18. Depeche Mode | Never Let Me Down Again
Depeche really got me back into bands that use keyboards and Electronic stuff Live. Dave Gahan is easily one the best frontmen alive too. His voice is ridiculously deep in this song, he sings about some Extremely Dark and Disturbing things. They have this knack for writing amazing Pop songs with a Dark undercurrent that you don't really hear unless you pay attention. I didn't get into them until my mid twenties, but it gave me a reason to want to project a strong imagine on stage, and not hide behind a laptop.
+19. Nitzer Ebb | Join In The Chant
I had this on a compilation years ago and loved the bassline. I've never heard it played in a club, but I'm certain if it was it'd go crazy. They're a scary band, and hearing it when I was about 16 was a Bizarre experience. I had no idea what it was, but I knew there was something in it that was worth hanging on to!
1. dEUS | Instant Street
This song is pretty much responsible for me picking up a guitar and wanting to play Music, to be honest. I remember hearing it on an MTV2 show which Zane Lowe used to present, years and years ago, and thought it was the most extraordinary thing ever, as it's basically this really bittersweet Acoustic song, but with a massive Krautrock ending. I'd never heard that done before, so I was fascinated with it, and eventually led me to go and buy all their back catalogue. The Album Version of this track is even longer too, so when I picked that up my head was blown even more! To this day, it's still one of my favourite songs ever.
2. Boards Of Canada | Zoetrope
I love this tune, but it really doesn’t do much for about five minutes. Its swirling Melancholy hook gets me every time though.
3. Neko Case | People Gott A Lotta Nerve
I think I could honestly listen to Neko sing the phonebook, and it’d be lovely. This is such a gorgeous song.
4. Her Name Is Calla | Thief
It’s just such a beautiful, beautiful record.
5. Mount Kimbie | Maybes
A lot of people try to emulate this, but they really can’t. It’s Atmospheric, Haunting, yet Danceable and Groovy. Not a lot of people can do that.
6. Trentemøller | Take Me Into Your Skin
One of those songs that we heard and thought whoa, why aren’t we doing stuff like this?!... Such an Inspirational track, and one that still gets us moving.
7. Kimono | Tomorrow
Subtle, Powerful, and loaded with energy. I admit I’m a total Kimono super-fan, but this really is a great Rock record.
8. Radiohead | The Tourist
I remember getting OK Computer as a Christmas present one year, and I played it so much it ended up getting really scratched. It still has problems playing this song even now, but it's the one that stuck with me the most. Really beautiful and tranquil, yet with this crushing undercurrent. A very special record.
9. Big Star | Thirteen
I remember trying to play this on Acoustic Guitar for months, even though it's a pretty easy song to learn. It was a good day when I finally cracked it!
10. Sigur Rós | Glósóli
I’ve been a fanboy for years, and I think this song was the first time I actually stopped and thought wow. They’ve never bettered it, and thankfully left the Post Rock template behind, for the most part, after this.
+11. Underworld | Push Upstairs
Hearing this was probably one of the first times I'd been exposed to Dance Music which I really enjoyed. My brother was a DJ when we were growing up, so he played all these Dance records that I used to hate. Being a rebellious teenager, I always thought I was in the right, listening to Nirvana, Radiohead and Oasis, etc. Then I learned, mostly due to this track, that we were both right... Push Upstairs is just the weirdest thing when you write it on paper: a two note Piano riff, a pounding Kick Drum, and Karl Hyde softly intoning Push it! - it shouldn't work, but there's something about it that makes it work: it has this infectious energy that you just can't help but get into.
+12. Radiohead | Everything In Its Right Place
I could've picked any Radiohead song to be honest, as they've pretty much soundtracked my entire life. I chose this one though as it was a real turning point for them, and me in terms of what I thought Music could be and how it could Sound. I remember them playing one song from Kid A every day on Steve Lamacq's show on Radio 1, and I'd tape them off the Radio and listen to them on the way to 6th Form College the day after. I couldn't quite work it out at first - what the hell was this? No guitar riffs? No real singing? Where's the band?, etc., but then it just grows on you, it kinda sinks into your head and gets under your skin, and before you know it, you love it. I absolutely Love albums and songs that do that, and this one did it so effortlessly. I also Love albums that are overarching bodies of work, instead of just collections of songs, and it's down to Kid A that we make all Ghosting Season stuff in a similar vein today. It's jam packed with hidden layers and Complex sounds, and I love being able to pick out things like that.
