Deastro - 'The 10 Records That Shaped Me'

Deastro is 22-year-old Randolph Chabot, a purveyor of electronic-tinged, psychedelic, space-shoegaze brilliance. Ahead of the release of his startlingly fine debut album, 'Moondagger', on July 13 through Ghostly International, Gigwise caught up with the Detroit native to discuss the 10 records that have moulded him into the artist he is today. Here they are:

1. The Beach Boys - 'Pet Sounds'
“I chose this as my number one because it has been with me my whole life and I can remember at least three separate times in my life that I have rediscovered how great it is. Growing up I didn't listen to very much music other than classical and the oldies station in Detroit, I remember hearing this album for the first time and almost doubting something this great could exist.”

2. Steve Reich - 'Music for 18 Musicians'
“This was the first work that I heard by Steve Reich when I was about17. It changed the way I thought about writing music.”

3. Starflyer 59 - 'Fashion Focus'
“When I was about 14 me and my brother were introduced by one of our youth leaders to this band. I think the thing that took us by surprise is his song-writing. Jason Martin was one of the first singers who to me acknowledged sadness in his music in a way that felt real.”

4. M83 - 'Dead Cities Red Seas And Lost Ghosts'
“I heard this album when I was 18 and I moved to Arkansas to start a band shortly afterwards. I worked for a beauty supply warehouse there and drove around all day making deliveries in Missouri and Arkansas. Driving through the hills listening to songs like In Church really taught me how music could almost feel like a painting of nature.”

5. Animal Collective - 'Feels'
“I don't want to attempt to write about this album or this band because I don't feel like I can do them justice. I love this album.”

6. Boards of Canada - 'The Campfire Headphase'
“I am still taken back by how organic this group makes electronic music sound. I used to lay on the floor in this town house I lived in and watch ants come in through this crack in the door wall while I listened to this album over and over again.”

7. Unwed Sailor - 'Firecracker EP'
“I saw this band when I was 13 at Cornerstone Christian Music Festival. I was on my way to see some crappy ska band called the O.C. Supertones and I heard something that stopped my pubescent acne swirl of hormones dead. I walked into the tent like a tweaker in a Wal-Mart parking lot. tears streamed down my then innocent face. Words like forgiveness and peace played rapidly in my mind like watching car go by through a pin wheel. It was a moment that I felt I knew what music and people really where, until the amps shut off and the feeling faded. Still that moment to me is like the Bukowski poem blue bird I take it out at night sometimes to remind myself that it happened.”

8. Clark – 'Herzog'
“I can't remember where I heard this album but it sounds like a Hungarian String quartet playing through effects pedals and kaoss pads, I like it.”

9. Sufjan Stevens - 'Seven Swans'
“I can't explain the situation in my life that made this album so influential for me. I was coming out of Bible College with my beliefs in God all but non existant and this album touched this very nostalgic part of me especially since I grew up in Michigan. I am very thankful for this music because it reminded me of the good that existed in all people especially in the people of the church and my family.”

10. Blonde Redhead - 'Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons'
“This is another band that I am afraid to write anything about because I think they are so great. I fell in love for the first time in my life at the same time that I was into this album. I put the song "In Particular" on a mix that I sent back home to Michigan to my last girlfriend.”

Deastro's most influential records: