With their new album, I Am Moron, due out in April, the two-piece psych-punk band’s singer Holly Ross picks out 10 records she simply couldn’t live without…
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band – A Child’s Guide To Good and Evil
“TWCPAEB are one of our all-time favourite bands. They’ve just got that great blend of amazing songs and proper full-on madness! And what a beginning to a record: ‘A child of a few hours is burning to death!’.”
Alice Coltrane – Journey in Satchidananda
“This record has such a good sound. It’s one of our ultimate favourites when we get home from tour and want all the madness to stop. It’s a spiritual record and opens you up to a new level of perception. It’s also pure gentleness and you need that in your life every once in a while.”
Neu! – Neu!
“Hallogallo, what a tune! It could just go on all day as far as we’re concerned. As it goes, it stops after
9 minutes, 47 seconds. We love the experimental side to this album and the repetitiveness of it and all the weird sounds they’ve got on there. It’s hypnotic, out there and right up our street.”
Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath
“People often ask us to try and describe our music, which is the hardest thing to do ever. We don’t like doing it, but the closest description we’ve ever got is ‘like reading Richard Brautigan while listening to Black Sabbath’. This is the first album Black Sabbath released, it’s heavy as fuck. A huge influence.”
The Modern Lovers – The Modern Lovers
“This album is kind of the holy grail. It’s so fucking cool and so New York and so punk-rock. The songs are catchy and repetitive with great intelligent lyrics. Jonathan is constantly swimming against the tide, and that’s something we respect, admire and try to do ourselves.”
Nirvana – Nevermind
“When I first heard this album it blew me away. I was at a youth club and I heard it on this banged up cassette deck and I remember thinking, ‘What the fuck is THAT?! I wanna hear it again!’ Despite its commercial success, this is a brilliant album. Heavy as fuck but with amazing melodies.”
Faust – Faust IV
“Again, just a classic album. For us, it’s all about the repetition and the experimentation and the cut-ups. The sounds! I was ill in bed for a week once last year and all I listened to was Faust IV on repeat. This album is healing!”
The Flaming Lips – The Soft Bulletin
“This is one of our all-time favourite albums. It means a lot to us because in the 90s we listened to it on repeat and it introduced us to the work of Dave Fridmann, who is a genius, and we’ve had the privilege to work with on our last two albums. The overall tone of this album is absolutely perfect.”
Grandaddy – Under The Western Freeway
“Grandaddy’s debut just blew us away and we’ve never really recovered. Jason Lytle is just such a gifted songwriter and musician. He records everything at home, which is a big inspiration for us. This album includes the track A.M.180, which is just such a pop anthem!”
Wand – Golem
“This was a band we discovered relatively recently and this album is great. It’s kind of perfect pop psychedelia. The guitar sound is fucking great on it and it’s lo-fi enough to sound cool, but pop enough to grab you instantly. We challenge you not to love it!”