The Quietus - A new rock music and pop culture website

Baker's Dozen

Angel On My Shoulder: Serafina Steer’s Baker’s Dozen
Stephanie Phillips , January 26th, 2022 14:38

From a song so good she almost forgot her shopping, to the iconoclastic brilliance of Alice Coltrane, Bas Jan’s Serafina Steer guides Stephanie Phillips through thirteen songs and albums that have inspired her

Ssbd13_1643045453_resize_460x400

Psychic TV – Beyond Thee Infinite Beat

I'm not sure if Genesis P-Orridge was the nicest person. I felt conflicted about putting it on, but it's a group of people. I really liked the remixes. I enjoy that they kind of invented – or claimed – even that. The fact they claimed to invent a whole genre after they'd invented industrial with Throbbing Gristle, but then acid house with this. Half the remixes are done by people associated with the band and I enjoy that sense of playfulness around the industry or what things are.

Sometimes I like to exercise to it. They've also got some really nice songs. I enjoy the contrast of quite seedy or dark imagery, but then some of the songs are really not that. There's almost a folkiness to it. I just enjoy the sense of personal authority as an artist that like, yeah we're going to do this and no one can stop us.

To all intents and purposes Bas Jan did sort of break up before the last record came out and then other people joined in. I did a remix album of the tracks. Loads of friends around the band did reworkings of it, and we did a tape of that and that was really inspired by this record.