Don Ross: Robot Monster (Narada: 2003)
When I was very small, I received a Sony CFD‐E75 boombox as a Christmas present. Alongside it—or shortly there·after—I received what would be the first C·D¦s I ever owned: Béla Fleck: Live At The Quick and Don Ross: Robot Monster. For this first album recommendation, it seemed fitting to choose one or the other.
Not to disparage Béla Fleck, but Robot Monster is ultimately the album which stuck with me more. This is partially because of its versatility: As a kid, I loved the rhythmic feel of “Dracula and Friends, Part 1”, and as I grew older I grew to love the more mellow tones of “Fader Jones” and “Goodbye Kelly Goodbye”. This was the music that characterized my summers in elementary and middle school as I kept cool in my room and tried to make something out of Lego.
Favourite track: “I Think Of You”. As a track meant to evoke nostalgia—and one that I have been listening to for more than two decades—this one never gets old.