Which albums had the biggest impact on you?

[16BitBear]

Wow, so many great albums and artists have already been mentioned that so influenced me and my music. Let me see if I can think of a few not mentioned yet that were equally as influential.

Rachmaninoff is one of the reasons I became a classical pianist. My father first played me this piano concerto when I was but a wee lad. I studied classically through college and finally got to play this gorgeous piece.



First time I heard this I knew I loved synths and drum machines. I then went to Germany as an exchange student and discovered Jarre, Kraftwerk, Oldfield, and so many others.



I had fallen in love with the Passion soundtrack by Gabriel and began searching for some of the artists. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was one of the first I found. I was blown away by his passion and that voice.



I was already into 'electronic music' at this point - Berlin School, Detroit Techno, Hip Hop & electro, 80's new wave, etc. - but this was something different indeed. I played this album over and over and over. It took me and my music in so many new and interesting directions.

[EsotericSound]

1. Duran Duran (self-titled first album) - As a child, this was my first exposure to the world of New Romantics and New Wave. it cemented my long term interest in electronic music.

2. Depeche Mode (Violator): The first album that got me interested in learning how to program synths. However, growing up poor, I wouldn't be able to learn how until 1998.

3. Tool (Undertow): While I was in audio engineering school in the early 90s, I studied this album a lot to learn how to get that kick drum sound.

4. Cocteau Twins (Echoes in a Shallow Bay/Tiny Dynamite): This started my love affair with Shoegaze, and gave me some ideas about how to create textures in music.

5. The Cure (Pornography): In conjunction with Cocteau Twins, this album taught me about adding darkness to textures.

6. Mark Snow (X-Files TV soundtrack): This album taught me a lot about ambiance and mood.

[FGL]

1. Talking Heads - Fear of Music

2. Pere Ubu - Datapanik in the Year Zero

3. Led zeppelin - The Song Remains the same

4. Hüsker Dü - Zen Arcarde

5. Wire - Chairs Missing

[Superology]

1. Need for Speed - High Stakes Soundtrack (1999)
2. The Prodigy - The Fat of the Land (1997)
3. Junkie XL - Saturday Teenage Kick (1997)
4. The Crystal Method - Vegas (1997)
5. The Chemical Brothers - Exit Planet Dust (1995)
6. Fatboy Slim - Better Living Through Chemistry (1996)
7. Propellerheads - Decksandrumsandrockandroll (1998)

[dvdrtldg]

1. Hank Williams: 40 Greatest Hits. I'm a bit picky when it comes to country & western, there's a lot of it I can't stand. But Hank Williams is a god. If you're into pop music and appreciate the art of the perfect 3-minute 3-chord song, Hank just banged them out one after the other after the other - before Elvis, before The Beatles. He was one of *the* great rhythm guitarists as well

2. The Velvet Underground: White Light/White Heat. Hard to say anything about this album that hasn't already been said. It's got Sister Ray on it, which imo is the single greatest rock & roll song ever recorded

3. Kraftwerk: Trans Europe Express. My second-favourite Kraftwerk album, I enjoy listening to the first one (the red traffic cone album) a little more, but this one probably had a greater impact on me overall, as it was my gateway drug to EDM

4. The Residents: Meet the Residents. Hoy shit, was I into The Residents. Even before I heard their music, I used to haunt the import record stores in town and pore over their shrink-wrapped covers. There was something about the graphics, the mysterious image, the fact that they performed incognito and nobody knew who they were, the sly sense of humour, it all just really grabbed me. The first album I bought was Duck Stab/Buster and Glen, I was primed for it to blow my mind, and it did, with is twisted bizarre pop and its sinister atmospheres. Then I collected all the others, up to the Commercial Album (I thought they lost their way a bit after 1980). I still love their work from the 1970s, but Meet the Residents is the one that's stayed with me, it's surprising and berserk and hilarious and terrifying and just a master class in how you can push musical boundaries to the edge of sanity while still remaining tuneful and even catchy

5. Throbbing Gristle: DOA. If the ethos of punk was that you don't have to have formal musical training to produce something interesting, then TG were the quintessential punk band. I guess in retrospect they were more like some sort of dadaist provocateur art project posing as a band than an actual band, but their first couple of albums still pack a legitimate musical punch. The first one, Second Annual Report, is amazing but it's a tough listen and you have to be in the mood for some punishment - squalling, blistering noise, mostly improvised live, that sounds like it was recorded on a dictaphone. But DOA has a more sophisticated approach to composition & sound (although it still has moments that will strip the paint off your walls if played loud), and it's a masterpiece. This album got me into drone, as well as pointing me in the direction of a bunch of other experimental UK artists - Nurse With Wound, Whitehouse, zoviet-france, Nocturnal Emissions, Cabaret Voltaire - that completely upended my ideas of what music could or should be

[Neo]

Random

Neo Giovanni Random Faves.jpg (233.2 KiB) Viewed 283 times

[Popey]

1. Street sounds electro albums. First time I heard of hip hop etc and breakdancing. Was completely different to the music I heard on top of the pops and loved the early pioneers like grandmaster flash and Melle Mel.

2. Xl recordings chapter 2. First time I heard the prodigy but also contained one of my favourite rave tracks t99 anaesthesia. Was getting into early rave and this solidified my love of this new style.

3. Roni size - new form album. I was already into DNB but this album just dropped different for me. Really jazzy DNB and brown paper bag is still a particular fave of mine.

4. Hybrid - wide angle. breakbeats with a cinematic edge. One of my favourite albums

5. Sasha - Airdrawndagger. Had never heard of him but he gave me a CD promo of this when he played at a event my friend ran. The album that made me listen to a lot more house/Progressive house/trance etc and start to really enjoy this style alongside DNB.

[huggermugger]

A few of many...