Dusted Features Every Friday, Dusted Magazine publishes a series of music-related lists compiled by our favorite artists. This week: Dutch legends The Ex and Ecstatic Peace crooner Matt Krefting. Tweet

Listed: The Ex + Matt Krefting

The Ex

In a decade when everyone from the Incredible String Band to the Jesus Lizard has staged a comeback, the Ex top them all; not only are they still together thirty years after they first came together as a punk quartet playing gigs in Amsterdam squats, they’ve never compromised their values, and their music has never sucked. Key to their success is a commitment to constant change and improvisational acumen that enable them to turn circumstances that might break a lesser band into opportunities for growth. The most recent change is the departure of singer and founder G.W. Sok, whose departure has not only opened the door for a new member, Arnold de Boer (samples, beats, guitar, vocals, etc.), but for he and the rest of the Ex — percussionist-vocalist Kat Bornfeld and guitarists Andy Moor and Terrie Hessel — to develop a whole new set of music. While The Ex have already done two European tours, including one backing the great Ethiopian saxophonist Getatchew Mekurya, both a new record and an American tour are a ways off, although Andy Moor will appear with DJ Rupture at the Wire’s Adventures In Modern Music Festival in September.

Five favorite records of Arnold de Boer

1. Lee Perry – Revolution Dub (Creole)
I like the songs that Lee Perry writes and recorded, I like the songs that Lee Perry plays and sings on and I like the dub versions he made and makes of many great tracks. And of all that stuff, I like his album Revolution Dub the most. The beautiful singing in "Dub Revolutions," the great, great sounding guitar and vocals of "Woman’s Dub," a version of Jimmy Rileys "Woman’s Gotta Have It," a great pop song. The ‘Ooohs’ and ‘Mooos’ of "Kojak," the bass line of "Doctor On The Go," the beat, the singing and guitar of "Bush Weed," the melodica on "Dreadlock Talking," the shouting in "Dub The Rhythm," the words of "Rain Drops." And then this cross fade mixing, I don’t like it, I love it. A big inspiration.

2. V/A - Tanzania Instruments: Tanganyika 1950 (Sharp Wood)
Andy recommended me this CD a couple of years ago when I was on tour with Zea, supporting The Ex. The Ex sell these series of "Historical Recordings" by Hugh Tracey on tour next to The Ex merchandise. Many of the compilations from different parts of Africa are great, or amazing, but this one is super! In my universe all of these songs from the Tanzania area are mega hits that I sing along to in the car, shower and kitchen. Flutes, drums, string instruments and vocals are tumbling over each other, lamellophone and likembes are swirling around in my speakers, just to fall into a whole new form of a song, catchy as hell and making me believe that this planet we live on is so big that I can’t imagine it fits in the Milky Way.

3. Aphex Twin – "Girl / Boy" EP (Warp)
This EP contains one of my favourite songs. It’s called "Milkman" and I have it in my head quite often. It’s Richard D. James’ idea of a pop song. And that’s what it is, a pop song, only sounding completely different from any other pop song, because it’s built from his own self-invented bricks of rhythm and sound. When I heard it for the first time, I ran five rounds around my student flat, screaming “I just saw a flying pink elephant!” The other tracks are also sweet in a salty way. If I ever can save only one 12” from my collection, running into my apartment that just caught fire, it will be this one; I put it in an easy place.

4. Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Aeroplane over the Sea (Merge)
I went to see Sparklehorse in the Melkweg in Amsterdam more then 10 years ago and the support act, which I never heard of, was Neutral Milk Hotel. It is still one of the best concerts I have ever seen, with Jeff Mangum running all over the stage, playing and singing and shouting while the guy who played the singing saw fell on his knees and started playing a Novation bass station with his nose. They showed me every corner of the venue including the roof. Between the bands, my girlfriend and I went to look at the merchandise table. Something pushed against my right knee and it was this CD, handed under the table by Jeremy Barnes who was then the drummer of NMH and is now in A Hawk and a Hacksaw. He gave me a CD that is still one of the best albums I know. I LOVE it. This record is in the middle of my head, somewhere dangling under my mind behind my eyes and just above my nose.

5. Disrupt – The bass Has Left The Building
This is my favourite record of the moment, I just bought it.

Andy Moor’s Top Five (they are all equally unbelievably amazing)

1. V/A - Soweto Compilation (Rough Trade)
This record is unbelieveable. Distorted bass lines. Spoon-on-glass percussion. Sharp, clean twangy guitar lines and bizarre sax parts. No chorus or flanger on the guitars, which became a trademark of later soweto and zimbabwe guitar music and for me softened the sound too much and took away some of the choppy quality of the rhythms that made this record so infectious. Even the bass was strummed like a guitar, which was one of the aspects i liked most about Colin (Dog-faced Hermans) and Luc’s (The Ex) bass playing . One track called "Zulu Boy" by John Motha would have been a worldwide hit had it been released through mainstream channels on the "world music" (excuse my bad language) scene. Great band names like the New Lucky Boys and Kid Bera Bera and Mister King Jerroo. My favorite words are from a song called called "Nobama" by an unknown composer, musician, producer or backing group that says "This girl, what a girl she is, playing with my father’s cow ....what is she doing, playing with my father’s cows?" Recording this music itself was actually against the Sunday Observance law because most of the musicians held day jobs during the week and could only record on Saturday or Sunday...and Sunday in South Africa was a day when all you were allowed to do was religiously lay down and pray for Monday. Music that is forbidden to be played and still played against all odds, like Rebetika and Jazz, often has an amazing edge to it.

