What is a defining album? Not necessarily the best, or the ones which still get played the most - but the ones which are best representative of my music listenting life, habits and tastes. Presented is a list of such albums in roughly chronological order.
Oasis - (What's The Story) Morning Glory?
Oasis or Blur? Blur or Oasis? The north/south divide recast into a mid-90's Britpop debate. Being a dyed-in-the-wool Northerner, there was only one winner. As a young lad of around 10 or 11, with only a Sony Walkman to hand, I had this album taped from a friend(!), which I probably wore out over the years. Listening to any one of those songs now (in truth, any from their first three albums) takes me back to those days.
Moby - Play
In 2000/2001, along came a short, bald headed American, whose song 'Porcelain' soundtracked everything that moved on television. Having eventually found out who wrote the song, I got the album, which got played to death, and a chunk of the back catalogue - albums and Play-era singles. Also this got me on a more electronic stream - it coincided with listening to stuff like Chemical Brothers (the earlier years were significantly better), Prodigy, early Kosheen, Rob Dougan (who remixed 'Porcelain' on one of those singles), Hybrid (another remixer). Looking back, the second half of 'Play' is pretty dreadful (I don't think I listened to it much even then), with the exception of the delightful 'Everloving', but this remains an important album in my listening history.
Athlete - Tourist / Vehicles & Animals
Alright, two albums is cheating slightly. This is the band that wrote the song 'You Got The Style', one of those songs that I would hear, like, but forget to follow up (I wasn't that 'into' music back in 2003, when V&A was released). By early 2005, I was a more regular radio listener (yes, mainstream Radio 1 was my main source of 'new music' back in those days), when Athlete returned with a gentle new single, 'Wires'. Interest piqued, album(s) bought, and (at the band's mainstream heights) they provided me with my first two gig experiences at Blackpool and outdoors at Somerset House, London on a perfect August evening.
Oh, and I can't forget the message board, too. Under the alias (of sorts) 'danny1234567890' I racked up hundreds of posts over a number of years, discovering new music, talking to like-minded souls and culminating in an uber 'boardie meet-up' at a gig at London Koko in July 2007.
While their albums receive much fewer outings these days, I cannot understate the importance of this band as a 'turning point' in my musical habits.
Sigur Rós - Takk...
The album which introduced the band to the world (including me) and introduced me to the genre of 'post rock'. Post rock is a bizzare term - according to Wikipedia (of course), it refers to the use of rock instruments for non-rock purposes. The distinction blurs somewhat as it comes into contact with its siblings math and prog, but none-the-less this album got me started on a whole new strand of music which forms the backbone my musical tastes these days. 65daysofstatic, Explosions in the Sky, Youthmovies, iLiKETRAiNS, to name but a few. Another artist whose music doesn't exactly dominate my Last.fm charts, but they got me started on the post rock theme and for that I am thankful. Plus it features 'Hoppípolla', surely one of the most simply wonderful and uplifting songs of the decade, capable of soundtracking sweeping landscapes and FA Cup finals with unwavering beauty.
Frank Turner - Sleep Is For The Week
Back in my first year in Oxford, I ventured out on one of the gig/clubnights offered by Oxford's IMSoc (Indie Music Society), not entirely sure what to expect. What I didn't expect, certainly, was to be introduced to a long-haired, bearded ex-punk-rocker-turned-folkie, whose witty acoustic strums got me absolutely and completely hooked from the start. I immediately bought his demo CD from the man himself - a CDR in a plain white paper sleeve, with a complimentary badge (natch!). Every commercial CD release since resides in my collection, and after something like 7 (or possibly 8) gigs in total over the past three years or so, Frank still sits at the top of my all-time Last.fm artist charts.
¡Forward, Russia! - Give Me A Wall
This is a tricky one. The album itself is a tough listen at first; abrasive, acerbic and to be honest, it took me a while to 'get in to it'. I saw them live, but in the phase when I was new to the album and didn't really know the songs very well. Actually, the reason this is included in this list is not becuase of the album itself (although, when I began to appreciate it, it was barely off my iPod for ages) but because of the unprecedented number of bands I got into thanks to them. The reason is the Leeds-based record label they founded called Dance To The Radio, whose dirt-cheap compilations contained songs from many bands and artists I subsequently got into - from the burgeoning Leeds scene and elsewhere. Sky Larkin, Grammatics, iLiKETRAiNS and This Et Al were the main bands that I liked from those CDs, but the interest in Leeds music that followed, or the bands I saw through wanting to see the aforementioned, caused the tree to branch out much further. Los Campesinos!, Johnny Foreigner, Pulled Apart By Horses, Wintermute, Napoleon IIIrd, I Was A Cub Scout, Rolo Tomassi. All these names (and probably more besides) whose music I have enjoyed, live and on record, can all be traced back to that inital interest in ¡F,R!.
For the record, here's what Last.fm's 'Paste Your Taste' button has to offer:
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I'm into indie, post-rock, alternative, british and math rock, including:
Frank Turner, Los Campesinos!, Sky Larkin, ¡Forward, Russia!, 65daysofstatic, iLiKETRAiNS, Johnny Foreigner, Athlete, British Sea Power, Grammatics, Sigur Rós, Youthmovies, Snow Patrol, Editors, Iain Archer, Maybeshewill, Oversol, Muse, Fell City Girl, This Et Al, Kubichek!, Secret Machines, Upcdowncleftcrightcabc+start, Dive Dive, We Are Scientists, Brand New, Morning Runner, I Was a Cub Scout, Napoleon IIIrd, Frightened Rabbit, Foals, Tired Irie, Coldplay, Embrace, Explosions in the Sky, Radiohead, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Silversun Pickups, Minnaars, The Longcut, Holly Throsby, Captain, Wintermute, Youthmovie Soundtrack Strategies, The Twilight Sad, Arctic Monkeys, Data.select.party, At the Drive-In, Laura Groves, Broken Social Scene.
Check out my music taste: http://www.last.fm/user/danny1234567890
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