6. PloneFor Beginner Piano
An old mate of mine who lived in York but was from Sheffield, got me into a lot of the early Warp stuff before I moved to Sheffield. I loved ‘Track With No Name’ by producer and all-round genius and good egg, Rob Gordon, Sweet Exorcist’s ‘Testone’, Tricky Disco, etc, it reminded me a bit of what A Guy Called Gerald was doing over on the other side of the Snake Pass, that desolate Northern Detroit sound… The Sheffield thing had the added Bleep and distinctive bass which still sounds really fresh today. The Artificial Intelligence albums would be a regular late night sonic treat too, but the one album that I felt an immediate infinity to was Plone’s, For Beginner Piano. I love that record, it’s so uplifting, it reminds me of all the fun BBC Open University and schools TV theme music of the 70s and 80s from when I was growing up.
It’s always been a big subliminal influence on me, television music, probably more so than chart music or indie music – I love strong melody and hooks, I love analogue sounds and music that children wouldn’t feel patronised by.
