The Afghan Whigs

SELECTED SONGS:

  • Crime Scene Part One

  • Gentlemen

  • Debonair

WHY:

Few bands are ever original but no one sounds like the Afghan Whigs. Although they came to prominence during "grunge" they're definitely not a "grunge" band and are all the better for it. The key stand outs for me are:

  • Greg Dull's voice which often boarders a shout/scream and gets dangerously close to tunelessness at times but is somehow all the better for it

  • The lyrics which typically have a pretty unique world view and style. A great example being Crime Scene Part One (and the whole of Black Love really) that has a great "Noir"ish dark quality. Who else writes songs like "Gentlemen" and "Debonair"? Who else starts a song with the fantastic first line "Got you where I want you motherfucker"?

  • The guitars. No guitar band has ever sounded like the Afghan Whigs and I'm not entirely sure why. I guess it must be lots of strange chord choices, lots of rhythmic interplay between different guitar parts and very distinctive slide guitar solos.

BEST ALBUM:

  • Black Love (1996)

A-ha

SELECTED SONGS:

  • Take On Me

  • Manhattan Skyline

WHY:

Perhaps a surprising selection, but the why is pretty clear:"Take On Me has to be one of the finest pop songs of all time. And along with that I've always liked "Manhattan Skyline". Although the intro and verse is perhaps a little bit twee there's few pop songs that have such a significant switch from twee to rocking. And Morten's upper register vocal lines are incredibly catchy even if few people can actually get up in there!

BEST ALBUM:

  • More a singles band than an albums band so I'm opting for "Headlines and Deadlines - The Hits of Aha" (1991). That has pretty much everything you need to hear.

Air

SELECTED SONGS:

  • Playground Love

  • Alone in Kyoto

WHY:

Sophia Coppola knows her music. The 2 tracks I'm selecting here are 2 Air tracks from 2 different films of hers. Playground Love is from The Virgin Suicides and Alone in Kyoto is from one of my favourite films Lost in Translation. And if this wasn't enough she's married to the lead singer of Phoenix who are definitely one of my favourite bands still currently recording (more of that later).

BEST ALBUM:

  • Whilst I love these songs and have quite a few of their albums I wouldn't say they necessarily have a great album. "Moon Safari" (1998) is probably the closest they've got but it's hard to view that objectively as it seemed to be played and featured everywhere at the time - and as a result is pretty much dead to me now.

Aphex Twin

SELECTED SONGS:

  • Girl/Boy EP

WHY:

I'm not really a fan of electronic music but I remember the first time I heard this I was blown away by the marriage of symphonic strings playing an eerily familiar and beautiful melody and the bat shit crazy drums that had part of me laughing and the other part in awe. I am just as intrigued and amazed at what kind of mind could come up with that now as I was then. So the reasons for inclusion are incredible vision, inventiveness and originality.

BEST ALBUM:

  • Whilst I've got a few Aphex Twin albums I can't really call out any as must haves. Although I do often go to them for inspiration for their "out there" inventiveness.

Ash

SELECTED SONGS:

  • Girl From Mars

  • Shining Light

WHY:

Few things are better than a perfectly crafted pop song and Ash have 2 great examples that few bands can match. Whilst they could never quite sustain this level of brilliance for an album who cares.

BEST ALBUM:

  • Whilst I wouldn't call it out as a "must listen" their debut 1977 (1996) is undoubtedly the place to start.

The Auteurs

SELECTED SONGS:

  • Show Girl

WHY:

For its idiosyncrasies and originality. At the time it didn't really fit in to anything that was happening at the time. Despite that The Auteurs are often lumped into that derogatory era known as Britpop when in reality they shared nothing with any of those bands apart from a harking back to classic 60's song craft and guitars.

Whereas some of the above were very much "singles" acts The Auteurs are best appreciated as an album band. And whilst their first 3 albums were all well worth a listen it's their debut "New Wave" that edges it for me.

BEST ALBUM:

  • New Wave ( 1993)