Baker's Dozen

Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives

12. PortisheadDummy

It’s everything that I love about music. It’s hip hop, trip hop, acid jazz, alternative… I don’t want to call it R n B, but there’s some soul in there. Very dark and tortured sounding soul, but soul nonetheless. It’s fusion, is what it is. What I liked most about rock music, besides the music I make, is when I don’t understand what they’re talking about. Geoff Barrow… See, I’ve never seen Geoff Barrow. I don’t know how he looks, although he probably doesn’t look like he’s supposed to be making this kind of music. I heard stories about it, how they’d record certain stuff to wax and then sample it. Just going through a lot of shit to make the record. It’s just so grand, and you think of the artist – who gave them the blank cheque to go to that extreme!? Someone could have easily rapped on all of that stuff. It sounds almost like Wu Tang production, something RZA did. I can hear rhyming over it, but Beth Gibbons has this pixie-kind of vocal, with that ethereal and enchanted kind of thing. It’s awesome.

Selected in other Baker’s Dozens: Gazelle Twin, Metronomy, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Rat Scabies, Agnes Obel, ,
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