+13. Can | Oh Yeah
Krautrock wasn't something I'd heard of up until I reached Music College, but it was largely down to Radiohead's championing of Can, due to them covering Thief on their Kid A tour, that I really started to get into it. Oh Yeah was one of the first songs I heard from Can, and it instantly blew me away. I couldn't believe Music like this had evaded me for so long! It was made in 1971, but still sounds like it's from the Future, even today. Absolute pioneers, and Tago Mago, the album it's from, is still one of my favourite records.
+14. Pink Floyd | Money
I absolutely love Pink Floyd, but it wasn't until relatively recently that I started to really appreciate their back catalogue. You can always remember the first time you start to look through your parents' Record collection, and I remember seeing the sleeve to Dark Side Of The Moon in my Dad's Vinyl collection and I instantly dug it out. It just looks so beautiful! As I was learning Guitar when I was younger, Money is just one of those songs that keeps coming back in Guitar magazines, mainly because of David Gilmour's power solos, so I kept seeing it and hearing about it. I used to make cassette tape compilations of stuff I liked from my parents' collection and listen to them in School, and the one day I played Money, I freaked out! It was just so awesome. It's a great sounding record too - the Production is Faultless. I guess it wasn't until a few years later, when I listened to the album in full, that I realised how amazing Floyd were and what an absolutely perfect album Dark Side Of The Moon is.
+15. The Beatles | A Day In The Life
Speaking of my parents Record collection, the first real encounter I had with the Beatles was down to a tape my Dad had, which I think was just labelled The Beatles, so I borrowed it, and gave it a go. The first track was A Day In The Life, and it was so strange, I remember it almost scared me! It was like some strange, otherworldly artifact I'd discovered, beamed down from another planet. I love songs that sound like they're kinda normal, but then go off on completely bizarre tangents and slip into something very weird, and this song is the epitome of that. It's an absolutely glorious piece of Music.
+16. R.E.M. | Pilgrimage
When I was younger, I used to absolutely love R.E.M.. The first album I ever bought was Monster by R.E.M.. That shiny orange cassette came everywhere with me. This was back when cassettes were still an actual format you could buy in shops, not just niche Hipster things. Anyway, I loved R.E.M. and collected their albums as quickly as I could. Murmur (which this song is from) was, and still is, one of the finest examples of Songwriting out there, and I remember playing Pilgrimage and having it cemented in my head for days. The best bit about listening to it was due to the tape as well I think. It had this really warm hiss all over it, and I remember loving that - it made everything sound so Alien, but Inviting; like you were listening to History or something.
+17. Sigur Rós | Olsen Olsen
Not the most common of choices for SR tracks, I know, but this one was probably the first track of theirs I heard. It was when they were touring with Radiohead in about 2000 or something, and wanting to know more about them, I downloaded this track, completely on a whim, from Napster, and just absolutely fell in Love with it. So much so that I ordered the album from a shop via the forgotten Art of Melody Maker adverts. I wrote a cheque for £10 and stuck it in an envelope, and sent it off, and about 2 weeks later, the album arrived and didn't leave my Stereo for months. I saw them play on a tour they did just after that album and it was just epic, but in the most understated way possible. It's weird seeing them fill sports halls and enormo domes now, as that first gig I saw them at was no more than a 150 capacity venue, at a Victorian Music Hall in Leeds. Needless to say, it was pretty special.
+18. Godspeed You! Black Emperor | Mladic
A new one, but still very special. You might have guessed by now, that I spent a lot of time in my formative years listening to a lot of Post Rock, and obviously you can't do that without at least coming into contact with Godspeed. I've always been a fan, so when they announced their return, I was excited but kinda scared that they'd mess it up. Mladic sounds so unbelievably raw and powerful though, it just absolutely knocked me sideways the first time I heard it. The Dynamics, the Aggression, the Power, the Hypnotic Rhythm - it's all here, and they make it sound so Effortless, like it's just some guys in a garage having a jam. Incredible piece of Work.
