1. Smoosh | We Are Our Own Lies
I heard Smoosh’s music played at a party 2 years ago and I immediately connected to the tone of their music. Their album Withershins is one of my favorite albums, if not my favorite. They actually have a song titled Great Skies on that album which is why I’m named that. And We Are Our Own Lies has been a great inspiration to how I’ve wanted my music to sound.
2. Burial | In McDonalds
Whenever I listen to this song I can just imagine Burial sitting in the corner of a McDonald's restaurant late at night with his laptop making this. It’s so atmospheric and euphoric. It reminds me of when I first moved to London and waiting for the last tube home.
3. Mistabishi | No Matter What
I think this song really started me on Dance Music. I heard it at the beginning of that summer and I found the intro so Ambient and fitting to that time. After that I had to have the album and I still think to this day that it’s one of the most daring and Experimental Drum & Bass albums ever released. Also, strangely I now live round the corner from Mistabishi and now see him out and about which is crazy.
4. Quantic | Time Is The Enemy
I don’t remember exactly how I found this song, but I do remember driving to the far away beach at 3 in the morning with a load of old school friends with this playing. It just purely reminds me of my time at school and how much of a good time we had.
5. Sub Scape | Nothing's Wrong
When I first started making music as Great Skies all I wanted to achieve was to sound like this song. I’ve never heard anything else since this track that sounds similar and it just stays untouched. Great track.
6. Friendly Fires | Kiss Of Life
I caught the video premiere of this song at midnight a couple of years ago and ever since then it’s been a favorite of mine. It just sounds like Summer. If Summer had a sound this would be it. I kind of based my first EP Summer Moments on how this band sounded. Half way through making the EP I went to Glastonbury Festival (my first festival ever) and I saw them play live. They were incredible. As soon as they started playing it stopped raining for the first time in days. As the Sun set everyone had a drink in their hand and it was just exactly how I imagined a festival would be. As soon as I got home from Glastonbury I made a song based on that, called Festival.
7. Radiohead | Bloom
This song reminds me of filming time lapses out of my housemate Andy’s window at sunset, trying to get the London skyline in shot.
8. London Elektricity | Just One Second
I used to start a lot of mornings with this song. It’s just so upbeat and it hardly sounds Electronic at all, which is strange for a Drum & Bass song. I think if I were to do a DJ set, this would be one of the first tracks I’d reach for.
9. Context MC | Listening To Burial (feat. Slof Man) (Cinematic Remix)
A friend of mine from New Zealand sent me a link to this song late one night and I ended up loving it. I had it on a lot in my car and then a couple of nights later I ended up messaging Context and asked if I could produce a song for him. I didn’t really think anything would come of it until about a week later when he replied and said he liked my stuff. I ended up producing a track with him called Drowning so things really came full circle. I still listen to this song though all the time, great writing, great remix.
10. Netsky | Smiles
This song was actually never released. It was in a mix Netsky before he signed to Hospital Records and so every version available is a rip from that. Some day I hope it gets a proper release because I’ve never forgotten it. Also, annoyingly, he released a song called Smile, so it gets confused with that a lot.
