We’re all influenced by what’s around us.
Obviously, this is true - you or I don't live in hermetically sealed boxes devoid of any outside stimuli. We all make decisions or are swayed by other's opinions, thoughts or realities daily. The way we react to that is what makes us, us.
In a previous sphere of work, I knew this all too well - a certain word or phrase, choice of colour or typeface along with where a piece of design was placed in a newspaper, online banner or bus shelter could have a different effect on different people in any manner of different ways. It was nearly always targeted. Creative choices lead to a range of emotional responses - and I'll get into that in a later piece (make sure you subscribe!)
But further back up the pipe, on a personal and creative level, what influences our work and output, especially if we're not working to a tight commercial brief? How does it affect - both consciously and unconsciously - what we create and change our decisions and thought processes?
First things first - I'm not talking about copying. It doesn't mean blatant lifting and shifting, although a creative nod is always fun. Creative influences can be many things - an approach to rhythm tracks, how someone has constructed a piece differently, the gear they used to get a new sound, or their viewpoint and (and I apologise for this) their 'vibe'. It can be a song, a book, a movie, a place or a person. It's myriad and infinite.
For instance, I love the way Nick Cave's brain works, and his writing on The Red Hand Files, but I only like a few of his songs - so he is an influence, but not a direct musical one. Sorry, Nick.
I'm producing a tonne of music at the moment for my MA and album. Some are already out there and some are in a big stinky pile of sketches and files. But what's pushing me forward into new shapes and places - what's my current influences?
Note, the word 'current' doing heavy lifting there - this stuff drifts in and out and I can of course get hugely excited after seeing or hearing something which makes me run to my DAW at any given moment which comes in from the left field. That's the fun bit!
Here are a few musical and cultural influences currently rattling around my head and making me react...
Music
Radiohead
Kid A
I'm a huge Radiohead fan. They're my favourite band and so as an influence, it's sure to bleed through on some level. However, Kid A looms large because of its almost wilful experimentation. The breakdowns, the use of rhythm, guitars as textures, old synths reworked and song structure norms ignored, it's all there. It's a case study of getting all your influences, doing your version of it and coming up with something new.
Their approach (on this album and pretty much all their work) lives rent-free in my head and is becoming more important as I'm working - if I think something is getting a bit vanilla, I take the beat off a bit or take the melody somewhere else. I plan to do more of that. That's the Kid A effect.
Side note: also an influence here is Radiohead member Johnny Greenwood's soundtrack work. Always original and his string work is astonishingly unusual - check out 'There Will Be Blood'
One key track influencing me: Kid A
Four Tet
Rounds
Before he was headling Coachella with Fred Again, Four Tet appeared with this 'folktronica' classic. It was like nothing else I'd heard at the time and still sounds fresh today. Kieran Hebden's approach to rhythm programming, and unusual instrumentation (bells, marimba, found sound) is something I keep coming back to and have become more and more interested in - again, doing anything but vanilla is key here - just when you think it's tinkling along, something happens but it's always melodic.
His less than usual approach to recording is inspiring too - no big studio, a lot of it is just him and a laptop.
One key track influencing me: She Moves She
Bonobo
Fragments
I was late to the Bonobo party. I discovered Fragments via a review and inhaled it whilst lying on a Greek beach post-lockdown. To be honest, that was its natural environment (fun how some art fits a certain space, right?) however it's lasted for me.
Now I'm hitting my DAW with regular abandon, this album's mix of clubby electronica and unusual quite organic instrumentation (for the genre) is popping up quite often - I'll do some drum programming and then go 'ooo, that's a bit Bonobo'
I've seen Simon Green's work described as 'grown-up techno' which is quite sneery I guess, but I see the point. I very much like both the approach, musicality and (that word again) 'vibe' on show here. It feels like the inside of a club night dragged up a mountain.
One key track influencing me: Otomo (feat. O'Flynn)
The Chemical Brothers
Various
Ah, The Chems. I've loved them for years, but didn't really, totally get it until I saw them last year at the o2. Like all good dance music, it was a proper communal experience, which I'm pretty sure helped set me on my rebooted musical adventure - like a Sliding Doors moment at Greenwich tube with 20,000 other souls.
I couldn't even begin to produce what these two do - it's wizardry - their approach to sound, huge, booming beats and build within tracks is masterful and whenever I'm in a small spot with a track I'm thinking 'What would the Chems do here?' and the brothers help me work it out.
Oh, and yes, blippity bloppity noises. And big loud synths. As seen in recent work. I've definitely lifted that from them. I don't care. Sue me.