+19. Boards Of Canada | Amo Bishop Roden
When I first started exploring Electronic Music, like a lot of people, I headed straight to the Warp roster, and found an instant affinity with BOC. So Melodic, beautiful and covered in Analogue Hiss, it sounded like it was made about 20 years before it actually was, and that was so inviting for me. I instantly wanted to explore their Music and get into their whole world. This track and their early albums really inspired me to start making Electronica, and to not be afraid to start using more Traditional instruments with it.
SIDE B | by Thomas Ragsdale
1. Pulp | Mis-Shapes
This was the first piece of Recorded Sound I heard that really turned me onto this whole Music thing. I was 12 (I think), and not really into anything in particular. Different Class was my first REAL CD. When I put the disc in, and pressed play for the initial run-through, I just knew that this would be it for me from now on. I grew up on Anlaby Road, Hull (UK), and I really thought those lyrics were coming from me.
2. Idlewild | Roseability
I haven’t heard many bands like Idlewild in a long time. Roseability is a furious track, and I Love the tone on the guitars in this track, and the backing vocals. The bit were his voice breaks into a scream gives me goose pimples every time I hear it. I suppose it’s a bit of an anthem. They hard totally Hardcore followers, they were a proper band.
3. Goldie | Timeless: Inner City Life/Pressure/Jah
This track is split into 3 sections, clocking up an epic 21 minutes. When I was 14 Drum ‘N’ Bass was filtering its way through my School, coming from older brothers, and I bought this album after hearing about Goldie. It completely took over my mind and a couple of other people’s for a good while. It’s beautiful, Complex, Deep, and Chaotic. A sheer masterpiece of a track. I think Goldie is the greatest musician of the Urban genre who ever lived. No one will ever beat this album, not Burial, maybe not even Massive Attack.
4. Radiohead | Idioteque
When I was leaving School me and my friends were getting ready for the new Radiohead release (Kid A), and wondering what direction the band will take. When we listened to the album in full, half of us didn’t understand it, but those of us that did fell in Love with this song. Those beats, that simple melody, and that chorus line… It’s probably just gibberish, but we debated what he was singing about for weeks.
5. Deftones | Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)
Deftones are probably my favourite band of All Time. This song is pretty heavy, but they get this amazing Atmospheric Sound, it’s Uplifting. It’s not Aggressive, even though it’s Ridiculously Brutal! This was one of the first Metal tracks I heard, and I still regard to be my favourite.
6. Stanley Myers | Cavatina (Played by John Williams)
This piece of was made popular by the film The Deer Hunter. My dad was really into the piece and wanted me to learn how to play it one day. It’s quite a difficult piece of Music to play (about grade 6 or 7), but I started learning Classical Guitar and I pretty much nailed it after about 2 years (which is really good).
7. Ludovico Einaudi | Eros
I’ve seen this performed Live a few times and the experience is incredible. I Love how Ludovico is in his 50s, but is starting to incorporating Electronica in his work. I heard a lot of his die-hard fans are going off him, but I can’t get enough. The Rhythmical aspects of this track are pretty extraordinary.
8. Explosions In The Sky | Your Hand In Mine
EITS have given us countless imitators, but none of them can get it right. The trick is to not drench your guitars in Reverb and Delay, but spend Time learning to really play the Instrument, and getting a beautiful tone from just the amp. The duelling melodies are incredible in this track, they’re like voices.
9. Arvo Pärt | Fratres (For Violin, String Orchestra and Percussion; Played by Gil Shaham, Roger Carlsson and Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Conductor: Neeme Järvi)
Fratres (translates to Brothers) is a piece that can be play by any combination of instruments (I think). It has 9 chords that are played in sequence, but each time are highlighted by a different instrument. The piece explores the Tonal characteristics of Instruments in Music. This is a lesson in how to Shape and Structure Music using the same Chords and Harmony, and by just repeating them each time playing with most Force and Velocity. It's a Torturous piece of Music that I got given to me years and years ago, and I've loved all of Arvo's Music ever since. It got me into Writing Simple Music, but concentrating on building up Sounds.
