The Music That Made... Stars And Sons

Alcopop! Records, who've been putting out little bundles of joy for a little bit now, have just released Alcopopular 3, as the name suggests their third selection of treats. The gimmick with this one is it comes in message in a bottle format. That'll be a bottle containing personalised information on how to download the compilation. You heard. Therein you'll find tracks by the likes of Pulled Apart By Horses, Tellison, Town Bike, Paul Steel, Arrows Of Love (the new band of some of Hush The Many)... and Stars And Sons, the name under which Mike Lord produces oddball off-kilter indie-pop and put out the excellent In The Ocean single last year. Lord took time out from recording an album to face our line of questioning:

First single bought: Billie Myers - Tell Me. I found this on Spotify the other day. Eurgh.
First album bought: The first All Saints album. I wanted to get the Spice Girls album but my cousin was raging on about manufactured pop and wouldn’t let me. I taped it off my friend in the end. A tape copy of a tape copy.. Nice and hissy..
First gig voluntarily attended: Ed Harcourt at Shepherds Bush Empire. Ben & Jason were supporting. It was awesome. Can’t remember when it was but I remember not being able to see very much so I guess I was quite little.
The record that most made you want to get into music: XO by Elliot Smith was played a lot by my older brothers when I was young. I couldn’t really understand why it was so good but I think I started practicing piano a bit more at that point though!
The three headliners at a festival you were curating: Deerhoof, Cornelius, and Spinal Tap.
A song not enough people know about but everyone should hear: Wild Beasts - Assembly
A song you'd play to get people dancing: Morris Day and the Time - Jungle Love. Tune!
The last great thing you heard: I’ve just got into Scott Walker. I started with Scott 4 and now I’m going back through the old albums. I’ll move on to Tilt when I’m feeling brave!
Your key non-musical influences: UKTV Food. Food porn in general.
Your favourite new artist: Aaron King. The piano playing whizz kid not the gay porn star.