4. Art Ensemble of ChicagoChi-Congo
Another big influence on record because I never got to see them live. There are just so many [Art Ensemble] records, and each one’s different, but with them it’s the same people all the time, unlike the Arkestra. They could cover so much ground and they could all be playing different instruments so well and so fearlessly, and there are all these percussive elements. This is one of the early ones after Famoudou Don Moye joined and added even more percussion. He’s such a great drummer. It’s a really rip-roaring, fierce record at times. I could have picked one of 10 other Art Ensemble records, but this has always been a favourite of theirs. I’ve listened to it so much.
I guess all these records connect to a certain age I was when I heard it, or a certain place I was at. With this I was probably 19 or 20, and at the same time listening to a lot of noise music: super high energy, very loud. I just wanted maximum intensity out of things. Chi-Congo has a lot of that high energy. Maybe somebody might call it chaotic, but I just thought it was the most beautiful music.
