5. The SugarcubesLife’s Too Good
I think there’s something about the first time you hear a record and it just shocks the shit out of you. It was such a strange record but so melodic and that’s something I was really craving. I didn’t even realise how badly I’d been craving it. You had Björk’s incredibly powerful, melodic voice and the ugly sounds she wasn’t afraid to make with it juxtaposed with Einar’s sing-talking – it was so unusual. I’d never heard anything like it. There was something so beautiful about the poetry too because English was a second language for them, and seeing poetry in English written by someone who spoke Icelandic first – it just gave poetry a whole new beauty that I’d never seen before.
Where were you based when you first heard it?
Takoma, Washington. So, it was a bolt out of the blue. Hearing these strange sounds, people playing with toys, it was brand new at the time. They totally, successfully melded analogue style instrumentation with new technology and synthesisers. Y’know, they were an art project. They didn’t have this preconceived idea of what it should be. It was off the hook. It was eye-opening in the best way. And don’t get me wrong, I love Björk as a solo artist too. She’s one of my favourite musicians and producers out there.
