It’s been a week revisiting my teenage vinyl collection and soaking in their still warm goodness. So much of this stuff turned me on to what “music” could be, in all it’s wonderful variation and opposition.

1. Caberet Voltaire - “2×45″. This must be heard on vinyl. I bought this in Hong Kong when I was a teenager after being turned onto to the Cabs through their “Drinking Gasoline” ep (a later release) and wonderful accompanying videos. I didn’t expect this album at all. Truly has a sound of it’s own, like a kind of ether infused disco somewhere in a war-zone. “Yashar” is shifting to say the least. One of the pivotal bands in my musical upbringing.
2. Severed Heads - “Come Visit the Big Bigot” (Buy at iTunes). This album rarely left my turntable an for me was the pivotal severed heads album in a strange way. For me it was the ultimate marriage of their surreal fever induced micro madness and something akin to pop music. But it was a take on pop music that only they could get anywhere near. The sound was dense yet discreet, broad yet close. I stand by the statement that this album contains on of the best bass lines in history on the track “Come Visit The Big Bigot” - this track still sends chills up my spine. Go to http://www.sevcom.com/item-bigot.html and listen then buy this album. Definitely an album that made me realise the edges of style and structure in music are invisible.
3. Joy Division - “Unknown Pleasures” (Buy at iTunes). Sure everyone that’s “cool” has this in their list, but this truly had an impact on me as a teenager. Music so stark but so full and ready to break at the same time. I will never lose the experience of camping in North West Australia as a teen, walking down a dirt track surrounded by the Australian bush listening to “Unknown Pleasures” on my walkman. It is truly uncanny how much that album speaks of the rich and inviting yet ultimately foreign nature of that landscape to me. A truly sublime moment.

Posted on Thursday, January 25th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
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