Influences

The productions of Montreal musician Tim Hecker move electronic music to unexpected places. His early work fused the dry, pulsating rhythms of techno with the bare minimalism of Brian Eno. Alongside other avante garde electronic artists and collaborators Ben Frost and Oneohtrix Point Never, Hecker has carved out a music vocabulary that mines the ethereal underpinnings of dark industrial spaces. Aaron from Beats has compiled a great playlist of his influences, which range from the modern classical of Philip Glass to shoegaze pioneers My Bloody Valentine.

Jamie XX links up with Complex to give a themed favorite tracks playlist. You get a sense of the broad range of influences that goes into his own music, from the lo-fi electric blues of Love Sculptures "Blues Helping" to the skeletal proto-dubstep of Buriels "Forgive." The Walls and Steel An Skin tracks are simply sublime (Jamie samples the latter on his own "Sleep Sounds").Songs to Relax To: Love Sculpture, “Blues Helping”Songs Most Proud of Making: Radiohead, “Bloom (Jamie xx Rework Part 3)”Album that Made Him Want to Start Producing: Burial, BurialFavorite Song With Steel Drums: Steel An’ Skin “Afro Punk Reggae Dub”UK Garage Track He Cant Stop Playing: DJ Zinc “138 Trek”Album that Inspired Him While Recording In Colour: Walls, WallsTrack that Encompasses Everything He Loves About U.K. Rave Culture: Jamie XX, "All Under One Roof Raving"Favorite song from his label, XL Recordings: Roy Davis Jr. f/ Peven Everett “Gabriel”Go-to song for DJing: Bileo, “You Can Win”Song that makes Him Excited About Dance Music: C.P.I., “Proceso (Barnt Remix)”Want amazing playlist delivered to your inbox every day? Click here to subscribe to the Dowsers e-mail!

It could be argued that Colemans greatest influence was beyond the borders of jazz. Generations of rock and experimental musicians have internalized the lessons of Coleman, understanding that oftentimes some of the most beautiful music first sounds ugly and random. You can hear Ornettes jagged, screeching stabs in everyone from the Grateful Dead to Television, but more than just a style or type of playing, Coleman taught musicians a new way to approach music -- an improvisational and at times confrontational method that was akin to a primal scream. Of course, Ornette could pull that off because he had chops, and the head-first style would later generate a lot of really bad noise, but weve tried to collect some of the better examples here. Some of these artist are explicitly indebted to Ornette. Thurston Moore has sited him as an influence; Nation of Ulysses named their song after him; and both the Grateful Dead and Lou Reed played with the man.

Its a little hard to believe, but Kanye West has been producing hip-hop tracks now for 20 years. In terms of longevity, hes been more relevant for a longer period of time than any modern pop producer. And, in that period, hes undergone several stylistic shifts that have taken him from being a champion of very meat-and-potatoes trad hip-hop -- albeit with a chipmunk twist -- to being a pop conduit to the outré electronic and old school psych. This article by Third Bridge Creative does a nice job at capturing these shifts, and uses data supplied by Whosampled to back up the analysis. The associated playlist provides a more rote but still compelling look at some of the most recognizable samples, placing Kanye classics next to the originals.

It’s been one of music’s longstanding dichotomies: the Beatles were formalistically experimental pop musicians disguised as zeitgeist-teasing idealist, while the Stones were barroom bluesman who fetishized apocalypse and Malboros. Never the twain shall meet, or so the narrative went. Which means that a certain type music critic -- the ones tilting towards counter-narratives -- have spent the past six decades explaining that, yeah, they’re not really that different -- it’s a narcissism of small differences, or a talisman against the idea of monoculture, take your pick. Consequence of Sound, as part of their video series that highlights the five best things of a given subject, weighs in on this with their five best Beatles tracks that sound like Rolling Stones songs. It’s not a great list. They stick to the hits -- “Helter Skelter,” “Come Together,” “Hey Jude,” etc -- it’s fun to imagine “Come Together” as a Stones song (though it’s hard to imagine Jagger singing “Hey Jude”), but that’s about it.

It’s a slyly ironic title for a playlist, but Anohni is a sly woman. She got her start as a he with Antony and the Johnsons, whose signature elegiac chamber pop anchored a voice both soaring and fragile. There’s plenty that could’ve gone wrong on her debut solo album, 2016’s HOPELESSNESS; the production came courtesy of cubist synth maven Oneohtrix Point Never and trap king Hudson Mohawke, and the themes were overtly political. Lead single “Drone Bomb Me” was, in her words, “a love song from the perspective of a girl in Afghanistan...a 9-year-old girl whose family’s been killed by a drone bomb.” It worked on a visceral sonic level and in a deeper emotional and political sense. This Spotify playlist traces the inspirations for this weird, brilliant record. From the gothic folk of Buffy Sainte-Marie to the chilly high-concept hijinks of Laurie Anderson, Anohni’s eclecticism is on full display.

