"My friend Al played it to me when we were living together. It's a box set of all four of his releases at that time. It's super bleak and I don't know what it says about my mental state then, but for a long time it was the record I would fall asleep to, particularly on tour. There's something microscopic about the sound, but it's like a musical optical illusion - it can sound vast and oceanic or it can sound quite narrow. He's done something fascinating with the sonics so that it works on two dimensions. It's also just heartbreaking - there's one piece called 'Orgone Donor' with musical saw and violin over granular drones; a matt finish with these aching, twisted sliding harmonies. Like the soundtrack to the end of days. As though you're sliding into a black hole."

"This includes all of the films in the box set John Cassavetes: Five Films. I’m always a little leery of the routine critical construction “Without X, there would be no Y.” Surely Y would have come along; his or her work might have been a bit different, but he or she would have come along. But in the case of Cassavetes, it is difficult not to think of a whole talkative, financially strapped mob of filmmakers, some brilliant, some not so much, who very well might not have come along if he hadn’t, you know, blazed the path. Still, you don’t watch a Cassavetes film for its historical significance. These films are alive. How very well I remember my first, A Woman Under the Influence. I probably went in because I was a Columbo fan. Not only was I enthralled by a whole new Peter Falk; Gena Rowlands simply blew . . . me . . . away."

"Iggy's probably my favourite singer and I was thinking about choosing one of his solo records, but when you see my next one you'll probably figure out why I didn't choose that. Again, what can you say about Fun House? It's just so primal, a rock & roll record, and I can't think of anything like it. From the box set you can tell that it didn't just appear, they worked incredibly hard to get it that good, take after take after take. It's just amazing, totally powerful. To be able to capture something that probably was more of a live experience and make it sound like they're in the room with you… one of my neighbours has got a ludicrous stereo, and we'll just listen to Fun House, insanely drunk, on his stereo. It's almost like you're there, melting your face. It was a fun night… you should come round, it happens most Fridays. That's how countryside life in Scotland goes."