Following the release of his heavenly new track “First Aid”, the bedroom-pop provocateur curates a playlist of his favourite tracks.
Bedroom pop provocateur Gus Dapperton has made a name for himself relentlessly breaking new ground with his olio of sunny melodies, electric visual style, effortless rumbling vocals, and deceptively raw observations of modern anxieties.
And the New York boundary-pusher is at it again with his latest track “First Aid” – a mesmerising and sombre look at the loneliness and fraught experience of isolation – plucked from his sophomore album Orca, released earlier this Autumn.
To get you in the mood all things Dapperton, he’s curated a playlist of all his favourite tracks. Think the fuzzed euphoria of Mazzy Star, Springsteen’s iconic bests and some good o’ Smashing Pumpkins…
The New Radicals – “You Get What You Give”
This is just one of my favourite songs. I think the songwriting and production are incredible. I like when people use live drums to sound more sequenced and I think they do a good job of that in this.
Elliott Smith – “Between The Bars”
I think the songwriting and lyricism on this song are incredible. I love how the chord progression and melodies are constantly changing and there aren’t any dynamics in the singing which is very difficult to do in an acoustic song.
Radiohead – “Fake Plastic Trees”
The lyricism and metaphors used are amazing. It’s an all around incredible song. I love Thom Yorke’s voice.
Mazzy Star – “Fade Into You”
This is a very well written song. Very patient. No forced moments, just a soft acoustic guitar rock ballad.
Dave Matthews Band – “#41”
This song is musically advanced. I think there are a lot of interesting chords and there isn’t really a chorus. They just go into this big interlude and he just yells on top of it and I think its so impressive the song carries without a real hook.
Bruce Springsteen – “I’m On Fire”
This is one of Bruce Springsteen’s chillest songs. I feel like it was written last minute and added to the album without huge intentions but people loved it and it took off.
Oasis – “Wonderwall”
One of the best songs ever written. Liam Gallagher tone of voice is incredible. Tone is one of my favourite things. He doesn’t have a ton of range but he doesn’t need it because his tone is so great.
Smashing Pumpkins – “Disarm”
I love Billy Corgan’s voice and that this is one of the Smashing Pumpkins’ more acoustic ballads. It’s really cool to see their versatility on this song.
In general, all these songs helped inspire my latest album, Orca. I like the combination of all the acoustic guitar and soft guitar with big, live drums and big electric guitar leads. This was something I really wanted to capture on this album because I felt the lyrics and songwriting style was a little more raw so I wanted to use more raw sounds and more raw instruments including acoustic guitars, distorted electric guitars, live drums, live piano, all that.
