yet to happen. With his wife about to give birth, the indie rocker has given much thought to fatherhood and inevitably, the music he'll want his child to grow up listening to. "Maybe you inherit a temperament that would direct what you listen to -- I'm always attracted to something that has some sort of warmth to it, or maybe even a melancholy," said Mercer. Below are his decidedly mellow picks for the young'un: "I mean, we'll probably wait for the Slayer."
The Beatles,
Revolver
This will be around and played often. I discovered it later in life. I guess maybe because it's not a record of huge hits, and so I think I was listening to oldies radio and someone requested "Tomorrow Never Knows" and I heard that and was blown away. It quickly became my favorite. [We play it] once a month at least.
Van Morrison,
Astral Weeks
I only discovered this a few years ago -- Jon Poneman at Sub Pop recommended it. It was a record I should have known when I was a child, so I'd love to introduce that to a baby. There's a certain sort of innocence about it, and I think it's aesthetically beautiful. That's a good thing to be exposed to as a kid -- high quality art. There's a warmth to it, a magic.
TO GET SONGS BY THE SHINS AND LOTS OF OTHER ARTISTS, GO TO URGE.
David Bowie,
Hunky Dory
There's that song "Kooks" on there, which I figure is David Bowie, and I don't know if he had kids, but a father talking to his kids, and he's saying, "You have to understand, we're these bohemians, kooky people, and it might make your life hard. But it'll be rewarding in the end, because you're probably going to be kind of kooky too." That's a song I've listened to a lot since we got pregnant.
Pink Floyd,
Dark Side of the Moon
When I was a real little kid, maybe 3 years old, my dad would listen to some pretty strange psych stuff, and I thought it was really cool. I knew it was just fun, but if it scares the kid -- we'll find out. That's a good record. I think a kid would like that.
The Shins
It's funny -- I never even consider them records. They're not on my radar, just because I made them. It's a strange thing -- it's almost like looking in the mirror, instead of a painting of something else. I would like to show the baby those records, but I guess they're not top of the list.
