Influences: Mr Tc

This is a band that for me had the perfect ‘sound’ while I was growing up. Their first 3 albums were a huge influence on me and they’re still a favourite. Though I make dance music, i think I draw on a sound that’s quite dark and psychedelic and I owe a lot of that to these guys. This one is a track that I play out at the beginning of the night when I can. What a vibe setter!

There are so many Lou Reed and/or The Velvet Underground tracks that I could put in this list. He is a real hero of mine. Everything about The Velvet Underground is perfect. They were wild and harsh, unbelievably cool and heartwrenchingly beautiful at the same time. Never try and cover them. In the end I’ve chosen this song because this is my mood right now. It’s so powerful and emotional. What an incredible songwriter. Everyone knows he is one of the greats.

Somewhere along the line David Byrne & Talking Heads came into my life and I’ve been in love with their music ever since. They were just an incredible ensemble of extremely talented musicians and the quirks and intricacies in their individual sounds combined with incredible songwriting put them a step above the rest.

Maybe a weird one but this documentary really did open up a whole new world of music for me. My friend Daniel (who I’m still in bands with today) showed up one day when we were about 16 and said he’d had his mind blown by krautrock after watching this. He tried to get me to watch it for a very long time before I finally caved in (I was too busy listening to the standells or something). Well I had my mind blown too and since then the sounds of a lot of the bands mentioned in this doc have shaped a lot of my musical understanding and taste. The break-from traditional rock and roll structures and attitudes and exploration of psychedelic sounds and repetitive, driving and groovy rhythms is what I really needed and I’m still discovering so much great stuff from these musicians.

Like for so many people, Kraftwerk were my entry to electronic music coming from a rock background and after all these years, since discovering house and techno and finding club music that I like, I’m still always going back to them. What visionaries. Just perfect.

This video isn’t really worth watching (you can’t see anything and sound quality is terrible) but I’ve chosen it because it kind of hits two birds with one stone. I wish I was at this gig. I’ve learnt a lot from both of these figures. LCD Soundsystem have been a huge presence in my life and through listening to them I’ve discovered so much great music. James murphy is incredibly good at showing you his influences very clearly in his music whilst making something new and exciting. When I moved to Glasgow at 17 I really didn’t know much about clubbing. I went to a few nights here and there and I suppose I was almost convinced it wasn’t for me and then I found myself at an Optimo night and it was a revelation. I was hearing all this great music that I already liked mixed in and out of all this new and intriguing music that I’d heard in other clubs and dismissed. But because of this night I wanted to learn more about it and explore it because I could see how it could work alongside the kind of music that I was listening to. To me they’re the best DJs in the world and it’s incredible for me to have my music released on Optimo Music.

Green Door Studio is an all analogue recording studio in Glasgow that offers free courses and recording time to young musicians. The Golden Teacher, Whilst and MR TC records that have come out on Optimo Music were all recorded there but so many people and bands from across the city have benefited from the amazing work that Stu, Emily and Sam that run the studio are doing. My ‘Soundtrack For Strangers’ EP was completely the result of doing a course there and getting some free recording time. It’s a very special place that has a big place in my heart. The video is a track from an album that came out on Autonomous Africa last year. The Album was an international collaborative recording project organised by Green Door between young people based in Glasgow, Tafi Atome in Ghana and Lebeha drumming School in Belize. Since then an amazing connection between glasgow and Ghana has been formed, with green door running regular study group trips from Glasgow to study Ghanaian drumming, dancing, and singing at the Tafi Cultural Institute. I went out there last November to do a course and I’m hoping go back out at some point to record with all the friends that I made over there.

Comeme are a huge favourite of mine. Fittingly, this song which introduces all the members of the extended comeme family in the early days of the label was the first comeme track that I heard and instantly it was a favourite. I can totally identify with the weird and incessantly groovy sounds of the records on the label and you’ll almost always hear me play a few comeme tracks when I play a dance set. Rebolledo in particular manages to lock into a groove that keeps me wanting more with nearly every track. I’m very excited for his second album!

This is such a powerful recording. Everytime I hear it, it injects me with energy and excitement. Funnily enough, it’s from an opera but in a club it takes the room to another level.

This is a track from the famous Nuggets compilation. When I was a teenager me and my friends listened to this compilation a hell of a lot. It became a bit of a bible for us. This is what made me want to learn guitar and start bands and make music.