"Again, I've gone for the "pop" album - I've gone for the greatest hit. I thought about all his records and the minimalist composers, and I could have gone for a Terry Riley record or whatever, but there's a reason this is his hit. I could come back and listen to this any time. One of the greatest live music experiences of my life was when Steve Reich had his 70th birthday at the Barbican, and he came over with his musicians and did nearly all of his classic pieces. I saw Drumming and other stuff, and then I saw this at a little church across the street from the Barbican and it's so beautiful, so gorgeous. Really, really moving. Having said that, this year Kieran and I booked a trip of DJ gigs because we hadn't seen each other in a while, and we played the Snowbombing festival in Austria, which was hilarious. We were driving around, so we hired my friend who's this really placid Czech guy. He's the driver on all my tours and I've never seen him get agitated about anything ever. Most people who drive primarily for a living are prone to road rage, but I've never seen him lose it. So he asked us if we wanted to put on any music so on went Music For 18 Musicians. He's not really a music fan - if you put on Albert Ayler he'd be like, "Jesus Christ, what are you trying to do to me here?!" So we were driving through the Alps, I was chatting to him and Kieran and listening to this piece of music that I love. I didn't really notice but he'd gone silent and 40 minutes in he was like, "Um, excuse me, this music's driving me insane, can we please turn it off?" To me it's the opposite of that, it's the most soothing music possible, so I guess that illustrates that it's not for everyone."

"It would have been very disingenuous of me not to acknowledge the enormous impact The Beatles have had on music and pop culture. They were lucky enough to be around at a time when people were pioneering with electric guitars and trying out different things and forming what pop music was. The Beatles were the best at it and the masterpiece is ‘The White Album’ because you get to hear them experimenting and going a little further out into the deeper water. Some of the McCartney songs are great, things like ‘Blackbird’, but the Lennon songs – ‘Happiness Is A Warm Gun’ and ‘I’m So Tired’ – are magnificent. ‘I’m So Tired’ is one of those songs I relate to more than any. Certain songs suit our personalities or our way of being. With ‘I’m So Tired’ I’ve been in that position so many times; sleepless nights from jet-lag or too many things going on in my head. Lennon had this unbelievably effortless ability of capturing things and writing that postcard that would become a song. That album is filled with those gems. Of all the things they did, that album is by far my favourite. It’s the most experimental. It made me think you can do what you like with an album, it’s just an experience. Other people were just writing songs; The Beatles were addressing a much broader perspective."

"To me, this is another mood record. It's more about pieces, pieces of music. I suppose there are some songs there. There are melodies there but it's a bunch of complex pieces. I have a friend who works at a record store and he told me that this album is the most returned album they ever get. I guess people put it on and it's not what they expect from Miles Davis. It's not a bebop record. It's very orchestrated, it's jazz clusters, not rhythm. I hadn't really thought about it but I guess there are a few vibe albums on this list. I love a good album of pop songs but there is something about these ones that you can put on while you're going to sleep, when you're chilling out or after work. It's more about turning off your mind and letting the music wash over you. I like those kinds of records. "

"It was between The Idiot and Fun House, but it's almost like The Idiot and Low are part of the same package or something. Low is an incredibly ambitious and strange and enjoyable album. My parents weren't into pop music, but one of my very first memories is being at a child's party and hearing 'Starman'. So Bowie is one of the people who made me consider that I liked music. It was a really important, formative thing. Low is probably just from becoming a fan, getting all the records and deciding that that was my favourite one. It's not often you hear a record and can't actually approximate the thought processes that went into making the song. Maybe that comes from imagination run wild through drugs psychosis, or maybe them just sat around having a laugh going 'you know what would be mental? Let's have a ten-minute song where I start chanting in the middle of it'."