One key track influencing me: Star Guitar
Gorillaz (Damon Albarn)
Various
If you're a 90's kid like me, Damon Albarn was kinda omnipresent. I was a Blur fan, saw them multiple times and reviled in the nostalgia of the Wembley Stadium reunion last year.
However, I wasn't expecting Gorillaz. Initially, I wasn't sure (I was still in indie guitar mode - why is Damon doing electronic?) but of course, the whole thing has been genius. Wonky electronica, dub, rap… it's all here and mixed up together like a big art project, but still with a huge melodic heart.
The impact on me? Well, apart from the use of creaky old instruments like the Omnichord (listen to my track Toyko Rift where I use one), where I respect Albarn is his work ethic - he just writes and writes and writes. And then writes a bit more.
On Garageband on an iPad in a hotel room, he's always creating and I think that's a massive element to success - just keep doing your thing. I took that to heart during my week at our Swedish BootCamp - I had my Macbook and a little keyboard, and just snatched ideas here and there overlooking the lake, coming back with a grab bag of interesting ideas i’m still working through. It’s a case of the process being as influential as the output.
One key track influencing me: Cracker Island (feat Thundercat)
Natalie Holt
Loki Soundtracks Series 1 and 2
I've never expected too much from superhero soundtracks - they can be a bit samey. However, Natalie Holt's work on 'Loki' blew that out of the water. Strange tick-tocking clocks! Wonky synths! Grand strings! Theramins!
The first episode I saw marrying all this up to the oddly retro aesthetic of the TVA was hugely inspiring. Rather than a graft on, this was music embedded into the style and story which for TV work is sometimes not the case.
It got me thinking 'I'd LOVE to do that' - so I have. Well, aiming for. There's influence.
I can't lie, I couldn't wait to put some theremin into my own work and that appeared in my track 'Excellent Shapes' - I probably won't repeat it too often though as it's a very unique sound, and it's now become shorthand for a sci-fi monstering. Reworking an instrument into a cultural signpost is no mean feat.
Perhaps I need my own 'instrument' to own at some point - I just need to find it.
One key track influencing me: ‘TVA’ (Vol 1) and ‘Ascension’ (Vol 2)
Books
Rick Rubin
The Creative Act: A Way of Being
You may know Rick Rubin as that beardy guy who produced the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Well, whatever you think of those records, it doesn't matter - for a creative this is a paradigm shift of a book.
At the cusp of taking on my MA journey last year, I read this from cover to cover and went mad with a yellow marker. I go back to it quite regularly.
I'll just pull out a couple of quotes at random:
Instead of sounding like others, value your own voice. Develop it. Cherish it. (p98)
If everyone likes it, you've probably not gone far enough. (p194)
This book is full of this stuff. making you think, putting you in a different space and giving you - the artist - belief that what you're producing is valid and worthy.
But the general theme is - you are you, it's enough, do something amazing. A must-read.
Film
Jonathan Demme, Talking Heads and A24
Stop Making Sense
This is a little bit of a cheat as it's essentially a music film, but it's my list so I'll cry if I want to.
I remember watching this years ago and enjoying it, but this reworking in 4K which I caught in the IMAX in London last year is astonishing. Firstly, it looks and feels like it was recorded yesterday, secondly, the film work and direction are mould-breaking - nobody did gig movies like this until Stop Making Sense.
Thirdly, that band. So tight, so musical - it's like one giant organic entity moving in time. The actual songs are of course legendary, but producing these densely lyrical, undeniably oddball and rhythmically tricky songs in one setting with an incredible build (it starts with just a boom box, a guitar and an empty soundstage and ends with a full bang and a massive party) is still an amazing feat.
Once again, it was a pivotal moment for me and gave me confidence you can make great, unusual art which lasts. Just be you. Plus if nothing else, wear big suits.
So, that's a bunch of artistic and cultural elements running around my head right now. It's not exhaustive - and whilst I'm self-aware enough to notice some of this stuff is a little 'old school', I could mention more up-to-date influences like Oppenheimer, or Serevance and its fantastic soundtrack on Apple TV or Ralph Fiennes in Macbeth last week or a planned trip to Berlin (environmental inspiration is a whole other topic!). All these things are like cultural atoms banging into my work.
I think what I can do is leave you with what I've learnt so far: the theme I've discovered is not to do the obvious, never do the vanilla and always BE YOU. Sure, take the cool elements of other's work, but make it yours.
If I keep this front and centre while I'm composing or doing anything moving forward, it's going to make it a much richer, more interesting journey.
But what about you? What's currently getting you going? I'd love to hear from you and any recommendations you might have.