Did I try the hardest at any of my dreams?
Did I purposly let others discourage me when I knew I could?
Will I die never knowing what I could have been or could of done?
Do not let these doubts restrain of trouble you just point yourself in the direction of your dreams.
Find your strength in the sound and make your transition.
Inspiration. That's a tough one. Almost anything can inspire you to make music. A walk deep in the woods. A bottle of fine malt whisky. Watching The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou for the millionth time. Going to a club where a great DJ is playing (though this can also be a bit disheartening, as good music on a loud PA sounds so great and when you get back home everything is just so quiet and you can't really feel the bass and the groove with headphones or small studio monitors).
And of course, listening to great music can and does inspire. This post is about what music has inspired me over the years, music that has shaped my taste and mind in one way or another.
I chose 12 (because 12 is a magic number) tracks that somehow represent my musical taste outside of house music. I might cover my favorite house tracks later.
Here they are, in no particular order. Some are well known, some not so much.
Most people remember Jan Hammer from his work in Miami Vice, but he was a well-known keyboardist and composer even before that. This little gem, tucked away in his 1977 album Melodies is one of my desert island tracks. Such a beautiful composition with great lyrics and a magical performance from everyone. While I've listened this track hundreds of times and it's a huge inspiration in terms of the emotions it awakens in me, it's just so much above the level of anything I could ever be able to make myself that it can be a bit depressing to listen to it from an imitation point of view. I just listen to it to make me feel good, not to draw direct influence from.
I usually hate guitar jazz but this one is a notable exception. It takes a while to get going (4 minutes to be exact), but when it does it's bloody brilliant. Those subtle brushed drums, Jan Hammer's keyboard action and for what is probably the greatest, most emotional guitar performance ever recorded. I have tears in my eyes every time I hear it.
A not so well known jazz record from 1975. A hypnotic, almost techno-y synth riff mixed with free jazz. If you added a pounding kick drum to it, it might even work on the dancefloor. Maybe not in Ibiza, but at least on more sophisticated dancefloors. I absolutely adore it but again, it's one of those tracks that I'm never able to replicate. Purely for inspiration. If this is too strange, too random, too jazzy for you, you might want to skip the next entry altogether!
I love free jazz. The crazier the better. It doesn't get much crazier and more chaotic than this one from the year I was born. One of my biggest dreams is to one day write a house album that combines the dancefloor aesthetics of house with the almost random sounding nature of free jazz. I have exactly zero ideas on how to accomplish such a thing, all I got is the initial idea and the name for that album. Quite likely that the album will never materialize, simply due to how difficult, even impossible it would be to actually make it. Still, one must have dreams!
While generally I prefer the more synthetic form of disco of the 80's, this little nugget from 1976 is such a wonderful track that I just couldn't exclude it. Funky and soulful with lyrics that sound great, even if I actually have no idea what they're about. Something about dancehalls, diners, streets and cathedrals. Or something.
No list is complete without this one! An absolute, unique gem of a track. At 67BPM it'll probably clear most dancefloors (so not exactly a club banger), but in a way it's still dance music with it's four on the floor kick drum and the snares on 2 and 4. In an alternate universe people dance to half-time protohouse.
It's techno. It's from 1979 and it's not Kraftwerk. Ok, maybe it's not techno per se, more like really fast Berlin school music. The differences are minor though and you could easily slip this into a more chilled out techno set.
Considering I named my dog after them, I just had to pick something from Kano. Kano, as you probably know already, was an early italo disco group who were (in my opinion) musically way ahead of most italo disco. A lot funkier and not as cheesy as what is typically associated with italo.
Probably my favorite boogie record of all time. Just awesome synth action, funky drums and possibly the most emotional vocals out of all disco records I've heard. You can dance to it, you can cry to it, you can make love to it. All three at the same time even.
I'm not an expert in African music. I know Mulatu Astatke of course but that's about it. However, ever since I heard DJ Anonymous (a Finnish DJ whose record collection and knowledge way, way surpasses mine) play this one when warming up for Danny Krivit I've been hooked. As I unfortunately don't speak Yoruba that well I got no idea what the lyrics are about, but the music's just so funky, without sounding like a James Brown derivative, that it's just irresistable.
Miami Vice! My favorite TV series of all time, particularly the first two seasons. Since the music on it was so excellent I could easily include several tracks from it, but since no one's gonna read a blog post that's like 100 pages, I had to pick something (well, in addition to the last pick that is) and I picked this one. I don't know much about Mr. Ballard and from what I've heard, this is the only good song he ever wrote but what a song it is! Makes me want to buy a speedboat and drive it to Miami.
And last but not least what is probably my favorite song of all time. You know this one!
And that's it. Tons of stuff was left out. Picking just 12 tracks is not an easy task. If I feel inspired, I might make a separate list of my very favorite house tracks in the future.
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