Weird Fishes
Radiohead
I was at rowing camp when I first heard this song in 2007 and at that time I was only listening to R&B and hip-hop. I heard this in the distance, one of my friends was playing it while he was having a shower. I was like, "What is
that? I've never heard anything like that." It just set me on this whole journey of discovering other music besides what I'd grown up on. It just opened my whole world to experimental music, more alternative bass music, the whole "wall of sound" effect. Discovering this track had a massive impact on me in my own creative process; that day changed my life.
Abandon Window
Jon Hopkins
I discovered Jon Hopkins only about three years ago. I remember hearing this track right at the end of an extremely long one-hour meditation where I was in this really deep state, and it was the first track ever in my life where I cried to it. I just remember thinking to myself, "That is what music's meant to do, have an emotional impact on me." My whole life I've always been convinced that I'm on some sort of autistic spectrum, because I've never really been able to understand emotion the same way my friends talk about it. I think very algorithmically, which I know for sure is a spectrum trait. This track was a culmination of this amazing meditation I had, and my realisation that I can feel music. It just brings this overwhelming peace.
Mojo Pin
Jeff Buckley
Jeff Buckley does a live version of this track at Hamburg, which is on YouTube, where he's doing this stereotypical thing that artists do when they lose themselves in the song. When people talk about musicians, they say, "It's a pure form of expression," whereas as I mentioned before, I always feel like it's a very algorithmic, rigid structural expression. I saw this concert and just thought, he's really in a spiritual realm where he's just wailing out what is coming to him. And I've taken that concept into my own live shows where I'm trying to be a lot more patient with my set and just sing more freely.
Belly Side Up
Matt Corby
Matt Corby I shamelessly discovered through Australian Idol, back when I was in high school, and I became a huge fan. I was in the UK when this album was released and I just stopped what I was doing, went out for a walk and played this track. I just remember being overridden with emotion, thinking, "Oh my God, it's, it's lived up to my hype." This album went on to influence how I wrote my second album, Wallflower, which is crazy, because he heard Wallflower one day and told me he loved it. And I was just thinking, "You're the reason I made it."
Zodiac S***
Flying Lotus
I was late to the Flying Lotus bandwagon. I remember hearing this song and I just thought it was the freshest thing I'd ever heard, even though it had dropped years before. What I have ever since taken from Flying Lotus is his approach to textures. Not necessarily harmonic choices, but he's got little twinkly things in your ears; he's got shakers, he's got five snare drums, really jagged kick drums. I heard this and thought, "Oh my God, there's so much more you can do with music."
- As told to George Fenwick
