Ok, everyone is writing about music that influenced their lives, so I thought, well, maybe I need to tell my short music history as well.
1. Dead Can Dance – Spleen and Ideal
At the age of 14 my brother brought home 2 CDs. Dead Can Dance and Spleen and Ideal by Dead Can Dance. After being The Cure fan up to that point, this was something new for me, but as soon as I put the CDs in his stereo, I was sold to that sound; I cannot forget the feeling I had at that moment. As if I saw a whole new universe. His favourite was “The Fatal Impact” from the first album, my favourite tracks were however on Spleen and Ideal album, and the one that made the fatal impact on me was “Ascension”.
2. Tuxedomoon – Holy Wars
At the age of 16 I got a tape from someone and Holy Wars on it. I came home, pressed play and I was “holy what?” That music was the perfect soundtrack of my mind at that time, and even at 16 I understood it, as it was like tasting my own blood. To this day it is.
3. Pale Saints – In Ribbons
The same year In Ribbons was released, 1992, I was lucky enough that one girl I had just met was so kind and recorded a tape for me, and it was In Ribbons. Well, I can never thank that lady enough; she introduced me to a list of shoegaze bands… but in a way In Ribbons stood out from the rest as it was so melancholic, heart-breaking, soft and hurtful, and all the things you turn to when you are a lost teenager. It is as well one of my favourite albums even today, although today I like some other songs from the album better than back then. I remember inviting my best friend to my place so I could play her those tracks, and we would rewind “Hair Shoes” over and over again.
4. My Bloody Valentine – Isn’t Anything
My friends used to listen to alternative music a lot so we kept exchanging tapes, and I don’t remember how I got Isn’t Anything. It was noisier than In Ribbons and we played My Bloody Valentine a lot at our parties, we were a happy bunch with “Nothing Much To Lose”.
5. The The – Infected
I was lucky my cousin’s wife was a huge The The fan and had all the original tapes, so on my visit to them she played me Infected and there I was… Infected! I bought the tape myself and I remember it had all the lyrics inside, I read them over and over again and still to this day I know every lyric that Matt has written by heart; whenever I play The The I sing along, how great is that? Matt Johnson is my dearest songwriter out there and I “met” him at the age of 17.
6. Marc Almond – Mother Fist and Her Five Daughters
Yes, that was the first Marc’s solo album I got to hear. My ex “something” played it for me, I remember as if it happened yesterday, he said “I have to play you Marc”. This album sounded a bit strange at the age of 19, and I could not fully understand it then, especially as he used to play “The Room Bellow” the most, but once I started discovering Marc’s solo work on my own, he remained one of my true lifetime ikons.
7. Death In June – But, What Ends When the Symbols Shatter?
I think I was 19 when I heard it and that was the album that led me to opening my mind to neofolk music. This album stayed on the very top of all the albums in that genre.
8. Skinny Puppy – Bites
I had less interest in electronic music as a teen, but from the age of 19 I started exploring more of the electronic sound. Skinny Puppy at first, with no reaction from my side. I could not understand it at first. You really need to dive deeper and rip your soul out and look at it really well so you can look at them well. So I did that and found myself in their work. It is hard to pick up the most influential Skinny Puppy album, as I cannot limit myself to only one, but let’s say Bites was the one I heard first, so it made me want to explore them further, and boy how I did.
9. Mors Syphilitica – Mors Syphilitica
The first album of this New York duo reached my hands several years after they had released it and completely by accident. A friend of mine bought it not knowing what it was, I got to listen to it and there it was, love at first listening. I would call their music pagan rock, but they are as well ethereal at times. This was the first CD by them that reached my hands, and still my favourite. Pity they don’t exist as a band any more.
10. I leave this last place for all other artists I love, too numerous to mention. As it is impossible to write such a short list, I decided to give the tenth place to all the music I like and that made my life as it is, still continuing to do so.
written by Marija Buljeta
