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The Record That Changed My Life is a new feature series on Pulse where we ask DJs, producers and musicians to share the track that, as the title suggests, changed their lives. A simple concept, though as you'll discover, it makes for a fascinating insight into an artist's past and the music that shaped who they are and the sounds they now create.
For the very first edition we've gathered a selection of Australia's most established and up-and-coming producers in the electronic scene today. Take it away...
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Mikah of The Aston Shuffle: 'Sweetness & Light' by Itch-e & Scratch-e
This track literally changed my life by sparking an instant obsession for electronic music which has led me to where I am today. It's directly responsible for me selling my drum kit to buy a pair of secondhand turntables!
Around '97 I was playing drums in a few bands, nothing too serious just a bit of fun really, and then one night a friend took me to a rave. When I walked into the room I was totally blown away by the control this so-called 'DJ' had over the entire crowd. The people were so connected, everyone in the room was sharing a moment together. I don't remember much at all from that night but the one thing that stayed with me was this ridiculously amazing record I had heard a couple of times during the course of the night. I searched it out, finally found it a few days later and instantly became obsessed with it and all facets of electronic dance music, from production to performance. I was hooked and still am today. Every now and again I put this record on and reminisce about "the good old days" - I'm getting goosebumps writing about it just now. Not too many records have that effect on you, but this one certainly does for me.
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Elizabeth Rose: 'Cowboy 78' by The Wiseguys
This is probably my earliest musical memory in terms of when I was first really obsessed by a song that made me want to dance and to make my own music. My older brother Anthony who is a DJ/producer by the name of Hook n Sling is the person to thank for introducing this marvellous track to me back when he was living at home and I was about 8 years old. At the time, Anthony was my age now (22) and he had their newly released 1998 album 'The Antidote' on vinyl. He would play it non stop in his room. When I heard 'Cowboy '78' I would go into his room and dance around the room to it, such a fun memory. I'm the kind of person who listens to a song five or six times in a row if I love it...so it kind of became this thing where I'd always ask him to keep playing that song (sorry Anthony!).
I still love it to this day and play it in my own DJ sets too. I understand now why I loved it so much back then - all of the cowboy western samples were so colourful and fun to listen to. It was also a great track to dance around crazily to. I think it really showed me at an early age that you can have so much fun creating a piece of music, especially from fun samples in this case, as I do in my own tracks now. It really excites my ears every time I listen to the track and yes I still dance around at home to it, ha! I strongly recommend you check out the full album 'The Antidote'!
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Dro Carey: 'La La' by Lil Wayne ft. Brisco & Busta Rhymes
Prior to 2008 I hadn’t listened to much major label hip hop. When I was about ages 13 – 15 my favourite rappers were guys like MF Doom, Madlib and Wu-Tang, and the closest I got to listening to chart records was Kanye West or whatever I happened to catch on TV on the video countdowns. One of those videos was 'Lollipop' by Lil Wayne, which was my first exposure to his music and, simultaneously, I found both my ‘underground’ loyalty affirmed by what struck me as a gross sensory assault – the autotune, the guitar solo - as well as feeling something strongly appealing about it; completely entranced by the inconceivable excess and lecherous neon of the clip.
There was an inescapable momentum surrounding Lil Wayne building into 2008 and this, as well as that video, had me curious, so I streamed 'Tha Carter 3' on iTunes but didn’t download it. And I think I did this every day for a week, listening to the minute long clips of each song, particularly 'A Milli', as if this were somehow the limit my taste and sensibility permitted lest I be judged by some unseen arbiter. And then I thought: what am I doing this for? I fucking LOVE this. So I downloaded the album – I have since purchased the 4LP vinyl – and was able to completely dive in. 'A Milli', 'You Ain’t Got Nothing', 'Let the Beat Build', were the obvious standouts, concentrated doses of some divine brag-rap glossolalia, but as I listened through the album I was caught off guard by something else. 'La La' (not to be confused with the similarly titled 'La La La', a mixtape track from the same sessions) featuring Busta Rhymes and Brisco, produced by David Banner, came on and I realised it was the weirdest beat I had ever heard, something far more off-kilter, alien and minimal than the lo-fi extensions of golden-age boom-bap that I was familiar with.
I gave up on musical hierarchy and the commercial prejudice. I do wonder what nurtures this in teenagers’ music tastes, as even a loner like me felt some obligation not to be into pop. It was an explosive gateway and this was the epicentre. I got into southern rap, RnB, crunk, bounce, chopped & screwed and so much more. Whatever he does now, I owe this all to Wayne. It’s hard to communicate how obsessed I was. The LP sleeve is on my wall (next to Aquemini, I guess that’s for another write-up) and hell I even own the t-shirt for this album. Your favorite artist at 16 is your favorite artist forever, regardless of how your tastes might change as you grow up. You will never care more than then.
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Deepchild: 'On The Run' by Pink Floyd
The single most seminal influential band in my career (and, I'd argue many of my peers) remains Pink Floyd. I’ve mentioned in interviews before how my initial Floyd-discovery was via an broken and unlabeled cassette-tape found at a traffic crossing (it was shattered from traffic, its innards spilling out – and in my 12 year-old enthusiasm I later spliced the broken remains back together with sticky tape). I won’t repeat myself here.
The album was 'Dark Side of The Moon'– not their first or last, but seminal in it’s beguilingly embrace of analogue technology and epic, futurist narrative which verged on sound-collage, pot-haze and spacious dub-drawl. Suddenly, Pink Floyd’s agenda was clearer and more confident than ever previously – a willing subjugation of songwriting convention, favoring keyboard-sequences and half-whispered sub-mixes, enveloped in peerlessly lush instrumentation.
All cuts from the album are brilliant, but 'On The Run' is compelling for its sheer minimalist audacity. Focussed around an 8-note sequence generated from the legendary EMS VCS3 synth, it’s reductionist ‘proto-acid’ well before Chicago began jackin’ or Motor City embraced its steady Reagan Era sonic uprising. On The Run is everything and more which remains compelling about electronic-music. Relentless, ecstatic and compellingly simple. It stands as a sonic-seed from a major rock-band, who for an instant (and then a career) were channeling the ghosts of the future in effortless abandon.
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Flume: 'Talamak' by Toro Y Moi
When it comes to all things Flume, the biggest game changer would have to be Toro Y Moi's 'Talamak'. I used to mainly listen to dance music, but this tune struck a chord with me, it totally converted me to all the weird chillwave stuff, the stuff that I now make as Flume.
Listen to The Aston Shuffle on Pulse Radio
Listen to Elizabeth Rose on Pulse Radio
Listen to Dro Carey on Pulse Radio
Listen to Deepchild on Pulse Radio
Listen to Flume on Pulse Radio
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