10 Seconds: Robyn Rocket
"Thank you George for inviting me."
1. Pink Floyd - Eclipse (5'49" - 5'59")
from Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
"Pink Floyd were the first band I really became deeply interested in, I really loved how their visual concepts and music slotted so tightly together. The Dark Side of the Moon is one of those albums that can be listened to all the way through for a different experience. The end of the last track is no different than the end of the sample about the moon drum/heart beat and the fact it's not entirely a clean, dead sound and can loop back to the beginning to me is truly inspiring, that depth of planning and thought. Right down to each double page spread of the booklet being a different colour of the light spectrum on the front cover.
I know sometimes people are embarrassed by their first loves in music, but Pink Floyd offers me great comfort and reminds me of my dad."
cLOUDDEAD - Cloud Dead Number Five (0'59" - 1'09")
from cLOUDDEAD (2001)
"As you're probably aware cLOUDEAD were a hip hop trio. They made two albums, cLOUDEAD and Ten. I expect most people would choose a lyrical 10 second chunk, but one of the great things about cLOUDEAD for me was the way they layered sounds, as if you were going into a cloud. I think t hismoment of the record is really beautiful and possibly influenced my own use of sound palettes. Interestingly cLOUDEAD is a band my bandmate Danalogue (The Comet Is Coming, Soccer 96 and with me, Space Blanket) is also into."
3. Lizzie Emeh - See Me (0'20" - 0'30")
from Lizzy Emeh live at EP launch (2016)
"I wanted to choose something by Lizzie Emeh. She was the first solo artist with a learning disability to release an album of original songs in the UK. When I started working with the arts charity Heart n Soul, I really looked up to her. Sadly she died a few years ago. She was in her 40's, but like many people with learning disabilities she died much younger than the general population.
The video begins with the band on stage at a distance with a steady groove and suddenly the camera moves in to find Lizzie in the audience, we still see you Lizzie."
4. The Comet is Coming - Blood of the Past (0'21" - 0'31")
from The Comet is Coming - Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery (2019)
"When the sax and bass synth kicks in it always brings me such excitement and joy, a true modern classic I feel."
5. Snoop Dogg - Outta Da Blue (0'02" - 0'12")
from Snoop Dogg - Missionary (2024)
"The sample at the start of this track is from Daylight Studio, a group of artists with learning disabilities supported by Jack Daley to create music. The fact that a mainstream artist like Snoop Dogg sampled music by musicians with learning disabilities (and obviously they get paid) to me marks social progress in people with learning disabilities being included in the mainstream."
6. Lou Reed - Sad Song (6'21" - 6'31")
from Lou Reed - Berlin (1973)
"I wasn't really into the rest of Berlin, the album this is taken from, but I love the music of this chorus the way the strings sit in the song.
The bit I've chosen is when the trumpet with probably a Harmon mute comes in. As a child I don't think I was aware of it being a trumpet (which I now play) but I love when the trumpet comes in."
7. Donna Summer - I Feel Love (6'00" - 6'10")
from Donna Summer - I Feel Love (12' Version) (1977)
"I love how at the end of the digital version, it becomes just the bass synth and drum machine . Everything drops out apart from the driving loop synth and then a wooshy drum synth sits on top and at 6:05 the flanger synth gets added. This track is going somewhere and that's so exciting to me."
8. Too Many Zooz - Warriors (00'17" - 00'27")
from Too Many Zooz - Subway Gawdz (2016)
"This track uses baritone sax as bass, the trumpet starts with a simple set of tones and gradually expands, again it's exciting but it's also really beautiful to see how this track builds."
9. Alabaster DePlume - Oh My Actual Days (00'29" - 00'39")
from Alabaster DePlume - A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole (2025)
"Alabaster DePlume sax playing has been very influential to me, trying to play gently enough to play with him took a couple of years, but time well spent.
In the part of Oh My Actual Days I've chosen, the sax drops away and you're left with a lush bed of strings carrying the melody like you've sunken into it, gorgeous !"
10. Spaceheads - Cosmic Freight Train (0'00" - 0'10")
from Spaceheads - Trip to the Moon EP (2014)
"Spaceheads is a duo of Andy Diagram (trumpet and fx) and Richard Harrison (drums). Andy is the person who inspired me to put my trumpet through fx’s, hence my description of space trumpet. In this opening section, Andy made the sound of a train going along a train track and then looped it. He then layered it with a pitch shifted trumpet. I love the movement in it and how it does make you think of a train, probably even if you didn’t know the track was called Cosmic Freight Train."
Robyn's album ‘Robyn Rocket and People You May of Heard of’ comes out on vinyl & digital on April 25th
"The idea of the project was to bring together musicians from the three musical communities that I'm a part of. Cafe OTO where i have a residency ‘Robyn’s Rocket’, Total Refreshment Centre where i have a studio and Heart 'n Soul, an arts charity based in South East London who believe in the power and talents of people with learning disabilities and autistic people."
Robyn is Autistic and says:
“Whilst there is crossover between the Total Refreshment Centre and Cafe OTO, people from the learning disability and autism community don’t always get invited to join mainstream projects. I wanted to create a space where everyone could play together.”
Robyn mixed everyone into three groups and met with each to jam in a studio.
"Apart from some vocals on Mystery Man, Intense Love, We Are All Human and I Was Disconnected, the rest of the music was all made up on the spot. The project includes 20 plus musicians including Charles Hayward, Alabaster DePlume and Dean Rodney Jnr. I hope all listeners will discover new artists through it”
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