The Quietus - A new rock music and pop culture website

Baker's Dozen

How Do I Listen To This? Tyondai Braxton's Favourite LPs
Lottie Brazier , March 20th, 2017 13:05

As he prepares to to play London's Convergence Festival and other UK venues, Tyondai Braxton guides Lottie Brazier through 13 key records, from Brian Eno to Mark Fell, Autechre and Florian Hecker

Ennio_morricone_-_once_upon_a_time_in_the_west_1490013628_resize_460x400

Ennio Morricone - Once Upon A Time In The West
Like I mentioned I love the desert. I have a video somewhere of my wife and I listening to this record driving in Joshua Tree. It really does sound like how it looks. To be honest, I knew of the soundtrack long before I saw the film. And that's how it is for me with a lot of Morricone scores. I went through a deep Morricone phase in my twenties, and just any soundtrack he ever did I bought. The movie's already there – you can see it. And I bet he would agree too – a lot of his music is far more cinematic than the films he's actually scored. He has this intense visual element to his music which is always exciting to hear. So that record in particular, I remember I first heard it in my twenties and it really blew my mind. The production – the fact that it is so produced – sure it's a recording from the 60s or something. But it is a studio album. So you hear him getting really great sounding recordings in some old-school microphone (old-school now). Really getting such a rich, beautiful sound. And then you get that fuzz effect, which is just quintessential Morricone sound, probably because of this record.