Many of us can link a certain album to pivotal moments in our lives. Whether it’s the first record you bought with your own money, the chord you first learnt to play on guitar, the song that soundtracked your first kiss, the album that got you those awkward and painful pubescent years or the one that set off light bulbs in your brain and inspired you to take a big leap of faith into the unknown – music is often the catalyst for change in our lives and can even help shape who we become.
In this series, Music Feeds asks artists to reflect on their relationship with music and share with us stories about the effect music has had on their lives.
Here are their love letters to records that forever changed their lives.
Black Summer — Skrillex’s Bangarang EP
I think it’s about I tell you this….I freakin love you, Bangarang!
I know I’m five years older than you, but when it comes to things like this, age is not an issue.
I first met you by accident when I was ten years old, living in Canberra and was channel surfing alone in my lounge room…I had never heard ANYTHING like that before. You opened up a whole new world to me that day. The title track was an instant classic to me, it was ahead of its time and fresh… Those dubstep growls were intense and I would listen to it at full volume whilst trying to go to sleep…my parents freakin’ hated me but I didn’t care! I felt the need to explore the rest of the EP.
Track number one (‘Right In’) was a perfect name for the opener as it got me right into the vibe of the EP. Again, full of dirty dubstep, empowering bass, unique synths and melodies! How do you pull this off? Some sick shit right there and at that moment I knew what I had to do with my life…It was like a bolt out of the blue and I was never the same!
‘Breakin’ A Sweat’…an unimaginable collaboration with one of my old man’s favourite bands of all time, The Doors, taught me then and there not to worry about what other people may think of an off-centre musical partnership…I knew if anyone gave me grief if I ever got the chance to collab with someone well outside of my genre, I would tell those haters to blow it out their ass, and no one cares what they think.
The next track ‘Devil’s Den’ was so cool, the way the vocals were manipulated back then is still an inspiration for producers today…And then came ‘Right On Time’. OMG I have never heard a tempo change like that! That, my dear friend, was plain and simply crazy-brave stuff! So good!
I could go on and on about the last three tracks (‘Kyoto’, ‘Summit’ and ‘Orchestral Suite’) but I would just be babbling on and repeating myself…This letter would the size of the English dictionary, and I don’t want end this with you thinking I’m a strange middle aged man living in my Mum’s basement…staring at your artwork in a private browser…
So I will end this letter now with deep love, thanks and admiration.
Thanks for the memories … Yours Truly,
Black Summer
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Black Summer’s new single ‘Sadness’ feat. Chloe Campbell is out now. Catch it below.
