When you’re an influential musician, people tend to ask you what you’ve been listening to lately. Here at 5 for 20, we’re just as keen to find out what records loom large in our favourite artists’ memory banks. So, we’re asking folks for their top five records of the last 20 years.
This week we caught up with Calgary's the Dudes, who are touring behind their latest album, Barbers Thieves and Bartenders. With British Columbia stops this week in Nanaimo (May 9), Victoria (May 10), Tofino (May 11) and Vancouver (May 12), it's likely a good thing a band statement about 5 for 20 finds them getting along so well.
"It was hard to get four Dudes to agree on what ruled most over the past 20 years but here's what we could agree on."
The Lonesome Crowded West by Modest Mouse (1997)
I'd never heard music like that before. It made me feel some emotion that I'm not sure has a name yet. Some kind of mix of gritty disappointing/hopefulness. If that makes sense.
Pinkerton by Weezer (1996)
The most honest, heart-on-sleeve nerd rock album ever.
Clayton Park by Thrush Hermit (1997)
So much rock. When that album didn't turn them into worldwide superstars I nearly wanted to quit music for good. It was like, "I will never make anything this amazing, and this isn't enough to get the world excited? Then why bother?" We didn't quit though.
Soft Bulletin by the Flaming Lips (1999)
It's magic rock. It could make me cry like a baby and want to crush things with my bare hands in the same song. Powerful stuff.
Slanted & Enchanted by Pavement (1992)
It taught us that all you need is good songs. Hit stop, record and go. Low-fi for the victory. We pooled our cash, bought a second-hand reel-to-reel and started recording in our kitchen after this album.
Related links:
Tour Diary Tuesday with the Dudes
5 for 20: Eleanor Friedberger of the Fiery Furnaces
The Dudes’ Danny Vacon shares his shuffle playlist
5 for 20: Baby Eagle
5 for 20: Tamara Lindeman of the Weather Station
5 for 20: Warren Ellis of the Dirty Three
5 for 20: Lynn Perko Truell of Imperial Teen
posted by
Vish Khanna
on May 08, 2012