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rue-bennett · 4 years

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youtube recommendations

like three months ago i got positive feedback about sharing my favorite youtubers and now i thought i would finally follow through! i’ve been watching a lot of different types of channels at this stage in quarantine. all the recommendations are below the cut because this got long. i watch all of these channels (some more frequently than others) and enjoy them. if you have any questions, recommendations or want some videos in particular, let me know!

the categories i’m recommending are: lifestyle, comedy/commentary, educational/news, film and tv writing/analysis, beauty, photography and more.

lifestyle/beauty

melanie murphy - one of the few youtubers where i hate to miss a video. bisexual irish author who is sex positive and speaks openly about a variety of topics including food and overcoming eds, relationships, culture, beauty, etc.

shaaanxo - my favorite “beauty guru” is this kiwi. i love her style and her looks and i feel like her reviews are really fair and honest. not a professional makeup artist and has practiced and improved after years. (i also enjoy her vlog channel.)

abookutopia - booktuber/lifestyle channel that i’ve been following for...6 or 7 years? very positive and uplifting and i was definitely living vicariously through her scotland vlogs from a couple years ago.

cammie scott - lots of beauty content as well as vlogs. her femme lesbian videos are probably my faves.

jerianie - finnish lifestyle youtuber/photographer/animator. such nice vibes from her content.

elena taber - she typically makes a lot of lifestyle and travel content but this has obviously shifted during the pandemic (so casual...you know, just the pandemic).

just between us - been a fan of them for years. fun and funny discussions.

alayna joy - i can’t say i watch every video but she has a really sweet personality and posts a lot of sexuality content.

jessie b - lifestyle, sexuality content, vlogs, exercise and more. melanie murphy’s sister and their collabs are the best.

arden rose - again, i mostly watch her videos that seem interesting or when i just want something on in the background, but she also has a nice vibe and shares makeup and looots of lifestyle content.

violin md - this one is so random but technically lifestyle...day in the life of a medical resident! so fascinating to me.

comedy/commentary

tom harlock - such a dry and dark sense of humor and every single video genuinely makes me laugh out loud at least once.

drew gooden - he reminds me a lot of john mulaney in demeanor and comedy and he also always gets a laugh and provides a nice perspective in his commentary videos.

strange aeons - i love this lesbian. her tumblr deepdives are favorites and ones i think anyone here would appreciate but honestly all her videos are really funny.

cody ko - pretty famous and his commentary videos are generally funny. i don’t watch every video but sometimes i’m in the mood for his over the top editing and funny commentary. if you watch anything by him, check out his girl defined videos. they’re hilarious.

alex meyers - a little different from the others because his commentary is all on movies and tv shows (usually bad ones) and is through an animated character, but omg they’re so funny and have made me wanna rewatch some bad movies and shows, so.

casually explained - another cartoon channel and these videos are so short and funny it’s hard not to binge them all in a night.

common nobody - i don’t watch many “tea” channels but this one is probably my favorite, they’re so dry and lowkey funny.

educational/news

philip defranco - my favorite youtube-only news source. fairly unbiased and covers a variety of big stories daily.

ted - classic ted talk channel, can’t really go wrong here, just pick a topic that seems interesting and give it a watch. these are really nice in the background too while you’re doing whatever else. i often play these while i’m giffing or doing homework.

vox - my favorite news org channel probably. fantastic videos and visuals.

crashcourse - i’ve watched these in classrooms and used them to study for tests as well as just learn about a new subject. really nice and really short videos, like 10-20 mins and you learn the basics of a chapter.

scishow - great channel about all things science and tech with some easy to understand explanations and thoughtful scripts.

bbc earth - i love a good nature documentary. especially free ones.

rogue rocket - news from philip defranco’s team. nice deep dives.

the new york times - obvi

buzzfeed unsolved - everyone loves it already but i love a good buzzfeed unsolved episode, especially the true crime ones.

the atlantic - great news/documentary style videos

the following are in the same category, but animation based:

polymatter - fantastic commentary, beautiful graphics and thoughtful scripts. really enjoyed their amazon videos in particular.

