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Welcome back to Tasteland. I am Francis Zierer. And I'm Daisy Aliotto. And Daisy, who are we speaking with today? Today we're speaking with Bri Morrell.

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She's one half of the duo Crushed with Sean Durkin, and Crushed has been making music together since they met on the internet in 2022.

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Their debut EP, Extra Life, came out in 2023, and their follow-up LP, No Scope, came out last year, and both were distributed by friend of the pod show favorite label, Ghostly Records, um, AKA Sam Valenti's label. Yes.

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And I should, I should also say I wrote this little bio. I think they, they self-released their debut EP first on Bandcamp, and then Ghostly came back and picked it up. Oh, yeah.

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And I, I can't recall if, I, I believe Ghostly published it in 2023. I think that happens- Um... a lot, actually. Yeah. And I've been following them since that EP came out.

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Um, there are a couple tracks on there that I thought were really dope. Mm-hmm. Uh, Waterlily is one I really like, Coil, and then the song, um, the first track on No Scope, XO. Mm. That was like- Really good...

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one of my most played songs this year. It definitely made my Spotify- Mm... end of year playlist, so not a fake fan, a real fan. Real fan. [laughs] How many real fans? How many of us? Uh.

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[laughs] So last time we podded, I was, that evening, due to attend the Knausgaard being interviewed by Patricia Lockwood, School of Night, book four of Knausgaard's ongoing series. And paid $60 to attend.

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I basic- I paid, I paid $60 for the privilege. 60 clams, y'all. And 60 clams. [laughs] And, and I, you know, I, I bought front row to the right of the stage. I'm like, "This'll be great."

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And I sit there [laughs] I'm like, "It's kind of off to the side." You had to pee. And, you know it... I had been- You were like- It's too-... "Guys, let's go to Barricade." It's too... I, I did. It, it's too, um,

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it's two chairs, you know, like set up- Mm-hmm... kind of askew. And so we sit there and I'm like, "Fuck.

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Like, I really hope that he's in the chair that's facing directly at us and not in the chair where he won't see his face." Mm-hmm. Thankfully, he does walk out and he sits in that chair. It was fun. I had a good time. I,

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I've not read any of Patricia Lockwood's books, and I wasn't as s- I'm not as familiar with her, her, her whole vibe, et cetera. But yeah, she had this very...

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She's, you know, I don't know, 15, 20 years younger than him, something like that, and American. He is Norwegian. Shy, funny.

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But yeah, her demeanor that she brought to the interview was jokey and fun at fir- and at first I'm like, "Is this gonna be not serious enough?" Yeah, I was surprised by that pairing for that- Yeah... reason. It worked.

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I mean, you know, there's some moments where she had some lightning round questions she would sometimes intersperse, such as, "Okay, prawns or cigarettes?" And you obviously know which one he chose.

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Uh, another time she asked, "Could you sing us the Norwegian birthday song?" And he says, "No, but I can sing the Swedish one." And he did, and he belted it out to the, to the whole crowd. Wow. That's beautiful.

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It was really nice.

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But, you know, then we also get some good process insights in how he wrote this book and how he was having trouble trying to write in his 20s, and then he read Proust when he was 26, and then the next summer he was able to write a novel, and he only realized like 10 years later that, oh, of course it's because he digested that and then he was able to

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then output his own digested version of that. Mm-hmm. You know? But- My next case... yeah, it was, it was, it was really enjoyable, and they gave us all signed copies of the book, which I've already started reading.

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It's great. And that was included- I've-... in your ticket price. It was included in the ticket price. [laughs] So that's, you know. Uh... Start saving for the Dirt Books launch. [laughs] Mm-hmm.

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I, I ran into, actually perfectly, on the train home, I ran into a good friend of mine who, who had not been there, but who I met

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like five years ago or so because we were at a party and I was, I was going, going to the bathroom, trying to find the bathroom, and I walk by him talking to somebody else about Knausgaard. Mm-hmm.

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And I'm like, "Oh, I gotta get in on this after I go, [laughs] after I go to the bathroom," and I came out and, uh, yeah. So that was just perfect, and we rode the train home together 'cause he lives right by me.

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What a lovely plot tie-up. Mm-hmm. Yeah. He doesn't even have to be on the next season of your life, 'cause they already- [laughs]... that little plot point came full circle. I sure, I sure hope he is.

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He's a, he's a good guy. I love that.

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Well, I brought something to show you, which is I got a copy of Hell Yeah by Rachelle Termino, who has not been on this podcast, but was on the Desire Question with her husband- Mm... Aiden. Um, and this was actually...

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So this is her new poetry collection, Hell Yeah- Mm... from Third Man Books, which is attached to Third Man Records, which is Jack White's record label. Mm-hmm. Heard of him.

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And I went to buy it, and actually, the, the regular edition was sold out, so I ended up getting the special edition. And there's- Was it $60? No, it wasn't $60. There's a lot of special stuff about it.

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For example, it's signed. Mm. It has these beautiful flaps inside the cover which help me hold my place, which I appreciate.

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I'm gonna say too to the listener who can't see this, 'cause I, I, I imagine I'm not clipping this, this is, the book itself, it's sort of an ecru color, if you will, with- Mm-hmm...

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large block print, Hell Yeah, in red- Mm-hmm... just stretched up and down- Mm-hmm...

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the, the cover, like one of those posters where you can't really see what it reads, but then if you put your f- head like right below it and look up at it, it, it, it kinda makes sense.

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It's this, uh, it's a b- you know, we love to judge a book by its cover and, and I'm liking the cover. It's great.

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And then it came with a little, a small art style print of one of the poems.And, um, [smacks lips] knuckle tattoos. [laughs] That said, "Hell yeah." But Rachelle did inform me- In, individual letters or? Yes.

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She informed me it takes about half an hour to apply them yourself. [laughs] So I was like, "Okay, we're gonna save that for a rainy day." Oh, you, you know what would be a great tie-in? If you're...

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Go listen to the episode of The Desire Question with her, having already purchased this special edition, apply, listener, apply these knuckle tattoos, and then sit there for half an hour listening to the podcast, uh, while not moving your hands.

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Yeah, I mean, the podcast is about 35 minutes, so I think you would, like- That's perfect... it would be, be perfectly timed. Mm-hmm. Um, but you wanted to say something about Brick.

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Yeah, well, we talked about this on the last podcast. I'm in hot pursuit of the Brick team on LinkedIn, so. Oh. Well, good.

