Polish producer The Phantom recently unveiled his brilliant debut album “LP 1″ for Silverback and while the album shifted slightly to the side of the expectations that preceeded it. The end result is a fantastic piece of work taking in influences from 80s film soundtracks, kraut rock and more to deliver a long-player that feels as comfortable in a home listening environment as a dark warehouse (although there’s no lack of club-ready material within).
As cliche’d as it sounds, it’s definitely a long-player that rewards the listener on repeated listens and it’s been finding its way into our headphones a lot over the past couple of months.
Hyponik recently offered up an interesting “track-by-track” analysis of the album and we thought we’d try to dive a little further inside the material. We caught up with The Phantom to find out about the music that influenced him when he was writing “LP1″ and some gems popped up.
The Phantom on the influences behind debut album LP1
LP 1 derives mostly from pop, repetitive music and a sense of flow in music. Most of the tracks were written during warm spring days or in summer, while I was recollecting the images of Vistula, parks and gardens. The sensations linked with nature were essential to this record.
Arthur Russell – Lets Go Swimming (Coastal Dub)
One of the direct influences, which you can spot in “Sport (Part 1)”. A track that perfectly matched my mood while working on the album.
Tangerine Dream – Running Out Of Time
“Late Night Sex” is a direct homage to Tangerine Dream paying homage (allegedly as requested by the producers of Risky Business) to Steve Reich, which started with “Love On A Real Train” and was repeated in Miracle Mile.
Charlemagne Palestine – Piano Drone (1/2)
The intro to “Bless Their Little Hearts” bears a resemblance to this Charlemagne Palestine piece. It definitely helped to shape it.
Animal Collective – Brothersport
It’s very indirect, but I really loved “Merriweather Post Pavilion” at some point. It reminds me of both The Beach Boys circa “Sunflower” or “Surf’s Up” and Terry Riley’s “A Rainbow In Curved Air”. There’s a great sense of flow on this album.
Hermeto Pascoal & Grupo – Documentario espanhol
Self-explanatory. Nature & repetitive music.
Miklós Rózsa – La Vie Passionnée de Vincent Van Gogh
A film I remember well from my childhood. The score, by Miklós Rózsa, had a powerful effect on me. I tried to analyze some of its parts during LP 1 sessions. “Love (Interlude)” was partially influenced by the score, partially by Freddie Hubbard’s “Little Sunflower.”
Psychic TV – The Orchids
Another indirect influence. It reminds me both of Steve Reich and Michael Nyman referencing baroque music. Let’s say it’s an “umbrella track” for me.
John Carpenter – Orientation (Escape From New York OST)
Directly referenced in “Water’s Edge.” I can’t remember the context of this track, but I used to watch a lot of 80′s thrillers with similar tracks. In this sense – “Water’s Edge” slightly differs from the rest of the album.
Mtume – You, Me And He
“Gothic (Album Mix)” utilizes the snare from the track. Classic Mtume production.
Edgar Froese – Ypsilon In Malaysian Pale
The concept of reversal was important to me as well on this record. From the early memories of my dad’s reel-to-reel and the other side accidentally bleeding into the proper one to Ron Hardy and pressing issues.
Chez N Trent – Morning Factory (Prescription)
I’d be okay with listening to the main loop and synth only.
Get your ears around “LP 1″ below:
