Top image: DIIV at Field Day. 2015 photo by Sean Carpenter

In anticipation of DIIV’s second album release this week, we’ve invited the band’s Zachary ‘Cole’ Smith to take over HERO. Over the coming days, watch out for exclusive content and insights into the Brooklyn based musician’s influences, experiences and obsessions…

Metabolising his influences without force nor replication comes naturally for Smith. Wearing his inspirations on his sleeve – his love for bands such as Nirvana, Sonic Youth and CAN are well documented – the Brooklyn musician combines these springboards to create a hybrid sound entirely his own. Where debut album Oshin laid out a dreamlike framework, DIIV’s sophomore record Is the Is Are carves an altogether more jarring route: totally visceral; totally uncompromising. 

Here, Smith lays out his ultimate mixtape for us. From The Rolling Stones’s ‘lighters-in-the-air’ Can You Hear The Music, through Cat Power’s haunting Nude As the News, to Thurston Moore’s jolting guitar slashes, these are the tracks that have stuck, the ones that play on a constant loop in Smith’s head. In his own words, “A few of my favourite songs of all time. Love, ZCS.”

Press play and let it run.

Can You Hear the Music by The Rolling Stones

Lady (Fallin’ In Love) by Dennis Wilson

Outdoor Miner by Wire

I Keep A Close Watch by John Cale

The True Wheel by Brian Eno

Love Makes You Feel by Lou Reed

You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory by Johnny Thunders

Here Comes The Night by The Beach Boys

Full Moon on the Highway by CAN

I Gotta Fire by Spiritualized

I Want to Be Alone by Jackson C. Frank

Ain’t It Fun by Rocket From The Tombs

Spoiled (Kids OST) by Sebadoh

I Love Her All The Time by Sonic Youth

Nude as the News by Cat Power

The Platform on the Ocean by Arthur Russell

Ocean by The Velvet Underground

Jennifer by Faust

Lullabye by Emitt Rhodes

Long, Long, Long by The Beatles

DIIV’s new album, Is the Is Are, is out now on Captured Tracks. Follow DIIV on Twitter, Facebook and find tour updates at their website.

Stay tuned for more DIIV-curated content in the coming days.