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So I'll say that, and ugh, we don't wanna glaze them really, and I don't wanna talk too much more about it because I'm not paying this. No, nothing worse than glazed brick. [laughs] But what I do like is that

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the ethos of trying to get off your phone is aligned with the h- like, it as a consumer product in that I bought it, I used it, I set up my account. My fiancee too, I was like, "Oh, I wonder if you can use this."

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And she could. She set up her own account, and then she could- Hmm... just tap the brick. So it's, it's a one-time purchase, and then that you don't need to...

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Your, like, your account does not have an attachment to this item. You could theoretically use anybody's brick out in the world. How many people per brick? There has to be a limit. There's not.

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It's, it's, it's this, it's just sort of a- Oh, 'cause you have to tap to it, so they assume that you don't have- It's just sort of a general button... like 100 people in your- In your home. Yeah. Yeah. But I, I'm...

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It, it would be the same function. You heard it here first, guys, the whole Polycoop can use the brick. [laughs] Portland, Oregon, shout-out. Shout out. Whole Polycoop.

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But I, but I do, I do, like, it is refreshing f- for a tech product app product to, to be, to be so frictionless as a consumer product. Mm-hmm.

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But it also provides that good form of friction of now I can't look at Instagram. [sighs] Is the... Do you, how do you feel about the aesthetics of the brick? Like, is the brick ugly? I, I don't care.

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You barely see it on my fridge. I, I, you know, I'm, I'm a person who has a lot of, like, postcards people have sent and photos and stuff magne- mag- magnetized, [laughs] uh, attached to my fridge with magnets. Yes, yes.

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And so in, in this quite colorful collage of ephemera from my life, it sort of disappears and it, you really don't see it. Do you think there's somebody on Etsy who's selling, like, brick sleeves? [laughs] I hope not.

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I really- Maybe put some googly eyes on there... Let's, okay, let me, we gotta stop ta- we, we gotta stop talking about it until they refund [laughs] my $60. I feel like we've given them $60. Another $60 thing.

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No, it was $60. Oh my God, a brick costs the same as seeing Knausgard speak. Yeah. Well, and you know- This really is a K-shaped economy. [laughs] A, a, Karl, a Karl Ove.

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They did, uh, this event was put on by The Strand, and the guy who came out and introduced, he did do the, the, the really, the, the pronunciation which I'm going to attempt now.

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I think it was something like Karl Ove Knausgard. He also... [sighs] Like, I love, I love a Norwegian accent. Mm. His is pretty mild. It's not that bad. But, but I lo- the lilting, it's kind of like this, you know?

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Oh, yeah, yeah, it's nice. Yeah. So did you go home and eat some smoked fish? Uh, no.

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We should say at the top of this that as we record, you are a few days out from a West Coast tour. Yeah.

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But for the listener, this comes out on the 21st, Wednesday, and so the day this comes out you're playing in Portland. You have just played your first show in Seattle. Okay, great. Right?

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And, uh- Yeah, let me, I'm looking at, I have December pulled up. Let me look at January. And I think San Francisco- Yeah, that, that's correct... is on Friday, LA on Saturday, San Diego on Sunday.

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So go buy tickets, crushedworldwide.com. [laughs] If, if you're listening to this any of those [laughs] days, go buy tickets. Thank you. Yes. Mm-hmm. Please. Please come. We have to get the plug in at the top.

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Have you been to any good shows recently yourself that you aren't playing? God, I was just talking to a friend about this yesterday. I feel like, I mean, just in general stuff slows down over, like, winter, so. Hmm.

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But I'm just like, well, I really haven't been to many shows, like, I think [laughs] since Oasis, which was, like, a long time ago at this point.

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[laughs] But I mean, we were on tour for, like, six weeks, so I was at- Hmm... a show every single night. So- Mm-hmm... after doing, after being at shows for that long, you kind of [smacks lips]

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don't really wanna go out to shows when you come home from that, you know? Um- Yeah. So I haven't really. I think the last, the last major th- thing I went to was Oasis, which was the best- I-... weekend of my life.

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[laughs] I read that you went to both LA- [laughs]... budget shows. I did, yeah. Oh yeah, of course I did. Mm-hmm. Give us the scene. Was it the same vibe both times?

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So I had a, a different experience both times, 'cause night one I was up in, like, the bleachers with my friends. This is at the Rose Bowl in, here in, in LA in Pasadena.

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Um, but the second night I was down, like, front and center in the- Hmm... in the GA. Um, so it was very different experiences. So you had the peasant experience.

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[laughs] Well, wait, which, which one is the peasant experience though? I don't know. I think they both are. They're just different types of- I don't even know. [laughs] I think, like- I'm increasingly... Oh, go ahead.

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Uh, I think, like, night one, being up in the seats, I, I think I did get lucky. I heard from a lot of friends that, like, their s- their areas were really tame, you know? So it was a lot- Hmm...

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more casual enjoyers in the seats. But luckily where we were, the row in front of us was all, like, a bunch of, like, Englishmen, like middle-aged Englishmen. Oh, yeah.

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And behind me was, like, a, like, 10, like, 20-year-old Irishmen that flew out for, [laughs] just for this. [laughs] So our section was really lit. Um, and it was great.

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[laughs] Who, who had a higher percentage of shirts off, the Englishmen or the Irishmen? [laughs] Oh, the Irishmen for sure. [laughs] For sure. I get it.

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But, but, but night two down in the pit, like, just all, just shirts were off, beer in the air. Mm. It was just, it was chaos.Glorious.

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I was gonna say, the, the older I get, the more inclined I am for a seated show, though- Mm... I guess it depends on the artist a little bit. But I do... [sighs] Well, I went to...

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The last, one of the last seated shows I do remember going to was maybe a year and a half ago now, but it was, um, André 3000 touring with his- Mm... his flute act- Mm...

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which was really fun, but it was in this older theater in Brooklyn. It was at BAM, Brooklyn Academy of Music. And the, you know, I'm, I'm, like, 6'2" and it's, these old theaters are, [sighs]

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it- it- it's like being in an airplane. It's like being on a flight. Um, so this is kind- there, there's the rub, but it was, it was nice to, to sit. I do like, I like a bleacher. Depends on the show, I think. Mm.

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I, I was, I'm glad I got to have the experience of both. Doing standing, being in the pit two nights in a row, like, probably would've took me out. Mm. Actually, even just doing it once took me out.

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I was, like, sick for, like, two weeks after. [laughs] Oh, no. Oh my gosh. [laughs] Worth it. I'd do it again. I'd do it again right now. Yeah. Oh, this story reminded me of an experience I had in Berlin.

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Um, I'm currently working on a book with my friend Lauren about her time on Warped Tour. Ooh. And I didn't know her- Mm...

