Los Angeles band Blackberry Tongues traveled to San Diego this past summer where they proceeded to blow my mind with their ethereal music. From that night, I kept in contact with Lauren and I finally got the chance to interview her! In this episode, she teaches me what microtonal music is, the supportive and unique art and music scene in Los Angeles, and we play some positively different music than what has been on the podcast before.

We also discuss whether it’s better for a band or artist to play more often or occasionally in their local music scene. What do you think? Do you risk oversaturating or tiring out your fans? Or will they lose interest if you don’t play often? Leave a comment and tell us what you think!

You can buy Blackberry Tongues’ album We Are Open Mouths and follow them on Instagram.

And please, if you liked this episode, rate us on iTunes. And as always, feel free to leave a comment, email me, follow me on Twitter, or like us on Facebook.

Listen Here

Download here. [~41 mins, 50MB]

Shownotes

• [1:30] Blackberry Tongues “Circular”
• [10:30] Considering the length of their songs with seemingly different musical “movements”, what is their songwriting process like? How do they create cohesion?
• [15:15] Lauren talks about another project she’s involved in called Ilevens, which she describes as dancey microtonal music. June also learns what microtonal means.
• [18:45] Odeya Nini “Tunnels”
• [24:00] Lauren explaining why she picked Odeya Nini to feature
• [26:00] Lauren explains Madeline Spooner and appreciating “niche and unusual music” that can still be marketable
  • We digress a bit into Dirty Projectors. “People need to be warmed up.”
• [29:00] June goes off about pop punk dialects, as described in this article about Blink-182
• [31:00] Madeline Spooner “Simple as Lavender” (Facebook)
• [34:00] Recording a demo to send to record labels
• [36:00] What’s the Los Angeles music scene like?
  • Hopscotch opera: an opera that takes place in CARS. “Shit like THAT is going on LA.”

Other Notes & Thanks!

Thank you to all the artists who gave me permission to play their songs and to Lauren for taking the time to speak with me.

Special thanks to: Sullen Ray who graciously allows me to use their song “Get Up Got It” as the Grrl on Grrl podcast intro and outro–listen to and buy their album Blue Minor on Bandcamp and look out for the upcoming new album Outside the Color Wheel; Greg Guiliano for his financial support; and Gary Hankins for making the episode sound good.

And to all my friends who have been so supportive of this project, I love you!