ted-ed - animated short videos brought to you by the same people who brought you ted talks...these really make you think and are easy to digest in just 3-10 minute videos about topics from literature to philosophy to tech to science to tv.

kurzgesagt in a nutshell - great animated videos that are very well-researched and beautifully animated. big fan. (also, the videos are in english despite the channel name)

the infographics show - not as well-researched as the others imo but thoroughly entertaining.

film & tv writing + analysis + essays

just write - great video essays about film and tv that really take a deep look into genre, writing, character, etc.

behind the curtain - great film/tv analysis that is heavy on interviews with directors and screenwriters.

jesse tribble - just discovered this channel and am really enjoying it so far. video essays on all types of media, but mainly film and television. very thoughtful.

screenplayed - watch scenes come to life and compare it with the script

thomas flight - another new one. nice video essays about films mainly.

photography

julia trotti - love her aussie accent and her portrait photography is a really nice style. she posts a TON of how-tos and demonstrations, i’ve learned a lot from her videos.

photoshop tutorials - super, super helpful and easy to follow ps tutorials.

jessica kobeissi - photographer. i love her 4 photographers shoot the same model series and her critiques the best probably!

mango street - mostly follow for the tutorials but they have lots of content and collab quite a bit.

other

jubilee - their middle ground, spectrum and odd man out, among other series, are fantastic. very thoughtful and interesting.

cut - known for truth or drink, fear pong, lineup and other series, i love their videos and style a lot.

soulpancake - lovely, thoughtful videos. their tell my story first date videos are some of my faves.

david dobrik - you’ve heard of him and i honestly haven’t watched in months but i know he’s good for getting your mind of shitty things because of his super chaotic vlogs.

vogue - love the beauty routine videos

glamour - they have a mix of reality tv style stuff like cut, beauty, celeb interviews and more.

vlogbrothers - not sure where to put them but they’re a classic and have been putting out thoughtful videos twice a week for like 12+ years.

#youtube #youtubers #recommandations #entertainment #if you read this or found it useful pls let me know lol i spent almost an hour on this and like it's over 1300 words #*wr #recs

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theplaguezine · 5 years

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S.O.D.

Interview with Dan Lilker by Daniel Hinds

(conducted June 1999)

In the mid-80s, when extreme music of all sorts was coming together in bizarre new combinations, one band was right there applying their own wrecking ball to the walls between hardcore punk and metal: S.O.D., the Stormtroopers of Death. A side project consisting of Anthrax's Charlie Benante (drums) and Scott Ian (guitar), Nuclear Assault's Dan Lilker (bass) and Billy Milano (shouts), S.O.D. unleashed their tongue-in-cheek brand of crossover on the unsuspecting world in the guise of the album Speak English or Die! The effect was immediate and the impact was considerably deeper than anyone would have guessed, least of all the band themselves.

Due to various other commitments, a follow-up record was not forthcoming, though the four did manage to get together in '92 to record a live disc for their well-starved fans. Eventually, things fell into place and this summer sees the release of the band's second album - a full 14 years after the debut. Dan Lilker fills in the details between sips of coffee one recent morning…

Where did you record the new album and who produced it? Well, we recorded at a studio called Big Blue Meanee in Jersey City, New Jersey. It's a place that is run by some really good friends of Billy's. The actual recording was done there and produced by the band and Tim Gilles and he's like the main honcho there. Then it was mixed by the band and Vince Wojno.

Are you pretty happy with the results? Oh yeah, totally. I've done a lot of records and this is definitely one, like Sounds of the Animal Kingdom by Brutal Truth, where I go, 'God, I couldn't think of much more I'd want to do to that record.' Sometimes it's like, 'Fuck, we should have done this or that or that,' or more personal things like, 'I should have done this note' or whatever. But we rehearsed more for this record than the first S.O.D. record, so it's a little more thought-out.

