The Quietus - A new rock music and pop culture website

Baker's Dozen

Take It From The Man! Anton Newcombe's Favourite Tracks
Julian Marszalek , June 26th, 2014 10:45

With The Brian Jonestown Massacre's UK and Ireland tour in support of recent LP Revelation starting in Brighton on Saturday, the band's frontman shirks the album rundown request, opens up his DJ bag and gives Julian Marszalek a top 13 songs mixtape

Jackie_mittoo_1403794392_resize_460x400

Jackie Mittoo - 'Ghetto Organ'

Jackie Mittoo was in The Skatalites and all that stuff and they were one of the major ska bands so I take it he was playing on everybody's sessions because he was phenomenal. But that track - that's another one of those things, see? Growing up in L.A. there's this radio station called KEXP or whatever, and at weekends they had this full-on Jamaican lady just cutting into the tracks going, "Isn't this a beautiful day?" as the music was going "boom-boom-boom". And she was talking in and out and hitting the faders for like 20 minutes and playing stuff. But of all the years that I've sat out there listening to stuff on the beach fanatically and enjoying that music, the Caribbean stuff, I'd never, ever heard that song before.

The music was popular enough in L.A. to have a four-hour show dedicated to it but it wasn't as big as it was in the UK. But I'd never heard that track and just ran across it on YouTube and I was like, "This is so cool, man!" I just love turning this up full blast. And then I was like, "I have to find this vinyl" and I found it in Rough Trade in London. It was the last copy and I was very pleased.

In Berlin it's weird with all these guys who have clubs and stuff where I'm DJing because they're not into this kind of music so much, I don't think, but I'll just play it anyways.