My top 5 influential albums - Matt

Post by Matt

I had a change of job recently, and because of this I found myself listening to a lot more music while walking to and from work. In particular I have been going back and listening to albums that I haven't listened to in a while and rediscovered some gems from the time that I started playing guitar and I can hear certain aspects of my guitar playing style in this music, so I thought it would be a bit of fun to share some of the albums that most influenced my guitar playing, so here they are (in no real order)...

Pixies - Doolittle

The Pixies seems to be one of those bands that are mostly appreciated by musicians, even if they are not stunningly amazing musicians themselves. What I learnt from this album is that you don't have to be Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton to write a cool sounding prominent guitar part, and quite often the guitars on this album are slightly out of time and off key, and it really works. Just listen to 'Here Comes Your Man', a quirky, fun rock song with some great sounding guitar playing that is far from being musically perfect but nevertheless fantastic to listen to.

Key track: Here Comes Your Man

My Vitriol - Finelines

One of my favourite albums for so many reasons, it was just one of those albums that I picked up at the perfect time in my life for it. Many people have come to me at gigs and commented on the board of effects pedals that is usually sprawled across the stage in front of me, and its probably because of this album. In a kind of juxtaposition from what I said about the Pixies playing simple guitar parts and not needing lavish embellishments, My Vitriol use guitar effects pedals in such a way that is really intriguing to me, using echoes, pitch bends, sweeping tone shifts, and crazy flanges etc (I wont bore you with the extended list), they do it in a way that really compliments the song and creates almost a sonic soundscape.

Key track: Alphawaves/Always Your Way

Tool - 10,000 days
When I tell people that I like Tool usually they look surprised. For those that don't know, 

Tool is quite a dark rock band, although they are heavy in places, the listener is left with 

the impression that it's all justified in a way and rather than it being noise, what comes 

out is a well  calculated barrage of emotion (and not in a whiney 15 year old kind of way). 

Tool are possibly the most incredible musicians in rock today, their use of dynamics, timing 

and rythym is something that all musicians can learn from. While I appreciate that a 17 

minute song might not be ideal listening to some people, i can not speak anymore highly 

of getting a good pair of headphones, closing your eyes and listening to Wings For Marie

 (parts 1&2) and just let it wash over you. Failing this, listen to The Pot as loud as possible, 

a perfect example of how a dark rock song doesnt have to be moronnic shouting.
Key track: Wings for Marie (Parts 1&2) or The Pot 

Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream

SP are one of those ‘marmite’ bands, possibly because of Billy’s voice, but I love it, and this album has some absolute corkers on it that I could take a lot from in terms of guitar technique (this is where it gets slightly technical) when playing the rhythm guitar part Billy tends to play just the root note and the octave note, muting the 5^th which is a subtle but great way of making a chord sound edgier, without changing the pitch in any way, and similarly when the song gets louder he will also hit all the strings but mute the strings that he doesn’t want to ring out, adding a kind of ‘percussive’ aspect to his guitar sound. The intro guitar part to ‘Cherub Rock’ is a great example of these techniques and remains one of my favourite things to play on guitar.

Key track : Cherub Rock

Hundred Reasons - Ideas above our station

This album came out at a time when American pop punk was rife with band like sum41, green day, the offspring was bothering the rock charts. Hundred Reasons came along and (in my honest opinion) saved English rock from being taken over by Americans, sure they had a few little similarities, but they made a fantastic sound. In particular I love that they have two guitars and only in very rare moments do they follow the formula of ‘I play chords and you play notes in the chord’, the songs were pretty complex when you break them down but simple when listened as a whole. As well as these subtle, yet intriguing, guitar parts the vocals from Colin Doran were fierce and yet crystal clear and hold similarities to a then Frank Turner fronted Million Dead. I can honestly say that there is not a weak song on this album and it has aged well, nearly 10 years on.

Key track : If I could

 

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