What possessed you guys to do another album? Well, we've intended to for a long time. When I'd be out on the road with Brutal Truth, I'd always hear, 'Is there ever going to be any more S.O.D.?' and I know the other guys heard that all the time, too. There was going to be an S.O.D. tribute a year or so back and that fell through because a lot of bigger bands couldn't get permission from their labels, one of the nastier aspects of the music business. I think at that point we were like, 'Screw it, let's just do a record.' We had to stop back in '85 because a couple of the other guys in Anthrax were getting quite pissed off about it, but not all the same people are in the band now. Some of the people in the band now grew up on that stuff, so it's a little easier to do it now.

How does Bigger Than the Devil compare to Speak English or Die? When we were writing this record, at least for me personally, we had to walk a thin line. We had to maintain the integrity of the old stuff, but make it sound modern, not make it sound dated. It has a lot of the aspects of the first album, but lyrically and at some points musically, it has a lot of modern stuff, too. But not to the point where it sounds like something else. We injected a little black or death metal here that we might not have had on the first one, or a couple of blast-beats, but it is still S.O.D. you know?

What is the S.O.D. song-writing process like? A few of the songs, like "We All Bleed Red," "Kill the Assholes" and "Free Dirty Needles" are Billy's songs, ones he'd written and brought to the band. The rest of them was a process of Scott, Charlie and I sitting down in the rehearsal space, looking at each other and going, 'Okay…' The first song we had written together was "Make Room, Make Room," where Scott's like, 'I got a riff,' and I'm like, 'Okay, I've got some notes that fit really good after that,' and Charlie's like, 'Well, why don't you do it like this,' and the next thing you know, we've got like 20 songs. I guess maybe they relied on me a tiny bit to write some more extreme, more modern, more death-oriented stuff, because they know I'm the person who's been listening to and playing that all this time, but it's obvious that everyone was in on it. Like with Charlie, he puts his own stamp on everything, just the way he plays, it's amazing.

How did you respond to critics who were offended by some of the lyrics on the first album and do you think you'll have that problem this time out, too? Well, when we wrote the lyrics for the first album, we were a little younger than we are now and I can see how people would take them the wrong way if they weren't seeing our sense of humor. We tried to explain patiently to people that, you know, there might be a song on there called "Speak English or Die" but there's also a song on there called "Milk," which is completely silly, and people have to understand that both those songs have pretty much the same meaning. With this album, the lyrics are still nihilistic and offensive, but they're a little more mature and articulate. We don't go after nationalities because we realized that that is kinda tasteless. There's still tasteless stuff, but maybe it's more social stuff, like picking on crack-heads, I don't know. As far as criticism goes, well…whatever. You gotta weather shit like that. We're not gonna tone down our stuff to the point where it's not S.O.D., you know - it has to be rude and obnoxious. If people don't realize by now that there is a sense of humor underlying all that stuff, then they probably don't want to. It's probably extreme P.C. people who are dead-set against us from the start and don't want to hear anything different. If we go, 'Well, it's not serious,' then they'll go, 'Oh yeah, sure…' If people are like that, I'm just like, whatever, and throw my hands in the air.- think whatever you want.

How did you come up with the title Bigger Than the Devil? I think Scott came up with that. That has to do with the fact that metal is always identified with Satan and The Number of the Beast ties in with the album cover. By calling our album Bigger Than the Devil, it's just typical S.O.D. obnoxiousness. It's like, all these bands like Slayer and these black metal bands - we're bigger than that! Your god is just a little, puny piece of shit compared to Sergeant D. and the power of S.O.D. It's just an arrogant, S.O.D.-type statement. Meaningless as usual, but cool looking.

How did you get in touch with Nuclear Blast? They got in touch with us. I've known about the label for years, been friends with the people in the States and in Europe for years. So, when it all came around, everyone looked at me and said, 'Are these guys good?' and I went, 'Yep!' We had been taking to a couple other labels and I don't how much of that's gone now - I'm not gonna be like Scott and insult the other labels (laughs). They got in touch with us, we'd been talking with a couple other labels and going 'Ahhhh…..' - I don't know how you want to write 'Ahhh….' but… - Nuclear Blast called us up and said, 'We're totally into it and here's what we've got.' We were like, 'Wow, it's a really good offer," and that was it. I'm psyched about it, if that was your next question. So far, they are doing a totally awesome job because they're psyched, too. It's people who grew up with that shit. It's like if you were a kid, your favorite wrestler, if you got to manage him later, you'd be like, 'Oh, wow!'