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when she was in, like, her peak Warped Tour era, but I did get close to her when she was living in Berlin, and she was bartending, and h- the bar she was at was near Bergin.

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So everyone who didn't get in would come to this bar, and it was a very motley crew. [laughs] And when I was visiting her she was still working, and so I would come with her to the bar. It was a karaoke bar.

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And I would just have these, like, side adventures all night with whoever came in, and then we would leave together when she closed at, like, 3:00 or 4:00 AM and go back to her apartment.

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And it was just, like, such a funny way to experience a city, 'cause I didn't do a ton of tourism. I kind of just, like, had these, like, weird experiences in the bar.

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And one night, an Irish bachelor party came in- Mm... and I did karaoke with them, and that was like, that experience sort of reminded me of that. That's cool. I love that. Dizzy, what did you sing?

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Uh, well, my karaoke song is You're So Vain by Carly Simon, which you already know. Mm. Yeah. But thank you for asking. Well, it's been a while- [laughs]... since you brought it up.

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We might have new listeners since then You didn't know if I changed, if I switched up on my day one? You know? Mm-hmm. No. [laughs] Yeah. Never switch up on your day ones. Bri, do you have a karaoke song?

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Uh, it totally depends. It, it tot- yeah, very much depends, 'cause I would be inclined to do, like, country or Selena- Mm...

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but depending on the part of the world that you're in, that, that could just be a total flop, you know? Yeah. I would... You gotta pick a song that everybody will sing along to.

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I don't wanna be the only one singing, you know? Mm. That makes sense. Yeah. Well, I wanted to ask you, um, I saw in one of your interviews that you like to buy stuff off of eBay.

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Um, I have a lot of friends who are, like, very good at finding stuff on eBay, and they enter what I would like to call the eBay flow state.

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[laughs] Um, so I wanted to ask you, um, like, what is your eBay flow state, and, like, what is the best thing that you've ever found after being in flow state? Oh my gosh.

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I mean, I just, my flow state is just having my specific, like, searches, like, saved. You know, like, having- Mm. Mm-hmm... I have got a whole list of saved searches, and I just check up on them every now and then.

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I love to do eBay window shopping. Like, I, I- Mm... you, of course, I've bought a lot of things, but it's just as much fun to look and see what's out there, you know? [laughs] Yeah.

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I have a saved search on the specific boombox that I had as a kid, um, that I still haven't pulled the trigger on because the ones that keep showing up, it, it's very rare, but when they do, they just aren't in the best shape.

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So I'm trying to find the perfect one. That will be probably one of my ultimate purchases whenever that happens, um, 'cause I'm so glad I finally found out what the specific model was. It's, like, a metallic lavender.

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It's very round. Mm. You know, very '90s. Um, I finally found an old photo where I could see it in the background in my room, and a friend of mine helped me figure out what it was.

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And so, um- Oh my God, your friend is, like, Shazam for vintage electronics. He really is. [laughs] He was like, he was like, "Give me a few minutes. I got it," and then he did. [laughs] I was like, "Oh my God."

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Shout out to KK. It's like the GeoGuesser guy. [laughs] Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um- I'm trying to think of what a, a great recent purchase was. I don't know.

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I, my f- my favorite thing, my favorite saved search that I check up on the most is vintage Parappa the Rapper merchandise. [laughs] Um, here, I've got a toy sitting right here.

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This was a gift recently for my birthday from a friend. Um- Oh my God... he dances. Love it. He winds up right here and he dances. Ooh, wait, wait, wait. The sound is... Yeah. Wait, do the sound to the mic.

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[laughs] He kind of looks like Spinelli from ReSearch. Yeah. [laughs] Doesn't he look like Spinelli a little bit? [laughs] I love him, so I love... But all of the merch is from Japan, you know?

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It's, like, Japan exclusive from the '90s. Mm-hmm. It's very hard to find. The shipping is expensive, and the toys are so expensive now. Um- Especially with the tariffs now, I...

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It was, so my fiance's been ordering some bits of fabric and stuff from around the world, and, uh, one came from eBay, and the UPS guy's like, "No, you need to, I need a check, I need a check for $62."

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I'm like, "Can I, is there, like, is there something I can tap to pay?" A check? "No, I need you, I need a check for $62." So I had to come in, write a check for $62.19 or whatever it was. Uh, yeah, a check.

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It's a good thing I have a checkbook. [laughs] Yeah. I don't even know where my ch- I have one somewhere I think. [laughs] I, I only have it... I have to, I, my current landlord, I do have to send checks. Mm.

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Which it had been years since, since that was the case, but I, I do have to write checks. I did just receive an eBay purchase today that I ordered recently.

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I, last week, I was bidding on a sweater, and then I got sniped at the end, and so it s- uh, you know, had the desire to, to purchase something on eBay that day. And so what I bought was this art book.

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Tool, Early American Tools, I think it is, by Hans-Namath, which I found...

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I, I, the, the measure of this rabbit hole was I saw some, like, some newsletter or something that was like, "Look at this vintage Leo Castelli Gallery poster for some exhibition." I forget the artist.

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I was like, "Oh, that's cool. I wonder if I can find one that isn't $800- [laughs]... for a poster." And so I, I just looked up, like, Leo Castelli Gallery posters, and I found one that was $80

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for a beat-up poster, and I said, "I... Well, I really can't justify that." Uh, but anyways, this is, uh- What's your favorite early American tool, Francis? [laughs] Well, [laughs]

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I, I, the, the, the poster is these, this great set of scissors, and that's not what I have here, but I do have actually within arm's reach of me [laughs] two kind of rusty tools that I really like.

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So we have this metal compass, maybe, um, producer Tom will, will clip this, this metal compass that I really love. Yeah.

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And then the other one, I don't know what these are for, but I have a smaller one of these as well, this bendy wrench. Whoa. The bendy wrench goes pretty hard. I'm not gonna lie. [laughs] Yeah. I love- Awesome, right?

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I love that. Wow. Yeah. I have no idea what the, what the function, what the function is.

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Uh, so Gri, Francis actually grew up on a farm, so him being into, like, rusty tools is a little bit less of a LARP than you might expect from a- Okay...

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man that lives in- I'm from, I'm from Texas, so I've ki- I've seen it all. I've seen this before. [laughs] Bendy wrench is old hat. This is, this is normal to me. Get it out of here. I, I'm, I'm not handy.

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I'm not- [laughs] I'm not handy. I don't know what that is. [laughs] I've never, I've never used that compass. Uh, it just sits in my pen cup. That's great.

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Gri, I wanted to ask you 'cause, um, I'm really glad that that boombox, like, what popped into my head was exactly what you were describing, and- Mm-hmm...