10. Keith Jarrett | The Köln Concert: Part I
Jarrett’s Piano skills are, in my opinion, the greatest in the World and this recording of a mostly improvised concert demonstrates exactly why. You can even hear him kicking the Piano, and singing to himself. It’s a very intimate record.
+11. Francisco Tárrega | Recuerdos De La Alhambra (Played by Alexandre Lagoya)
One of the greatest pieces of Music ever written, it must be!!! It's written about the fountains and waterfalls that are spread around the Alhambra Palace in Granada, and the melody is supposed to mimic the sound of the Water. There's an immensely Tragic tone to it as if something terrible has happened, but it's also incredibly Romantic. It's always been a piece if Music I've held close to me as I've attempted it countless times and it's always gotten the better of my abilities! I even went to visit the palace to experience how amazing they really are. I always laugh when people say that 'so and so from xxxxxx band is an amazing guitarist', but then I tell them to listen to this and they're Speechless.
+12. Radiohead | Let Down
Definitely one of the band's most under appreciated songs. Thom Yorke's voice is almost at breaking point during this track and there are some heart wrenching backing vocals that give me goose bumps towards the end! I was really into the chimey guitar stuff in this and the monotone vocals. That and the lyrics are quite Nonsensical, but have a hypnotising climax. There's also some weird Electronic sounds at 3:35 too, and I always wondered how they made those sounds.
+13. Kate Bush | Snowed In At Wheeler Street (feat. Elton John)
This is from the album 50 Words For Snow, released a few years ago. It's basically a conversation between Kate and Elton John talking about how their biggest regret in Life was drifting apart. They keep seeing each other a different points in their lives, but are always too far away to reach out and speak. But now they've managed to say the things that they've always wanted to. There's a part of the song were Elton's voice roars like a bear, tearing through pretty much every Emotion you can think of. I love this song because I have experienced these exact happenings.
+14. Ludovico Einaudi | Waterways
Einaudi gets a bad rep sometimes for being too obvious or whatever, but I think he writes the most Emotional melodies and this track has something special about it. Although there isn't any singing in his Music it's all very Lyrical and it speaks to you. There isn't much Instrumental Music that can do this. AND he plays Live Electronica, so for a 60 year old guy that ain't bad going.
+15. Cream | White Room
My dad is a HUGE Clapton/Cream fan, and we always used to have this on in the car. He's a massive fan of heavier Blues stuff from the 60/70s, and he was a true Hippy too. All my passion for Music comes from him. He plays the bass like Jack Bruce and gets the MEANEST sound from an early 80s Tokai. White Room got my into playing Lead Guitar, Fender Strats, and Wah Wah Cry Baby pedals. There's a bit of Feedback at 4:00 that is to die for.
+16. Leonard Cohen | Famous Blue Raincoat
This is another song my dad used to play a lot. I remember it because it has the most amazing final line in any song, which is just sincerely, L. Cohen. He is singing a song and then you find out it's been a letter all along.
+17. PJ Harvey | The Garden
I'm into PJ Harvey's sleazy stuff, which is quite smokey and reminds me of Burlesque bars, or something like that. This song is great to walk around a city with at night, taking in the sights, but blocking the Sound out.
+18. Depeche Mode | Never Let Me Down Again
Depeche really got me back into bands that use keyboards and Electronic stuff Live. Dave Gahan is easily one the best frontmen alive too. His voice is ridiculously deep in this song, he sings about some Extremely Dark and Disturbing things. They have this knack for writing amazing Pop songs with a Dark undercurrent that you don't really hear unless you pay attention. I didn't get into them until my mid twenties, but it gave me a reason to want to project a strong imagine on stage, and not hide behind a laptop.
+19. Nitzer Ebb | Join In The Chant
I had this on a compilation years ago and loved the bassline. I've never heard it played in a club, but I'm certain if it was it'd go crazy. They're a scary band, and hearing it when I was about 16 was a Bizarre experience. I had no idea what it was, but I knew there was something in it that was worth hanging on to!
