A Baker's Dozen: Steve Vai's 13 Favourite Albums Revealed | Page 12 of 14 | The Quietus

Baker's Dozen

Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives

11.

Skrillex – Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites

I always like when I hear something that I think is trend–setting. I believe that he’s inspired. I’m listening with the same ears that I listen to Stravinsky, Ligeti and Zappa with. What I’m hearing is someone with the ability to layer timbres and sounds on an electronic field in the same way that Stravinsky did as an orchestrator. My kids come home with all this dubstep stuff and I go to raves occasionally –not too much but I’ve been to a few, and a lot of that music is emulating everything else that’s around and it’s really good but it becomes insipid because it lacks a certain depth of vision. But listening to Skrillex I hear the layered quality of it although it isn’t exactly my favorite style of music. Things have dynamics, things have places bearing in mind what’s going on around them so that it doesn’t all just sound like a mess and I’m very impressed with it.

Selected in other Baker’s Dozens: Lord Spikeheart, Tom Ravenscroft
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