My ‘Desert Island Discs’

1. Travels With Myself and Another (2009) — Future of the Left
2. The Midnight Organ Fight (2008) — Frightened Rabbit
3. Twin Fantasy (2018) — Car Seat Headrest
4. Teens of Denial (2016) — Car Seat Headrest
5. Absolution (2003) — Muse
6. High Violet (2010) — The National
7. Like Clockwork (2013) — Queens of the Stone Age
8. Abandoned Language (2007) — Dalek
9. A New Perspective (1964) — Donald Byrd
10. Fang Island (2010) — Fang Island
11. Simple Math (2011) — Manchester Orchestra
12. Boxer (2007) — The National
13. Curses (2007) — Future of the Left
14. The Plot Against Common Sense (2012) — Future of the Left
15. Odd Blood (2009) — Yeasayer
16. Higher Lonely Power (2023) — Fireworks
17. Phil Ochs in Concert (1971) — Phil Ochs
18. I Ain’t Marching Anymore (1965) — Phil Ochs
19. 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons (2008) — Silver Mt. Zion
20. Left Fire (2011) — Arcane Roots
21. Blood & Chemistry (2013) — Arcane Roots
22. Tall Ships EP/There Is Nothing But Chemistry Here (2010) — Tall Ships
23. The Winter of Mixed Drinks (2010) — Frightened Rabbit
24. Mean Everything To Nothing (2009) — Manchester Orchestra
25. I’m Like A Virgin Losing A Child (2006) — Manchester Orchestra
26. Black Holes and Revelations (2006) — Muse
27. Hot Fuss (2004) — The Killers
28. Sam’s Town (2006) — The Killers
29. Place of Growth (2022) — Hawktail
30. Magical Mystery Tour (1967) — The Beatles
31. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) — The Beatles
32. Is This It (2001) — The Strokes
33. Comedown Machine (2013) — The Strokes
34. Whatever People Say I Am, That’s Not What I’m Not (2006) — Arctic Monkeys
35. Sing The Greys (2006) — Frightened Rabbit
36. Californication (1999) — Red Hot Chilli Peppers
37. Silent Alarm (2005) — Bloc Party
38. Rated R (2000) — Queens of the Stone Age
39. The Score (1996) — The Fugees
40. Wu-Tang Forever (1997) — Wu Tang Clan
41. Dance Music (2018) — MasterSystem
42. Portraits (2011) — Max Raptor
43. Erotic Probiotic 2 (2023) — Nourished By Time
44. Moodymann (2014) — Moodymann
45. The Bronx (III) (2008) — The Bronx
46. Ignoto (2005) — YOURCODENAMEIS:MILO
47. Carnavas (2006) — Silversun Pickups
48. Rage Against The Machine (1992) — Rage Against The Machine
49. Purple Rain (1984) — Prince
50. Good News for People Who Love Bad News (2004) — Modest Mouse
51. Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace (2007) — Foo Fighters
52. Antidotes (2008) — Foals
53. Total Life Forever (2010) — Foals
54. Turbowolf (2011) — Turbowolf
55. These Four Walls (2009) — We Were Promised Jetpacks
56. Black Junk (2011) — Exit International
57. Empres (2011) — Russian Circles
58. Giftes 1 & 2 (2012) — Antlered Man
59. Nevermind (1991) — Nirvana
60. Ten (1991) — Pearl Jam
61. Relationship of Command (2000) — At The Drive-In
62. 2Pacalypse Now (1991) — Tupac
63. Will of the People (2022) — Muse
64. Die Young (2013) — Wounds
65. Effloresce (2003) — Oceansize
66. Daughters (2010) — Daughters
67. We Are A Unit (2010) — Castrovalva
68. Draw Down The Moon (2021) — Foxing
69. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (2009) — Phoenix
70. Planet of Ice (2007) — Minus The Bear
71. Koi No Yokan (2012) — Deftones
72. Mclusky Do Dallas (2002) — Mclusky
73. Puzzle (2007) — Biffy Clyro
74. I Had The Blues But I shook Them Loose (2009) — Bombay Bicycle Club
75. Run The Jewels 2 (2014) — Run The Jewels
76. Dear Science (2008) — TV on the Radio
77. Beggars (2009) — Thrice
78. Once More Round The Sun (2014) — Mastodon
79. For All My Sisters (2015) — The Cribs
80. Ideas (2012) — Hawk Eyes
81. The Killing Jar (2012) — Black Moth
82. Boy King (2016) — Wild Beasts
83. Funeral (2004) — Arcade Fire
84. Boots Met My Face (2010) — Admiral Fallow
85. Death Cap At Anglezarke (2014) — Then Thickens
86. Always Lead, Never Follow (2013) — Scholars
87. Oh, Inverted World (2001) — The Shins
88. The Bends (1995) — Radiohead
89. Blast Tyrant (2004) — Clutch
90. 198XAD (2014) — Mega Drive
91. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2018) — Nick Cave and Warren Ellis
92. Diego Maradona (2019) — Antonio Pinto
93. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) — Ennio Morricone
94. Immolate Yourself (2009) — Telefon Tel Aviv
95. We Will Always Love You (2020) — The Avalanches
96. Ágætis byrjun (1999) — Sigur Rós
97. We Were Exploding Anyway (2010) — 65daysofstatic
98. Saturdays = Youth (2008) — M83
99. I Love You, Dude (2011) — Digitalism
100. Cross (2007) — Justice
101. Let’s Get Free — Dead Prez
102. Madvillainy (2004) — Madvillain
103. Joshua (2019) — French 79
104. 88:88 (2012) — Makeup and Vanity Set
105. The Fat of the Land (1997) — Prodigy
106. Thriller (1982) — Michael Jackson
107. Bark Out Thunder Roar Out Lightning (2023) — Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah
108. Village of the Pharaohs (1973) — Pharaoh Sanders
109. Stardust (1963) — John Coltrane
110. Sam Cook: Portrait of a Legend — Sam Cook
111. Chet Baker Sings — Chet Baker
112. Miss Simone: The Hits — Nina Simone
113. Ella Fitzgerald: The Early Years 2 — Ella Fitzgerald
114. Billy Holiday: Greatest Hits — Billy Holiday
115. Buena Vista Social Club (1996) — Buena Vista Social Club
116. Musiques pour l’image (1969–85) — Maurice Lecoeur
117. Interstellar (2014) — Hans Zimmer
118. The Terminator (1984) — Brad Fiedel
119. Best of the Lightning Seeds (2006) — The Lightning Seeds
120. The Best Ibiza Anthems Ever (1999)

