CMU Playlists

Playlist: Cocknbullkid

By | Published on Friday 18 February 2011

Cocknbullkid

Following a string of excellent singles over the last few years, Cocknbullkid, aka Anita Blay, will release her long-awaited debut album, ‘Adulthood’, in April through Island/Moshi Moshi.

Co-written with the amazing Chilly Gonzales, ‘Adulthood’ was produced by former Sneaker Pimps member Liam Howe (who also produced Marina & The Diamonds’ debut), and also features Peter Morn from Peter Bjorn and John, Joe Flory (aka Primary 1), and Metronomy’s Joseph Mount. In the year it took her to write and record the album, Blay cut herself off from new music altogether, listening to nothing new, reading about nothing new and going to no live shows whatsoever. Instead, she studied her influences, learning how they constructed songs and produced records.

The first sign of how this worked out comes with the album’s first single, “anti-anthem” ‘Hold On To Your Misery’, which is released on 5 Mar. And before that hits your ears, we asked Anita to pull together a Powers Of Ten playlist showing off some of her eclectic range of influences and inspirations.

COCKNBULLKID’S TEN
Click here to listen to Cocknbullkid’s playlist in Spotify, and then read on to find out more about her selections.

01 Shuggie Otis – Aht Uh Mi Hed
I love the simple instrumentation in this. Shuggie was a child prodigy and a self-produced singer-songwriter. I think he is one of the most underrated artists in the world.

02 The Bird And The Bee – Polite Dance Song
One of my favourite things about TBATB is probably the lyrics. Very quick and dry. I think this is a genius take on the ‘obligatory club track’.

03 The White Stripes – It’s True That We Love One Another
Jack White is one of the most important songwriters of the past 50 years. This song manages to be twee and irreverent at the same time. It’s the right amount of everything.

04 The Knife – Pass This On
I love this band so much. I recently went to dinner with Olof from the Knife and did an extraordinary job of not acting like a complete fan girl. They are the masters of dark pop. This album was instrumental in me wanting to learn how to produce. The video to this is brilliant, too.

05 Rufus Wainwright – Cigarettes And Chocolate Milk
Every Rufus song either makes me want to weep like a massive baby or laugh like an utter moron. I love that in a writer and I love the lyric. It’s a tongue in cheek take on addiction.

06 Kate Bush – Symphony In Blue
Melodically, strange and beautiful. It sounds like she’s written four different songs and put them together. Needless to say this song is very difficult to sing – I have tried numerous times! A list of my favourite Kate Bush songs reads as long as my arm but this one always sticks out for me.

07 The Divine Comedy – The National Express
I’ve just started to get back into The Divine Comedy. I remember being about eleven and playing this song mercilessly on my ‘Top Of The Pops’ compilation cassette and just loving the lyrics. I got into lyrics at a young age listening to great British writers like Neil Hannon and Morrissey, I think it was the Britishness of this track that must’ve really appealed to me.

08 The Doobie Brothers – What A Fool Believes
This is a complete classic. This might go down in history as the most audacious song ever to be recorded – it has, like, four choruses! Still: MASSIVE TUNE.

09 Destiny’s Child – Get On The Bus
One of the most important R&B/pop albums from one of the most important pop bands in the last 20 years. This album still sounds incredible. I chose this song because it was when Timbaland still sounded fresh. It was an exciting time for the R&B/pop crossover.

10 The Dirty Projectors – Stillness Is The Move
Great song, great production, incredible video.



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