6. Nobukazu TakemuraScope
Again this is another one I got into in high school, I still listen to a lot of stuff I got into in high school. I guess everybody does! So a bunch of friends of mine went to see Tortoise in New York in like ninth or tenth grade. I didn’t get to go to the show, but Nobukazu Takemura opened up, and somebody got the CD. We all used to burn CDs for each other and had our own little miniature piracy ring. So I got that CD and when I first listened to it, it didn’t make any sense to me at all. It’s kind of like Trout Mask Replica – the first time I heard that I just totally didn’t get it. "The neural network in my brain does not support this software." But I just kept listening to it, and on the school bus one day it just really clicked in my head and I thought, "Oh fuck, this is amazing." Just something shifted; the neural network finally grew and I was able to process the software. And again, I just had no idea how it was made, and then also because I didn’t even go to the show, I had no idea what it even looked like! What does it look like when this guy does this live? It was completely mystifying to me. And I still put it on sometimes. I had a teacher in high school who I was very close with, and I played it for her and I remember she really liked it. I really looked up to her and it was one of these validating moments. This older person that I look up to is into what I’m into also. It was one of those small victories.
