This week, Panda Bear & Sonic Growth launch Reset In Dub – a dub model of their acclaimed 2022 album Reset by British dub producer Adrian Sherwood. To mark this auspicious event, right here’s Sonic Growth’s My Life In Music from Uncut’s June 2020 situation [Take 277]…

Psychedelic spaceman Pete Kember – aka Sonic Growth – on the music that takes him there: “Any day I take heed to Sam Cooke is an effective day for me!”

KRAFTWERK
THE MAN-MACHINE
CAPITOL, 1978
That is only a actually superior report. There appeared to be quite a lot of cool data coming from Germany on this period, like Bowie and Iggy Pop and Kraftwerk, they usually had been kind of interconnected; I really feel like they had been all having some kind of dialog with one another on completely different ranges. For me, this and Trans Europe Categorical are type of a pair, they’re each simply extremely strong data. Kraftwerk set a bar which I’ve all the time tried to aspire to – they had been so succinct and cleverly minimal in what they did. I actually like that mixture of the mechanical and the soulful. Their melodies and the general vibe of what they did was actually deep.

SAM COOKE
SAM COOKE
CAMBRA, 1982
I’ve by no means come throughout the unique Sam Cooke albums after I look to purchase stuff on-line, however the compilations which cherry-pick all his hits and infrequently another tracks are simply so nice. The vibe he put out and the sensation that he put into his songs… you completely purchase into each phrase that comes out of his mouth, and I believe that’s the best factor you are able to do as a singer or a musician. I can placed on songs like “Unhappy Moods” or “Having A Occasion” they usually immediately transport me. Any day I take heed to Sam Cooke is an effective day for me, it all the time makes me really feel good.

LAURIE ANDERSON
BIG SCIENCE
WARNER BROS, 1982
I bear in mind listening to “O Superman” on the radio and actually not getting it: “What the fuck is that this?” Then sooner or later I took some psilocybin mushrooms with a good friend, he put this album on, and after I heard the entire report and the music in context, I used to be simply floored by it. I nonetheless really feel it’s one of many best items of artwork that’s been placed on a report, and [I love] the innovation, the humour in it… I nonetheless take heed to it commonly, and I’m continuously amazed by what a tour de pressure, what genius it was. I’ve some dwell data of her doing it, and no matter nation she was in she would do it of their language. That’s so deeply improbable!

PIERRE HENRY & MICHEL COLOMBIER
MESSE POUR LE TEMPS PRESENT
PHILIPS, 1967
The primary facet of this can be a mixture of a ’60s beat group and Pierre Henry doing his digital amazingness on the highest of it. One thing about it simply actually works effectively, and it jogs my memory of among the Delia Derbyshire stuff too, just like the Dr Who theme. “Psyche Rock” is kind of predictive, and presages Silver Apples and Suicide in some methods. Aspect Two is musique concrète stuff made with the sound of a door hinge opening and shutting, in order that’s a complete completely different universe! However Aspect One has been actually influential on me – the tones of the electronics and the boldness with which he makes use of it.

BO DIDDLEY
ROAD RUNNER: THE CHESS MASTERS, 1959-1960
HIP-O SELECT, 2008
I do know most individuals know him by identify and recognise the Bo Diddley beat, however he’s extremely underrated. He did so many stunning rhythms on his songs, usually utilizing samba and tango beats, and mixing gospel, blues and South American rhythms. I believe he rewrote the rulebook again and again. He may be one of many individuals who could possibly be credited with the roots of ’60s black soul music. What he did within the ’50s actually created the shape that everybody used, although I do know a big a part of that comes from gospel music. I’ve all the time liked the man. I obtained to fulfill him as soon as and jam with him on Jools Holland, which was fairly surreal!

THE SANDPIPERS
GUANTANAMERA
A&M, 1966
The Sandpipers had been a vocal-based group, and I worry they could have fallen right into a middle-of-the-road rut. Certainly one of their songs that lots of people may know is known as “Inchworm”, and on this album they do a combination of requirements and covers. They do The Beatles’ “Issues We Mentioned At present” – however they’ve obtained stunning voices and the entire report is admittedly transcendental. Once I moved to Portugal I had the privilege of having the ability to rediscover all my data once more in a very new surroundings; it’s actually stunning having the ability to take heed to all this music within the mountains. Their vocals are one thing for me to aspire to, and I envy those that make it look so easy, which The Sandpipers definitely do.

orchestral manoeuvres in the dead of night
ARCHITECTURE & MORALITY
DINDISC, 1981
Curiously, they’d two hits off this one, each referred to as “Joan Of Arc”, each High 5! In a while, I found that my mum’s childhood good friend, Auntie Avril, used to get a teenage Andy McCluskey to babysit for her youngsters! I mentioned to her, “I all the time actually liked the primary ‘Joan Of Arc’ music, I’d like to attempt a remix…” So she put us in contact, and Andy despatched me each “Joan Of Arc” songs on 24-track, two-inch multitrack. I shortly realised after I obtained the tapes up that the primary “Joan Of Arc” was really a demo that had had bits added to it, and I couldn’t get it even near sounding as superior as the unique!

GEORGE FAITH
TO BE A LOVER
BLACK SWAN, 1977
It is a Lee Perry-produced album, from what might be his finest interval, across the identical time as Junior Murvin’s Police And Thieves. They’re each excellent albums for me – stunning songs, excellent manufacturing, and each subtly psychedelic, which Lee Perry is a genius at. I solely discovered this about 4 years in the past, and it wasn’t too straightforward to search out, but it surely’s a improbable report that I believe has been missed. Somebody requested me just lately what music I might play on my birthday, and I really feel like each time I take heed to this report it genuinely feels pretty much as good as any birthday I ever had. I don’t know what extra you may ask! I extremely advocate this to anybody.