5 Albums I Can’t Live Without: Kay Hanley of Letters to Cleo

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5 Albums I Can’t Live Without:

1

#1 Record/Radio City, Big Star

There may not be another record in existence that so permanently lives inside my body with all the joy and sadness of being in my twenties the way #1 Record does. 

2

Heaven or Las Vegas, Cocteau Twins

Before the internet, I did not ever question that Liz Fraser made up her own language on Cocteau Twins songs. Post internet, I learned that’s not true, that she’s singing in English, and I have never tried to find out what the actual words are. I have already made my own translations and internalized every bit of meaning from this transcendent musical landscape.

3

Purple Rain, Prince and the Revolution

Do you ever forget the first album you masturbated to? 

4

Summerteeth, Wilco

The songwriting on this record is so raw and daring. The band’s patience blows my mind. By situating [Jeff] Tweedy’s warm, sad vocals beneath and between great expanses of gorgeous/unexpected sounds and aural non-sequiturs, they showed such confidence in these amazing songs and the ability of their audience to ride the wave. Summerteeth is an intoxicant that I absolutely NEED sometimes. And then whenever I listen to the whole thing, it kind of makes me sick to my stomach on account of all the fucking feelings. 

5

The Muffs, The Muffs

Kim Shattuck once called Letters to Cleo a “Muffs cover band” in an interview with some snotty east coast zine and we still have never been so excited and honored to have our balls so brutally busted in public. 

Long Live The Muffs.