Ryley Walker

SIX STRINGS GOOD

What music are you currently grooving to?

I enjoy Tomberlin. Best tunes I’ve heard in a minute. I envy the restraint she has. Super psychedelic. Also really enjoyed Winter Hallucinations by my friend Sam Goldberg. He’s a Cleveland native who was and is a big part of the Midwest synth-and-noise scene going back to the mid-noughties.

What, if push comes to shove, is your all-time favourite album?

I always say Physical Graffiti. Just makes sense. It’s the best, right?

What was the first record you ever bought? And where did you buy it?

The CD single for R.E.M.’s Man On The Moon. I’d seen the Andy Kaufman biopic and loved their song in it. Went to a store in Rockford, IL called Media Play to purchase it. Giant store. The size of a used car lot. I think it’s bulldozed now.

Which musician, other than yourself, have you ever wanted to be? Never had that fantasy. Most of the musicians I like had heart disease and died at, like, 38. I can say that people like John Abercrombie, Derek Bailey, Steve Hackett, are all people I admire greatly and wish I could emulate better.

What do you sing in the shower? I sit in silence and weep.

What is your favourite Saturday night record?

XTC, English Settlement. I have dark and cryptic Saturdays. I hate going out.

And your Sunday morning record? Mark Eitzel, West. One of the alltime great, great song records. Incredibly sad, incredibly funny. The whole thing is kinda talking about the “oh boy” element of waking up on a Sunday. It’s very shut-in with private thoughts of being a city slicker. I love Mark so much and I think this to be his finest hour. I’m trying to quit smoking and this record doesn’t help. Great to smoke cigarettes to.

Post Wook by Andrew Scott Young/Ryan Jewell/Ryley Walker, and much else besides, is out now on Husky Pants. See huskypantsrecords.bigcartel.com

“Physical Graffiti. It’s the best, right?” RYLEY WALKER