who are your influences?

[AK]

Haha, its funny that there are a fair few similar influences going on here and tales of a deliquent youth. Its no different for me, i can honestly say that the whole breakdance scene was the single most thing that kept kids out of trouble in our neighbourhood. Ok, people began doing graffiti which is criminal damage but the music then definitely had a positive impact. I was really young so it was my first exposure to music and when i heard tracks like, 'clear' and 'al naafysh', i was like, 'what the feck is that'. I thought it was beamed in from another planet and it became 'our' music, something the adults just couldnt comprehend.

Of course later on as my appreciation of music grew, my tastes broadened and if it wasnt for the internet, i would have missed out on some wonderful stuff. I cite influences but seems like i can discover new ones regularly by checking out other stuff i wouldnt normally listen to. Bossa nova anyone? Lol. Getting more into jazz too at the minute, not to make it but the chords and phrases are just so inspirational. There arent a great deal of Techno records that satisfy my taste for sophisticated harmonies so i tend to look elsewhere for that. Before i get flamed, im not even sure dance music needs them but for me, a musically interesting track holds my attention.

[steevio]

the influences i mentioned are the ones which had the biggest influence on me as a musician, but ive been through many lifetimes in music, and been in to so many different types of music, many of which dont influence me much now.

my first music was psychedelic- The Beatles' Penny Lane was the first record i ever bought (yes i am that old) i was totally into all the acid tinged music of the late 1960s like Hendrix, i was a drummer in a band doing all that stuff.
but then i got in heavy music, early Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple etc.. then i moved on to progressive rock, Yes, ELP, but the first thing which grabbed me by the balls and changed my head was Punk, The Clash, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Sex Pistols. I was 21 in 1976 when it started, and i turned from a hippy into a complete nutter overnight and cut off all my hair.
i also got into Dub, as a student i lived next door to a cool jamaican club in Leeds called Roots, and i got into U Roy, Prince Far I etc.
i was a singer in a punk band for a few years, then i swithced to Bass and started making more obscure and experimental music, influenced by people like Punishment of Luxury, Eno. and was introduced to the SH101.
then i got into electrofunk and hiphop and ran a breakdance club from 1982 to 1985 and got into graffiti.
it was the same track al naafiysh by Hashim that AK mentioned which turned me onto electronic music. it just blew me away. ive still got an un-opend copy of that record on my studio wall.
i formed an electrofunk band, did that for a few years, then switched to guitar and got into surf and garage music from the 1960s, which then morphed into a grungey psychedelic thang which was a synergy of Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa, Hendrix, Mudhoney and Nirvana, early Pink Floyd, and we used synths in our band, MiniMoog, Yamaha CS50, Juno 106
this kept morphing and being influenced by techno, till i downed guitar forever and bought a 909, a 303, and an Atari in 1992
since then i've just done my own thing, and i rarely listen to techno or house, but i still love clubbing, thats where i get my fix, i totally love the music, but would rather make it myself, and dont take much interest in whats going on in the scene.
techno and house doesnt seem to have progressed too much to me since the mid 1990s, its a sad fact but the progression is in other newer forms of EDM. but thats OK, we've got all the time in the world.
and it doesnt stop me wanting to try to make fresh techno. the fire is still in my belly, and i dont want to sound negative, its purely that i love the level playing field, i dont go to a club to see big name DJs, i go for the whole vibe, and the best vibe is in the undergound, where everyone is important.

but for me no-one has ever surpassed Bob Marley and the Wailers.
for rhythm, melody, soul, and the messages. pure genius. he stays with me forever.

[::BLM::]

I first started off listening to Hip Hop. That would have been year 5/6 of primary school. I remember going to the states with family and buying a Warren G album and being hooked from there onwards. I still listen to the same album today, and still like it. I don't really listen to house/techno at home, I find myself listening to hip hop the most and then Jazz Funk and Soul.

My dad collects Jazz Funk stuff like grover washington jnr and then some soul stuff like RAMP (roy ayers music project) so I always had music like that playing when I grew up, which I really like too. He has about 2000 vinyl, which I have been trying to get my hands on now for years but he wont give them up.

But for me the biggest influcence is my emotion. The way life makes me feel really effects my music. I find if I can hear the love within someones music, I'm going to like it even if I'm not really feeling the music. I'm listening to and being influenced by loads of dubstep at the moment. I think its a really interesting genre as people are finally pushing music forward and thats interesting to me. I'm getting quite bored of the music I make, its just so generic and thats not part of my plan.

[tone-def]

I'm listening to and being influenced by loads of dubstep at the moment. I think its a really interesting genre as people are finally pushing music forward and thats interesting to me. I'm getting quite bored of the music I make, its just so generic and thats not part of my plan.

this is exactly how i feel. i haven't felt this excited about new music since my early days of listening to minimal. i use to have an urge to experiment and try new rhythmic ideas but i fell in love and my music gradually became less quirky and more soulful and melodic. now i've been with her for 4 years i've got use to being in love and don't feel distracted anymore. i've got my hunger back for exploring new sounds and breaking free from the restrictions of house music.

[pafufta816]

throbbing gristle, edgar varese, stockhausen, peter brotzmann. for their texture and organic sounds.

juno reactor, aphex twin, josh wink, adam x, richie hawtin F.U.S.E., b12. for pure techno/house bliss.

[dubgil2]

biggest influence for quite some time was UWE SCHMIDT (Aka Atom tm, Atom Heart, Senor Coconut, etc) Though I don't listen to much any more of his stuff, all the Rather Interesting/FAX stuff he did mid-late 90's is amazing sh!t.

all the detroit stuff of course
and the dub tech stuff (like Basic Channel stuff)

[Gill]

i think im going backwards....

the first interest i had in synths came with radiohead in 97 or so.

It didn't really pick up until four tet, about six years ago, along with boards of canada, aphex, some others......

Someone gave me The Fields' 'From Here We Go Sublime', and I was a little interested.

The first track that really shocked me out of my skin was James Holden, 10101, and Lump. The human-like interaction of the parts with each other was, to me, something far more profound than I had head before in music based on loops. Border Community basically became my gateway drug.

That was a couple of years ago; now, I am digging through the back catalogues of so much music I missed out on, from Villalobos to Basic Channel, to the Detroit stuff, to all the complicated and musical tracks being called 'minimal' these days, to ostgut ton; I find myself getting really into anything that establishes a vibe

[Gill]

this is exactly how i feel. i haven't felt this excited about new music since my early days of listening to minimal

Can you direct me to some of the artists you're referring to, in your early days of minimal?