In this interview spotlight, I spend some time chatting with Max Blansjaar about the latest music, dream collabs, AI in art, and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
This AI thing is getting way out of control. I have students using ChatGPT to write death metal songs about country music…and country songs about being sad. You can feed some Ais a text prompt and create a Hollywood-quality short film. How do you feel about this new wave of technological innovation?
Obviously I understand the discomfort some people have around it. I’m lucky to be surrounded by a bunch of really cool artists who are using AI to create some truly incredible art, so I don’t really buy this idea that AI is antithetical to good art per se. People reading this should check out an essay by the composer Jennifer Walshe called ‘13 Ways of Looking at AI, Art and Music’. It was published on Substack by Unsound earlier this year, and it has some of the most cogent takes I’ve heard on this topic so far. The real hit line is that AI isn’t coming for our jobs; the people implementing AI technologies are. So whenever we talk about the technology itself as being scary, or threatening, like this sci-fi villain, we’re distracting ourselves from talking about actual power dynamics between actual people. I mean, I’m not afraid of the Frank Sinatra singing Britney Spears’ ‘Toxic’ deepfake an sich, but I am afraid of an artist being made redundant by their label because the label is able to generate new music by mining and processing existing recordings of the artist’s voice. You know? So when you say AI is getting out of control, I suppose that’s what you mean — that there are some genuinely evil companies in charge of how this technology is used and who benefits from it, and that our legal rights and protections are lagging behind the developments. Same as it ever was, right?
I know it’s hard…but what’s your favorite song and/or favorite artist of all time? If not favorite, in your top 3?
Oh no, that’s not hard at all. It’s The Velvet Underground; or if you need a solo artist, it’s Lou Reed. They saw everything. And it’s everything music should be: slippery, fantastical, purposeful, self-contradicting, difficult…yeah. I think their best song is probably ‘Andy’s Chest’, both the Lou Reed solo version and the lesser-known VU version. But my favourite song is ‘Sunday Morning’. That song means the world to me, honestly.
Were you trying to accomplish anything specific or different with this project? What’s the back story?
Big question! So, I’d written this album over the course of a few years, when I was just coming to the end of school and starting university. It was this weird time of in-betweenness that the songs seem to reflect, in various ways and in different lights. Also, when I spoke to Beanie Tapes about releasing the album, they suggested working with a producer — and we quickly landed on Katie von Schleicher, who I was a big fan of. So I went out to Brooklyn for two weeks to record with her and Nate Mendelsohn. I was hoping to move beyond the kind of lo-fi, self-produced sound that marked my first couple of EPs, and create something that was more polished but still felt dirty. Hopefully we were successful.
What drives you to create? What keeps you going, especially on the bad days?
Oh man, I’ve said this before, but I find writing songs kind of tedious. I don’t enjoy the process really at all. You have this idea—which is so perfect—and then you have to work out how to realise it, and how to expand it, which of course is nowhere near as fun as coming up with the idea in the first place. Sometimes I get really tired of that process, the practical work. I guess what keeps me going is the knowledge that all the art I love, whether it’s music or something else, wasn’t just created with inspiration but also with discipline. If there’s something you want to make, or something you want to put into the world, it’s your job to make it real. There’s no reason why that job should always be enjoyable, but the whole point is that you’re giving yourself up in service of this thing that you believe in. That’s the beauty. And so you sit down and you get to work.
If you could collaborate with anyone – dead or alive, famous or unknown – who would it be and why? Please plug them with a link so readers can check them out.
Anonymous mashup DJ, Fortyone. I fell in love with an album of his called Go Bananas a few years back; since then he’s become a born-again Christian and repents much of his early work. It’s evangelical freak-hop, and it’s so good. I emailed him the other day. I encourage readers to peruse his website: https://41music.net/. His more recent releases are on his Bandcamp page. I’d love to do a track with him, or maybe he could do a remix of mine.
Where is the best place to stay connected with You?
In my city, I’m bad over text and stuff. Get me on Instagram.
I appreciate Your time. Want to say anything else before we sign off?
Don’t think so! Thanks for the questions, be well.
