Influences: Wilted Woman

My god, they’re CHILDREN! Hard to pick a single track from Depeche Mode, although I’m fairly certain at this point Construction Time Again is my favorite record of theirs. It must be a rite of passage for future synth freaks to become obsessed with Depeche Mode as children? The sound design on this record in particular is so out of control — DX-7 bell sounds all over the place and the supposedly Neubauten-inspired Synclavier use comes off more like Gene from Bob’s Burgers in gear heaven. Plus, “Shame” has one of the best singalong lines of all time: “It all seems so stupid, it makes me want to give up / But why should I give up when it all seems so stupid.” And they wondered why teenagers were so keen on DM…

Incredible. I think I heard Meredith Monk for the first time on DJ Rupture’s show on WFMU — a station that rewired my teenage brain much more severely than any drugs could. First time I heard techno, first time I heard Merzbow, first time I heard someone play the same track over and over at different speeds for a full hour – all while tuned in to 91.1 FM. Back to the video, Meredith Monk is the master of Long Songs. Eternally grateful to the American Public Broadcasting Service for producing both this and Sesame Street.

Noise sax anthem! Flipper is a band that I hold very dear. This whole record is a masterclass in balancing heavy and joyful vibes, from the very first track. ”Ever want to cry so much you want to die” over peppy handclaps to the bittersweet end that is Sex Bomb. It’s so chaotic and fun and scary. There’s so much going on and it feels so precariously balanced, but wow, does it work.

I was talking to a friend recently about music “mentors”- sort of weird types, usually slightly older, usually stoners who take you under their wing, give you a cracked copy of Reason or Fruity Loops, and expose you to… dubstep. Maybe that was just how it went with the two of us, but I get the feeling this specific experience was pretty widespread in the mid 2000s? Regardless– I did not like dubstep at all! Not even Burial! However, one good thing came out of being forced to listen to Untrue over and over again: getting into almost everything else on Hyperdub, especially anything with the Spaceape (RIP), including this remix that completely leaves his vocals out but is also great.

Definitely NOT a Charlie Parker tribute, apparently.. okay! Mingus Ah Um is a desert island record for me. I got into Mingus through the rite of passage of browsing my parents’ records. Between my mother’s impressive Grace Jones collection and my deadhead dad’s weird hippy music (yes to Zappa, no to Little Feat, and so on), I found this record and spent a few years as a teenage jazzhole.

Providence, Rhode Island – my most cherished ex-homezone – has a legacy of heavy music. I don’t need to get into here. If you don’t know, ask around. I’m going to kill two birds with one stone with this one: the Body and Nine Inch Nails. I have a secret fantasy of NIN putting on a Mamma Mia!-type rock musical set to Pretty Hate Machine. It’s already so theatrical! This excellent cover goes for a different kind of melodrama courtesy of the Baja Blaster Boys and Thou.

RRLEW is a genius and I am blessed to be in her orbit. This is a video of a performance she did at Savage Weekend in 2017, which deserves a mention of its own. Savage Weekend is the brainchild of North Carolina’s number one horror buff Ryan “Secret Boyfriend” Martin – carrying on the No Fun Fest/INC torch but with more biscuits and (slightly) less guitars. Ryan also runs Hot Releases, one of the most essential no-genre labels in the USA/universe.