Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Listen: What Inspires the Wild Beasts?













(courtesy of Jessica @ Stereogum)

Hopefully by now you’ve heard Smother, the third album from Wild Beasts. As with all their records, it feels like it comes out of nowhere. And as always, I have trouble finding reference points to give people when recommending them (Antony? Talking Heads?). That’s why I asked the band to talk about some of the albums and songs they listened to while writing and recording it, as well as some of the bands that inspired them when they started. Bassist/vocalist Tom Fleming created this list on behalf of Wild Beasts, though it includes some “personal indulgences” that he wanted to talk about. “We just share records on tour. We trade tapes, as it were. And we don’t really have set roles anymore. We’re all interested in production and how things are put together. We all play more than one instrument now-a-days,” he says. “So it’s more about, how can we best use what we’ve got.” Though his list of picks is pretty diverse, they make sense: they’re songs with lots of complex rhythms, or with a muted subtlety that nevertheless burrow into you lyrically — “turning the knife” is the phrase he uses to describe the lyrics on Smother.


...to read the rest of the article and listen to the various artists that inspired Wild Beasts' Smother, visit Stereogum here! The list includes the likes of: Patti Smith, Tyler, the Creator, The Beach Boys, Animal Collective & much more!

Join us for Wild Beasts @ LPR on July 13th & 14th! To learn more, click here!

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