Serj Tankian is a man of many musical tastes as showcased on his eclectic variety of albums over the last decade, so a trip to the record store with the singer provides insight into where his many influences lie.
In a new video shot for Amoeba Records’ ‘What in My Bag?’ series, Tankian takes a trip through the Los Angeles record store and shows off what’s catching his eye. On this shopping experience, the vocalist heads to the back of the store first for a trip through the soundtrack section.

The singer says, “First one up is Philip Glass, ‘Symphony No. 3.’ I’m a huge fan of Glass and his compositions. His arpeggiated kind of string arrangements have been very influential, but there’s something really spellbinding about his music for me. It’s powerful. And he’s also known as a great film composer, so Philip Glass – one of my favorites.”

Tankian also gives a nod to Ennio Morricone’s ‘Crime and Dissonance’ album, put out through his pal Mike Patton‘s Ipecac label. The singer says of Morricone, “He’s just incredible and one of the original film composers of the spaghetti westerns and Sergio Leone films, so like, this is the God, you know.”

The vocalist says he loves soundtrack music and explains, “There’s something very emotive about film music. Different genres express different emotions for an artist I think … Classical, you can get to the ponderous point of existence aptly and in the best possible way, more than any other type of music.”

He adds that it’s the soundtracks that have also influenced his orchestral work in recent years. “It’s an amazing experience as a musician, as a conductor, to be working onstage with an orchestra, there is nothing better in the world honestly,” says Tankian.

But before dwelling too long on his orchestral and classical love, the singer also pulled out records from Ministry and Mondo Cane as part of his selections for the day. The vocalist revealed that Ministry was a big influence in his rock music of late and that the song ‘Figure It Out’ from the ‘Harakiri’ album was born out of his fascination with Ministry’s drum sounds. Check out Tankian musing on each of the records he chooses in the video below.

-loudwire.com

Watch Serj Tankian’s ‘What’s in My Bag?’ Music Shopping Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBI1bGC-n_8