Breakbeat duo, Evil Nine’s new album, They Live!, is one of the stand out dance releases of the year. Having already received 5 star reviews from the UK press, They Live! is powerful second album after 2005’s, You Can Be Special Too, its gruesome lyrics paying homage to all those misunderstood zombies out there. Automatom selects the first four songs here, Pardytron the second four.
Toto / Africa
The epitome of ’smooth’ music, words can’t express how much this song rules! When the synths come in and the drums echo in the night, I’m immediately transported back to my youth. Some people might say this is a guilty pleasure, but I don’t feel no guilt. I just stick it on and bask in their mellow might.
The Zombies / Hung Up On A Dream
There are only some albums that I can listen to over and over again, Odessey and Oracle by The Zombies is one of them. They don’t sound all dark and gloomy, like their name would suggest. More like a weirder Beach Boys, with a dose of the psychedelics. Before this record had even come out, they had disbanded because of lack of financial success, which is a shame, but maybe also good as they didn’t carry on to make bad records that would tarnish the reputation of this one.
The Fall / New Big Prinz
Mark E Smith is an all-time hero of mine since listening to John Peel as a youth. A proper legend, he’s a masterful lyricist and all-round awkward bastard. This track, with its ‘rocking records’ refrain comes from the album, I Am Kurious Oranj, which was made to accompany a modern ballet complete with football themed dances and other stuff. Unlike Colin Blunstone from The Zombies, Mark can’t really sing. But that’s what makes him good. We would love to do a track with him. It nearly happened on this album, but fell apart at the last minute. Lame.
The Cure / Charlotte Sometimes
The album from from which this track comes, is pretty much the most depressing of all The Cure albums. It’s so ethereal and ghostly, like an unrelenting wave of doom. It even sounds grey! I’ve been fully into them since I was a little Goth. I even had a cure backpatch sewn onto my denim jacket. A few years ago, we saw Robert Smith come out of a tour bus when we played at a festival in Turkey. He was impossibly white and spidery. I love this album a lot and this track in particular because it has a sweet bass line.
Gary Glitter / Rock & Roll pt.2
Gary Glitter wrote about two or three outstanding songs of which Rock and Roll Part 2 is his greatest by far. The sound of this record caught my ear from an early age (maybe that was his plan) and has stuck with me since. It’s so raw and stripped back, and that guitar sound is just absolutely phenomenal. It’s so good I’m willing to brush aside the fact he’s an absolutely horrible man.
Brian Eno / Here Come The Warm Jets
I’m not really a massive fan of most of Brian Eno’s music, except the Here Come The Warm Jets and Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy albums, most of it is just new age mush and very, very boring. This song is super warming and uplifting, but not in a light way. I think it could be my favorite song of all-time, but I’m not sure. I spent a whole day when we were writing our album replaying the riff on guitars and kazoos with the intention of doing a cover version. The cover didn’t make it on to the album, but it’s secretly in there somewhere.
Devo / Social Fools
I had to include a Devo track in here somewhere, although I was hesitant because it’s so cool to like Devo these days. I’ve loved them ever since an old skateboarding buddy introduced me to them just after I left school. I thought they were a bit of a joke at first, but the deeper I delved, the more I appreciated them. Again, it’s an absolutely killer sounding record that encapsulates their experimental spirit and genuine ‘quirkiness’.
Jay-Z / 99 Problems
I wanted to put a Run DMC track in the list, but I was torn between Peter Piper, Runs House and Sucker MCs, so I chose Jay-Z’s 99 Problems, instead. Rick Rubin proved that he could still produce the heavy as hell rock-influenced hip-hop he produced in the 80s for Beastie Boys, Run DMC, and LL Cool J. I suppose this choice is really Rick Rubin for all the awesome music he brought us. His Johnny Cash albums he produced a few years ago are proper masterpieces.
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