![]() I think regardless of whether you love or hate Kanye, his pioneering creativity is kind of undeniable, much like his Twitter account.” This opening song sets up MBDTF perfectly and hits you right between the eyes. I couldn’t stop listening to it. Plus the whole thing takes me back to starting triple j breakfast, moving cities, the first time I was in love, making new friends, watching The West Wing in my underpants in my shitty one-bedroom apartment… good times. It just seemed so huge to me, littered with big, brutal ideas, tight rhymes and awesome hooks. It’s a brutally honest exploration of his stupid ego, everything that he was and is. But Yeezy’s masterpiece My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (and its accompanying short film) did it for me. “I can in no way call myself a hip hop head. The combination of gorgeous string arrangements, a choir and blistering melancholy kills me every time. Stevens’ work is endlessly inspiring and this track is no exception. I thought, “How does someone make something like this?” I missed the name of the artist, researched furiously, bought Illionoise, laid down on my bed with my headphones on and went on that journey. I can remember sitting in the car, down the main street of my little home town of Warrnambool, waiting for my mum to come back from the shops, and triple j played this. I can’t think of a better soundtrack for all that business than the epic, swirling, heartbreaking, delightful music of Sufjan Stevens. It hit me in Year 10, at the height of that period where you kind of wake up to the world and have your mind blown by sex and the future and the universe and art and figuring out who you are. When Folds begs God to spare him more rejection, when he admits his ex-wives all despise him, it’s truly raw, truly great, catchy pop. The honky tonk piano solo and that fat, feedbacky bass sound giving way to the huge horn section still gives me chills. It’s about being young, doing stupid shit, fucking up, regretting it and moving on to have another crack. This song has the quality of all great songs it feels timeless, like it was written centuries ago and Ben was just the conduit to lay it down. I still love the sound of The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner it’s simultaneously bombastic and funny and touching and cheesy. My adolescence, my relationship with my brother, my (shitty) skills on the piano, my comedy – all of them have been set to the soundtrack of this crazy motherfucker. Folds is my most consistent musical touchstone. Tom Ballard ( triple j breakfast presenter)
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