1. The Beach Boys | I Just Wasn't Made For These Times
I could have picked anything off Pet Sounds really. It’s a beautiful record, the song writing is amazing. I listen to this track when I’m feeling sorry for myself.
2. Clipse | Ride Around Shining
This is one of my favourite hip hop albums of the last 10 years. They find really eloquent and creative ways of talking about pretty ugly things. The Neptunes beat here is amazing too. The clipse without Neptunes I don’t like so much, for me it's one of those classic artist and producer partnerships which is pretty much guaranteed to be golden.
3. Cannibal Ox | Scream Phoenix
The album was a huge influence on me. I’ve always been a big fan of Hip Hop, the production was so important to me as a teenager, stuff by people like The Bomb Squad sounded like it had been made on another planet. I didn’t like much of the Indie Rap stuff round the time this album dropped, it seemed too weird for the sake of it. This is a masterpiece though, El-P’s beats create this Blade Runnerish atmosphere. It’s the best thing that any of them ever did.
4. Michael Jackson | Speed Demon
Moonwalker was a childhood favourite, the video for this track is amazing. I’ve tried to recreate the midi slap bass many times but can’t get close.
5. DJ Shadow | Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt
I tried to make stuff that sounded like Endtroducing..... for a while. I worked all the time when I wasn’t at collage to save up for an MPC so I could sample my dad's records. It was the first album I heard that managed to cover a lot of different ground stylistically whilst retaining a very definable asthetic for the whole thing.
6. The Human League | Love Is All That Matters
This album gets kind of hated on but it seems amazing to me. They worked with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis on production who completely switched up their sound to a pretty straight Soul Pop thing. The band doesn’t manage to do it very convincingly, but I quite like that, you can hear a bit of frustration.
7. Cocteau Twins | When Mama Was A Moth
The reverb on this track is probably the best I’ve ever heard. I tried to copy it on my album. First 3 Cocteau Twins albums are perfect.
8. Prince | I Would Die 4 U (Purple Rain Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
I keep referencing this track when I’m chatting to people. It's definitely up there as one of the most obvious influences on my sound. When I first heard it would have been years ago when I was really into Timbaland stuff, he was the first person I heard that used those double time hi-hats. I Would Die 4 U had a similar groove and completely blew me away, it sounded like The Future. It was that kind of drum programming which was one of the main things that attracted me to Dubstep later on also.
9. Deftones | Digital Bath
I listened to a lot of rock music when I was at school, there’s only a few bands from that era I still listen to regularly, Deftones probably get the most play. I would love to work with the singer one day, he has a very unique voice. The atmosphere and pacing to the album White Pony is fantastic.
10. Digital Mystikz | Anti War Dub (feat. Spen G)
The first time I heard this played out I automatically felt like I was experiencing a seminal moment in Dance music. I think I probably was.
