Sound
OFF
Dr. Ian Mercer III, Ph.D. The first song that I ever remember actively loving was “Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down” off of Interpol’s 2002 album Turn on the Bright Lights. I first heard it blasting through the walls at full volume from my elder brother’s room. He was in the typical high school angsty 10th grade phase of his life, and thus he was resorting to loud and sad music as his therapy. I remember opening the door (I must have been in 5th grade) and seeing him sitting on the floor against the wall, staring into space. I sat on his bed across from him as we listened to the track in silence, and I will never forget how moved I was by the awesomeness of Carlos D.’s bass playing. I was too young to understand the verses’ sexual innuendo, but the track was F’ing awesome nonetheless.
Ben Wedin Raffi’s “Banana Phone.” To this day, I am still impressed by his wordplay and all of the things he could do with that banana.
Natalie Reinhart My earliest favorite music was very much influenced by what my parents played at home. I really loved the song “Tall Tall Trees” by Alan Jackson, and it was pretty common for 3-yearold me to get really excited whenever it would come on the speakers, and to dance around the living room and loudly sing as many of the words as I could remember.
Jackson Hudgins I remember lying in bed with my green ipod mini on my chest listening to Ben Kweller’s “My Apartment” on repeat imagining what it would be like to have an apartment, my own cat, a girlfriend, etc. This was around the same time that I was listening to a lot of Ben Folds and when people asked me what kind of music I liked I would usually respond, “stuff made by people named Ben.”
David DeMark My Dad was always a pretty huge music geek, so I was exposed to a lot growing up, usually along the lines of Jazz or older R&B. I remember being around three in our apartment in Brooklyn and refusing to sleep each night unless my parents put on the soothing sounds of Al Green for me. Something about that buttercream-smooth voice just got to me--I guess it still does.