I saw that you are going to be touring Japan soon… Yeah, we're going to Japan at the beginning of June for a week.

When was the last time you were there? Well, S.O.D. has never played there. We did a few shows in the States and that one show in Europe in '97, but before all those shows in '97, we'd only played New York and New Jersey. We've got more coming up in Europe, too, so it's gonna be pretty interesting.

I understand that Billy has been working as a manager. Yeah, for Agnostic Front and a few other bands that I should know of the names of, but I don't. A few other bands in the New York/New Jersey area. He's good at that, Billy's a go-getter and doesn't take any shit, so he makes a good manager.

What are your plans now that Brutal Truth has split? I'm in another band called Hemlock that plays black metal. We don't have all the trappings, like paint and spikes, because that is very old and tired. That's not the most active band in the world because you've got me doing this [S.O.D.] stuff and our drummer is in another band and then, just being a black metal band anyway, we've only done like 8 shows in the last three years. We have an album and an EP out, both on Head Not Found, and our next stuff when it comes out eventually will be on Full Moon Productions. Since I got a computer in December, I've been messing around a lot with graphics. I'm basically a creative person anyway, so I mess around in Photoshop and I come up with stuff and people look at it and go, 'Wow!' So, I might get into free-lance graphics stuff eventually, because I've definitely got a taste for it. Basically, I just sit there, take a couple hits, and do some crazy stuff, but it does look pretty cool.

What do you make of the current black metal scene? I still think there are too many bands running around with keyboards and violins and stuff like that. For me, black metal was Venom and Hellhammer, shit like that. However, if a band does it really good, like Emperor, I can get into it. I'm glad to see that black metal kids, Norwegian kids, don't have the same stupid attitude they did five years ago, when they had to be snobby and say that everything other than black metal sucked, especially death metal. I don't know how much you want to get into it, but the reason all those kids were saying that is because they saw something on the back of a live Mayhem record, a quote from Euronymous, where he said how much he hated death metal. But, that is because he was speaking from the point of someone being disillusioned, because he used to love it and it got all trendy and political. These kids didn't understand that and said, 'All death metal that ever existed sucks,' because that's what they read out of it because they weren't old enough. I'm glad to see that people are growing up a little bit. I prefer the more brutal bands like Gorgoroth, shit like that. I don't know if you've heard my band, but that's kind of the vein we're in. We like Darkthrone a lot.

I've heard the name, but I haven't heard Hemlock yet. Well, it's definitely no frills. It's straight-up, punishing type shit. I mean, I'm friends with guys like Dimmu Borgir and everything, but personally, it gets just a little too, I don't know… If I want to listen to something nice and ambient, I'll listen to something directly like that. If I listen to black metal, it should be pretty much in-your-face, but that's just my unholy opinion.

How long do you think you'll be working with S.O.D.? Is it kind of open-ended right now? Yeah, it's definitely open-ended. We could conceivably do another record in a couple years, we wouldn't wait 14 years - we'd be too fucking old by then. Right now, there's a huge, tremendous buzz on the record, a lot of good shit coming up, and if we do a whole bunch of stuff and at the time other people's schedules are open - I mean, I'm not sure what Anthrax's schedule is gonna be. My personal schedule is more open that it used to be. The whole time I was in S.O.D., I was in Nuclear Assault and then in Brutal Truth and that even overlapped a couple of years, so I'm always in more than 2 bands at the same time. To answer your original question, yeah, it's open-ended, but I'd be into more if there was a reason for it.

