The 10 Albums That Influenced Me The Most (Newsletter 15)

I had a lot of fun writing last week’s letter on 32 life lessons from 32 years on Earth. It was super long, so I didn’t expect anyone to read through it all.

I thought it would also be fun to write about the 10 albums that have influenced my music (and life) the most.

I’m a big fan of albums. Listening to a full album from start to finish really gives you a sense of the artist: what they have to say, their true musical style, their high points and low points, and their production. It’s a much deeper connection than a single (and a lot less repetitive to run through multiple times).

I know the names of albums better than I know the names of songs. It’s how I like to listen to music.

Influence: the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behaviour of someone or something.

I put together some criteria for what constitutes “influence” for the purposes of this letter:

• It changed my musical tastes (ie: got me into a particular genre, opened my mind to what’s possible in music).
• It changed my musical behaviour (ie: got me to start learning an instrument, a line of theory, etc.).
• It has replay value (ie: I’ve listened to it many times and still experience it differently).
• It has directly inspired my own work.

Note that these are not necessarily my favourite albums (it would be way more difficult to put together a top 10). However, these have undoubtedly played the biggest role in shaping me as a musician.

These records are in the order by which I heard them in their entirety.

Metallica – …And Justice For All (1989)

The album is the catalyst of my origin story of learning guitar.

I was 12 years old and hanging out with my neighbours. We had been messing around with recording into Cool Edit Pro and writing songs. I didn’t play any instruments but the recording process was super fun.

The guitarist of the group (the eldest brother of three) told me “Check this out”.

He then proceeded to play the tapping solo from One.

Right then and there I knew I had to learn guitar.

He started teaching me the opening riff from One, and I quickly found out that guitar is more difficult than he made it look (at 15, this guy was playing along to Joe Satriani and Dream Theater records).

And so I started studying the tabs and listening to the song on repeat. I’d practice when I could and eventually got the first four notes down. I was so proud of myself, and I'd go on to become obsessed not only with Metallica but the guitar as a whole.

But it wasn't only the guitar. I thought the iconic double-kick pattern in One was the coolest thing ever. I was also struck by the “progressiveness” of the song as it moved from soft, clean guitar to blistering speed and aggression toward the end.

Over time, I expanded my listening sessions to the entire album. And it opened my world to guitar and metal (which would be my go-to genre for the foreseeable future).

Master Of Puppets and Ride The Lightening were also on rotation. In fact, my first band would cover Fade To Black and For Whom The Bell Tolls. But neither hit like that first album I listened to from Metallica.

And no, as a kid, I didn’t care that I couldn’t hear the bass (sorry Jason)!

Lamb Of God – Ashes Of The Wake (2004)

Ashes Of The Wake is my all-time favourite metal album. Everything about it is killer—the songs, the guitar, the vocals, the drums, the bass, the energy.

I was 13 when I was first introduced to LOG. I strictly remember getting the Guitar Pro tabs for all the songs on this album and painstakingly learning each note (with poor technique, mind you). The riffs are incredible, took a long time to learn, and had a massive influence on my writing.

A lot of the riffs have interesting scales, and it seems there are no off-limit notes. It’s almost chromatic in a sense, which makes it all the more interesting.

The drums definitely stand out to me, too. There’s a lot to learn from great drummers like Chris Adler.

The anti-war sentiments of Ashes Of The Wake and …And Justice For All helped solidify my anti-war beliefs. It also opened my eyes that such aggressive music wasn't as “evil” as my presuppositions may have had me believe.

The Fall Of Troy – Doppelgänger (2005)

My sister and I are only 15 months apart and we shared a lot of the same musical tastes growing up. I was 14 when the first time I heard The Fall Of Troy. It was the song “Act One. Scene One” that she had on a mix CD.

I thought the track was super weird, but it slowly grew on me. It had the distorted guitar and scream vocals that I was really into, but the song structure and feel were so different than the heavy-hitting metal I was into at the time.

Shortly after, I was performing at a high school battle of the bands (we played a few originals and covered Note To Self by From First To Last). One of the other local bands covered Ghostship Part IV and it blew me away (though it’s not on this record).

I then got addicted to the game Guitar Hero 3 on my Playstation 2, and what’d I know? The Fall Of Troy’s F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X was on there.

I had to dive deeper into their work, and Doppelgänger was the album to check out.

