Granite Island Discs: Christine Schloithe

What five songs would you take to a desert island?

1. Michael Nyman – ‘Chasing Sheep is Best Left To Shepherds’

2. Rahsaan Roland Kirk – ‘Old Rugged Cross’

3. North Mississippi Allstars – ‘Snake Drive’

4. Foo Fighters – ‘The Sky is a Neighbourhood’

5. The Avalanches – ‘Since I Left You’

If you could only pick one, what would it be?

‘Since I Left You’ by The Avalanches. This song is embedded in my DNA and has been for decades. It makes me forget the shit days, takes me to another time and place, and lets me get beautifully lost in memories. Perfect company for a desert island.

What’s your favourite album?

Mezzanine by Massive Attack. A classic, classic, classic album. Simply and completely timeless and can be played – and listened to – for all time.

What’s your favourite song by an SA artist/band?

‘Friend’ by Lowrider.

Favourite music-related memory?

This memory is an oldie but still gives me goosebumps. Remember the album cover for Midnight Oil’s Blue Sky Mining album – the cracked dry earth and shards of lightning? The Adelaide stop on the tour was at Memorial Drive on a stinking hot summer day and I was working up in the lighting tower as the sky turned dark with a cool change. Midnight Oil had just jumped into ‘Blue Sky Mine’ on a desert stage set strewn with corrugated iron as a huge electrical thunderstorm hit, throwing shards of crackling, electrical lightning across the whole sky above the band and crowd. A truly epic (and completely unrehearsed) lighting moment!