Elliot Racine

Albums

• Are You Experienced by The Jimi Hendrix Experience
  The first time that I can consciously remember hearing this album was when I was 10. I had a friend at school who was into Jimi Hendrix and it made me curios about him. My dad had a copy on vinyl from the 60's. I probably had him put it on, because he probably didn't trust me to handle vinyl records at that age. It just sounded like noise to me. A year later, when I was 11, I had gotten seriously into rock ‘n roll. I put the album on again, this time probably myself. After a year of growing in general and also listening to a bunch of music that had been inspired by it, I got it. I didn’t have the language for it at the time, but when I listened to the album in general, and to the song, “Are You Experienced?” in particular, it was one of the first times that I can remember feeling like I was experiencing something trippy.
• Buena Vista Social Club by Buena Vista Social Club
  Around the time this album came out, my grandmother sent me a copy along with an article about it that she had clipped out of a magazine as a holiday present. That is how I found out about this album.
• The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails
  Before me and my friends could get our hands on weed, we used to turn the lights off, burn incense, put on The Downward Spiral, and have about as trippy of a time as we could, given the chemical limitations that we had to work within. Around that time, we were studying Ancient Egypt in school, and I developed an interest in it. One day I drew a picture of an Egyptian god-like figure holding a man in the palm of his hand, and wrote “Get Closer to God” underneath it in big letters (in case you don't know, “You get me closer to God” is a line in one of the songs on the album). I didn't grow up going to any kind of church or anything, and I was 11 at the time, so I had no idea what people mean when they say “get closer to God.” In fact, I hadn't heard it anywhere other than in that song. I just thought it was a cool line in a song. I was proud of my drawing and I showed it to my mom. She was kind of like, “Oh, that's nice.” I was only 11, but I could somehow tell that she was trying to make sense of what she was looking at. If I were to guess what she was thinking, I would guess that she probably thought I had some kind of weird religious friend or something that I was hearing that kind of stuff from. As one might expect, the production on The Downward Spiral is one of the main stars of the show to me. I also love the melodies and the way themes are developed, returned to, and expanded upon. Obviously the songwriting made an impression on me!
• In a Silent Way by Miles Davis
  When I was a young teenager, my dad told me and my friend Dan Sarna, who played trumpet with me for years, that he had a lot of memories with this album, and that one day we would too. He was right.

Bass Players

• Johnny A.
  One of my favorite bass players is this guy from Madagascar who goes by Johnny A. I am only familiar with his bass playing from a few recordings spread out over two compilations. Johnny A. has shown me what the bass can do as a solo instrument in ways in which few other bass players have, and I cannot overstate the influence that those few songs have on my playing. I have done a lot of searching for more recordings of Johnny A. playing bass, and I haven't been able to find any. If you know where I can find any, please let me know.
• Ron Carter
  I saw Ron Carter play at the Regattabar when I was at Berklee. I was sitting right up front. At one point when he was soloing, I saw him go to play a lick and mess up. He mouthed the F word. He kept on soloing and when the same place came around again in the changes, he went to play the lick again and he nailed it. He nodded in satisfaction. Seeing that showed me that even the best make mistakes, and if you make a mistake, you have to keep trying till you get it right.
• Larry Graham
  I can imagine why one might be surprised to learn that Larry Graham is one of my main influences as a bass player. I'm not much of a slapper. I am, however, a very melodic player, and even though the slap sound is very percussive, what Larry Graham does with it is extremely melodic, and his sense of melody is as influential on my playing as anything.