You've been in the business for a number of years now and I was wondering if your opinion of it has changed any over the years. There's a lot of down stuff, but then again… When we signed to Relapse, that gave me a lot of faith because we'd had a lot of problems with Earache before that. There are some labels, like Relapse and Nuclear Blast, that shine through as people that are totally committed. There are other labels out there, I'm not going to mention them, that were big in the early 90s for a lot of metal bands and their names start with 'E' and 'R' - you can figure that out later - that make it really hard to do stuff, because eventually you just become a product and they don't care about you and it's very frustrating. As far as how it has changed since I first got into it, I don't think it has - it's all just a cycle. Something gets popular, everyone else tries to do it, all the labels sign all these bands that are trying to do something to get in on it. Then, it's like a ship that takes on too much water and it just sinks. It happened with thrash metal, it happened with death metal, it happened with black metal. As far as all this Korn stuff, I really don't like any of that shit at all so I shouldn't really comment on it too much, but it definitely seems to be happening with that. As much as I don't like Korn, I'll give them credit for being one of the first bands to do that, but I don't like what they're doing so, whatever.

All the copycat bands are just that much worse. For me, I wouldn't want to play in a band that sounds just like someone else. I mean, how many interviews have you read where one of the first lines is, 'Oh, well we're influenced by a combination of Korn, Pantera and Machine Head,' and you're just like, 'Oh, crap, not again…' It's like, what are you contributing? Absolutely nothing.

Outside of the graphic art work, what else do you do in your spare time? Umm… I live at home with my parents because it is too expensive to live around here in New York. Besides that, I've got my digital studio here in my room. I've got these boxes that Roland makes, these hard-disk recorders. One is a 16-track and one is an 8-track, but I've been real neglectful since I got my computer because I've been messing around online, learning Photoshop and all this other stuff. If I wanted to, I could make album-quality stuff in my room, which I used to - weird ambient stuff. Other than that, just a normal laugh: go out with my friends, have a few drinks, a few laughs. Pretty much normal shit, you know, I don't go out and kill people or anything.

Do you spend much time on the Internet? Yeah, I mess around, I'll look at certain sites and stuff, but after a while it gets boring. It comes in very handy like, let's say, I want a book for my computer - I mean, this isn't very interesting in the scope of metal, but… - let's say I want to learn about Adobe Illustrator and I've got a pirated version. So, I can go on the Internet to Barnes & Noble or something, find the book I want, order it and it comes in a week later. I go on some black and death metal web-sites, look around, say 'hi' to people, shit like that.

#S.O.D.#interview #jun1999

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doomandgloomfromthetomb · 6 years

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An Interview with Dan Bejar — 2004

Sunday interview! I remember feeling nervous about this one -- there weren’t a whole lot of interviews with him at the time and Bejar seemed kinda mysterious! But he was very friendly and receptive ... I still think Your Blues is one of the best Destroyer records. So there!

Under the ominous moniker Destroyer, Dan Bejar has released some of the most adventurous and iconoclastic indie rock of the past few years. Never content to settle on one particular sound (or backing band), Bejar's already impressive body of work displays an artist with a gift for infectious melodies, a unique lyrical voice, and a fearlessly experimental streak. Your Blues, the latest Destroyer release, sees Bejar flinging himself wholly into the alien world of Roland synthesizers, MIDI guitars, and highly orchestral song forms. It's almost the polar opposite of his previous record, the sprawling, messily brilliant This Night. But once the shock of this jarring sonic shift wears off, Your Blues reveals itself to be another idiosyncratic masterpiece. On the eve of a rare North American tour, Bejar talked about the genesis of the new album, among other topics.

I understand you just played SXSW? How'd that go?

Well, it was with the incarnation with the band that's playing songs off of Your Blues, which is basically this band Frog Eyes who have learned the songs. It was our second show ever, so keeping that in mind I thought it was really good. I just started practicing these songs in the last couple months, and we've got a little ways to go, a couple more songs to learn. We did one show in Vancouver just before we played SXSW.

So are there challenges in presenting these new songs in a live setting? The album certainly isn't a "rock band" type of record.

There's no challenge, because the idea of trying to replicate or even approximate what's on the record was the first thing that we threw out the window. I mean, on some songs the vocal melody is the same, the lyrics are the same, the chords generally stay the same, but they bear no resemblance whatsoever to what you might hear on the record. For the most part, it's a full-on rock band. I'm in the middle of it right now, so I feel like I can't quite describe what exactly is happening to the songs. And also, it's really being shaped by Carey [Mercer], who is the main guy in Frog Eyes.

