“As a kid I never had vinyl around me, it was strictly cassettes and CDs, and I believe this led to me becoming a serial ‘skipper.’”
“I would never really listen to albums in full as it was so easy to skip a track on a Walkman or hit fast forward in the first few seconds, and so I only got to know key tracks on a lot of records due to my own impatience.
It wasn’t really until I moved out of student halls and in to a flat with my good friend and producer Joe Wills that I understood vinyl and developed a love for the format. It wasn’t the biggest collection, but it was a great one, and there was no greater feeling putting on a record, turning up the volume, and just going about my day and chores listening to albums in full.
It became a ritual that I really got to know each track, develop a love for every little speck of production, and find the beauty in songs that weren’t strictly considered ‘singles.’
The day I bought my own record player was the day that I also bought every record that I grew up with again, but on vinyl. Albums I knew I loved like Paul Simon’s Graceland, Michael Jackson’s Bad and Joni Mitchell’s Blue now had an even greater meaning. I got to know and love the narrative, the pace of the songs, the consistency of production. It made me realize that I wanted all of that for my own music.
A real game changer moment for me was buying A Tribe Called Quest’s Midnight Marauders. I was hooked instantly, but more importantly it opened me up to this whole new world of production. Naively I never knew about sampling and that side of music, but without being opened up to that, I wouldn’t have half of my songs today.”
—Dan Croll
Dan Croll’s single “Swim” is in stores now.
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