1. Aphex TwinSyro
This is a big one. I grew up on Aphex Twin: his music soundtracked my formative years in college and right after. But beyond that basic exposure, I love how he’s always been able to manage this exciting confluence between the character of the rhythms – really infectious grooves and stunning beat structures – along with a sad or romantic melodic structure over the top. That’s probably the thing that has influenced me most from his music across the board.
I Care Because You Do is one of those albums that makes you think you could never enjoy something more from that artist. But when Syro came out, that feeling switched over from the first minute. It’s my favourite work that he’s done. It has also inspired me to do something much more reliant on the percussive aspects of the saxophone and the grooves that come from that. In fact most of the songs on my new album are more in line with that rhythmic, minimalist character of a lot of ’90s electronica.
But if you talk to almost anyone in music for long enough, you’re going to find out that Aphex Twin is an influence of theirs. It’s accessible across genres to a degree that not much else in that field is.
