With their debut album, Hanging Gardens, dropping next week on Innovative Leisure, we asked LA duo Classixx to put together a playlist of the tunes that have informed the record’s sheening, careening dancefloor goodness. From an early ’90s AT&T commercial starring Morgan Freeman to the glossy, electronic pop of A Flock of Seagulls, you’d be hard pushed to say the pair didn’t provide us with an eclectic mix.
Supermax – ‘Love Machine’
“This song is amazing sonically, but also the stoic and deadpan vocal delivery is amazing.”
Heavy D & the Boyz – ‘Nuttin’ But Love’
“Big fan of Heavy D, but particularly fond of the sample, ‘Ecstasy’ by Endgames.”
Surface – ‘Falling in Love’
“One of my favorite songs of all time, not much more to say about this one.”
AT&T ‘You Will’ Ad Campaign
“This AT&T commercial, when Morgan Freeman says, “send a fax from the beach”, directly motivated our song with the same title.”
Lemon Jelly – ‘Stay With You’
“I’ve always loved how this sample evolves throughout the track. Definitely took some notes for our arrangement of ‘Holding On’.”
Robag Wruhme – ‘Donnerkuppel’
“This track by Robag Wruhme makes a really nice merging of vivid chord changes and captive, yet subtle production. Definitely influenced the general spirit for some of our more recent additions to the record.”
Alan Braxe & Fred Falke – ‘Rubicon’
“Tyler and I first heard ‘Rubicon’ on Erlend Øye‘s DJ Kicks – one of our most meaningful initial encounters with club music.”
Michael Jackson – ‘Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough’ (Demo)
“An early recording of Michael and his brothers recording ‘Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough’. It really taught me a lot about recording and layering percussion.”
Software – ‘Island-Sunrise’
“We got really into ambient and FM synth during the making of our record. Not sure if it comes across, but this track had an effect on some supporting moments within the record.”
A Flock of Seagulls – ‘Space Age Love Song’
“We really wanted some traditionally structured songs on the record. This Flock of Seagulls tune is a good example of effortless songwriting, paired with really nice sounds to great effect.”
- Alex Cull
Classixx’ debut album, ‘Hanging Gardens’, is released May 15 via Innovative Leisure. Fancy a sneak peek? If so, head over to NPR where it’s streaming in full.
