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Baker's Dozen

A Gorgeous Haunting: Tom Ravenscroft's Favourite Records
Ben Graham , August 23rd, 2023 09:06

From 90s grunge and hip hop to contemporary ambient electronica, DJ Tom Ravenscroft tells Ben Graham about the 13 albums that give him the most listening pleasure, and developing his own musical interest away from the influence of his dad, the late John Peel. Tom Ravenscroft image courtesy of the BBC.

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Justin Walter – Unseen Forces
This is another one like the Dylan Henner record, where I’ll buy copies of it everywhere I find it for fear that I might not have a copy. I think he only made one other album and then he made this record. I regularly go online just to check in, to see if he's done anything. He hasn't done anything since this and I find it slightly infuriating, but at the same time I think there's a part of me that doesn't want him to make another record, because this one is such a perfect weird thing. Again, it's just a beautiful sort of ambient thing. I guess it's similar to the Dylan Henner one in that it’s almost a computer singing. He uses one of these EVI valve instrument things which I think are very obscure, hard-to-find 1970s wind-controlled analogue synths and they look insane. I don't think many people have used them. I've tried to find one ever since. But as a result, it just has this otherworldly feel to it. It feels like it's come from another planet. I think he toured with Colin Stetson for a long time. I think he was his trumpet player, so he's come at it obviously being a fabulous trumpeter, but then somehow, he allowed this bizarre electronic instrument into his soul. I can tell that the album was mostly improvised and then edited up into sections, but it's quite a strange record. It really talks to my soul. I listen to it a lot. There are certain records which, even though they were released a long time ago, I still listen to monthly, almost like a physical need, to rejuvenate myself with this unseen force. But it's a whole world within this record. It’s all-consuming.