The Cadenza man had no problem picking his all-time favourites until we tried to pin him down to just one track…
What’s the first record you ever bought?
As a youngster, I was lucky enough to be able to dig into my stepfather’s record collection before feeling the need to buy any records. So the first one I actually bought was in 1990 when I was 14, and it was Violator by Depeche Mode. A record that still sounds great today but sadly the sound on my copy’s terrible now as I’ve played it so much over the years.
The first time you remember hearing electronic music?
I was pretty familiar with electronic sounds early on in my life but I clearly remember listening to Meddle by Pink Floyd for the first time and thinking, What the fuck is this?! After that I dug a bit more and found a fascinating record series from the label Philips called Prospective 21e Siècle which is about musique concrète, and features artists such as Pierre Henry, Pierre Schaeffer, Xenakis, etc. It was difficult enough to understand at first, but very interesting and barrier-breaking for a kid. The metallic reflective sleeves are simply amazing and while my stepfather only had four at the time, I’ve been looking for the series ever since. I’ve got about 25 of them now, and some of them are pretty hard to find, but you can check them out here.
The last track of the night?
This old M83 track, ‘Teen Angst (Luciano Remix)’, is always a special one for me.
The best chillout record?
A classic answer, but for me, it’s got to be Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works Volume 2.
I also love to listen to the soundtrack from A Ship Of Light by Henning Schmiedt, which is based on the Goldberg Variations. Unfortunately there’s no YouTube link for that one, though…