Metronomy
began in 1999 in Devon, when Joseph Mount’s Dad gave his son a computer so he could sit in his bedroom and make electronic music inspired by the likes of Autechre, LFO and Aphex Twin, more as a creative hobby than a pop masterplan. Anna Prior and Oscar Cash joined in and they have released two albums so far. Mount also released numerous remixes under the Metronomy moniker – for artists like Gorillaz, Kate Nash, and Charlotte Gainsbourg.
Joseph: The first band I was getting into and thinking I was really cool doing so, was Green Day. I had a t-shirt.
Oscar: I bought with my pocket money.
Jospeh: Yeah, when they first released their album «1977» in 1996 it cost the same amount as it would have in 1977. When you were saving up your money to buy an album you suddenly could afford it. So I think a lot of people bought that record because it was cheap.
Joseph: The first concert I remember going to was this britpop-tour. It wasn’t actually a really good britpop-tour, no Oasis or Blur there, it had Sleeper, Mansun and Silver Sun on. But I was really young and found the whole thing so exciting and very rock.
Oscar: For me it was Les Rhythmes Digitales at Reading Festival in 1998. It was my first festival but none of my friend wanted to come with me. I was blown away and felt very proud and cool of going there all by myself.
Joseph: For Devon where I come from it is «Super Sharp Shooter» by Ganja Kru because everybody loves drum n bass there. In every club you went to it was always: «The s, the u, the p, the e, the r...». It was horrible.
Joseph: I had a really good experience while being in New York. There was this old funk-song I heard so many times, it was playing constantly in my head but I couldn’t remember the name. I went into this little vinyl-shop and suddenly thought: «Is it Bootsy Collins & The Rubber Band? I’d Rather Be With You?» And there it was, and I thought: «Thanks fuck, I’ve found it!» Oh, by the way, that’s also a very good seduction song! It lasts about 12 minutes, from the seduction to the cigarette afterwards...
Joseph: Something my parents played and thought I would like, probably The Beatles with «Please Please Me».
Oscar: I got very early memories with Simply Red. When my parents had friends over it was the dinner-party-music of that time.
Joseph: I was listening the other night to «Fear Of Music» by Talking Heads with the song «Heaven». That’s the perfect one. There’s the chorus: «Heaven is a place, a place where nothing, nothing ever happens.»
Oscar: I haven’t picked mine yet but it has to be something incredibly sad. Probably an irish band with «Danny Boy» or something like that. They are very good at funerals.
Jospeh: I have a kind of a sucker for the tracks they release every year in dance music to get a summer hit. And I definitely remember the summers when Stardust's «Music Sounds Better With You» and «Lady» by Modjo were playing. Proper summer tunes evocating the mood.
Oscar: This one’s a little bit emberassing: I seem to remember the summer after first hearing Jurassic 5, their first album. I don’t really like it anymore but it was a way into hip hop.
Joseph: Oscar had a hip-hop-faith that started with Jurassic 5 and ended with their second record.
Jospeh: I maybe go for The Beach Boys’ «Pet Sounds» or some later Wilco-songs. Not because of the lyrics but their emotions are pretty good for that. Oscar, you maybe say Nirvana again? Or Sonic Youth?
Oscar: Yeah!
Jospeh: Of course, Oscar wears the trousers – he would have broken up and made her heartbroken.
Oscar: I left Nottingham before I could go to clubs. So it would be Nirvana. Me and my friends were listening to it at home when our parents were away.
Joseph: We were doing this DJing-thing after gigs in England, and everyone loved this tune.
Oscar: I started using television-theme tunes as ring tones. Currently it is «The Queen’s Nose» which is a children program from England.
Jospeh: When we were touring last year I had «Single Ladies» by Beyoncé as my ring tone. I even went through the trouble of making a loop out of it so it started «bang!» with the chorus. It was also my alarm clock in the morning which was kind of weird. But I still don’t hate that song.
Joseph: Good, old fashioned, new R&B-music like «Southern Hummingbird» by Tweet. This is made to be sexy.
Oscar: It is always me who puts the music on. I wear the music-trousers! Maybe Nirvana. If someone else is putting the music on it has to be good and probably something I haven’t heard before.
Jospeh: Millions and millions. There’s a Beatles song called «There’s A Place», simple but very good.