I was floored. Never has I heard an album so eclectic and technical yet “loose” in its execution. It was organized chaos and I was hooked.

And it was all done with a three-piece ensemble! The guitar tones and effects Thomas Erak got on this record really piqued my interest in pedals. The sounds that he got opened my mind to experimentation with effects. This would ultimately lead to a small pedal collection and, further down the line, a love for plugins.

The success of F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X meant a lot of my high school friends were into them, too.

At the time, I was writing all the music for my band “Unicorn On The Cob”. I’d tab it out in Guitar Pro, including the bass parts (which were usually just the roots of the guitar parts) and most of the drum parts.

Our drummer wasn’t into TFOT, no matter how much we tried to get him into it. So, being the trickster I was, I had an idea: I’d re-label the tab for Macaulay McCulkin and send it over as if I had written.

He loved the track. Gotcha!

After the conversion, we started jamming some of the songs from Doppelgänger but never got them down. We eventually got Sledgehammer in the bag, though that was from the following record, Manipulator.

Several years down the line, I started another band called Blunt Cousin. We covered Mouths Like Sidewinder Missiles and F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X for many shows to help fill out our setlist as we wrote our first album.

Thomas Erak’s guitar playing has been heavily influential on my own. I even listed him as my “idol” in my high school graduation book.

The Number Twelve Looks Like You – Mongrel (2007)

Like a lot of my favourite art, I didn’t “get” this album when I first listened to it. There’s so much packed into this record that I think I was overwhelmed during the first listen (and perhaps even now, having listened through more than 100 times).

At 15, the first song I ever heard from The Number Twelve was Jay Walking Backwards, which is about as straightforward as they get. Next was Grandfather, which is pretty mathy and definitely caught my attention.

And so I sat in my room and listened to the entire album to get a better sense of what these guys were all about. I barely made it through.

But something pulled me back the next week, and the next, until I started to understand the “chaotic” nature of the genre-blending.

Now that I’m older and have a deeper understanding of more musical genres, the genius of Mongrel really shines through. Of all the albums on this list, it’s the one I revisit the most often.

It gives me tremendous inspiration to write the music I want to write and to pull from every artistic avenue I’m genuinely curious about.

These guys are bold, pushing boundaries and creating the art they want to create—we should, too!

Protest The Hero – Fortress (2008)

One of my good friends (we actually went to prom together) brought in a copy of Kezia (PTH’s 2005 release) to high school one day. A group of around 10 of us listened to it together on lunch break and all had to bring the CD home to rip onto our computers (this was the 00s, after all).

That album was incredibly technical and I didn’t have a hope in hell of playing along (I tried). But it did make me an instant fan of one of my all-time favourite bands.

I was 15 when Fortress came out. I had been practicing guitar quite a bit and immediately started trying to learn it.

To this day, I haven’t gotten every riff down (I’ve gone through a few periods of intense study). But I know quite a bit of the album, and it’s some of my favourite music to play in the world. The Dissentience, in particular, is a song I [try to] play regularly.

It was around this time that I started paying attention to the production of albums, too. I must say that I love the production on Fortress. The bass booms, drum sound, and vocal layering are top-notch (among many other aspects).

To this day, Fortress is my favourite Protest album and has been a consistent source of inspiration in my music.

Eminem – The Slim Shady LP (1999)

Everybody heard Eminem growing up (at least the hits). Most kids weren’t allowed by their parents to listen to his albums, which ultimately made them more intriguing.

By the time I was a senior in high school (17 years old), rap and electronic music were pretty heavy on my radar. Those were the genres being played at parties, and I even started DJing parties at this time.

In terms of Hip Hop, there were a lot of requests for Biggie, Lil Wayne and Ludacris.

But for me, the beats and lyricism of Em have always stood out. A lot of my inspiration, whether it was messing about in FL Studio making beats or freestyling with friends at these parties, came from Eminem’s early stuff.

The Slim Shady LP is raw, bold, cartoonish, hilarious and exciting. I’ve listened to it countless times and know all the lyrics.

It’s not my favourite rap album (I’d have to go with Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly) and probably not even my favourite Eminem record. However, in terms of inspiration and influence on my writing and musical tastes, it gets a top spot for me.

Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma (2010)

Cosmogramma is another record that went over my head the first listen through. It’s yet another genre-bending album that incorporates an eclectic mix of musical ideas and sounds, though unlike Mongrel, this record is electronic based.

I had finished university at 19 and had been exposed to a lot more music from the friends I made. Flying Lotus was introduced to me alongside Samiyam by one of my good friends.

I was expecting a hip hop beats almost. I got so much more!

This one took quite a few listens to get into but has been a consistent source of inspiration since.

Flylo is one of my all-time favourite producers, and Cosmogramma was the first record I really dug into.

It’s truly a sonic journey from start to finish and has been a big inspiration to get weird and experimental with my music. The shorter songs, colourful clashes of instruments and samples, and intricately tense rhythms have all played a role in shaping my own sound.

It’s also got this raw feeling to it, which I personally love.

I haven’t found many people who connect with this specific record like I do. It opened my ears and mind to how weird and beautiful producer-based music could be—it’s much more than ‘just' loops.

Savant – Orakel (2013)

I got into electronic dance music in my senior year of high school. Uppermost, Felguk, Datsik, Crookers, Deadmau5, and many other artists filled my iPod (yes, this was before everyone had music on their cell phones).

But the issue was that there weren’t many full albums. When I was first getting into EDM and DJing (I DJed a lot of graduation parties in the summertime), I would search long and hard for singles from different artists to put into my sets.

Of course, Savant wasn’t the first person to write full EDM records, but his are among my favourites.

I was put onto Savant at 21 years old by a high school friend. At that time, he had several tracks near the top of the Beatport charts. Many of those tracks came from the album Orakel.

From the first time I heard “This Is How I Roll”, I had to hear more. The entire album is as good as this track, and it features a plethora of different EDM genres throughout.

I listened to this album every day for an entire summer on my commute to and from my civil technician gig, at the gym and at home. I’d get home and immediately start producing music inspired by what I heard on this record.

I still put it on regularly. It’s an incredible album.

Flying Lotus – You’re Dead! (2014)

By the time You’re Dead! came out, I was already a huge Flying Lotus fan. I picked up a vinyl copy as soon as I could.

The musicianship on this album is amazing. In typical Flylo fashion, a lot is going on in terms of genres, influence and tone. It’s got some amazing features, not only from Thundercat, Kendrick Lamar and Snoop Dogg, but also Herbie Hancock, Kamasi Washington, Niki Randa and Angel Deradoorian, to name a few.

It feels a lot more mature and refined than Cosmogramma, but gives me a similar feeling. I’ve jammed to this one with friends a lot more, as it’s perhaps a bit more accessible.

Nonetheless, Flying Lotus has two spots on my top 10 most inspirational albums. His work has been deeply influential on my art and music, and I can’t thank him enough.

John Coltrane – Giant Steps (1960)

When it comes to Jazz, John Coltrane was the one to get me into it and is still my go-to. Giant Steps wasn’t my first experience of Coltrane (it was Blue Trane, believe it or not). But it was the album that turned me on to Jazz.

I never really understood jazz music growing up. It wasn’t as exciting as metal, “heady” as math rock, or emotion-inducing as more lyrical material (Emo included).

Furthermore, I grew up in rural Canada, so there was no Jazz scene to grow up around.

I only started getting into Jazz at college, where I was studying recording arts and, naturally, hanging out with all the music students.

There were a few people in particular who could really get creative with their improvisation over standards in the jazz group.

I immediately recognized their chops, and slowly but surely began understanding the conversational aspects of jazz between skilled musicians.

John Coltrane is one of the most deeply cherished jazz musicians of the world, so he was one of the first ones I checked out.

His blistering speed reminded me of shred guitar (which I love). But there was a deeper feeling to his music that I could describe. It just spoke to me.

I ran through what I could of his catalogue and found Giant Steps to be a standout among his albums (though A Love Supreme and My Favorite Things are also some of my favourites).

It was my foray into Jazz. I still don’t comprehend what’s going on on that album, which is why I love it so much.There’s so much to draw inspiration from, not only from the feel and technique but from the theory behind it all.

Recap

I’ve been listening to, playing, writing, recording and producing music for a long time and these are the albums that have had the biggest influence on my work and, indeed, my life.

I’d love to check out the albums that have influenced you! Let me know by responding to this letter (or in the comments below if you're reading this on my website)!

That’s it for now.

Cheers,

-Art