Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I like there to be some secrets.
Sometimes the hangover provides inspiration.
What I love is the openness of collaboration.
It's hard to make music that's sexy that's not cheesy.
I never identified with 'indie,' I don't like that word.
I'm as guilty as anyone else of listening to music track by track.
I'm not interested in anyone who would want me for the wrong reasons.
I don't identify as white. I have a complex relationship with whiteness.
When my mom was pregnant with me, my parents moved from France to America.
I guess my first instrument was the recorder when I was about five or six.
There's a bunch of rules that I want to break. I have a rule-breaking streak.
Films should involve a director's idiosyncrasies as much as possible I think.
I thought it would be interesting to play classical music on rock instruments.
The first Vampire Weekend record was the first full-length album that I produced.
I'm very aware of what, say, electric guitar recordings in the '60s sounded like.
I don't think teenagers in 2017 identify with heterosexuality, and that's a positive.
I work on music with different people, and I work on music on my own. That's my life.
I like to be able to work quickly, to capture the spark of an idea before it goes out.
When I moved to New York, I remember thinking, 'I'm never going to live anywhere else.'
Radio or no radio, I just like the way records sound when the drums and vocals are loud.
I took one piano lesson and hated it and then didn't take any piano lessons until I was 18.
I feel like I've had this ability to infiltrate, as an outsider and an insider, different groups.
There are rules that are so blatantly broken on 'Contra,' like structures of harmony and texture.
I'd like to release solo songs on a regular basis, but it's pretty difficult for me to finish them.
I'm very conscious of the fact that I devoted my life to recording music, recordings and writing songs.
The thing I love about car design is that it's sculpture everybody appreciates, everybody has access to.
As a person who doesn't identify as straight, any love song I write is contextualized by a queer identity.
It's easier for me to remember things based on the releases of albums. The year is such an arbitrary thing.
I would hope to make a record that interacts with culture in a macro sense. That is something to aspire to.
Because of who I am, and how open I am, there's something inherently political about just writing love songs.
In the West we are constantly hit with music of Middle Eastern descent signifying terror, intrigue or sorrow.
As a kid I had gone to New York a handful of times with my family. I definitely think it planted a seed in me.
The most exciting songs to me are the unlikely hits, when you think, 'I love this, but why is it on the radio?'
There's a joy I get from collaborating with other artists, and there's a joy I get from making songs on my own.
A lot of people get a high from being onstage. I found ways to enjoy it. But I get it from being in the studio.
I was listening 'Plastic Ono Band,' the John Lennon album a lot, and that might have had some inspiration on me.
I always want to be somewhat uncomfortable. But at the same time I want to make music that you react to viscerally.
I can't even begin to express the joy I get from writing songs, both on my own and with others, I hold it all sacred.
I think the music that speaks to me the most is music that is personal. And that's the music that I'm trying to make.
I figured out that it was important for me to have my identity, just live independently and like being myself, musically.
Throughout college I was getting better and better at making recordings, producing songs, making different kinds of beats.
Only a straight white person would have no concept of what visibility is. They've never contended with anything but visibility.
I like the idea that a song can be something that you can lean on, both for the songwriter and for the person who hears the song.
It took me some time to join the various streams of making music that was technically good and making music that made me feel good.
When I work with other artists, I really want to bring out the most in their voices and I want to hold myself to the same standard.
It's always my mission to try to do something that hasn't been done before, whether that's musically, lyrically or in terms of mixing.
I admire Brian Eno so much in how he seems to push the idea of less being more - his touch is to crack open a window and let the light in.
A lot of what being a producer is, is giving people space. Like psychologically being there to help them realize what they're trying to do.
I think as a producer, you're always sort of questioning if what you're contributing is something that an artist loves and elevates a song.
Classical music can be catchy, so can African instrumental guitar music. It's not just pop songs that are catchy. Rhythms can be catchy, too.