11. Colin StetsonNew History Warfare Vol 2: Judges
I was probably about 20 or 21 when this record came into my life. I don’t remember how I found it, actually. It was this visceral experience the first time I heard it, and I remember being in art school and listening to it over and over. This was when I was being very experimental in life and trying loads of things.
First of all, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone play the saxophone like that. It feels like he’s wrestling with the fucking thing, you know? The circular breath thing as well is so mesmerising. I saw him live a couple times and you just get lost in the flow of it. The rhythm sounds so human, which is something that’s very hard to do with electronic music. The timing is irregular, but it’s flowing. It opens up the mind.
How do you translate this traumatic transcendence and this Adonis-like beauty? How do you add that edginess and that beauty together? The rawness, the physicality, the brutal force of it all and being delicate, beautiful at the same time – it’s a big goal for me as a musician.
