Events / Moby “My Secret Playlist”
Welcome to the first issue of Lost At E Minor’s new email publication — My Secret Playlist — a weekly peak inside the MP3 collections of some of our favourite musicians, bands, and producers, giving us a rundown on their eight favourite songs or albums right now. For the first issue, we have a wickedly talented and creative producer and DJ. It’s, wait for it, just a little longer, nearly there. Ok, it’s Moby, from some otherworldly universe
John Lee Hooker / I Hated The Day I Was Born
‘If I could sing, I’d love to sing like John Lee Hooker. Him or David Bowie. I don’t have a beautiful singing voice, so I really appreciate the deep and gravelly voice that Hooker possesses. I really like everything about John Lee Hooker’s music. I’m a big fan of old blues anyway, especially music from the pre-war era. It was so much simpler back in the day. You plugged in and you played. Studios are like instruments now. This song is one of my all-time favorites. “I love depressing music”: that was a quote in my high school yearbook’.
Pantera / Great Southern Trendkill
‘Not a week goes by when I don’t listen to a Pantera album. I grew up playing in punk rock crossover bands and I love the complete lack of subtlety about Pantera’s music; the precision of it. Pantera staked this territory early on and just got nastier as they went along. War Nerve has to have the nastiest lyrics ever written. If the Devil wrote lyrics, it would be War Nerve’.
Donna Summer / I Feel Love
‘This is the best electronic club song ever recorded. It breaks my heart to know that I’ll never write anything as good as I Feel Love. I always play it when I DJ, though not the remixes; the original version. I never play remixes. I saw Donna Summer perform once and I went backstage afterwards to say hello, terribly drunk and stumbling about. She was polite and friendly, but she must have been horrified at the sight of this scruffy drunk accosting her after her show. I found out later that she was a tea drinking Christian’.
The Gun Club / Miami
‘I listen to this album constantly. It’s one of those records that I play in my iTunes when riding the subways or walking around Manhattan. One of my great regrets in life is that I didn’t see The Gun Club play back in the day. During the early 1980s, I used to hang out at a bar in Connecticut called Pogos where I’d see so many amazing bands, but I missed these guys. Their first two albums are the best records ever made, in my opinion’.
TV On The Radio / Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
‘Over the past eight years there has been so much good music coming out of New York. And these guys are the best of them. Their approach to music is so original and unique. Staring at the Sun in particular is really, really distinctive. In terms of New York music, I can’t hear much difference between Manhattan and Brooklyn bands because there are no Manhattan bands! Very few musicians can afford to live in the city these days’.
Suicide / The Second Album
‘This is one of the best and most inspiring albums ever made. It comes with a bizarre passion and emotion, which is interesting as it’s just a duo with a drum machine and organ. I’m a huge Suicide fan and this album is deserving of all the love and attention it gets. I remember buying it as a teenager, working a series of odd job to earn enough money to spend on records. I even worked in a vinyl store once, though it didn’t stock the sort of music I was into and actually morphed into a drug den during my time there’.
Kudu / Death of the Party
‘I first saw Kudu play at a bar in New York, a tiny dance club that always has good music. The singer in this group actually sings on the first song (Ooh Yeah) on my new album. When I stumbled in on this particular night, I was floored! Kudu create mutant dance music, similar to Liquid Liquid. It’s very atmospheric. They would like to have a larger audience, but A&R people don’t know what to do with them’.
X / Los Angeles
‘I’ve always loved X. Their first three albums are amazing. I got to introduce them at the recent SXSW festival, which was one of the greatest moments of my life. I met Lou Reed there too, which was fun. The X show was so good! It brought tears to my eyes. I never got to see them play back in my youth, so this felt like karma was repaying me some, and more. For what, I’m not sure. But it was an unforgettable experience’.
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Tagged: dance music, electronic music, My Secret Playlist, New York, New York DJs
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Winnipeg Illustrator Kenneth Lavalee makes some lovely work. His delicate linework, muted colors and twisted tongue in cheek, drama-esque themes (all blood, obesity and creepy little lump people) are certainly worth a good look.
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