Berlin duo GHEIST have fast emerged as one of the most exciting duos in electronic music. Buoyed by an impressive discography as well as an enviable DJ / hybrid setup, it’s little surprise that they’re quickly earning fans across the world, just as a world tour featuring stop offs in Tulum, Sao Paulo, Copenhagen and Uruguay would seem to suggest. With their impressive debut LP, Zukunft, earning repeated plays in these here parts, we caught up with the lads to chat about their favourite albums. “In general there is no specific album that led us to creating “Zukunft“ said the guys, before conceding that “the following albums and artists definitely had an impact on us personally and artistically throughout the last years”. And what a great few selections it is!
James Blake- James Blake
What a great musician, songwriter and singer. He definitely has one of the most outstanding voices and he appears to be such a perfectionist. Whenever you have the chance to see a live performance of him we can highly recommend to go there, you’re in for something special.
With his first Album he immediately gave us such a great piece of art and we find his take on electronica very exciting and the emotional depth he creates especially with his voice is always just beautiful. As a musician and composer he seems very progressive and every time you listen to his music there’s something new to discover.
Radiohead- OK Computer
This album became one of the most outstanding and inspiring pieces of music in the 90‘s to us. Radiohead created their very own and super unique sound alongside Thom Yorke‘s incomparable voice. The way they arranged their music, the dynamic, intensity and most of all brilliant musicality by achieving such an emotional outcome still is mind blowing. The production of this album is so detailed and there are so many small hooks to hold on to, even if it’s just a rhythmic pattern or a sample. “Ok Computer“ in our opinion also marks the beginning of Radiohead stepping up even more, artistically and emotionally by actually creating their own genre.
Jose Gonzales – Veneer
Jose Gonzales is one of those artists who creates an instant vibe with very few elements. His finger picking guitar styles and his soothing warm voice from the beginning on built the foundation of his very unique musical universe. He‘s very well known for his great cover versions of songs like „Heartbeat“ from „The Knife“ and later on „Teardrops“ from „Massive Attack“. He is definitely a great songwriter who also has a lot to offer when it comes to lyrics, as he has a very beautiful and unique way to come up with strong pictures through his words. Even though we pointed out his firs album, you could easily listen to any of his other LP‘s, as they‘re all consistently great.
Moderat – Bad Kingdom
Such an amazing electronica band from Berlin which is also very specific on its visual concept. In a very musical way this album captures the feeling of club music, translated into catchy songs. The way they built their synthesizer aesthetics creates a strong color and vibe and definitely became one of their signatures. In general Moderat are very detailed in their production and songwriting. Everything comes together in a very organic way and there are constantly small and evolving hooks which makes their music very captivating and memorable. With everything Moderat do they are very specific and distinctive.
The Beatles
If you talk about influences in music it‘s nearly impossible to not even shortly mention The Beatles. At this point it is not necessary to refer further on the impact they had on pop music or pop culture as such, but to us personally it is the music we grew up with, the music we listened to when we were kids, because our parents listened to it. So you can definitely say that The Beatles greatly formed our understanding of music from an early age on.
Caribou – Our Love
Caribou‘s „Our Love“ is a wonderful example of an entire album that deals with an break up but never gets too heavy. Actually it feels more uplifting than anything else even though it is very emotional. Caribou is such an amazing producer who creates such great hooks with little vocal samples or synth patterns. The song „Silver“ shows very much what he is capable of, also in combination with the lyrics that appear at first fairly direct and simple, but when you put it all together it gets kind of genius. Another great track on the album is „Second Chance“ which starts like a pop song in an untypical way for Caribou but as he detunes the synthezisers more and more throughout the track, it gets a strong artistic twist and an entirely new feeling. There are a lot of unique things to discover on this album and Caribou in general is an outstanding artist.
Daft Punk – Homework
When Daft punk released their debut album Homework in the 90’s it definitely changed our perspective on electronic music and blew our minds. The French duo is such an amazing and creative producer team they simply don’t compare to anyone else. The song „Around The World“ became a huge statement with his super tasteful, funky style and uplifting vibe. The vocal sample is so catchy and cool and if you listen to it more than 20 years later it still instantly puts a smile on your face and makes you want to dance. And there is also a track like „High Fidelity“ which is so playful and groovy on one side and on the other side has this kind of romantic French charm to it. The programmings and sampling is simply on point and everything works so well together. The whole album is just amazing and fills us with joy on many levels.
The Prodigy – The Fat Of The Land
The level of energy The Prodigy creates is just outstanding and overwhelming. To this day songs like “Smack My Bitch UP“ or “Firestarter“ don’t compare to anything else. If you’re into electronic music there is no way around The Prodigy and this album.They mix of genres they produced with their influences out of Trip Hop, Punk Rock and especially their breakbeats inspired us very much. In general we can definitely say that the electronic music in the 90’s coming out of the Uk had a big impact on us. The death of frontman Keith Flint was a huge loss to the world of music, but we’re also very grateful for everything he left behind, may he rest in peace.