Something a bit different, just for posterity.

This list is more of a ‘desert island discs’ than a definitive top 120 (which probably means I should have found room for ‘best of classical music’, ‘best of Motown’, ‘best 90s dance’ (Rhythm is a Dancer, It’s My Life, etc), ‘best 70s disco funk’ (including Nigerian), and best of New Orleans Mardi Gras albums).

We’re obviously living in a very politically uncertain world as (perhaps less obviously) automated production makes this old economic system increasingly obsolete, so I feel like jotting this down for posterity.

I’ve been blessed to live in an era when music has been very accessible, and I was also lucky to meet a two or three people who introduced me to great alternative/underground music in my early 20s, having previously only listened to relatively bland, conservative stuff. (Early John Mayer was a favourite, for example, although I still have a bit of soft spot!)

On the flip side, Good MusicTM has been increasingly pushed to the margins as the profitability of physical goods has waned — the trade off being Spotify making music so digitally accessible — replaced by increasingly cheap, derivative churn in mainstream media. Old pop music was so much better — I’m pretty sure not just getting old and out of touch.

Mainstream media has a way of manufacturing desire and making everything else niche, so it seems to be getting harder to meet other people with similar tastes (although it’s just harder to meet people in general), which has blunted the joy of experiencing such a diversity of enriching and creative music. Which is a shame, because I love music, love finding new, good music, and love singing and dancing to it with mates. Finding a good new album can get you through the month.

Summing up this weird paradox, singing our heads off to a lot of these albums with two mates on the two-hour round commute in the car circa 2008–16 was some of the most consistent fun I’ve had — the rest of the day was utterly tedious office drudgery — although thankfully we did enjoy a few epic house parties and festivals (shout out 2000Trees). Since then I’ve really just listened to music on my own and haven’t been to many gigs.

Anyway. Easily could have included more albums from Nirvana (In Utero and Bleach), The Beatles (Please Please Me, A Hard Day’s Night, Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, The White Album, Abbey Road), Muse (Showbiz, Origin of Symmetry, The Resistance), The Strokes (Room on Fire, First Impressions of Earth, Angles, The New Abnormal), Silver Mount Zion (Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything), Max Raptor (Mother’s Ruin, Max Raptor), Red Hot Chilli Peppers (Blood Sugar Sex Magic, By The Way), Turbowolf (Two Hands, The Free Life), Foxing (Nearer My God), Radiohead (OK Computer), Michael Jackson (Bad), Hawk Eyes (Everything Is Fine), Sigur Ros (Takk, Valtari).

My favourite bands are, obviously, Future of the Left, Frightened Rabbit, and Car Seat Headrest. One Welsh, one Scottish, one Virginian; all very different types of ‘indie alternative post-rock’(?) perhaps but all musically and especially lyrically extraordinary; exceptionally adept at pithy word play (FOTL’s Falco wins for his witty, acerbic piss-taking); making streams of consciousness that break out from standard chorus-verse repetition interesting without getting too weird; giving expression to the experience of modern drudgery and flicking two fingers at this alienating, divisive corporate world, conjuring defiant self-respect and joyous rehumanising respite from it all; brought together by epic anthemic singalongs. So a special thank you is owed to them for helping to keep me going.

Some other albums just missing out (among others I must have forgotten): Rumours, Fleetwood Mac; Getz/Gilberto; Loveless, My Bloody Valentine; Loss of Life, MGMT; Far Afield, Miles Zurawell; — +, Mew; England Made Me, Black Box Recorder; The Quiet Earth, Thomas Barrandon; Pet Sounds, Beach Boys; Requiem for the Enchanted Forest, Ørdop Wolkenscheidt; People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, The Low End Theory, Tribe Called West; Party Worker, i scream bars for the children, Bambu; 3 Feet High and Rising, De La Soul; Blowback, The Great Vorelli; Minor Victories, Minor Victories; Shallow Bed, Dry the River; We’ll Be The Moon, Fixers; Era Extrana, Neon Indian.

Other best ofs: The Ink Spots, Don Shirley, Miles Davis, Robert Johnson, Jonny Cash, Boney M, Led Zep, Pink Floyd, The Clash, Leonard Skinnard, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Sonic Youth, System of a Down, Alien Ant Farm, Skinshape, Flamingosis, Tommy Guerrero, OGRE Sound, Sufjan Stevens, Mogwai, Crystal Castles, Maximo Park, The Heavy, Wolfmother, IDLES, Beach House, John Mayer(!), Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Daft Punk, Sonic Youth, Akala, Lowkey, Black The Ripper, Blue Scholars, The Coup, CRASHprez, Immortal Technique, Mos Def, Outkast, Public Enemy, Brother Ali, Víctor Jara.

I’d also have to take the soundtracks to the Sega Mega Drive games Streets of Rage and Sonic the Hedgehog (I and II).