Like Spinning Discs #3: Local Natives
In this, the thrid edition of Like Spinning Discs, we got Darryl Marsden to have a quick chat with Local Natives while they were taking a break from their current run on the NME Radar Tour to ask them about their most treasured LPs.
If you could only take 5 LP's or EP's into a nuclear bunker to listen to as we all slowly blow each other up, which would you choose and why?
Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
This is my favorite album of all time. I can remember listening to it for the first time driving home from the record shop. It was raining and I sat in the driveway letting it play all the way through. There's just something mystical about the recording, the live energy of the musicians, the improvisation the arrangements, and the plaintive and passionate vocal performances. I've listened to it innumerable times since high school and every time I do, I'm brought back to that time I first heard it. (Ryan Hahn)
The Zombies - Odessey & Oracle
Like most people, I’d heard “Time of the Season” plenty of times growing up, mostly thanks to oldies radio stations. One day in high school I remember hearing it suddenly as if for the first time. The iconic bass line, the handclap “ahh”, the unique vocal arrangement, that ridiculously great organ solo – all of it struck me like some big epiphany. I was at the time going through that phase everyone has with the Beatles, obsessing over their entire catalog. But now here was this band, the Zombies, who just under my nose my whole life, had quietly created an album as brilliant as any by the Beatles; Odessey & Oracle The Zombies’ use of vocal harmony has had an enormous impact on our band’s sound. Theirs is dynamic and layered, beautiful and orchestral but never cheesy sounding. The Zombies broke up before the album was even released, and while in my mind it sits duly next to Sgt. Pepper’s, it saddens me that this masterpiece album will remain tragically underappreciated on a wider scale. (Ryan Hahn)
Andrew Bird- Armchair Apocrypha
This album totally killed me. Andrew Bird is talented enough to bring any aspiring musician immediately to tears. Armchair Apocrypha cemented my love for string arrangements and eccentricity in pop music. Soaring violin leads and Bird’s signature hummingbird fast warble of a whistle fill the gaps between his effortlessly flowing vocal melodies. If you ever see Andrew Bird perform live, you’ll notice that he almost never sings the same melody as what is on his record. He just sings, it would seem, whatever comes into his head at the moment. The remarkable thing is that each melody seems as elegant and wonderfully conceived as the next. That Bird may be the type of musical genius constrained by his ability to write too many good melodies is supported by rumors that he is fanatically fickle about the final version of his studio recordings. He reportedly recorded up to seven different versions of certain tracks while recording Armchair Apocrypha. Whatever his process, the result is that the record is full of enough amazing melodies that its kept me busy listening for a couple years now. (Taylor Rice)
Sufjan Stevens- Illinios
Sufjan’s orchestral composition, quirky story-teller lyrics, and fluttery vocals grabbed me immediately as something innovative and unique. I had listened to Michigan and the more stripped down Seven Swans, but I regard Illinois as the crown jewel of Sufjan’s recording efforts. What I love so much about the songwriting is Sufjan Stevens’ complex layering of improvised and thematic lines over a very simple structure. Illinois helped me determine that I view good songwriting as making a song simple and relatable also moving and unique. (Taylor Rice)
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
I was listening to KCRW in Los Angeles and this song played that floored me. The production was so diverse and the song had so many emotional layers; it really grabbed me. I waited for three more tracks until the song-set was over and he said the song was called "Poor Places" by Wilco. I looked it up online and saw it was off of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. After getting the album it took me a bit to really understand the genius and magic behind it all. The songs, the tones, the parts, everything is just so pleasing to the ear. The production is raw and natural, as true and honest as the words that are accompanying it. Melodies and song-structures have always come fairly easy to me, but I have a lot of trouble getting the right words together to say what I want. That's what got me the most about this album; I think YHF was the first album that I really invested an interest into what was being said. "Ashes Of American Flags" has one of the greatest lines I've ever heard: "All my lies are always wishes/ I know I would die if I could come back new". It just speaks volumes. A man so desperate to start again he would endure death to do it. It's as honest as it gets; these songs have no bull-shit whatsoever. I have to believe that's why the album did so well and why it is so perfect to me. You just don't find records like that everyday, and maybe that's why they rise to the surface and demand to be heard. (Kelcey Ayer)
[SPOTIFY] Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
[SPOTIFY] The Zombies - Odessey & Oracle
[SPOTIFY] Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise
[SPOTIFY] Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
If you could only take 5 LP's or EP's into a nuclear bunker to listen to as we all slowly blow each other up, which would you choose and why?
Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
This is my favorite album of all time. I can remember listening to it for the first time driving home from the record shop. It was raining and I sat in the driveway letting it play all the way through. There's just something mystical about the recording, the live energy of the musicians, the improvisation the arrangements, and the plaintive and passionate vocal performances. I've listened to it innumerable times since high school and every time I do, I'm brought back to that time I first heard it. (Ryan Hahn)
The Zombies - Odessey & Oracle
Like most people, I’d heard “Time of the Season” plenty of times growing up, mostly thanks to oldies radio stations. One day in high school I remember hearing it suddenly as if for the first time. The iconic bass line, the handclap “ahh”, the unique vocal arrangement, that ridiculously great organ solo – all of it struck me like some big epiphany. I was at the time going through that phase everyone has with the Beatles, obsessing over their entire catalog. But now here was this band, the Zombies, who just under my nose my whole life, had quietly created an album as brilliant as any by the Beatles; Odessey & Oracle The Zombies’ use of vocal harmony has had an enormous impact on our band’s sound. Theirs is dynamic and layered, beautiful and orchestral but never cheesy sounding. The Zombies broke up before the album was even released, and while in my mind it sits duly next to Sgt. Pepper’s, it saddens me that this masterpiece album will remain tragically underappreciated on a wider scale. (Ryan Hahn)
Andrew Bird- Armchair Apocrypha
This album totally killed me. Andrew Bird is talented enough to bring any aspiring musician immediately to tears. Armchair Apocrypha cemented my love for string arrangements and eccentricity in pop music. Soaring violin leads and Bird’s signature hummingbird fast warble of a whistle fill the gaps between his effortlessly flowing vocal melodies. If you ever see Andrew Bird perform live, you’ll notice that he almost never sings the same melody as what is on his record. He just sings, it would seem, whatever comes into his head at the moment. The remarkable thing is that each melody seems as elegant and wonderfully conceived as the next. That Bird may be the type of musical genius constrained by his ability to write too many good melodies is supported by rumors that he is fanatically fickle about the final version of his studio recordings. He reportedly recorded up to seven different versions of certain tracks while recording Armchair Apocrypha. Whatever his process, the result is that the record is full of enough amazing melodies that its kept me busy listening for a couple years now. (Taylor Rice)
Sufjan Stevens- Illinios
Sufjan’s orchestral composition, quirky story-teller lyrics, and fluttery vocals grabbed me immediately as something innovative and unique. I had listened to Michigan and the more stripped down Seven Swans, but I regard Illinois as the crown jewel of Sufjan’s recording efforts. What I love so much about the songwriting is Sufjan Stevens’ complex layering of improvised and thematic lines over a very simple structure. Illinois helped me determine that I view good songwriting as making a song simple and relatable also moving and unique. (Taylor Rice)
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
I was listening to KCRW in Los Angeles and this song played that floored me. The production was so diverse and the song had so many emotional layers; it really grabbed me. I waited for three more tracks until the song-set was over and he said the song was called "Poor Places" by Wilco. I looked it up online and saw it was off of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. After getting the album it took me a bit to really understand the genius and magic behind it all. The songs, the tones, the parts, everything is just so pleasing to the ear. The production is raw and natural, as true and honest as the words that are accompanying it. Melodies and song-structures have always come fairly easy to me, but I have a lot of trouble getting the right words together to say what I want. That's what got me the most about this album; I think YHF was the first album that I really invested an interest into what was being said. "Ashes Of American Flags" has one of the greatest lines I've ever heard: "All my lies are always wishes/ I know I would die if I could come back new". It just speaks volumes. A man so desperate to start again he would endure death to do it. It's as honest as it gets; these songs have no bull-shit whatsoever. I have to believe that's why the album did so well and why it is so perfect to me. You just don't find records like that everyday, and maybe that's why they rise to the surface and demand to be heard. (Kelcey Ayer)
[SPOTIFY] Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
[SPOTIFY] The Zombies - Odessey & Oracle
[SPOTIFY] Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise
[SPOTIFY] Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
posted by Liam Haynes at 9:58 PM
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