My Life In Records

This was put on in my house a lot when I was growing up, so every time I hear it there's a flood of memories. I still love ‘Medley’ at the end of the record; that huge orchestral crescendo used to terrify me. I play the album for my own children now, and they really like it too.

This was the first record I ever bought; I think I was about thirteen. Their lyrics were everything to me at the time, and I quickly became an obsessive fan. ‘Well I Wonder’ is still one of my favourite songs. I had also started to learn guitar at that time, and can remember spending hours trying to work out Johnny Marr's riffs.

When I discovered this band, they were the most energetic and passionate thing I had ever heard. I have some great memories of getting drunk and jumping around with friends in my old flat on North Great George’s St. with this record on. I found their whole ethos really interesting too; they were the first band I was aware of who distributed their own records and kept them really cheap.  

This is probably one of the most influential records I own. Side B was my introduction to Brian Eno and electronic music. Beautifully layered and very dark.
 

I remember first hearing the perfect guitar pop of ‘Ping Pong’ at a Dublin indie club night called Dazed back in the ‘90s. I instantly fell in love with their organ drones and repetition. This album led to me discovering krautrock bands like Neu! and Faust. I'm still a huge Stereolab fan!

I was already a Tortoise fan when I heard this record for the first time, but that didn't fully prepare me for it. An astoundingly accomplished album; ‘I Set My Face To The Hillside’ is without doubt one of my favourite tracks of all time. I always found it strange that Tortoise were labelled post-rock – to me their music is beyond classification.

For many years I collected vinyl. Wherever I travelled I always took the time to look in thrift stores or second-hand record shops for unusual records. I knew who Fela Kuti was, but hadn't really explored his music until I came across this album. His life story is just incredible, and this is his finest record.

A friend introduced me to this record at a party a few years ago, and I was astonished by it. Straight away I insisted on hearing it again. It's about an hour long, so it pretty much ended the party! I love the mallets and the hypnotic layers of piano.  

Portishead were always an impressive band to me, but before I heard this album I thought that maybe I had outgrown them. I think a lot of people might have missed out on Third for the same reason. Songs like ‘The Rip’ and ‘Nylon Smile’ are among the best I've ever heard.