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I know that, like, when you and Sean were first connecting, like, some of the songs that you were connecting over as you were feeling out, like, forming a group together come from this sort of, like, late '90s period.

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And I've been really fascinated by the '90s nostalgia that's happening right now, especially, like, that specific time period, like, right on the cusp of the new millennium, where, like, I remember being a kid, like, I remember the excitement of it, and then the specific sound of music that was, like, right in that cusp period, where everything had this...

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a little bit of, like, an uncanny feeling of the future, whether it was, like, sampling in global music that sounded really unusual to, like, a kid's ears, or even, like, Dido has a little bit of this kind of, like, uncanny futuristic sound.

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And I'm kind of obsessed with these, like,

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YouTube comments and TikTok comments of people who are around the same age as me, 'cause they'll talk about like, "Yeah, like, I used to, like, be in the backseat of my dad's car, and he would play this, and I would be, like, looking at the moon, and I would be, like, a little scared, and I wouldn't know why," and like...

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Or, like, just being, like, 11 and afraid of Portishead, you know?

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[laughs] 'Cause it's just like, it sounds like, you know, it kinda sounds like the unknown, and everyone was telling you, like, "It's gonna be a new millennium, a new millennium," and we're like, "What does it mean?"

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Um, and so there was, like, kind of, like, the two aesthetics of that. There's, like, on the one side, and maybe this is, like, where, like, uh, Torn kind of comes in, and the, um, the Barely Breathing. What is it?

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Duncan Sheik. Mm-hmm.

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Like, the one side was just, like, the global village coffee house and, like, old Starbucks look, and then simultaneously there was kind of that, like, blue clear electronics, like, cyber core look, like coexisting. Mm.

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And they kinda represented, like, two very different visions of the future, which was like, "Okay, everyone, like, all together in, like, one world," and the other one was kind of like, "Everyone all together, like, in space, online, and it's so, like, rootless and placeless."

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And I thought it was really cool that, like, you guys are inspired by music that I associate with, like, both of those. Mm.

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And that also, like, the, the aesthetics for No Scope, at least, like, the music video is, like...

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kind of has, like, that blue tint to it that I associate with that time period, and I was curious if you were thinking about that when you were putting that together.

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I mean, I think those were, like, the late '90s obviously, early 2000s were my most formative years, you know? Yeah.

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And that's when I started to become really aware of music, and, and style, and fashion, and, like, that was just... I know it's... there's bias because we grew up with it, uh, but it was the coolest.

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It's never been cooler. Yeah. You know? Like, the future was, like, very exciting at the... Technology was exciting. There was so many, so much possibility and, um, optimism, I think.

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Like, tech- techno- technological optimism. Um, but then there was also, like, you know, the co- global coffee house and, like, the warmth of... It was just the edge of the internet kind of taking over, right? Mm-hmm.

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So there was still, we kind of had community, but then also, like, this excitement about the possibility of future and technology.

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So I think, yeah, just being in that time period, you kind of lived through both of those things. Um, so they just subconsciously influence everything that I do, but I was obsessed and still am.

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The other thing that I collect actually is clear electronics. I've got another one- Yes... right here. This is actually new, so I'm so glad that this stuff is coming back.

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But, um, I bought this when we were on tour recently. It is a clear pink, clear pink Tamagotchi. Um- It's perfect... and I bought this at Best Buy, like, a few months ago. Oh.

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So I'm so glad that this stuff is, like, coming back. But, um- I totally thought that was gonna be, like, a flea market find. No. Yeah. I d- I, um, yeah, that's another eBay, uh- Mm...

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uh, search for me is clear electronics. But no, that stuff is just always, like, I've just been obsessed with it my whole life obviously. [laughs] And I think the thing, at least to me, when...

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Like, right now, like you said, like, the '90s obsession is, like, so massive. I view it as, like, as soon as

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the children of the '90s are old enough to create the things that they wish they, that they wanted to participate in, that's when... That's, like, how trend cycles work to me, I think. Mm-hmm.

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So it's like-I'm now old enough to get to make and be all the things that I like wished I could've been as a kid that I couldn't, you know? I was obsessed with platform boots as a kid. Mm.

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I wanted to dress like Baby Spice. I couldn't, I was eight years old. [laughs] But now I can. And so now you would have to pry these platform boots off of my feet, you know? [laughs] Like, I will be buried in them. Yeah.

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So it's like those things. Now I can make the Icy Blue music video- Mm... and, you know, l- break beat loops and, you know...

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And, and yeah, I have, do have another st- you saying that you were scared of Portishead reminded me- [laughs]... of something like [laughs] something b- related to my boombox actually. Huh.

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And I keep meaning to like write up like,

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make like a kind of written post of some kind about this, but like one of my core memories of like getting into music that I'm still into today was growing up as a kid in Houston with my little boombox, I, I was always a night owl.

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Like, I couldn't, it would be bedtime, but I would just like have my radio at like volume one- [laughs]... and just like listening. And I f- I fou- I can't remember what it's called.

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I did some research and I actually found like some recordings of this radio program that would be late night, like I think on Fridays or Saturdays on 104 KRBE, which is still like the, the hit station in Houston, like the pop top, top 40, you know?

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But for some reason at like midnight on Fridays or Saturdays, they would broadcast live from this like nightclub, and it was just like dance music and like techno. That's so sick.

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And so I remember just being like scared but excited and just like- [laughs]... this is what being an adult is, is listening to this like crazy like cyber rave music, you know?

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And, um, w- a song that they would remix or like play the remix version of often was Seeker Pimps, um- Mm. Which song? Spins and Sugar. Mm-hmm.

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And, um, so whenever I hear them or that song, I think of like that, and I, I found, I actually found like, in the like recording that I found on YouTube that somebody preserved one of these shows, it has that remix in it, which was so sick.

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Oh, that's sick. But yeah, I definitely felt the s- I was like so scared, like, "I shouldn't be listening to this," but just like imagining what the adults were getting up to that were listening to that music, you know?

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[laughs] Um- This, th- this reminds me, in, in college, I, when I was starting to expand my music tastes more rapidly than I had in high school, in high school- Francis went to college in Portland, so it's actually good Sean's not here 'cause we would- Oh, okay...

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have to talk about Portland for an hour. Portland. Okay, great. [laughs] Thank God. [laughs] But, but I'm from Northern California, and so, you know, in, I was in high school 2009 to 2012? 2008.

