When we talked to Bikos about their show at the Smell to benefit Sounds for the Cause we also got a chance to ask them about the music that shaped them--music they wanted to share with our readers. As bandleader Gabe Pearlman put it, "I decided to highlight life-changing music that each of the members of bikos first shared with me and/or otherwise call to my mind."
By Gabriel Pearlman (of Bikos)
Austin Wester, Drums.
DJ Shadow - Building Steam with a Grain of Salt
"...I'm a student of the drum, and I'm also a teacher of the drums too"
When Austin and I were 17 years old, we were
participated in a statewide youth program called Youth & Government.
We were in Sacramento lounging in the lobby of our group's hotel and
Austin, who I at that point didn't know all that well turned to me, took
his disc man headphones off and said "dude, you gotta hear this" and
put the headphones on me. DJ Shadow's album Endtroducing, was just beginning. I had never heard anything like it.
Daniel Hur, Lead Guitar.
The Mountain Goats - Cubs in Five
"...and I will love you again"
During our senior year at Culver High, Daniel totally shook my musical world. I had only just recently been to my first concert (Elliott Smith + Quasi) when he shared the Mountain Goats with me and started to help me learn guitar. Transformative. Delving into Darnielle's work was completely eye opening.
Dave Jones, Bass.
Modern Lovers - Hospital
"I go to bakeries all day long, there's a lack of sweetness in my life..."
When Dave first came to jam with us in the formative days of the band, I couldn't believe it.I had seen him play at a mutual friend's bday show and worked up the nerve to ask him during a weekend basketball game (we're both weekend warriors). Dave is near completion of a book for UC Press on the opening years of punk in LA, called "Destroy All Music", with emphasis on the Weirdos, Zeros, Dils, Screamers and Germs. He has turned me on to many many gems, perhaps the greatest being the Modern Lovers' song, "Hospital."
Miki Burton, Co-lead Vocals
New Pornographers - These are the Fables
"Why ask to pay yourself, for the call of the wild, you found this child, so raise him"
Back when my first songs started coming together, mid-oughts, a long-standing dream of mine was to write a song about the most improbable love story imaginable. I started to think about who's hard to find. So began the quest to write "Waldo and Carmen Sandiego". Once I wrote it, the only problem was that we didn't have a female to sing the part of Carmen. After a few singers informally tried out for the gig, I found myself by a pool with Miki, then for the most part a friend of friends. She sang for me, a song called 'Bright Eyes', and it was readily clear that Miki would be a strong part of what we would be doing as a band. It had only recently been when I had become enamored with the New Pornographers album Twin Cinema. Newman and Case were and are an exquisite pairing. In my mind, Miki is my Neko and always makes me better.
Jaron Halmy, Keys
D'Angelo - Playa Playa
"Bring the
drama playa, give me all you got, make your move, shoot your best shot.
I see right through your riddle, slip right past the block"
In the first days of College 8 at UC Santa Cruz, Jaron resided in a dorm called "AG". I wound up crashing on Jaron's couch a majority of the year... not 'cause I didn't have a place to stay, but because we were great friends. Back in the days of high-tech cd-changers, Jaron had a 3-cd changer with the same 3 three albums cycling through front to back the whole year. They were all remarkable album- albums, but by and large the one that impacted me the most was Voodoo, by D'Angelo. This album ranks in my top handful of the best most-complete albums.
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