Phoenix: “When we heard D’Angelo, we stayed in the studio for an extra year”

Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti
Before Today
It’s more about his whole approach than the record. I love that it sounds like the promise of something; like you’re witnessing the birth of something that’s inspiring to everyone. It’s not a product in the way that say, Off The Wall and Thriller are perfect pop records, and everything from A to Z is great. This has more charm, it’s a very selfish record, and I think that’s important.

The Urge Overkill
Stull EP
This was the first thing I heard as a teenager that had different styles on one record. Growing up in Versailles was very frustrating, as everyone would be listening to just one particular thing, but on this record,you have a heavy metal song next to a ballad… and I loved that. The Urge Overkill had just three fan club members in France —the two Daft Punk guys and Laurent Brancowitz from our band.

Serge Gainsbourg
Rock Around The Bunker
This is a perfect summer record. It’s very heavy and the lyrics are unique – very pop. But he mixes up things that shouldn’t be glued together. There’s one song, “Nazi Rock”, which is pretty intense. and another called “SS In Uruguay”. Serge was probably feeling he’d triumphed earlier, but had become a cliché. This is like a middle finger to everyone; it’s more than selfish – it’s almost insulting.

The June 2017 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – featuring our cover story on Summer Of Love, talking to the musicians, promoters and scenesters on both sides of the Atlantic who were there. Plus, we count down the 50 essential songs from the Summer Of Love, from The Seeds to The Smoke, and including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd. Elsewhere in the issue, we remember Chuck Berry, go on the road with Bob Dylan and there are interview Fleet Foxes, Fairport Convention, Fred Wesley, Jane Birkin and David Lynch’s Twin Peaks’ co-conspirators Angelo Badalamenti and Julee Cruise. Our free CD has been exclusively compiled for us by Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold and includes cuts from Todd Rundgren, Neu!, Van Dyke Parks, The Shaggs, Arthur Russell and Cate Le Bon. Plus there’s Feist, Paul Weller, Perfume Genius, Ray Davies, Joan Shelley, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, Johnny Cash, Alice Coltrane, John Martyn and more in our exhaustive reviews section