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2008 to 2012, and at the time, you know, Skrillex, dubstep, Datsik, this kind of thing was, was what we were into. And so as I'm in college starting to get into older electronic music, house music, techno, European

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varieties of these, I remember going onto Resident Advisor and feeling like I'd like walked into a room where the adults were, and I wasn't supposed to be there, and I was in- like intimidated by how intellectual the music felt.

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And I, you know, I did, I just didn't really under- It took me years to be able to go back and say, "Oh, okay, I do get this, and I, I do understand this, and I don't feel dumb when I read the word IDM."

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[laughs] Uh, yeah. [laughs] No, I totally, I, yeah, I, I, you s- those were your college years? Mine were- Mm-hmm... the same or I was, so I was in nine to 13, and I- Those were my high school years, yeah.

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Oh, okay, okay. I, um- You and I are the same age. I graduated- Me, me and you? Okay... high school in '09 and college in '13. Okay, cool. Cool, yeah. Yeah.

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I moved to Austin for college, which was like life-changing, you know? 'Cause I grew up- Austin was still weird then. Yeah, it was. But I mean in a good way. It's so, so- Yeah, sure... weird now. Yes, yes.

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It was, I got the last few good years of Austin, you know.

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Um, but it, I grew up in the suburbs of Houston, where I didn't get to do anything or go to shows or anything, so when I moved to Austin, it was like, ah, I could do whatever I wanted.

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But then I met people that liked the same music as me, and I also found mys- like, you know, uh, more of my formative experiences or like discovering music were in like... Uh, did, did you ever use rateyourmusic.com? Mm.

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No. 'Cause that's how I... Oh, okay. It was kind of like, um, I, I, like Letterboxd, but for r- it still exists, but I think they redid- I used Last.fm... the website. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Is that similar?

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But Last.fm was more of like tracking your listens, right? Could you write about music? Mm-hmm. Maybe you could. Uh, no, I didn't. It was more to like know what I listened to. Yeah.

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'Cause scrobbling was what they called it. Right, right, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. [laughs] L- uh, RateYourMusic was more about like reviews and lists- Mm...

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and like you could follow your friends or whatever, and it also felt just like I was like the kid in the room with the adults and just trying to learn what was,

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trying to find like obscure music or j- you know, a- and just feeling like I was so out of place, and you know, what they were, how they spoke about music and the stuff that they listened to.

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But I definitely discovered a lot of really important music there also and in message boards and stuff. Mm-hmm. Yeah, but tell me about the message boards. I'm curious like what,

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what kind of nostalgic corners of the internet were you into. Like, were you on Neopets? Were you on Club Penguin? Like- Oh, you know I was on Neopets. Yes. [laughs] Girl, I still am. [laughs] Okay, say more.

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It's still the exact same. And I- What's your favorite omelet? [laughs] Um, jelly. Jelly omelet. Yeah, jelly omelet.

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My fixation, again, similar to my clear electronic obsession, I, I would collect the jelly items on Neopets.

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Um, but I, I was like r- on a random nostalgic h- I feel like during COVID is kind of when I went, a- as I'm sure a lot of us did, like spiraled deep into like nostalgic- Mm. Mm...

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stuff from my childhood, especially like online, like internet stuff, because I was such a computer kid, internet kid. Um, and all of a sudden I had all the time in the world, so I started like, "Oh, what about Neopets?"

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And I found my way into like my old account, um, and everything. But anyways, that's definitely one of them. And that was probably the first website that I used, 'cause it came out in like what?

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'97, '98 or something like that. Oh, yeah.Neopets for sure. Um, something that I'm so sad and that I've talked about, um, they're, they're all- they've been wiped from the internet now- Yeah...

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are the f- the message boards that I was the most, um, active in that [laughs] really shaped me for better or for worse, were, like, Radiohead fan message boards. Mm.

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Um, there was a couple of huge ones, and they were some of the biggest message boards on the English internet- Yeah... which was crazy. Um- I didn't know that... they're just completely, completely gone now.

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Like, they, they stopped paying for the hosting, but the one that- Were you honest about being a teenager? Were you like, "Hello, fellow divorced dads"? Yeah.

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[laughs] [laughs] I was always very, like, um, private or, like, anonymous, but, like, I- Good... I, I think, uh, you know, I wouldn't share any personal information, but I think people knew, like, my username obviously.

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I don't think I ever really gave out my real name, and then, like, my age and, like, my... You know. Yeah Lived in Houston. Never, never anything more than that. I was a very paranoid child, thankfully. Um- Good...

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th- yeah, I definitely felt like the kid, 'cause I was the kid in the room of divorced dads. [laughs] Yeah.

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Um, but I g- you know, this is the 2000, so they're, you know, probably in their 20s, where I was, like, 15, you know? But that is- Hey, you could be a divorced dad in your 20s, you know? It's- True. That's very true.

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There was, like, half of the- [laughs]... the s- the, the board was split in two, the one that I was on, that was called Mortigi Tempo.

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Half of it was all just about Radiohead, and the other half was anything but Radiohead. Mm. And so that was where the cool kids were, and that is where- Mm...

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people would talk about all the other music that they were into, and that really was very life-changing, truly, for me, 'cause I would just be like...

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It was the point in my life where I was like, I just wanted to consume every piece of music that I'd never heard before. Mm.

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If I saw a record, if I saw album art and I didn't know what it was, I had to listen to it, 'cause I just wanted to absorb everything.

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And so I would just sit there all night and just f- you know, discovered all kinds of crazy stuff that way, way earlier than maybe, you know, you'd typically discover, like William Basinski and, you know- Mm... whatever.

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[laughs] You know? So I was like- Totally... became really into him at 15, you know, and, and [laughs] which is kind of random, but I'm so thankful for, for stuff like that, you know?

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I didn't find my way- That's amazing... to The Loops until I was, like, 20. Yeah. I really had a lot of holes in my experimental music knowledge until quite late in life. Just like The, the Tapes when they disintegrated.

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[laughs] I remember, I think I was, like, 23 when I had a boyfriend that told me about Brian Eno, but you know what? I- Mm... you'll get there. [laughs] Yeah. You got there. I'm picturing a, um, like, a limited edition

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j- jelly-filled vinyl of No-Scope, and it's- I would love that... really bringing me a lot of pleasure. The No-Scope vinyl is green, right? It is. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Green. Mm. It's beautiful. Thank you.

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But it's not filled with jelly. I'll- Yeah... I'm gonna text Sam after this and tell him that this is, this needs to happen. Please do. Yeah. [laughs] You also have talked about video games.

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I know that's something, like, you and Sean had also connected over. I'm not much of a gamer, but Francis is. Same. Um, and I'm curious, like, what, what you've been playing recently, and also have,

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have there been any samples or anything from the soundtracks of, like, video games that have actually influenced the, the musical sound? 1,000%, yes.

