11. Owen PallettHeartland
This is a record I love so much. I remember the first night that I heard this I put it on and I was working late on some visual stuff and I left it on for about seven hours and I just didn’t want to change it, and I had it on random shuffle so it just kept coming up with surprises. Track two [‘Keep The Dog Quiet’] starts with the oddest note that any song could start with. It really is an off note. The main thing about this album is that I’d never heard anything remotely like it – when I heard it I just thought that it was really one of a kind. Still is, actually. This harmonic danger that he puts himself in, of just creating a world that is sonically so tense or dangerous. It’s the opposite of secure or comforting but it’s not the dangerous of someone like Boulez where, to me, it’s sort of contrived danger – "Ooh, wouldn’t it be original to put this like this?" It’s not that. It’s got something that’s more intuitive and organic than that. It’s having a taste for the other side and a feeling of, "Wouldn’t it be nice to be in a place like that?" I love the darkness of it.
