What Are You Listening To?
"I'm going to think back to this summer and dance..."
Matthew, 29, film producer
What kind of films do you produce?
We shoot psychedelic comedies that deal with the end of the world.
Whoa.
We're shooting one right now with Dan Fogler. It's called Don Peyote.
So does music come in to your film-production job? Do you get to choose the soundtrack?
Yeah, we have all the say. Right now we're using a lot of dub-step, techno, some hard beats mixed with some minimal.
What were you just listening to?
Bassnectar. It's dub-step, and you should check them out if you don't know them. I have them on Pandora, so right now I'm listening to a song called "Churn of the Century." It's a random mix.
Listen: Bassnectar - "Churn of the Century"
MP3
Were you excited that it came on?
Yeah, I had to flip through for a bit.
What are some other albums coming out or that came out that you were excited for this year?
I really mostly listen to dub-step, some post-punk, some rock, and some blues. Joy Division, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Wire. My favorite Joy Division song is "Digital." "Atmosphere" is good too, and "Isolation."
What's the best live show you've been to lately?
Probably BP Fallon. I saw him at the Escape To New York Festival a couple weeks ago, and he was brilliant. It's spoken word mixed with this guy just thrashing on the bass.
Do you play any musical instruments?
I used to play the cello.
Very classy. Do you have any guilty pleasures on your iPod?
Not really. I mostly have what everyone's given me. I lost all my music — it all got wiped out in a hard-drive crash.
Did it feel like losing a child?
It was much worse than losing a child. I got into a really bad car accident when I was sixteen, and the only thing I was concerned about while the car was catching on fire were my mix tapes.
If you were making a mix tape for a girl you liked, what would be on it?
Depends on what girl.
For me.
For you? I like Radiohead a lot, but maybe The Beatles — "Norwegian Wood." Some Modest Mouse, Postal Service, Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay" would be good.
Listen: Bob Dylan - "Lay Lady Lay"
MP3
I like this tape. What's a band that you despise?
I don't think anyone should stop making music; it's a form of expression. As long as it hits one person, as long as it strikes a note or a chord, it's worth it, and they should keep doing it.
Commentarium (29 Comments)
Julia has great taste! And I find it hard to believe that the guy going to NYU for music business has never heard of "Friday".... there's just no way.
She definitely does. If she's dropping those names in conversation I'm impressed. I might buy her a coffee. No Venti. Times is hard.
They all seem like very cool people. In order.
Han was attractive.
Okay sorry, but I have to jump on these first two guys for their self-satisfaction. First guy loves Bassnectar with all the hipstery smugness of a Decemberists or Vampire Weekend fan and the second guy proudly calls himself a deadmau5 groupie? God, you guys want some Skrillex with that? Bonus points for Han sneering at Top 40 music pretty much in the same breath. Oh I don't listen to that mainstream garbage, I only listen to real artists like ~*deadmau5*~. I realize you indie rock fans might find this unique and interesting, but trust me, these guys are exactly the kinds of tools who give electronic fans a bad name. You wouldn't want them promoting indie rock and I'm pretty depressed to see them singing the virtues of electronic music when their tastes are about as sophisticated as a 15-year-old's. I don't even know where to begin correcting them. Baby's first electronic all the way through here.
Julia seems okay, though.
And yet--where were these guys during Electric Zoo?
I like how you call Matthew to have hipstery smugness when he says "I don't think anyone should stop making music; it's a form of expression. As long as it hits one person, as long as it strikes a note or a chord, it's worth it, and they should keep doing it." Which is about the opposite of what a "hipster" is.
Also, about Han, I don't remember him saying anything about calling stuff mainstream trash but rather he doesn't like to play top 40 because he wants to show people new music not stuff we've all heard.
Chill out dood, it's just music.
you should chill myke....han's last point was awesome about if music strikes a chord with ANYONE they should keep playing. BUT I agree that there was some self-importance with the first two guys. Their tastes were mad entry-level, yet they act like they were the first to discover deadmau5 or pretty lights(two ULTRA popular musicians). Julia was bomb though
Damn it all, I actually like the Decemberists AND Vampire Weekend, and I promise I'm neither smug or a hipster. Why does everybody hate on the Decemberists? I really need someone to explain, cause I think they're lovely and interesting and funny.
First three albums and the Tain EP were good for a while, then they become tolerable for each return listen. After that it was a drop off the cliff splashing into contemporary-Starbucks-awfulness.
But really, who gives a shit?
Eva, I'm with you on the Decemberists. I don't get it either. Haters are gonna hate, I guess. Music snobbery is an ugly thing. Can we just listen and let listen?
Well I guess I should've known making a reference to modern indie rock would turn out like this. To clarify: I don't really give a damn one way or the other about Vampire Weekend or The Decemberists. If you, eva and High Fidelity, like them, go right ahead. I haven't really listened to much by them and for all I know they're making incredible music. My point concerns music snobbery, or at least unwarranted music snobbery. Because I'm being a music snob here too, but at least I have the decency to be snobby about electronic artists better than Basshunter and deadmau5. That's my main issue with Matthew, who seems to think he's doing our Hooksexup representative here a great favor by alerting her to this totally sick artist whose name is Basshunter. Oh you haven't heard of him? Heh that's okay, he's pretty obscure.
See where the reference plays into this? I mean, any hipster worth their PBR would know about The Decemberists and Vampire Weekend too, but hey, don't tell that to the self-righteous evangelicals unless you think their egos can withstand the deflation. Because what is a hipster if not a self-appointed purveyor of "real music" to the uneducated masses? Clearly Matthew also thinks he's onto something new and unusual here despite Basshunter being pretty much a college bro staple at this point.
Same with Han. It's like saying "Oh I only listen to real pop by real artists, like Britney Spears and Ke$ha. You probably haven't heard of them." Keep on raging against the machine bud.
Or maybe Matthew was being honest when she asked the question "Who are you listening to?" and answered Bassnecter. Also, maybe he sincerely enjoys introducing people to his own interests and sharing music in a friendly environment, not to make himself feel like he is more informed on music culture but that he likes to talk about music as an art-form.
And, Han didn't say anything like that in the slightest.
VW, BH, are all well known, but there not big enough for some guy to accurately assume that this interviewer who he doesn't know, knows them. What so smug about suggesting it?
Meant "Bassnectar" in the last comment. And, well, Bassnectar isn't really something anyone should be recommending anyone. Bassnectar is the Nickelback of dubstep. I don't expect Hooksexup readers to really know that since electronic music seems to be a little outside their expertise. As someone who actually engages with the long, complicated, and multicultural history of electronic music, it's just disgusting that someone like this goes around talking about Bassnectar like he's the only one that matters. And if that sounds a little self-righteous, I kind of mean it to be. I'm a music snob too, after all. I don't go after people who go around pimping Creed and Limp Bizkit because you all seem to understand the inherent idiocy in liking those two, but this guy's exactly the kind of tool that makes music fans think all electronic music is just wobbly bassline brostep bullshit.
so basically you are admiting to being a dick but also getting pissy if you think someone else is being a dick?
isn't that what these hipster things are that people get all upset about these days?
Not that I'm calling you a hipster, I frankly hate the term, but you should probably observe your own actions and act accordingly.
I think the first guy meant "Avicii" not "Avichi." I could be wrong, maybe he listens to black metal, but he was probably referring to the Swedish DJ.
Mm, second guy, rather.
He's a tool because he likes a certain band? He made a short comment about it, not at all making it sound like "he's the only one that matter's.". I'm really failing to see any comment that displays the character of a snob in these interviews.
The fact that your music may be "better" then his does not make your music snobbery any more acceptable then his. Get off your high horse.
I'll concede that the snobbery thing is just a guess on my part. Something about the way he suggests checking Bassnectar out just rubs me the wrong way, but then maybe I'm just an oversensitive snob.
Really though, Han's the one that should be singled out. There's no way in hell anyone should be proud of being a deadmau5 fan, least of all as some half-assed opposition to the Top 40 hegemony. Matthew may or may not be a snob, but Han almost certainly is. It's even more contemptible because he doesn't like anything worth liking.
Read the interview again. Han never says Top 40 is bad music. He says he doesn't play it on the dancefloor because patrons don't go to clubs to listen to someone play the radio.
Why is music so complicated for some people?
I thought all these people were delightful.
He didn't say he's better then popular music , just that he likes to introduce people to something new, everybody knows and hears top 40 music. Hence he doesn't play it, it's not new to the masses. He even says he'll play top 40 remixes.
Ah, Dan Fogle, the extremely poor man's Danny McBride.
Or Seth Rogen. Or Jonah Hill. Or, maybe not so much those guys since they lost all that weight....
deadmau5 is neither new to anyone nor worth introducing to the two people who don't know him. Everyone knows deadmau5, everyone already has an opinion of him. You all probably have heard deadmau5 even if you didn't recognize his music as being his (and you probably disliked it). He's everywhere, and he sucks. Han's alternative to the Top 40 shit that everyone knows is more Top 40-worthy shit that everybody knows, therefore it's nothing worth bragging about nor is it anything remotely original as he seems to think it is. That's all. I'm going to stop monopolizing this feature now.
still a subjective opinion
How was he bragging? He answered a question. I have no idea how you get these cynical opinions from a short interview. You make paragraph rants off once sentence, judge people on their taste. You are far more of a snob.
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