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Um, w- we've been [laughs] we've been advised to stop saying what they are. [laughs] Mm. Okay. Understood. But I, I will say, though, I will say that, like, um, we, none of the...

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We've never taken samples from music or video games that, like, dictate the sound of a song. Mm. You know? It's always... It's more for us- It's all texture detail... like, Easter eggs and texture. Yeah. Texture.

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You know? So we like, we pick things out that aren't really recognizable, unless you're, like, a crazy, like, nerd. And there, there's a couple. There are a few on the EP and the record that are totally clockable if...

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But, like, probably not. Like, I know what it is, c- and it stands out to me. Um, but I would say, yeah, none of them are, like, dictating the music.

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But for me personally, a game that I've played recently and have been fixated on musically lately is Silent Hill, which I'd never played until recently. I'm not, like, a- I've never played them...

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I'm not a horror game or movie person at all, but I j- someone put me on to the soundtrack, specifically of the second and third ones, and I was just like, "Are you kidding me?" It's, like, very influenced by Portishead.

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It's, like- Mm... dark, nasty kinda trip hop, and it's so good to the point that I'm like, "Well, I gotta try to play the games. I don't wanna be a poser." You know, 'cause I'm... You know.

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And I really, actually really love the game, too. Um, so th- and, and bec- so Akira Yamaoka does the music for those games, but also I think does most if not all the sound effects. So it's, like, all very cohesive.

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Um, and it's just incredible. And, um, so that has been a huge influence on me musically, for sure. Um, uh, yeah, games I'm playing recently, I guess just Si- Silent Hill.

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I, I've been, like, really craving a new game to play, to be honest- Mm... which is, like, always happens. Um, but I've been thinking about starting Elden Ring again, but that just feels like self-harm. Um, so.

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[laughs] That's the last one that I, that I really played- Yeah... a lot of. I, I, in the... I di- I had not been gaming for many years. Mm. And then in the, in the pandemic I got a PS4.

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It was when the PS5 came out, but I couldn't afford to buy it. They were like 800, $900. Mm. I'm not gonna pay that.

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Um, but then I did play a lot of Elden Ring when it came out, and then after that I started petering out of my current iteration of being a gamer, because all the games that I wanted to play w- are, you know, the big, expansive open world.

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Yeah. And then I'd play a little bit of it and I'd think, "Oh, I don't have 120 hours to, to do this," and I'm such a completionist with video games.

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So the last one I think that I then set down is I was playing Death Stranding, the original Death Stranding, and it was so fun, but then I was just, I was like, "I, I, I don't think I can commit my, the next couple months of my life to-" I love to commit- [laughs]...

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all of my free time to a video game. [laughs] Um, Death Stranding has been on my list of to play next. I haven't played those before, and I think I'll love it. Um- I really liked it.

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I mean, it's such-Yeah, I hate that I'm gonna say this. It's such a vibe [laughs] and it's such a- [laughs] No, it's useful... it's so moody, the atmosphere. Yeah.

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You're, you're in there, the rain, that you're just kind of walking around slowly and it's so tedious. Like, I love that. [laughs] That sounds just like perfectly up my alley.

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My, my, my younger brother played it and was complaining to me about it, but all of his complaints were I'm like, "Oh, that sounds awesome to me." [laughs] Yeah.

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[laughs] I- my favorite thing to do in a video game, in like Elden Ring, for example, is just to walk around. I just love to walk around- It's really meditative. Yeah... and explore.

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Yeah, and I think that's like the majority of that game is walking, so I think I, I think I'll try that one next. We'll see. Mm-hmm. Do your gaming habits change if you're like on tour versus not on tour?

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Do you bring the Switch- Absolutely... on tour? We did bring a Switch, and we will, there will be multiple Switches in the van next week. Um, uh- [laughs]... but, um, it totally changes because I am a PC gamer. Mm.

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So I, right now I'm on my... I have a weird setup right now. I need a new webcam very badly- Mm... as you can probably tell. Um, but, um,

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I have like my two monitors and like my whole like custom-built PC going on, so that is, I kind of don't like playing anything unless I can play it on my PC. Mm.

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But on tour, obviously, um, I, I, I often, which is silly, bring my Switch and then end up not even really touching it for some reason. I always just wanna like play on my phone.

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So my tour obsession, as my band mates would, um, attest to, is that I was playing Balatro like every day- Mm.... in the van. Okay. It's the card game. Which I highly recommend. It is a card game. Mm-hmm.

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It took me a while to... 'Cause it won like, I think, won game of the year, um- Yeah, I saw that... that year, and I was just like... And everybody was freaking out over it, and I'm just like, "It's a card game.

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It can't be. Like, why is everyone so..." But then I was at my brother's, and he has a Steam Deck, and he had- Mm... Balatro on his Steam Deck, and I was like, "Okay.

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Well, let me just try it out so I'm, I'm not having to pay for it. I'll try it." And immediately I was like, "Oh, okay. Balatro." Okay. Is it like a poker variant? It is poker on like crack. It is insane.

231
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[laughs] I like... It's hard to even explain. It's just like, it is not a real card game. Mm-hmm. Um, I don't even truly know how to explain it to you. It's, it's like very, it's so much fun. I can't recommend it enough.

232
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Everybody that I've gotten to play it also bec- it's, like, very highly addictive too, is what I have to warn. Mm. But it's very fun. It's so much fun. Mm-hmm. So that was my tour obsession. Who drives the van?

233
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We all do. Do you guys take turns? We all, we all take turns. Yeah. Yeah. Who's the best driver? Me, obviously. Yeah, obviously. Is there- Texans are great drivers. Since, since nobody else is here, it's me.

234
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[laughs] Texas is the only place I've ever driven 100 miles per hour. Texas has the- Only? 100? Did you say Texans are great drivers? Well- Yeah...

235
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maybe we, we have developed our skills because it's the craziest place in the country to drive. Mm-hmm. It is the sc- the scariest drivers are there. Yeah. And that's where I learned to drive, so yeah.

236
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Um, maybe that's why. You're defensive. You're ready for anything. [laughs] Right. We're literally ready for anything. No shadow boxing on the road. [laughs] I was, I, I moved from Portland to New Orleans- Oh, okay...

237
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nine, nine years ago. Um, yeah, nine years ago. And I j- I remember we drove through Houston, and like- [laughs]... when you get onto the highways that are...

238
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I'd never been on highways that wide, and I was, I was kind of freaked out. I didn't really know what to do.

