Moontype is an indie rock band based in Chicago. Their latest record, I Let The Wind Push Down On Me, is out today on Orindal Records, and to celebrate the release, Joe Suihkonen (guitar), Margaret McCarthy (bass), Emerson Hunton (drums), and Andrew Clinkman (guitar) share some tracks that they were listening to and thinking about while they recorded it.
— Annie Fell, Editor-in-chief, Talkhouse Music
Joe Suihkonen
Velvet Underground — “Sunday Morning”
There's a lot I love about this song — the way the guitar is so washed with reverb it borders on a drone, the glockenspiel (a studio find that was added on a whim), and of course the anxious and paranoid lyrics against the pretty chords and melodies. As someone who made a lot of avant garde music in school and now makes rock, I feel a lot of kinship with John Cale, as I know many others do.
Pink Floyd — “Time”
I learned this guitar solo at a very formative time in my guitar playing, and every time I hear it I'm sort of amazed at how much of Gilmour's playing has been internalized into my own. From the strat, the whammy bar, the fuzz, the long vibrato, the triads, the phrasing. I rip this solo constantly without realizing it.
Public Image Ltd. — “Four Enclosed Walls”
Doug Malone showed us this recording while we were talking about brash and bold drum sounds, specifically for our song "Crushed.” The drums on this totally blow me away, what a sound!
Yo La Tengo — “Saturday”
Nate Mendelssohn and Katie Von Schleicher showed us this recording while we were talking about arranging songs from the ground up, prioritizing strong sonic landscapes and minimalism. I was in the perfect headspace when I first heard it, and I just couldn't stop saying, "Wow!" It then became my most listened to song of the year. Huge inspiration on the sound of our new record.
Margaret McCarthy
Broadcast — “Echo's Answer”
Doug Malone played this song in the studio when we were considering “How I Used To Dance” and led us towards the sparse arrangement that exists on the record now. I think this song also gets at that empty lonely windy feeling that threads through ILTWPDOM.
Bruce Springsteen — “I'm On Fire”
This song is one of the most perfect descriptions of burning desire that I've heard. If you ever get that burning feeling and no where to put it I recommend listening to this while driving at night on an empty highway with the windows down.
Minnie Riperton — “Expecting”
Minnie Riperton is a favorite of mine and I love the way this song builds up emotionally, leading you towards what's to come. Her vocals of course are inspirational, and the sweeping instrumentals make this one magic to me.
Emerson Hunton
The Curtains — “Brain Photography”
Playing scales together is playing music, and that's what we do.
Sibylle Baier — “I Lost Something in the Hills”
This song was stuck in my head for a year leading up to us making ILTWPDOM, maybe it bounced out somewhere.
Andrew Clinkman
Prefab Sprout — “Elegance”
One of my favorite Paddy McAloon songs on my favorite Prefab Sprout record. I have always loved how harmonically inscrutable it is and how it zigs when your ear expects it to zag. When I first heard Margaret's demo of “Starry Eyed,” I felt it had a kinship with the songs on Swoon and that feeling helped me digest it and also informed my playing particularly in the verse.
NRQB — “That's Alright”
I was on a pretty big NRBQ kick while we were working on some of the songs on ILTWPDOM, and this is such a brilliant perfect pop song. I particularly love the brightness and texture of the 12-string and Clavinet together. It perhaps in some small way planted a seed that grew into the octave doubled guitars on “Let Me Cry.”
The Bee Gees —Blue Island
I have a particular fascination with overlooked or dismissed late-stage songs from prolific and brilliant artists. Something about how the personality of a great songwriter can be so pungently distilled from the stylistic excesses of their earlier work, or maybe it's the exhaustive drive to outrun their pigeonholed mega hits that forges these occasional gems. I kind of feel like the Gibbs are incapable of writing a bad song and I cherish this one.