2. DJ /rupture - Gold Teeth Thief (Soot)
Wow, this is the only recording from this millenium that is included in my choice. I guess your favorite records have to stand the test of time, so I even feel like I’m pushing it by choosing something that is only eight years old ... but this mix will last forever I’m sure. I listened to this mix over and over again, trying to figure who the hell was on it and how in the world Jace put this together. I didn’t have the track list for the first few weeks... luckily /rupture is very generous with the information he provides for his mixes. There’s no hiding behind white labels. /rupture is one of the world’s great music-sharing people (listen to his show on WFMU) and he is well aware that being stingy with one’s knowledge and being secretive about what new music he has managed to acquire is a waste of time and actually really disrespectful to the musicians whose music he plays. This release covers so much ground, there was nothing like it before and nothing has come close since. Missy Elliot, Paul Simon (yes, we forgive you Jace), Kid 606, Miriam Makeba, John Wall ( whaaaat?), Wu-Tang Clan, Bounty Killer, Venetian Snares and Musilimguaze... There’s enough material on this mix to keep you busy digging for other music by the same artists and related stuff for years. I got deep into dancehall and ragga after hearing this CD and was amazed when i talked to Jace about it and he said at the time "I don’t know much about dancehall." I couldn’t believe it, but i think his choices are really not style based. He’s not looking for the next hip dancehall or dubstep tune. He seems to be searching for a very personal sound that defies genres, but tells a story, especially in relation to the tracks you hear before during and after. It’s a kind of journalistic approach, only spinning records instead of pushing a pen. Whatever Jace plays, you can always hear a bit of himself in there -- and that for me is the best kind of DJing. And it’s a free download on /rupture’s own site. Now that’s sharing.

3. Rembetika Mortika - Rare Vintage Recordings From a Greek Underworld, 1927-1946 (Arko)
Hash-fuelled music from the 1920s and ‘30s that gets deep under my skin. The best selection of rebetika music I’ve found. Given to me very kindly by Ian Nagoski, a fanatic collector of amazing music himself and a contributor to the Dust-to-Digital label. This CD was compiled by Charles Howard, who also compiled the Rembetika Rounder series that until very recently was my favorite rembetika collection. The beauty of this music is that the melodies are mostly melancholy but always with some amazing catchy hook that lifts them out of their own misery. The songs are made by Greek refugees who returned from Turkey to the Athens port of Piraeus, where they set up an underground community and introduced these dark, sad trance-like songs mostly about lost love, prison, drug addiction and tuberculosis. The word "Mortis" is Greek underworld slang for someone who is tough and elegant, the cool bearer of a knife and suit. These songs are about these type of people. The song titles tell everything: the hash smokers, heroin and hashish, hash-smoking chicks, the lifer... oh mother, I can’t stand it. The musicians on this CD really come from the best period of Rembetika -- the mid ‘20s to the mid-’40s, including Markos Vamvakaris, whose rough, growling voice is trademark stuff, and Rita Abatzi, my favorite woman singer of rembetika. It’s great music to play when youre eating, smoking and drinking...

4. Sonic Youth - Evol (SST)
The first time I saw Sonic Youth in Glasgow, they played this set, and it changed the way I played guitar forever. This band changed the direction of electric guitar music forever. Of course, there were records before this that led the way, like Buy by the Contortions, and Sonic Youth’s own Confusion is Sex, but this was for me the perfect balance between experimental noise and amazing songs, something we always try to keep in balance in The Ex with varying degrees of success. It’s a tough call because Bad Moon Rising, their previous release, has two of my favorite SY songs ever on it -- "Death Valley 69," a song they must still feel very attached to themselves as they still play it now, and "I Love Her All the Time," which I first came accross on a cassette that Colin from Dog-Faced Hermans gave me, a live version from the ICA in London recorded for John Peel on BBC Radio. But Evol is consistently amazing and there was big leap in sound quality on this recording. Sonic Youth are probably the band that have influenced me the most and their music still seeps into my playing. I feel like I owe them something for this, but I’m not quite sure how to repay them . Thanks Thurston, Lee, Kim and Steve (and Mike Watt, who plays bass on "In the Kingdom").

5. The Fall - Grotesque (After the Gramme) (Rough Trade)
One of the best examples of great Northern English urban folk music this century. Paul Hanley, the drummer on this record, was only 16. Mark Smith’s lyrics get better every time I listen to them and their meaning changes for me as my own brain changes every year. I still don’t really get what the hell he’s talking about, but like Beefheart’s lyrics, you don’t need to ‘understand’ them, and the ones that I do understand -- "all the English bands act like peasants with free milk on route to the loot" ... "the north will rise again ... not in 10,000 years"-- are bloody brilliant. Add to this an amazing snare sound and very simple catchy guitar riffs and bass lines -- what else do we need to make great songs ? Unsung heroes of Northern England ... probably one of the most influential and yet still relatively unknown bands ever.

Matt Krefting

Northampton musician Matt Krefting has been making noise since 1996. He’s performed in at least 15 groups over the years, but if you know of him, it’s probably because via his duo Son of Earth. For the last year, however, Krefting worked on the successful covers album I Couldn’t Love You More, which was released on Ecstatic Peace in June. John Moloney, Phil Franklin, Ron Schneiderman, Rob Thomas (all of Sunburned Hand of the Man) and John Townsendmade up Krefting’s backing band, along with J Mascis, John Shaw and Lynn Myers. The album features songs from Rick Danko to John Martyn to Bill Fay … even the Band. The tracklisting is a Listed in itself, but Krefting was kind enough to come up with a whole new one for Dusted. Son of Earth just released their new LP, Improvements on Amish Records.