My SIx beSt ALbUMS
MOBY, 52, is the musician and producer known for his electronic dance music. His hits include Go, Porcelain and We Are All Made Of Stars. His new album Everything Was Beautiful, And Nothing Hurt is out now. JOy DIVISION: Closer (London) Growing up I didn’t have much of a social life so I found myself having more of a connection to music than what was going on around me. There was a level of intimacy and desperation on this that made me feel heard.
I rode my bike around at night listening on my Walkman, dreaming of being anywhere other than suburban Connecticut. bURIAL: Untrue (Hyperdub) This was a revelation because it managed to incorporate a lot of traditional electronic music tropes but presented them in a beautiful, atmospheric and vulnerable way. It creates a sense of cinematic space that resonates with me. Sex PIStOLS: Never Mind The B***ocks (Virgin) I’d mainly been exposed to classic rock but borrowed this from a friend from the UK. When my mum was at work I played it on her old stereo and it felt like the most exciting violation. It scared me at first then it made me want to start a band and scream at the top of my lungs. DONNA SUMMeR: Greatest Hits (Uni/Mercury) The song I Feel Love in particular was the birth of electronic dance music. It couldn’t have been further from the impoverished world I grew up in: it was European, black and futuristic. It seduced me into the musical path I ended up going down. LeONARD beRNSteIN: Rhapsody In Blue (Sony) I studied classical music so I broke my teacher’s heart when I started playing in punk bands. But this is one of the most remarkable pieces of music ever recorded. It was part of the sonic landscape of my life. There is a beauty and exuberance to it. I listened driving in the desert recently and still marvelled at it. MASSIVe AttACK: Protection (Circa/EMI) I discovered this at a special time: the spring of 1995 when I was having my first grown-up relationship. I was a skinny weird kid from New York, she was a sophisticated beautiful German woman in a sunny, light-filled apartment in Berlin. This album was the perfect soundtrack.