Another Wardrobe In My Head: Karl Hyde’s Favourite Albums | Page 2 of 14 | The Quietus

Baker's Dozen

Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives

1. James BlakeJames Blake

It’s astonishing; one of those soundscape albums where the songs barely hold together, but somehow they do, so beautifully and so delicately. They’re like hymns, all of them. There’s a very spiritual quality to the chord sequences, straight from the church. It’s worshipful and soulful. In some ways it relates to Talk Talk’s last works. But they have that dark, dubstep feel to them as well. I just love the way he deconstructs songs. After I’d bought the album, it was on in a people carrier when we were being driven to a festival somewhere, and everybody was saying, "this is really dreary", but I had to pipe up and say, "actually it’s one of my favourite albums at the moment so can we leave it on?" I felt connected to it. I thought, "this isn’t dreary; it’s making me feel uplifted." I like what he does. I like anyone who takes songs and challenges the notion of song structures.

Deconstructing songs is what Underworld have made a career of.

It’s what we started off doing, definitely.

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