I’m allways curious about what inspired and/or what formed the sound of an artist. Listening to this inspirations gives me a better understanding of what someone is currently making and every now then leads me to unexpected gems.
So my question here is what were the songs, albums artists that have influenced the sound of you the cc mixters???

Let me kick off:
The DJ producer - Doomsday Mechaniks Breakcore
YoutubeThis album (and artist) defitnely has had the most influence on my sound. It was the first time I was introduced to UK hardcore (breakcore) with all its scatterd breaks and weird noises at the background.
This album echoes trough allmost every song I make just like merkaba said: Every tone is an echo of you, evry beat a shadow.

Shpongle Psybient (actually they are a genre of there own)
The Dorset Perception

I doubt if there ever will be a greater example of what mixing styles and genres can create then these two guys. Great music, suberb musical skills and insane (vocal) edits make them for me my favourite group.
When I discovered them it really changed the music I was making. From the harder dancestyles to the more ambient trip hop type music i make today. Will I ever reach there level proberbly not but as of today its a great listening and inspiration to improve my music.

Loreena McKennitt (Folk music)
One of my mothers favourite artist and because of that I’ve heard here so much from an early age. Hear voice became a blueprint for the vocals I’ve used in many tracks. The funny thing is that I’ve realised that just last year when I was collecting all my old songs after a computer crash.

Great topic. I would emphasize first that the biggest influence people had on me are various local musicians on the scene who kind of mentored me. Tony Diteodoro in Ottawa was a huge influence, as well as Drew Nelson, Dave Carty, and Terry Gillespie. Dave Brown, my partner in crime in Sundays at 8 too.

Artists on records:

Showdown! by Robert Cray, Albert Collins, and Johnny Copeland. This album changed everything about music for me. It symbolized for me how music making in general and the blues in particular is about fellowship.

Infidels by Bob Dylan: the song “Sweetheart like You” taught me a lot about putting ‘white space’ into music. You don’t have to fill a song with sound.

Avalon by Roxy Music: same lesson, along with a lot of choice licks from Phil Manzanera.

Abbey Road by The Beatles: this album taught me the importance of craftsmanship in music making. It all has to be done well - the songwriting, the arranging, the recording. Why settle for less?

Love Over Gold, by Dire Straits: an album that taught me how to be happy with my sadness, when I’m in it. And also how to get really mean guitar tone.

Suzanne Vega, Solitude Standing: this album taught me about how desperate feeling and intellectual songwriting can be woven into the same music. You don’t have to choose. Learned a lot about open tuning and fingerstyle from Suzanne Vega too.

And well, anything Sarah McLachlan does… dynamics and mystery are important in her music, and important to me.

This kind of question is always tough for me… so I’ll just list a bunch of my favorite artists. I don’t consciously try to emulate all of these people but I’m sure their music has influenced the way my ears hear things. This is also me being lazy because I can just cut and paste this list from my facebook page :)

Seal
Jellyfish
Jeff Buckley
Pink Floyd
Maroon 5
George Michael
Sade
Alicia Keys
John Mayer
Outkast
Al Green
Etro Anime
Andy McKee
Mariah Carey (her old stuff)
The Roots
James Taylor
Kenna
No More Kings
Corinne Bailey Rae
Beastie Boys
Nobuo Uematsu
Steely Dan
Peter Gabriel
Eric Johnson
The Prodigy
Acoustic Alchemy
Spyro Gyra
Tenacious D
Tony Toni Tone
Earth, Wind & Fire
Stevie Wonder
Kruder & Dorfmeister
Garth Brooks
Supertramp
Incognito
India Arie

I’m sure there are many more. I own hundreds of CDs. But the ones on this list I can say that I like most of their music that I’ve heard… not just 1 or 2 songs here and there.

Very cool. My earliest musical influence was my father - he was my first piano teacher. My parents listened to a lot of Barbra Streisand, Barry Manilow and John Denver (it is a miracle I play rock and roll!)

My first rock influences were U2 and Sinead O’Connor. Then I discovered Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. The Beatles. I had books of sheet music by Billy Joel and could entertain myself for hours at the piano.

Tori Amos and Tom Waits were my early songwriting influences.

As I learn more about production and artistry, Tool, Radiohead and Bjork are my biggest inspirations. I actually A-B’d my secret mixter track against a couple of Bjork tracks to see if I was in the general ballpark (I realize I fall very far short of her mastery).

Thanks for this thread!

I could go on forever listing music that has influenced me because I’ve been around the block more than once, and definitely certain music is particularly influential at different times.

When I was a baby, my dad used to put me to sleep in front of the hi-fi speakers so I would learn to sleep even in a noisy environment. I’m not sure what he was listening to then, but I’m sure it influences me.

Growing up, my folks always had music on which of course had to seep in somewhere: The Beatles, The Who, Crosby, Stills Nash & Young, Joan Baez, Willie Nelson, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, The Rolling Stones, Jefferson Airplane, Judy Collins. (Have I dated myself yet?)

As I developed my own tastes there has been lots of music that I like, but what has most influenced me is probably: Joni Mitchell, The Roches, Kate Bush, Motown, The Talking Heads, Brian Eno, Neil Young, Lou Reed, Shelia Chandra. (I’m still dating myself, huh?)

And of late, I think about Radiohead, TV On The Radio, Emmy Lou Harris, Beck, Blossom Dearie, and many of my ccMixter co-horts who have had a very positive influence on the music I make.

This is a very fun topic. Thanks for starting it!

My first LP was by The Monkees. The second one was by Santana. Something must have happened during the time between the purchases of the two.

It’s so dificult to reduce musical influences to just a few. The more you love music, the more difficult it gets.

Here’s a try

David Bowie (1969-1975 era)
Nick Drake (all three albums)
Bobby Bland (anything by him)
Norman Whitfield (the great Motown producer/songwriter, especially the psychedelic soul era, think Papa was a rolling stone)
Prog rock (had my feet deep in the Genesis and Yes mud a part of my life)
J.S. Bach (The pretentious reference but he really was quite good with harmonies one must say, and what an influence he’s had on pop chord progression in general, without Bach, no Beatles as y’all know)
Anything on the Stax and Atlantic labels recorded between 67 and 70.

Later years influences, Massive Attack, Radiohead (of course) and British pop music from the nineties and onwards in general up to around 2005.

Here on ccM, Speck’s music is a great inspirational source for me.