The 1980s were all about synths for me, and it never went away after that.
I like songs that sound like classics. There are songs that might be cooler or have better production, but I like songs that sound like they're timeless.
I'm big fan of soulful music - classic rock with a folk-ish twist.
The sound of the '90s, to me, is a combination of soul and street - it's a feeling.
If you listen to 'Electric,' 'Entourage,' and 'Been With A Star,' all those records are records that I dug into the crates for to help me create that feeling of old funk. No one makes records like that anymore.
Formerly known as The Muslims, The Soft Pack brings a lot of swagger to its garage-rock sound. There's a load of gimmick-free confidence in the band's hooks, as its distorted guitars and driving drums demonstrate that less can be more.
I really like The Cars. They're just so over the top and super pop, but I don't feel guilty. I'm proud of all the music I listen to.
In the beginning, I was so inspired by the music. I had the option to make something modern with classic undertones, but I wanted to make something that was exactly like that old sound.
There are definitely things about 'Legendary Child' that echo the music we did earlier in our career. It's got the right stuff.
I wanna write a classic metal record, a classic rock record, in 2013.
I'm a '90s kid, so I went into the entire album process wanting to incorporate little touches of that sound from hip-hop and R&B. Just enough to where you hear it subtly and then go, 'This kind of reminds me of that time.'
I do think music sounds better when it's on tape and more simply recorded.
If you go back and listen to the album 'Name' was on, there were a lot of garage songs on it.
I love Sylvan Esso. I want to bring in more electronic elements, but also some analogue stuff. Stuff like '70s drum machines really fascinates me.
In the late '80s and early '90s, there was a slightly retro drum sound that was popular in hip-hop music called the 808 bass drum sound. It was the bass drum sound on the 808 drum machine, and it's very deep and very resonant, and was used as the backbone as a lot of classic hip-hop tracks.
I LOVE Taylor Swift's 1989. I think it's really cool at the moment that the production on her record is just as strong as the writing. I like the fact that the early nineties sound seems to have come back around
I've always loved soul, R&B, doo-wop and blues, and I've wanted to make a record like that for years.
It's in the vein, somewhere in a cross between The Beatles, Cheap Trick, The Stones, Badfinger, you know, but it's not retro at all. But it is very pop.
What's the essence of the Go-Go's? Great melodies, guitar hooks, driving drums. All of that.
Mayer Hawthorne's old school pop-R&B homages are so meticulous that it's tempting to overrate his pipes.
I never want to go back and remix old records, either. If a record sounds shitty, that's just the sound it has. I just take it as part of the music. Some of my favorite bands - their old records sound terrible. But that's just part of the sound. If they were perfect, I'd probably hate them. Same thing with movies.
Electroclash is good because it's stayed underground.
That's where the Black Keys and Jack White have succeeded and I've failed: They've actually convinced college kids that they're listening to hip music - but it's just blues twisted a new way - while I'm playing for the college kid's parents.
For me I look at a group like Queen or AC/DC or the Beastie Boys. There was melody within what they did. There was a certain style with what they did. I think it is coming back.
Neo-soul caught my attention more than any other sub-genre. I was really attracted by that sound. It made me do what I do musically: trying to find the same type of vibes, those nostalgic vibes.
