Everyone has those artists, songs or albums that opened up their minds a little bit. You know, when someone says ‘I never really listened to hip hop, but then I heard De La Soul,’ or, ‘I don’t like country music, except for Johnny Cash,’ or, ‘you won’t catch me listening to disco … unless it’s the Bee Gees’ (has anyone ever said that???)
Well here are a few albums that opened my mind to the possibility that maybe I’m not satisfied just listening to ‘what I know I like and I’m happy not to listen to anything else, thanks very much.’
KRS-One - I Got Next (1997)
I Got Next was the first hip hop album that blew my mind. I hadn’t actively listened to hip hop much, aside from the fact that I owned a copy of Cypress Hill’s Black Sunday, but my brother was a mad hip hop fan and he used to play it loud, day and night. That’s how I got wind of KRS-One; hearing his jazzy beats and catchy rhymes blaring from my brother’s shitty ghetto blaster through the closed bedroom door. Deciding this was hardly the best way to experience KRS-One, I borrowed my brother’s CD copy of I Got Next. It completely changed the way I thought about hip hop. Seventeen year old me had always dismissed hip hop as gangsta. As a woman, I found it offensive. But KRS-One was political and preached empowerment. And he was funky. ‘The real hip hop is over here!’ rapped KRS-One and I was down.
My dad loved Carole King. He had a bunch of Carole King records, but Tapestry was the only one I ever played. After Dad taught me how to use his record player, I played Tapestry constantly. Dad had other records too, and sometimes I’d spin one or two of those, but I always came back Carole. It’s not the kind of album I’d usually play back then. I was all about Jane’s Addiction or Sonic Youth or The Cure. I might have listened to Tori Amos once in awhile, but not seriously. But to me, Tapestry was beautiful and sweet and soulful. These days Tapestry is still just as beautiful to me, but it's bittersweet too. Because it reminds me of Dad, who passed away last year. I have his copy and I still play it often. And I thank him for teaching me the joy of music. All music. And also Carole King.
Autechre - Chiastic Slide (1997)
I was given a copy of Chiastic Slide for my birthday one year in my early 20’s. Up until then my experience of electronic music had been limited. Aside from the electro new wave of my youth, it was whatever house music or dark drum and bass had been playing at the last rave or club I’d been at. And Aphex Twin, of course. But I had no idea electronic music could make me feel the way Chiastic Slide did. It was completely lovely with all of it’s gorgeous, intricate sounds. Like listening to clockwork. And so I discovered Intelligent dance music (or IDM for short) and artists like Squarepusher and Beefcake. In fact IDM resonated so much with me that I made my own IDM music under the name Twinkle Noodle Star a few years ago. Although I don’t listen to it much anymore, every now and then I revisit Chiastic Slide, or Squarepusher’s Go Plastic when I’m feeling a little nostalgic.
