103. Greg Saunier Discusses Atrium Musicae de Madrid, Music of Ancient Greece

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Greg Saunier, drummer and founding member of Deerhoof, joins You, Me and An Album for much more than just a discussion of a favorite album. He does talk about one of his favorite albums — Ancient Music of Greece by Atrium Musicae de Madrid — but he also considers what this album can teach us about contemporary music, classical music and Western culture in general. Greg also talks about Deerhoof’s soon-to-be-released album, Miracle-Level, and the band’s 2021 cover of Sleater-Kinney’s “Don’t Talk Like.”

Follow Greg and Deerhoof on Twitter and Instagram at @deerhoof!

You can get information on Miracle-Level and Deerhoof tour dates at https://deerhoof.website/ or https://deerhoof.bandcamp.com/.

Also, Greg mentioned Deerhoof’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@GregFromDeerhoof.

Al is on Twitter at @almelchiorBB, and this show has accounts on Twitter and Instagram at @youmealbum. Be sure to follow @youmealbum to find out in advance about upcoming guests and featured albums for this podcast.

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1:06 Greg joins the show

1:44 Greg and Al talk about their research on the album’s backstory

3:18 Greg recounts how he first learned about the album

4:18 Greg explains what the premise of Music of Ancient Greece is

6:27 Greg identifies modern Western musical conventions that can be linked to ancient Greece

13:55 Greg explains why he wanted to explore music from such a distant time

21:46 Why does some of the album sound modern?

24:30 Greg outlines several of the ways the musicians chose to interpret an incomplete score

31:50 Greg thinks the musicians made a conscious decision to make the music ugly

38:00 Are recent technology trends in music democratizing?

49:19 Do the features of Music of Ancient Greece work their way into Deerhoof’s music?

51:50 Al sees a connection between Music of Ancient Greece and a Deerhoof cover of a Sleater-Kinney song

56:40 Greg argues that today’s music technology codifies elite values

1:00:19 Greg finds Music of Ancient Greece’s mix of scholarship and amateurism charming

1:05:57 Deerhoof made a point of bringing their upcoming tour to Western Massachusetts

1:08:43 Greg talks about Miracle-Level being Deerhoof’s first album with all Japanese lyrics

1:12:23 Greg discusses the fragmentary nature of Deerhoof’s songwriting

1:17:44 Greg argues that artists don’t know what their art means

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