I’ve just released the second episode of my podcast. Here’s the blurb:
My grandmother was a lot of things: an abstract expressionist painter, a social worker, a collector of antiques. But as far as the internet is concerned, she had just one real claim to fame: she was the associate producer of Zombie Nightmare (1987), a movie so bad it’s featured on the IMDb’s “Bottom 100” list. Strangely, it stars Adam West and Tia Carrere.
In this episode, I do a deep dive into this extremely minor footnote in my family’s history. I rewatch the movie and try to get to bottom of what makes it so bad, and I also reach out to people who were actually involved in creating it. Terrible movies don’t make themselves. A movie this bad has to have a lot of secrets.
Sample Size: 1 - Episode 1: The Fiverr Song Project[ 27:01 ]Play Now | Play in Popup
Check it out! I’m launching my podcast, Sample Size: 1, today. In the first episode, I explore the bizarre world of Fiverr, a website that lets you purchase services for five dollars. As an experiment in online music collaboration with strangers, I take one of my own songs and replace each instrument track with a new recording made by a Fiverr session musician. The episode chronicles the process and culminates in a version of the song produced entirely by the Internet.
While my influences are mostly in the 70s post-punk and to some extent glam-rock vein, I’ve been on a psychedelic kick lately. I guess this song is partly the product of that. The angular chord changes on some of those late 60s psych records really appeal to me, and you can hear elements of Syd Barrett / early Pink Floyd, Os Mutantes, and the Pretty Things in the melody here.
Lyrically, the song went through a couple of transformations, so it’s very different from where it started. It was initially about a group of mountaineers who climb Mt. Everest only to be arrested when they get to the top, but this first-person voice crept in and kind of shifted the song toward its current shape, equal parts gleeful and menacing.
Song: Manwomanchild - The Telepath Returns[ 3:30 ]
Hey everyone,