How'd you hook up with Frog Eyes?

A few years back, the New Pornographers played a show in Victoria and [Mercer's] band at the time, Blue Pine opened up. I met him briefly then, and heard his record and was a big fan of it. Then he started this new band Frog Eyes, and when I moved back to Vancouver I went to go see them play. We corresponded a bit, and when it came time to figure out how to tour the record, Nic [Bragg], who played a real integral part of the This Night experience, had the crazy idea that using Frog Eyes might be an interesting way to decimate the songs in a cool manner. And he ended up being right.

I'd like to talk a bit about the new record. Obviously, the production and execution of Your Blues is radically different from This Night. Did you go into recording this new one thinking you wanted to do something completely different?

You know, it was an idea I had even when we were making This Night. I don't think it was purely reactionary to the last record. I liked the idea of actually sitting down and composing something. But the idea I had is actually a fair bit different than what came out. I wanted it to be along the lines of a weird, crooning record. Lots of orchestrations, though I had a feeling I'd have to go down the MIDI road, because I knew I wouldn't be preparing charts for an orchestra or anything like that. So yeah, the idea was growing for a while. That being said, I don't think it's something I'll ever do again. I'm pretty sure of that actually.

Was it a pleasurable experience to make it? I know you've worked in more "band" settings in the past.

Yeah, it was fun. And in some ways, it was kind of leisurely. In other ways, it was nerve-wracking. But the set up was pretty easy. You just pick up your MIDI guitar and plug it into the computer and you do your metal riffs and you punch in the 101 strings setting and there you go. But at the same time, I was questioning from beginning to end whether the whole thing was completely misguided. Like, was there some sort of strange death wish I had in making the record? And I still listen to it with a certain amount of trepidation. I think it came out way more palatable than I first thought it would be.

Did you know you could get a good sound out of all of these synthesizers? Or was it more of an experimental thing?

With the MIDI technology we were using, we really didn't want to court some kind of eighties nostalgia. We got the highest end sound module we could find. Hopefully the one that ["Late Show with David Letterman" band leader] Paul Schaffer uses or something like that. And I really did want to approximate the sound of strings, or the sound of a woodwind section as much as I could. And with the synth settings, I was thinking more along the lines of new age settings more the New Wave settings. But also, my ears are worse than most people's, so you could probably play me a fairly chintzy violin sample and I'd be like "Oh man, that sounds so great!" Meanwhile everyone else would just be rolling their eyes. Having heard the record a few times, I can see where people are hearing synths where I'm hearing strings. Maybe that kind of backfired a bit. But I always knew that would probably be the case, and I wasn't too concerned with it.

Are there any sonic touchstones for Your Blues? Any records that you used as reference points?

I've always been a big Scott Walker fan. And I've listened to certain Richard Harris records that Jimmy Webb did.

Are those spoken word records?

No… well, the way he sings, it could be debated [laughs]. He did try his hardest to infuse some sort of drunken melody into the thing. And I would listen to somebody like John Cale, who I've always really liked. Just the way he used classical instruments. He always ends up being a specter on whatever record I do.

Is there any reason you're drawn to his stuff?

I just really like his solo records. There's kind of like a marriage of this old world austerity with this unavoidable pop sensibility. I can't seem to shake that.

That makes sense actually. I hadn't thought of it before, but his early eighties stuff like Music For A New Society is kind of similar in tone to Your Blues.

Exactly. When I had the idea for the record I pictured it being way more desolate and kind of barren and brutal. But the songs that I brought to the table, for the most part, were just too busy. Too many major chords. Too wordy. So things changed.

Is that the case with most Destroyer records? Do you have ideas for them that change through out the recording process?

For the Thief and Streethawk records, we were essentially trying to put forth what the band ideally would sound like if we just walked into a room and played the songs. And that was always a bit of sleight of hand, because we were always a messed-up lineup. But [producer] John [Collin]'s pretty good at creating those kinds of illusions.

