"I love Interpol. They're my favourite modern band, I suppose. Are they considered contemporary? It was a decade ago but I think of them as a new band. Well, they're not part of the 90s anyway. 'NYC' manages to be simultaneously dirge-like and uplifting, and I don't know how he manages to balance those two things. I love the lyrics in it, 'I tried on seven faces before I knew which one to wear.' For me the art of great songwriting is when you're fascinated by the words but you don't know too much about what it's about. It's about giving but not too much. As a listener you should have to join the dots. It's a perfect record for where it came from too, it's got that feel that's very urban and alienated. I really like listening to it on the underground. The drone of the tube trains and the slightly sort of neurotic sense that you get when you're on the tube is perfect for Interpol. It's funny you should say they're like a New York Suede because when they came out people did make that comparison."

"I was half tempted to put in all of The Beatles' albums. It's really hard for me to pick one because I fucking love all of them. They mean so much to me. I think Revolver, because it pointed the way forward. It's interesting that 'Tomorrow Never Knows', which still sounds like something that's coming from the future, was the first song that they started work on. They started that in early 1966 or whatever. Pretty far out when you think about it. That song always sounds contemporary to me. That thing with the bass and drums where it's just one groove, like a loop. And all the tape sounds that are coming in and out. It's very advanced for its time. The sound was so different that you knew there was something else going on, that something was changing culturally and musically for people, which of course it did the following year. The Indian influence is there as well. Obviously it's in 'Love You To', the George track, but also the way the guitars are played. You've got a slight drone going on with the guitars."