The Modern Saints: Shackleton’s Favourite Albums | Page 6 of 14 | The Quietus

Baker's Dozen

Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives

5. Terry RileySongs For The Ten Voices Of The Two Prophets

I remember hearing Terry Riley for the first time at a friend’s house when I went over just for a couple of drinks, and he had the record playing in the background. It was that Persian Surgery Dervishes album. Anyway I just found myself trancing out to it so badly, I had no idea what I was hearing at all. I wasn’t even sure that I liked it immediately as it was so strange to me but it was really intriguing. I guess it’s partly to do with the tuning system he was using that made it so odd to my ear at the time but, whatever it was, it really got my interest. Nowadays, sometimes there’s nothing else that will do apart from Terry Riley. It feels like this music hits a spot for me that no one else is really able to reach. It’s got everything. He tends to get put in with the minimalists or whatever but I think he has his own genre and I just find it completely joyous. I chose this record though as I love his classical Indian vocal style on it which is really unusual but feels straight from the heart. I really respect him for putting it out there. I went to Amsterdam a few years back for a concert he was doing with Indian classical musicians as well and it was brilliant. After that I was lucky enough to meet the bloke here in Berlin and I even asked him to autograph some of my records of his as I am such a fanboy. I am not sure I have ever asked for an autograph from anyone else before except for the legendary pun-telling champion comedian Tim Vine who gave me a signed polaroid photo of a popadom for some reason.  

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