My List: Elvis Perkins

Antonio Carlos Jobim and Elis Regina: Elis and Tom
"It was recorded in Los Angeles in the Seventies," says Perkins of this classic from the Brazilian bossa nova legends. "The production of it, the sound, her voice -- there's nothing wrong with that record."

Nina Simone: "Why Keep On Breaking My Heart" [Listen]
"This song has an impossible percussion fill that takes it from a slow, languid opening -- just her and an electric guitar -- into this explosion of island-rhythm jazz," Perkins says of Simone's track from 1966's Wild Is the Wind. "It's a wonderful moment."

Bright Light Quartet: "Sweet Roseanne" [Listen]
"It's one acoustic guitar and four or five guys singing," says Perkins of this early American group recorded by Alan Lomax. "Apparently it was a song they were throwing around but weren't going to record. Those songs often turn out to be something great."

Brian Eno: Thursday Afternoon [Listen]
Perkins loves this 1979 album from Eno's ambient phase: "The fact that he can pull off sixty minutes of nothingness is really heavy."