Dusted Features Every Friday, Dusted Magazine publishes a series of music-related lists determined by our favorite artists. This week: saxophonist Bhob Rainey and recent Expanding Record's signee Vessel. Tweet

Listed: Bhob Rainey + Vessel

Vessel

Vessel is Brit Gavin Toomey, who took to electronics after playing in improvisation noise bands over the past decade. He first appeared on Expanding Record’s The Condition of Muzak last year, where his single “Tiny” stole the show. This month marks his debut electronic album, Dreaming in Paris, already hailed by Boomkat as one of the finest releases of 2003 so far. Toomey is also an accomplish film technician and helped in the creation of UNKLE’s frighteningly good video for “Rabbit In Your Headlights”. Fans of Benge and minimalist electronica should check him out.

10 - in no particular order.

1. Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland (MCA) - This album is so privately positive. I think his Electric Ladyland studio was one cave of escape from his own rock-star persona. This album captures that sense of creative freedom. genres are sampled and his studio isolates them until they drift into pure narcissistic sound design. He even samples layers of his own voice chatting away as his "live" audience on "rainy day, dream away". "1983, a merman i should turn to be"... and "moon turn the tides gently gently away" both take the music back to the sea with a melody struggling against the tide.

2. Stars of the Lid - Per Aspera Ad Astra (Kranky) - Beautifully recorded soundscapes - low level listening for the most private of spaces. Minimal melodies and discrete sub bass rumbles break out of the speakers. If you listen to it quietly enough you forget its playing and you freak out just for a second when you hear a distant rumble or a gently soothing cello approaching from the unknown. Lovely.

3. The Roches - The Roches (Warner) - The cautionary moral tales of "Hammond Song" and "Pretty and High" contrast with the more ironic observations of urban/suburban life ("Mr. Sellack"). The unique voices of the Roches are sensitively treated with wonderfully spacial production "in audio verite" by Robert Fripp. This album is a collection of lovingly recorded, sublimely spiritual "folk" songs.

4. Godflesh - Pure (Earache) - Justin Broadrick's body of work deserves recognition. Deadhead (from streetcleaner) is one of my favourite Godflesh tracks, but Pure is the most passionate album. Justin's solo project, Final, exposed a less aggressive and more frail, studio-based autonomy. I look forward to hearing his next music.

5. Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup (Elektra) - One of my personal favourites of their consistently great albums. Beautiful melodies with some really meaty drum/synth textures. Seeing them play live was a truly uplifting experience. After the sad loss of Mary Hansen I'm looking forward to hearing new Stereolab material.

6. Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left (Hannibal) - His haunting vocals always sound intimate and deeply personal. "River Man" and "Cello Song" have to be my favourite tracks from his minimal collection of studio recordings. While Pink Moon is sometimes unbearably introspective, this album is quietly excited and hopeful.

7. Boards of Canada / Hell Interface (Warp) - I remember walking around Manhattan in the hot sun with "Pete Standing Alone" on my headphones. I was completely on my own planet just floating through the city. There's a handful of tracks I could listen to on their own but it tends to be as much the context of their releases which captures the imagination. As I find with Electric Ladyland, there is a very self conscious attention to the layers of history. they have a very playful, inspirational approach to redefining these symbols - in an affectionate way.

8. Bjork - Vespertine (Elektra) - I've been a huge Bjork fan since I saw her play live at the tail end of the Sugarcubes. She conveys a magical sense of discovery with every album she releases. Each remains almost entirely unique while entirely dependent on the last. Her last two have been more layered and less immediate. Some lovely collaborative work with Opiate and Matmos on Vespertine. She remains a truly inspirational force in pop music.

9. Autechre / Gescom (Warp) - I don't think I could pick a particular album. I usually find 1 or 2 tracks on every release that immediately strike me. This usually changes over time and then another track becomes more relevant for a while. A lovely Gescom track, "Sciew Spoc," still sounds as fresh as when I first heard it. "Tewe" is another favourite on my ipod at the moment.

10. Metamatics - "So Many Ways" (Hydrogen) - Lee Norris in my favourite incarnation as Metamatics. "So many ways" from the album Neo Ouija is one of those timeless love songs. It stopped me in my tracks the first time I heard it. I once listened to it at night driving down the side of mountain in the French Alps. The snow-covered mountains had little vehicles with headlights scanning all over it and it accompanied the experience beautifully.

Bhob Rainey

Boston resident Bhob Rainey is one half of the alien improv duo nmperign (the other half being trumpet player Greg Kelley), known for its improvised explorations into texture. Rainey studied under Joe Maneri at the New England Conservatory of Music in the mid-90s. In 1998, he and Kelley formed nmperign, which has since released albums on such labels as Twisted Village, Crouton and Selektion, among others. Rainey also produces solo work, which gravitates slightly toward a more melodic aesthetic.

Some major influences, old and new.