239
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[laughs] It's like, I like, I like on a normal road, you kind of know where the walls are, where the edges are, you know? There's, there's two lanes. I can't go further that way.

240
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But here it's like I'm in like the fourth of 10 lanes. [laughs] I just don't really know which, if I go left or right. Should I get over? Is this the slow... It, it was really wild.

241
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And then the biggest truck you've ever seen in your life will just cut across all of the lanes right in front of you. No. [laughs] Like, it is- Exactly. Like, going fully, um, like, uh, what's the word? Just diagonal.

242
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[laughs] Yeah. Perpendicular. [laughs] Perpendicular. Totally perpendicular to the, to the road. Yeah, insane. It's so insane, so insane.

243
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Um, yeah, I think I, I'm very thankful that everybody in the band is a great driver. Um, that's very- Yeah... important.

244
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You don't wanna have someone that sucks or is a scary driver because then I'm just like on edge the whole time, you know? All great drivers. Y'all have toured a few times now, right? What's, which...

245
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Oh, what were you gonna say? Ki- kind of, yeah. Yeah, this was our first like real tour, but it was long as hell, so. Mm-hmm. Which, which city or cities have been the most amenable to your shows?

246
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Cr- uh, you know, I will say we haven't played a lot of places twice, but like- Mm... New York has been great every time. I guess we've played New York like three times.

247
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It feels like cheating to say LA or New York, but- Oh... because they, they both are like hometown shows for us kind of also. Like, Sean lived in New York for a very long time. Um, but also like m-

248
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most of my oldest friends from Texas live in New York, and so going, playing in New York feels m- almost more of a hometown show than like playing in Texas does for me. Mm-hmm.

249
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Um, it's like so overwhelming, in a good way, because it's like so many of my oldest friends that I haven't seen and that I don't get to see very often. So New York is always really fun and great. Um, what else?

250
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You played Nightclub 101 last time you were there, right?

251
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We played Night- Nightclub 101, last time we were there, we, we were, it was a support tour that we just did, and we opened for Cafune at, uh, Music Hall of Williamsburg. Hm. I've been there once.

252
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I saw- It was awesome, yeah... Safe Mind there. Mm-hmm. Cool. Yeah, I really, that was a, that was a really fun show. I'm trying to think of another city that really was great. I don't know.

253
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The whole tour that we just did was so much fun, like really, really. Did you develop any rituals? There was no bad shows.

254
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Do you have any schisms around like fast food and like where's the best place to get, like to stop for some junk is? 'Cause I can imagine that would be really hard if you guys weren't online.

255
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Of course, because I am vegan, so I have- Oh... I have to know what- Yeah... and I do. I have like, you know, in, in my head like a list.

256
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And luckily it's, or my friend Alvin, who plays with us on, uh, in our live band, he plays second guitar, he's vegan also, so we're always- Mm... just like scoping out- You're pulling rank... where we can go. Yeah.

257
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[laughs] What, what, what's like the gas station pickup on, in the middle of the, of the road? It's so tough. It totally depends on where you are. There's so many options nowadays, so it's really actually not...

258
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Like, when I, the first tour that I went on was not that long ago, like 2018, but, um, even compared then- Was this your previous band?My previous band, Temple of the Angels. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

259
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It's a c- c- eating as a vegan on tour then to now is, like, completely different. Like- Mm-hmm... you know, so it's, like, so much easier now. You're like, "Ooh, corn chips." What is my gas station- Yummy, yummy.

260
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[laughs] I'm a huge Diet Coke drinker. Mm. So that's, if I'm, we're stopping- Yeah... I'm probably getting a Diet Coke. There you go. [laughs] As far as, as far as I don't have one right now. That's a balanced breakfast.

261
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[laughs] It's a complete meal. I have a full-fat Coke, but- Oh, wow Nice. Crazy for that. Really. [laughs] What is my go-to snack? Um, I love spicy chips, so anything spicy. Yeah. I'm not really a big candy person. Mm.

262
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Um- Do you like Takis? Oh, yeah. Ta- Takis are great. Yeah. Yeah, I love a Taki, but they're crazy. I have to really be in the mood for, for a Taki. Um- Yeah. It's an immersive experience. [laughs] Yeah, it really is.

263
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Like, it's- Yeah... you know. I do love, though, like, the, the best part of specifically going out of the country, like, even just to Canada or, like- Mm... we got to go, we spent a week in, in the UK.

264
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I just, I mean, the funnest- Yeah... part to me is, like, trying out different snacks and drinks that you can't find here.

265
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And then, um, also I love going to, like, the pharmacies and, like, checking out, like, the local- Mm... like, skincare and makeup brands. And like, I- Oh, yeah... I, I, I love that stuff.

266
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It's so much- That's- That's my favorite part... m- my fiance and I have been going to Berlin, like, once a year for the past few years, and the, the, she is obsessed with the pharmacies there.

267
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There's, like, a specific, like- Mm... you know, sleep aid pill that's, like, better than melatonin there. Mm-hmm.

268
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She, she always, like, she has to go, and then, like, the night before we leave, she ha- she's like, "Oh, I gotta go pick up my, my things," and she'll go spend, like, 100 bucks [laughs] of- [laughs] That sounds like-...

269
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just, like, run-of-the-mill pharmacy stuff that they don't have here. Uh, uh, which she was researching, a big thing, the sunscreens in other countries are so much better.

270
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The regulation around the chemicals that they put in sunscreens are years behind in America. So the sunscreen in pretty much any other country- Yeah... you can go to is so much better than what you can get here. Okay.

271
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Do you- That makes sense. Yeah. [laughs] Gwyneth Paltrow over here.

272
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[laughs] Um, well, I know, so speaking of the UK, I know that there's some, like, uh, you know, Manchester bands that, like, really influenced your sound, but are there kind of contemporaries and peers in the UK right now that you're following closely- Mm...

273
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or, like, developing relationships with? Um, we both love Realies so much. Mm. I don't know if you guys have heard them before. They just put out a really great record this past year.

274
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Um, and they- Didn't they do a remix? They did, yeah. So I think Sean has known them for a while, like, f- from his previous band, Weekend. I'm not sure how they met or, um, yeah, I don't remember.

275
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But, um, yeah, they did a remix for our song Waterlily when the, when Ghostly pressed, uh, our EP on vinyl, and it was, like, one of the most

276
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special moments for me 'cause it's always been a dream of mine to, like, sing on, like, a dance track, you know? Mm. Or to hear my music, like, remixed in that way, and so I was so excited when they agreed to do it.

