The Playlist: Doctor Oetker

We asked music-maker Doctor Oetker to take a turn curating the latest edition of The Playlist, sharing five must-listen tracks.

Come with us, for this fortnight we leave the North West and take an imaginary journey to Leicestershire, or Charnwood, to be precise. What’s in Charnwood? It’s home to music collective Tasty Morsels, a group of friends who are in the habit of releasing wonderful low-fi pop compilations. Those who are fans of Connan Mockasin, My Bloody Valentine and melodies that perfectly toe the line between a sensual and an off-kilter should definitely explore Tasty Morsel’s archive of mixes – which are all kindly available to download for free.

We caught up with Morsels member Doctor Oetker, who, aside from naming himself after our favourite purveyor of budget pizza, makes songs using “samples of records I like, any interesting percussive sounds I can create, and the clarinet.” Influences encompass “all jams I’ve heard with a genuinely interesting groove or rhythm, pattern and variation, the countryside, sleeping, painters such as Willem de Kooning, Dan Shutt and Alex Pierce, and most significantly, the music of the other Tasty Morsels people.”

Here then, are Doctor Oetker’s Top 5 records for sharing. Simply put: “I just picked stuff which I currently rate really highly and has pushed me to think harder about the music I make.”

PETRA  featuring P Kun- Height 611 Incident

This friend is one of the biggest influences on the way I think about making music, when I do make it. This is from the Tasty Morsels, Vol. 2 compilation on which I am also proud to appear with a silly garden jam of my own. P Kun is shredding it so much too. Nice one P Kun.

Yusef Lateef – Bamboo Flute Blues

Yusef Lateef is one of my favourite things. I like this one because it is so loose and has so much empty space. It also just stops when it feels like it. It is a lesson to everyone to slow down. Available for download here.

Julian Lynch – Mercury

I know very little about Julian Lynch but I gather he’s seriously cool and stuff, so good for him. When I first heard this I couldn’t really tell when or where it was from, and I liked that. A truly dope jam with the most wonderful of instruments, the clarinet.

Wendell Harrison – Where am I

This is a 1980 re-recording of an older track from the amazing 1972 LP, An Evening with the Devil. The original is much more raw and basically a bit better, but this one is a sloppy and delicious reinterpretation of those themes. Wendell Harrison has no shame in venturing towards cheese or pastiche which is a trait lacking in most of his more well-regarded contemporaries. Like Yusef Lateef, this guy reminds us all to loosen up.

Doobie Brothers – What a Fool Believes

This is my favourite song of all time and I listen to it most days.