Instrumentalists

• Elvin Jones
  When I was 18, I saw the Elvin Jones Jazz Machine at the Regattabar. They were there for something like five nights. I went on the first night. I got a chance to talk with Elvin for a little while between sets. I told him I was a composer. At one point in the second set, he got on the mic and told the audience that he had just met a young composer, and that I should bring him some of my compositions and that the Jazz Machine would play one of them if I did. The audience gave a great big cheer. I came back the next night and brought him a few of my compositions. At one point I saw him looking at them. He had them laid out on his snare drum and he was looking them over. He smiled, nodded his head, and went, “Hm.” I have no idea what that meant. It was a combination of expression and gesture and utterance that could have meant anything. I have no idea what it meant. They didn't play any of my material that night, but he told me he would have them play it the next night. I came back the next night and again, they didn't play any of my material, but he told me it would happen the next night. The same thing happened the next night. And the next night, or for however many nights they were there, I don't remember exactly. Interpret that story however you want, but however it ended up happening, seeing Elvin Jones for something like five nights in a row was awesome. I'm sure that anyone can hear the influence of his polyrhythms on my music. I also love his tone. I don't hear people talk about drummers' tones the way they do about other musicians' and vocalists', but drummers have tone just like anyone else, and I've always loved his tone. His stage presence made a strong impression on me. In many ways it informed my own. The way he dressed, the way he carried himself—he was cool as hell.
• Augustus Pablo
  The melodica has always been an important instrument in my music. I have been fascinated by it as long as I have been aware of it. My dad got one for me from Haight Ashbury Music Center's South Bay location when I was a teenager. I have used the melodica in several of my recordings. If you've been to Stanford Shopping Center anytime recently, you would probably find it hard to imagine that there could have ever been something like a hip record store there. Believe it or not, there used to be one. It was called Hear Music. I used to spend a lot of time in it. They did this thing where they would let people listen to CD's by popping the jewel case open from the bottom in such a way that it didn't break the label sticker on the top and put it on on a listening station with headphones. One day when I was in there, I came across this instrumental reggae album called East of the River Nile that had a guy playing a melodica by a river on the cover. It had so many things that I loved all wrapped up in one package—melodica, nature, an awesome album title, reggae—I had to listen to it. I brought it over and they put it on. Pablo's melodica playing, as well as his performance on other keyboard instruments, and of course his composition and production and all of the other things that he's gone down in music history for enchanted me. Whenever I lay a melodica track down, or even just jam on it for fun, I am thinking about Augustus Pablo, either consciously or subconsciously, or some combination thereof.
• Bayram Bilge Toker
  I first heard Bayram Bilge Toker on a compilation when I was a teenager. I remember my dad drawing my attention to the place in the liner notes where it said that the bağlama, his main instrument, has tied-on frets. My solo bass playing is highly informed by his solo bağlama playing. My mom recently went to a cousin's wedding in Istanbul and she met some luthiers while she was there and got one of their bağlamas for me. As I learn to play it, I will end up recording with it, and Bayram Bilge Toker will be one of my main inspirations, of course.

Singers

• Annie Lennox
  First of all, I love her tone. It makes me think of drinking a glass of thick milk. I also love the tonal and dynamic range and the versatility of her voice. There are so many parts in so many of her songs that I automatically register as instrumental parts but when I consciously focus on them I realize they are vocal parts. And then there's her timing. I love the way she plays with time. Sometimes she's nonchalant and behind the beat, sometimes she jumps ahead of it for emphasis, sometimes she's right on it. I definitely do a lot of all that in my own singing.

Songs

• “Alone” by Link Wray
  Being alone can be sad, it can be reflective, it can be meditative, it can be peaceful, it can be intimate. Is this song sad? Is it reflective? Is it meditative? Is it peaceful? Is it intimate? It feels like it can be any of them.

Songwriters

• Lou Reed
  I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, but I didn't pay much attention to songwriting till I was in my mid twenties. There were a lot of things that led me to start prioritizing my songwriting the same way I prioritize the other elements of my music. It wasn't just one thing, and it was a process to get there. Most of that process was subconscious, but I have a notable memory of a moment when it was very conscious. One day I was in the car with my dad. He had on the Lou Reed song, “What's Good.” Even though I had heard the song a million times before, I was finally ready to pay attention to the lyrics, and I did. When I heard the line, “a styrofoam lover with emotions of concrete”, it helped to seal the deal.
• 2Pac
  I don't play favorites, but if I had a favorite songwriter, it would be 2Pac. As a songwriter, he went into every corner of the human psyche in a way that no other songwriter that I'm aware of ever has. In that sense, among others, I think of him as being the kind of songwriter that every other songwriter aspires to be. The pinnacle. 2Pac isn't just one of my favorite songwriters. He's not just one of my favorite rappers. He's not even just one of my favorite musicians. 2Pac is one of my favorite artists of any kind. This may sound strange, but I love 2Pac's music so much that I rarely listen to it. The language that I have for it in my head is that it is like a light that shines so brightly that I have to be ready to look upon it.