2. Robert WyattRock Bottom
Rock Bottom is the best, an incredible record. I was in my early twenties and there was another band that I really liked, an experimental band from the 90s called The Shadow Ring. The guy in that band made me a mixtape and he put a song on it from Rock Bottom. I was like, ‘What is this other-earthly alien song?’ I found the record and I was like, this is Robert Wyatt from Soft Machine!
I was a fan of Soft Machine and his drumming, but he had fallen out of a window and became a paraplegic. Rock Bottom was his first record that he made after he couldn’t play the drums. You can just hear that weird soul-searching sadness and the innovation, he’s such a great talent. That record is so tragic and beautiful. A masterpiece. I listen to this one a lot in the car. With that record I can just put it on whenever and be stoked, but it is very sad. You’ve got to be in a certain mood to go there – very introspective, maybe a little lethargic. And also maybe to show somebody else how good it is.
