INTERVIEW : 2011-07-21 : Joseph Arthur makes Magnet a mix tape

JOSEPH ARTHUR MAKES MAGNET A MIX TAPE

When you have seven studio albums and 11 EPs under your belt and are used to jamming with Ben Harper and Dhani Harrison, you can probably crank out awesome tunes in your sleep. That’s the impression we get from Akron, Ohio, native Joseph Arthur, who wrote his latest album, The Graduation Ceremony, on a borrowed acoustic guitar while visiting L.A. It was then recorded during an impromptu session at a friend’s studio, and the result is a sound just as effortless as the process it took to create it. Arthur is supporting the album on a tour of North America, but he took a break to make MAGNET this “autobiographical” mix tape.


Led Zeppelin “Ramble On”

this song helped me when i was a kid
it was like a sanctuary or a place to hide out
to look at the hash i had hidden in a shoebox
and provide a soundtrack to a dream i was forming

Hall & Oates “Sara Smile“

and when i finally made it out of the house
and to the rollercade where we looked for someone to couple skate with
drinking cherry cokes and eating popcorn
the disco light would shine thousands of lights on all the skaters
and i would see the cutest girl in the world holding my hand skating with
me
with this song playing
and when the chorus hits we would give each other a look and smile
like the song says
her braces would flash under disco ball heaven


Rush “Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres“

and at the nature park an older friend gave me my first hit of acid
i was 15
and listening to this a lot and so its passages were in my head as i
ran through the forest trying to get my blood to go through my veins
faster
but when i stopped
i saw sirens come out of the black pavement
sirens singing like in the myth
they were crazy ladies from other worlds
singing to me
trying to invite me somewhere but i wasn’t ready to go there yet so i
just turned away and kept running
with this song in my head


The Jimi Hendrix Experience “I Don’t Live Today“

then i went home and hid out in my bedroom
and listened to this song a lot
i couldn’t believe someone could write these words
i remember it seemed impossible to me that something could be captured
as clearly as this
my bedroom turned into a tomb but my imagination launched like a rocket


Big Star “Ballad Of El Goodo“

and then i understood this song no one could turn me around
(the chorus is beautiful and the drums are like a heart falling down
invisible stairs on its way to breaking or healing)


Miles Davis “Bitches Brew“

but i didn’t know how to sing so i smoked the hash hidden in my shoebox
and listened to this while ripping the frets out of my ’70s p bass
with pliers and a hammer and considered the fact that music could be
boundless and that no one had really done it yet in rock ‘n’ roll
(and they still haven’t)


The Four Tops “Baby I Need Your Loving“

and downstairs my parents were listening to this
it’s all they had the four tops
and a jim croce record
and an xmas ornament of elvis hanging on a plastic tree nobody put away
this is the first music which hit my soul in an explosion of emotion
i couldn’t believe how moving music was
and i still can’t


Bob Dylan “Joey“

and my sister was hiding out in her room
listening to this i rebelled against it a little
but soon became obsessed
now i live in red hook like the joey of this song
no one really calls me joey much anymore but they used too


John Lennon “Jealous Guy“

then i got into this guy’s music nobody’s the greatest but if anyone is
i guess he probably is
(he taught about the power of vulnerability while making songs the
whole world sang along with)


Peter Gabriel “Mercy Street“

then this guy called me up and my life changed

he harnesses the power of vulnerability like no one else
in the way he moves
in the way he sings and in what he writes


Lou Reed “Coney Island Baby”

it’s my favorite song
(today)
I listened to it a lot in africa
And so it reminds me of that special time and place
And I love lou!

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