Sonic Shredder: Marnie Stern's Playlist

Once described by Venus Zine as the “greatest female guitarist of all time”, American musician, songwriter, and guitarist Marnie Stern is known for her finger-tapping talent and shrill vocal. The 34-year-old New Yorker, who's been growing up listening to The Who, AC/DC and other staples, is now bringing her experimental ecstasy of indie rock groove to our northern capital.

"I never like anything I do," she says. "Maybe for a week, but then I'm like, 'Ooh! Are you crazy?' I'm into this one, though, because it's so palatable and poppy it's hard not to. It's like Rihanna or something, right?" See what she's working on this Friday at Yugong Yishan, or something.

But before the sonic shredder cut your ears, she'd like to share a few tracks on her playlist with us. Well, not exactly, cuz' we sort of asked her to.

The song never gets old for me is The Who’s “Teenage Wasteland” (or some of you prefer to call it "Baba O'Riley" - Ed.) I can listen to it over and over and it always stays incredibly powerful.

“Thunderstruck” by AC/DC is a great song to be listening to on a late-night drive. It's got great energy and keeps on driving.

The way David Byrne sings in Talking Heads’ “Same As It Ever Was” (she probably meant "Once In A Lifetime" - Ed.) completely inspires me. His cadence is fantastic, and the movement is spastic and fun, but my favorite part of this song is the lyrics.

The Cars wrote such great songs, but I think the one I like the most would be “Just What I Needed” because the opening riff is so simple and catchy.

“Marquee Moon” by Television really inspired me to learn to practice playing the guitar. It was the first song I was able to latch onto and I think everyone agrees that it's a classic.

Marnie Stern slays Yugong Yishan on May 21 (Friday), SUBS support. RMB 150, RMB 100 (advance). 9pm. 3-2 Zhangzizhong Lu (100m west of Zhangzizhong Lu subway station), Dongcheng District (6404 2711). 东城区平安大道张自忠路3-2号(地铁五号线张自忠路站往西100米)