M83 is fixated on the sky, on big sound, on feeling alive. Their name is taken from Messier 83, a spiral galaxy; their music, however, comes from primary member Anthony Gonzalez’s long engagement with pop history. Some of his influences, such as the Cocteau Twins, Vangelis, and My Bloody Valentine, are apparent from listening to his music, and yet, his love of the weirder sides of Pink Floyd and The Beatles is equally important. His synthesizer tones are in touch with the ethereal sounds of Jean-Michel Jarre and Tangerine Dream, while the pacing and drama of his more epic works unquestionably gesture toward Slowdive and Sigur Rós. M83 transforms the greatest qualities of these musicians into sonic collages that feel simultaneously familiar and fresh.

Columbus, Ohio’s genre-bending Twenty One Pilots pack their high-powered tunes with myriad influences, filtering dynamic pop through head-nodding reggae grooves, breakneck hip-hop beats, and even skyscraping synth blasts. While this kitchen sink approach can create the sort of mess even a smash hit hook couldn’t clean up, the duo have managed to master combos that not only result in irresistible bangers, but also positions them as an original voice in pop music.They learned from the best. Their tendency toward catchy, key-heavy hip-hop recalls Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ team-up with Chance The Rapper, “Need To Know”; The Killers’ lit-up, synth-dipped chorus on “Spaceman” matches their rousing sing-along aesthetic; and they share the same penchant for sonic theatrics as groups like Panic! at the Disco and Fall Out Boy. By some magic, they all sound just right next to each other.

Almost everything about Frank Ocean is shrouded in mystery and contradiction. He’s brash and outspoken, yet a virtual recluse; he’s a modern media star, yet he rarely engages with the modern media; he’s one of music’s most distinct voices, but he’s also a cypher. If you’re looking to his new album, Endless, for clues to who the man is, you’ll be disappointed. For one thing, this may not actually be his new album — maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. All we know is that the music here is baffling and beautiful. The spare, ominous acoustic balladry of “Rushes To” recalls the gothic folk of British experimentalists Current 93, while the album’s skittering narrative threads, dark gospel underpinnings, and political nods recall everything from Erykah Badu’s masterwork New Amerykah Part One to the latest Kanye West. There’s a refracted funk that channels ‘00s underground R&B group Sa-Ra Creative Partners, which makes sense considering that Om’mas Keith from Sa-Ra provides piano on the album. The moody electronic ambience of producer Arca, who has previously worked with everyone from Kanye to Bjork, is all over this album. This playlist looks at some of the albums collaborators and influences, as well as sample sources. It’s a companion piece — a helpful set of footnotes to this strange, gorgeous record.

On August 20, Frank Ocean released his first full-length work in four years (two if you count the soundtrack for the Endless visual album). As Blonde (alternately spelled as Blond) reached Apple Music, Ocean organized giveaways of a limited-edition magazine, Boys Don’t Cry, at four pop-up shops around the globe. A page in the magazine lists Blonde contributors, inspirations, and sample sources; as of this writing, it’s the only evidence of official album credits he’s given us so far.As a result, half of this playlist references Blonde guests such as Beyonce, Kendrick Lamar, Andre 3000, and Tyler, the Creator, and session players like Om’mas Keith of Sa-Ra Creative Partners. However, the other half of the list attempts to deduce how Ocean created his new album’s dense computer washes and hazy, amniotic sound. Thanks to the aforementioned Boys Don’t Cry tip sheet, we know that Brian Eno’s ambient explorations, Jonny Greenwood’s moody soundtracks, and Jamie xx’s melancholy club tracks make up his sources. There are parallels to Bradford Cox of Deerhunter’s fluid sexuality and adolescent anomie, Raury’s blend of airy indie-rock and conscious rap, Julee Cruise’s ethereal “Falling” theme for Twin Peaks, and Mazzy Star’s essential ode to long California drives with nothing to think about, “Fade Into You.” In total, this collection of gospel, electronic, rap, pop and rock numbers are a varied contrast to Blonde’s washed-out haze. Think of Ocean as a good chef who reduced dozens of ingredients into a tonally consistent and thought-provoking work.