And with This Night, I just wanted to make a sprawling, fucked-up record. And that was easy - I just practiced with some people who I knew would be really good at that kind of thing. And we just totally messed up the songs and didn't practice much. I went in the studio and just threw stuff at them. Those records actually ended up pretty close to the way the initial idea of them was. While this one, because it had a definite conceptual basis, changed a bit. And also, I had no idea what it would be – I'd throw around the word "MIDI" and I just didn't know how it would work or what it would sound like. And John and Dave [Carswell], who were pretty integral in shaping the record, they'd never done anything like this either. I walked into the studio with the chords and the vocal melodies and the lyrics. The rest was just us sitting down and saying "Oh, well how about this here," and John coming in at the end of the day to edit it to make it sound… not completely embarrassing. Once in a while he'd have to say, "You know, maybe MIDI congas aren't a good idea." [Laughs]

So it wasn't a free for all. But I think it definitely came out sounding a lot more melodious than we were originally thinking. And that has a lot to do with Dave as well. Once you get him on a guitar -- even if it is a MIDI guitar – he's gonna come up with catchy parts.

You mentioned the "sonic" concept of the record, but I was wondering if you'd dare call Your Blues a "concept" record? I mean, is there a narrative going on in the lyrics?

No. Lyrically I've never approached having a concept. A theme, maybe in some ways. I've kind of dabbled and waltzed in and out of this idea of a record that addressed, I don't know what, some kind of abstract bankruptcy in underground music and culture [laughs]. But I wanted to get away from that as soon as I did it. But any conceptual basis for Your Blues is purely a musical idea.

I guess the reason I ask is that a lot of the tracks have this theatrical, dramatic feel to them. I can almost see them being sung on stage.

That's funny. I'm always hesitant to mention this, but a lot of the songs on Your Blues are to be used in a play.

No kidding! But that came after the fact?

No, that came before the fact. But I have a) no ability and b) no interest in writing narrative songs. So it wasn't like I sat down to write a libretto or something like that. It was more like, here's a bunch of songs, and maybe you can use them to color the play somehow and see if somehow a Destroyer song would make sense with someone other than me singing it. And also I was pretty adamant that I had this idea for making this record that some people might mistake as like "The Sound of Music" [laughs], and that in no way would that be the way I would envision the songs being played onstage. The songs that do get used will hopefully be really stripped down and just will shine some different light on the songs.

But anyway, I think there's always been a certain amount of theatricality, if that's the word you want to use, to Destroyer songs going way back. And the songs on Your Blues, if I look at them, don't seem that atypical from the rest of the stuff I've written.

Your lyrics have always been really strong and distinctive. Are there lyricists you admire?

Yeah, of course. Somewhere in the heart of me there lurks an indie fan boy, I think. There's always a couple songs off of a Smog record that I'll hear, I'll just shake my head and walk away from it. Just like, "This fucking guy." And then I'll wonder if you can really approach writing [those sorts of lyrics] without being some kind of sociopath. And there's stuff that I really love that most people don't associate being really lyrically based music. Like the Plush records or the Neil Hagerty records. There hasn't been anything in recent years that's really leapt out at me. Frog Eyes I think are really awesome. I like the Cass McCombs record, I think that's really good.

Do you consider your songs autobiographical, or confessional in any way?

I would never write something down just to confess it. Usually it's a pretty conscious effort to create something of aesthetic value. You know what I mean? I mean, my approach to language is not super conscious in that I sit down and have some over-arching idea that the language has to fit into. It's actually really instinctual. But the aesthetic is one of using language that just works. You write it down, and somehow it's just working for you. It's not what the words mean, but what they do, I guess. How the phrasing interacts with melody, and how meaning can change once you throw that in there. That being said, you could probably comb through my lyrics and find a handful of threads that would piece it all together.

One thing I think that makes your lyrics stand out is that often they're really funny. Not in a novelty sense, but more like Bob Dylan can be really funny.

Yeah! That's cool that you think that. No one has ever said that to me. That's really good. It's not something I'm striving for, but there will be times when I look at something [that I've written] and -- I won't laugh at loud -- but I think it's just… yeah, I'll use the word "funny." In the same way that like Leonard Cohen can be funny. And Dylan can be really funny. I think that any writing I really like walks the line between severity and playfulness.

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