With their latest album Memory Streams out now, Duncan Bellamy and Jack Wylie from Portico Quartet each unveil five albums that have made a deep impression on them…
Jon Hassell – The Surgeon Of The Nightsky…
“Possibly my favourite Jon Hassell record and certainly my favourite title. This is Hassell close to his most minimal. Looped trumpets blend with synths to create a masterpiece of ambient music where the stillness and space work more as light than anything overtly musical.” – Jack Wylie
Hiroshi Yoshimura – Soundscape 1: Surround
“It comes from a tradition of Japanese ambient music where artists are commissioned to make music for specific spaces. This synth-based record is contemplative but incorporates strong melodic themes alongside atmospheric field recordings.” Jack Wylie
Steve Reich – Music For 18 Musicians
“Possibly the most seminal work of American minimalism. I’ve seen this piece live twice and love the way in which it is performed and how it unfolds. Reich knew the power of rhythm through human interaction from his studies of Ghanaian drumming.” Jack Wylie
John Coltrane – A Love Supreme
“Coltrane wrote this piece after he kicked heroin. He made a deal with God that if he helped him kick the habit he’d devote his life to him through music. The sense of inner searching alongside the reach for something higher can be completely overpowering. It’s jazz at its most cosmic and emotional.” Jack Wylie
Arthur Russell – World Of Echo
“One of only two albums released in his lifetime. I love the way he creates space within songs through his use of echo, distortion and phaser when applied to his cello. It enables him to extend the possibilities of the instrument and create a huge sense of space, while retaining its intimacy and nuance.” Jack Wylie
Actress – R.I.P
“On this record, Actress (Darren Cunningham) inverts the formal qualities of dance music to create an album that is utterly captivating, alien and profound. Taking some cues and inspiration from John Milton’s Paradise Lost, this is probably the most spacious and ambient of his albums to date.” Duncan Bellamy
Gigi Masin – Wind
“A unique, utterly mesmerising record that I keep coming back to time and again. I first encountered Gigi Masin though his work with much-revered ambient band Gaussian Curve. There is such an honesty and rawness to this album that it feels refreshingly uncontrived.” Daniel Bellamy
Miles Davis – In A Silent Way
“Bitches Brew is the record of this period that always gets the acclaim, but In A Silent Way is the album that made the bigger impression on me. It divided Miles’ audience at the time, but to me it is an incredibly sophisticated work that marries music and new studio techniques to great effect.” Daniel Bellamy
Oneohtrix Point Never – Replica
“I love pretty much all of the music Daniel Lopatin releases, but of all his albums Replica feels one of the most timeless. Mainly written and constructed on a Roland SP404 sampler, it’s a textured work that samples 80s commercials to transform them into beautiful compositions.” Daniel Bellamy
John Adams – China Gates / Phrygian Gates
“Technically not strictly an album, but two accompanying pieces, I love these shimmering, reflective works for solo piano. They seem to operate at a fascinating point where strict process minimalism merges with something more expressive.” Daniel Bellamy