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And I r- uh, when I heard it for the first time, I was just, like, ecsta- ecstatic. And whenever I hear it still, I'm just, makes me so [laughs] happy. [laughs] It's so cool.

278
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Um, but they're amazing, and I, I love them so much. I've been following Bar Italia, but I don't know if they're, uh, like, that's a sound that resonates with you. But it's been interesting to see that come up.

279
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It's hard to quantify, I think, or I guess hard to- Qualify... put them into one genre, which is true of so much of the best music right now.

280
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And, like, I know you guys have joked about, like, never beating the shoegaze allegations. [laughs] And I was thinking, like, coming on the pod-, I was like, you know what?

281
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I don't even have a working definition of shoegaze. I don't even feel like I have a working definition of, like, dream pop. Like, what does that even mean? And I think it's better that way.

282
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'Cause once you try to put stuff in boxes, like, it's very difficult for the sound to evolve naturally.

283
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I think if people can't, like, if there's not a consensus on how to describe your music, for me, I think I'm, I feel like I'm winning because [laughs]

284
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all of my favorite most, the most iconic artists of my life can't really be put... You know, they, like, blend genres and contin- like, have explored many different sounds- Mm... throughout their entire careers. Mm.

285
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And I think that's a sign of, like, a really timeless artist, which is what I s- you know, hope to make, is, like, kind of timeless music that's not, like, really, um, rooted in one specific s- genre, you know?

286
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Um, but yeah, it, but then the, the other side of that is when people are like, "Oh, what does your band sound like?" I'm just like, "I don't know."

287
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I just say pop music, but I'm really, I wish I had a better way to explain. There was this, I read this interview y'all did with PACE Magazine, and there was something Sean said there that I wrote down.

288
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I'm just gonna read, like, a couple snippets of it, not the whole thing.

289
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But he said, you know, "To make music that truly lasts, you have to have one foot in the past and one in the future," Durkin argued, "because songs at their core are timeless. It's the production that dates the art." Mm.

290
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Da, da, da, da, da. "The songs from the '90s weren't popular on the radio because they sound like the '90s.

291
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They were massive songs that millions of people related to, and the way you do that is by writing them in an amazing way." I, I, I, I really like that as, like- Sean said that?

292
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Uh, well, some of it he said, some of it the writer wrote, but just the quotes of that. Oh, okay, okay. I was like, oh, that's a, that's a good job, Sean. The quotes of that. That's a good, that's a good quote.

293
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[laughs] Yeah. No, but I, I really like that of, like, you know- [laughs]... the idea that, like, then you, you know, you can cover a song.

294
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Like, I'm thinking of, um, what's that, that guy, the country singer who, like, covered Fast Car a couple, like, a year or two ago? Oh, I know who you're talking about. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

295
00:47:56.022 --> 00:48:01.512
And it's like, that's really cool. It wasn't Zach Bryan, but it was- No. Yeah. It's another... But yeah, he's doing it in his own way. It might've been, like, Luke Bryan or something.

296
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But it just sounded really good, and it's like- Too many Bryans. Yes. Bryan's all the way down. [laughs] Too many Bryans. But that you can, I don't know. I like this idea that, like, a song

297
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covered at, at a later date with the production trappings of a different era, if it can stand up because of the, the skill and craft of those particular musicians, like, that is a measure of a really good and timeless song.

298
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Absolutely. I mean, would we like the Cocteau Twins as much if we knew what they were saying? Personally, no, I never wanna know.

299
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[laughs] We don't- Although my husband and I like- It's none, it's none of my business what she's saying.

300
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[laughs] I like the, um, the clip where it's like-Where there's, there's like a YouTube clip and it's like sectioned. Like she's saying like, "Can my nuts hang?" And it's obviously- Uh-huh...

301
00:48:41.502 --> 00:48:52.682
not what she's saying, but I do like to send that back and forth with some people. [laughs] That, unfortunately, that has literally it's in my head every t- I listen to that song. Yeah. It piss me off so much. Yeah.

302
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The, so the- It's too good. [laughs] The, the music that I most wanted to listen to after like re-listening to, to your recent... to, to the last album f- in advance of this interview, was CFCF Memory Land.

303
00:49:05.542 --> 00:49:13.472
Do you know that album? No, I don't. I... Well, maybe you don't need to listen to it then because- No... I'm like, you know, it's, uh, sometimes unfair, I feel like, to compare somebody's music to other music.

304
00:49:13.542 --> 00:49:25.172
No, I, I, I will. But there, there's a bit of that overlap of s- like r- grabbing on some of these '90s nostalgia bits. Like, it, uh... They would go next to each other in a mix perfectly. I'm sure somebody- Cool...

305
00:49:25.172 --> 00:49:26.992
has done that. CFCF Memory Land.

306
00:49:27.032 --> 00:49:39.162
No, I was thinking about, um, you know, that nostalgia thing and the sort of like uncanny millennium cusp music, and there was this really great line in like the, the profile that Matt Mitchell did of you guys.

307
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I think it's also The Paste piece. The Paste, yeah. Yeah.

308
00:49:42.152 --> 00:49:51.942
But yeah, he said, "When television kids became internet adults," and I'm like, wow, that was like such a moment because this generation under us, they n- they never got to be television kids.

309
00:49:51.982 --> 00:49:59.962
They were always internet kids. Mm. They never knew the experience of switching from one to another and evolving. Mm-hmm. And I thought that was so interesting. Mm.

310
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And I, I was also listening to No Scope, and then I immediately switched to personally what I think is the most uncanny, uh, millennium song, which is Desert Rose by Sting- Mm... where he's doing like that weird yodel.

311
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[laughs] And he's like, "Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay." [laughs] Such a good song. And as a kid, I was like, "What is happening? I'm scared."

312
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[laughs] I have been in- My parents are divorced and this guy's yodeling at me from the radio.

313
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[laughs] I've been in many a situation a few times where it's like, you know, 1:00 AM music videos come out type of end of the night. Oh, of course. Uh, and, and that's gone up on the TV for sure.

314
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Somebody throws on Desert Rose. [laughs] Yeah. I'm gonna throw that on right after this call. Is that what it's called? [laughs] Desert Rose, right? Yeah.

315
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'Cause, 'cause well, the thing is Seal also came out with like Kiss From A Rose around the same time. Right. Right, right, right. Sometimes my brain gets them mixed up. [laughs] Brie, thank you so much for coming on.

316
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This was a blast. Oh, thank you for having me. It felt like a trip down memory lane. I wanna go play Ne- play Neopets now. Join... Let me know if you want my username. We can be friends. Okay. [laughs] Sure. Perfect.

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Thank you. Listener, we'll see you next week
