Playlist Picks: Nick Grimshaw
Talking Heads, Altın Gün and Mandy, Indiana are among Grimmy's picks...
By Nick Reilly
Welcome to Rolling Stone UK’s Playlist Picks. In the ever growing and all consuming world of music streaming, it’s increasingly hard to find something that really stands out from the noise and might just become your new favourite. So here’s where we step in. Every week, we’ll be recruiting a noted tastemaker and familiar face to tell us the songs they’re really vibing with at the moment. In turn, we hope that you’ll find something in those songs too. You’ll be able to listen to all the picks on our new Playlist Picks playlist on Spotify.
This week, it’s BBC Radio 6 Music’s Nick Grimshaw.
Talking Heads – ‘Slippery People’ (Stop Making Sense version)
I’ve always loved this song and it’s become a staple of my DJ sets too, but it has to be the live version. It’s a bit faster and Talking Heads really come alive in that setting. I’m DJ’ing the 6 Music Festival in Manchester with Beth Ditto, who much to my surprise has never DJ’d, and this song needs to be on there. I went to see David Byrne the other night in London too and it was life-changing. Everyone from my radio show went together and we genuinely felt quite affected after it. I left with a feeling of thinking that anything is possible, which is such a powerful feeling that David Byrne emits. It was fucking excellent.
Mandy, Indiana – ‘Magazine’
This was the first I’d heard of Mandy, Indiana and it came when we started playing them on the radio. It’s brilliantly noisy and industrial and I remember playing it at home and my boyfriend just said, ‘This is so you’. There’s something quite claustrophobic about it. It feels like there’s machinery chugging along in the background and then you have the French lyrics too. There’s a real darkness to it and they’re going to be at the 6 Music Festival in Manchester, so it felt only right to pick someone we’re loving right now. I’ve never seen them live, but I’m really excited to.
Gabriel Jacoby – ‘Be Careful’
I discovered Gabriel online and he’s got this really distinctive voice which reminds of the appeal that artists like D’Angelo or Prince had for me – a raspiness and an exposing honesty to his vocals which is deeply soulful. There’s just something I’m so drawn to with him. It’s hard to put my finger on it, but he’s from South Carolina and lives in Tampa, so that Southern sound certainly comes through. I just think he’s very special.
Tony Bontana – ‘Battered Chips’
Tony is a rapper from Birmingham and I loved his recent album My Name. There’s loads of great songs, but we’ve been playing ‘Battered Chips’ on 6 Music quite a lot. It’s all quite minimal and I feel with Tony that nothing’s oversold or over-performed. He’s really great at creating a mood and an atmosphere, which I love.
Altın Gün – ‘Bir sigara iç oğlan’
Altın Gün are a brilliant band. I’ve loved them for a while, but I only recently saw them live for the first time and it was excellent. They were one of those bands who I loved anyway, but being in the room just allowed it to make so much more sense to me. I loved the hypnotic, psychedelic and fuzzy feel they gave off. It feels quite otherworldly, but also references old 70s Anatolian rock. I just really fucking like it. I can’t recommend going to see them enough. I’m an over-thinker, but it was one of those gigs where I felt out of my head in a really great way. I felt totally transported and immersed in it.
Nick Grimshaw hosts the BBC Radio 6 Music Breakfast Show (weekdays, 7-10am). He will present from the BBCRadio 6 Music Festival in Greater Manchester, 25th – 28th March. Tune in on 6 Music, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds.