5 Albums I Can’t Live Without: Courtney LaPlante of Spiritbox

Name  Courtney LaPlante

Best known for  Being the vocalist of Spiritbox.

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Current city  Los Angeles.

Really want to be in  Joshua Tree with my husband and my dog when it’s super cold…for some peace and quiet.

Excited about  2025. So much excitement and contentment for me in prepping a show for our headline tour, it’s the perfect amount of stress: can we pull this lofty production goal off? I know we can with hard work and determination. Then there is the other thing every artist is most excited about: the day that their new album releases, and the songs go through the peaceful transition of power from us to the listeners.

My current music collection has a lot of  ‘90s and current day R&B, from Mary J Blige to Jazmine Sullivan. I listen to SOS by SZA on repeat and find a new favorite song each time. I also love Chelsea Wolfe and her latest album. This one has some really incredible Portishead/Massive Attack influences (in my opinion) and I think it’s her best work yet. The live show is incredible.

And a little bit of  Brazilian funk music that I love to dance to and workout to. It’s always been great but these days I hear more and more crazy patterns that still live in a 4/4 time signature which sounds so cool to me.

Preferred format  Sadly, it’s streaming. I’m one of those people who takes a year to actually move into a new place and unpack, and then I feel like I have to pack up and move again. I am away from home at least half the year. I move so much, that when I come back from tour I don’t remember where anything is. (Where are the forks?) I need all my music in my pocket.

Anytime I get to hear my small vinyl collection, I am hypnotized. Nothing else can compare!

5 Albums I Can’t Live Without:

This was really hard for me to choose.

1

Hounds of Love, Kate Bush

This was hard because I want to choose Imogen Heap, but the thread of Imogen leads to Björk, and the thread of Björk leads to Kate Bush. I have always gravitated to music that is “almost catchy” especially when I was younger. These songs all have a beautiful sadness to them and have a pop mentality, but there is always something dissonant or tense about them at times, musically. She just has such an incredibly special voice, special writing, and special production. It’s very ahead of its time. I feel like this album is where she became a grownup. And “Running Up That Hill” is one of the best songs ever made.

2

I Let It In and It Took Everything, Loathe

This is my most ever listened to metal album. They are an indescribable band, but the closest thing would be if Deftones and Meshuggah got married. But there is more than that, you just have to hear it. So much sadness and anger and sometimes tenderness, but at all times vulnerable lyrically. It really resonates with me and I think it became an instant classic. So much musicality but with restraint.

3

Renaissance: Act I, Beyoncé

Beyoncé is my favorite artist of all time. She is the one artist that makes me empathize with fanatical parasocial behavior. I grew up with her! I am not blind to a bad song though, if I don’t like something I’m not going to listen just because I love the artist. But she just keeps getting better and better. I can confidently say this is my favorite album of hers, somehow it beat out Lemonade, at least for now. I am so inspired by the entire concept, one long mix, referencing the people who created this type of music, a history lesson and celebration with some of the most complex vocal runs I’ve ever heard, yet still hooky. I just love her so much.

4

good kid, m.A.A.d city, Kendrick Lamar

There are certain records that you remember the exact date and time you heard it and this is the one for me. My show got cancelled due to a hurricane when I was in North Carolina, so I had surprise quiet time that night, bored in my hotel room. I had been eagerly awaiting this album, once I heard it I replayed the whole thing four times in a row. Anyone who heard this record became immersed in the world he built on this album, and even though I loved his previous work, it took this one for me to really see that all along he was more than a musical artist, but someone who is even more multifaceted…a renaissance man! I can see him directing movies, Broadway, so many things to look forward to. I love all his albums but this one is special to me because I’ll always remember first hearing it. 

5

Baduizm, Erykah Badu

This album was the soundtrack to my Sunday mornings as a kid. I would hear the intro start as I was still in bed, and I knew my mom was cleaning the house or getting breakfast ready. My favorite song of hers is “Didn’t Cha Know,” but even though it isn’t on this record, this one is my favorite because it introduced me to a new sound I had never heard before. I have always loved how poetic she is, while still giving us some very literal lyrics as she tells her story. She has such a unique voice that no one [else] is able to mimic. She and Sade were the first artists I ever heard where I realized a song is more than just verse chorus verse, but a whole atmosphere and vibe that you can’t quantify. 

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