More from Spin:
- Indigo De Souza Finds Herself on the ‘Precipice’
- Deep Cut Friday: “You Can Make Me Free” by Billy Joel
- Tame Impala Keep Dancing On Lead Single From New LP
Name Durand Jones & The Indications (Durand Jones, Aaron Frazer, Blake Rhein).
Best known for The best vocal 1-2 punch in the game.
Current cities LA, Chicago, New Orleans.
Really want to be in Any place with good food, good records, good people.
Excited about Our new album Flowers and our upcoming fall U.S. tour (please buy tickets—our booking agent said if we don’t sell these out we’ll never see our families again).
Our current music collection has a lot of Cheap heat baby!
And a little bit of Dollar bin heartbreakers that look sick because they’re private press, black and white with Old English (font), and then they turn out to be pretty bad.
Preferred format Vinyl for vibe, streaming for ease.
5 Albums I Can’t Live Without:
Aaron’s Albums
Illmatic, Nas
Illmatic unfurls like a movie, packed with vivid storytelling but without ever sacrificing toughness, catchiness and innovative rhyme schemes. Every track is iconic. To have the clarity of vision and consistency on an album recorded at 18 years old is insane. I owe so much of my drumming to the hours I spent playing along to it from front to back. A masterclass I’m still finding inspiration in.
Ted Lucas, Ted Lucas
Gem after gem of psych-folk perfection. The triple tracked vocals and warbly acoustic guitars give the whole album this melty, stoned quality. But it’s brought back to earth by incredibly grounded, rock-solid songwriting. Its hushed quality makes it feel like a personal dispatch from an old friend or a family heirloom discovered in the attic. Ted Lucas was a sitar player for Motown, and even though it’s a folk record, this quiet, understated album is overflowing with soul.
Blake’s Albums
You Can Fly On My Aeroplane, Wee
Aeoplane is like a low-budget Music of My Mind (Stevie Wonder) with a fair deal of Sly Stone influence mixed in. Incredibly consistent record from front to back that has everything I want in a late-70s soul album: synths, cool chord changes, and just the right amount of jazzy noodling.
Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette
How does an album exude no-fucks-given energy [and] still yield so many undeniable hits? It is impossible to not have fun while listening to this one.
Durand’s Albums
Blood, Lianne La Havas
This is a record that I’ve been coming back to lately. Lianne’s vocals, her vulnerability, and artistry are really tops here for me.
Gris-Gris, Dr. John
My spiritual godfather. This album is a big reason I’ve moved back to New Orleans. Spent many spiritual nights with this one.
To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.
