BMP (Buffalo Music Players) Podcast

BMP (Buffalo Music Players) BREAKING EPISODE: Lex Squire

Benjamin

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Lex Squire, bassist of the Rom Com Victims, is playing a show at Secret Headquarters, Friday, of her own 'bedroom pop' project.

If you know Squire, you're aware of how creativity flows through her, and we at BMP thought the listener might like to get an inside look at what this up-and-coming artist has to say about it all.

As always, thanks for listening to the BMP podcast and be sure to take a look at our blog at buffalomusicplayers.wordpress.com for the spaces in between released episodes. BMP is Buffalo.


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SPEAKER_06

This just in a double scoop of bad news.

SPEAKER_07

Man, life just isn't letting up. I feel like the walls are closing in, and I don't have a way to stop it. I wish there was somewhere I could go. Some place where I could just get away from everything and just be creative.

SPEAKER_06

There is a creative workshop. Okay in the Great Arrow building on Elmwood Avenue. Use our space. Let us hope you beat back unless you resent and feel sured again.

SPEAKER_07

Wow, that sounds great. I'll check it out.

SPEAKER_06

Always remember if the world has your creative spirits in a rut, come to the Buffalo Creative Workshop for a pick-me-up. More about Buffalo Creative Workshop can be found at Buffalo.creativeWorkshop on Instagram.

SPEAKER_02

And with us today is a very great guest. Her name is Lex Squire. She is an artist and musician from the Buffalo area. Actually, are you from the Buffalo area? I am. Born and raised? Born and raised. Nice. Where did you grow up?

SPEAKER_04

Uh Kenmore, an Alanda-ish area. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Is the Snakeland still a thing out there? I hope not. That sounds scary. Snakeland? It was a uh It was an abandoned factory where kids used to who listened to metal used to go and party. Eventually they told you.

SPEAKER_04

Maybe it's yeah, maybe it's there and I'm just not cool enough.

SPEAKER_02

It's possible. I mean, if you weren't like burning crucifixes into your upside-down crucifixes onto your arm, perhaps like really like.

SPEAKER_04

I was doing that in the privacy of my own arm. I don't know how many friends were that cool.

SPEAKER_02

Max is great having you on the program.

SPEAKER_07

We had in my col my high school, there was a guy that did that to himself. He like tattooed with like a hanger, like with a um yeah, like a like a clothing hanger and bending himself on the arm. And his name was Max. No relationship. No uh no relationship. No relations, just another Max. Yeah, it was just another Max.

SPEAKER_04

Another Max for the bugs.

SPEAKER_07

Making my ma making my name look bad.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07

Yeah, I thought you were Ben Athler. What? Ben Athler got a lot of saws, man. You think so? Yeah. I don't know. Got a lot of good movies. Anyway. You got a project coming up?

SPEAKER_05

I do. I have a project that's called uh radio calisthenics.

SPEAKER_07

Radio calisthenics. Yeah, let's break that down right there. What does that mean?

SPEAKER_04

There's a my brother showed me maybe a year ago, um, there's a thing they've been doing in Japan since like the 1940s or something, where every morning they do a public radio broadcast um uh that wakes you up with like light stretching uh to get you ready for the day. And that's the it's called um Radio Taiso. Um so radio calisthenics is like a loose I don't think that's the exact translation right ever, but that's cool.

SPEAKER_07

Because when it comes to radio, all I know is head, so that's pretty dope.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07

So what's like is it's you're doing like bedroom pop basically.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, you could definitely call that. I've I always forget that the bedroom uh genre is a thing, but it is a hundred percent done in my bedroom. Uh and you do everything. Yeah. I don't yeah, I don't think I've I've outsourced any like sounds or anything. It's all in the box uh with uh using Logic Pro.

SPEAKER_07

And wow. What kind of music is it?

SPEAKER_04

I haven't heard I is it available anymore? It's coming out on May 15th. Um The Eyes of May. Yeah. I'm I might release a music video and like a single before then, but I I think for the plan right now is to just have it all come out in the same day. Um but it's very inspired by like uh 80s like pop, synthpop, like city pop stuff. Like the pest mode? Uh sure. I feel like it's all adjacent. Um definitely gets a little funky. Um I got pretty into like uh you ever hear of the genre boogie? No. Oh yeah, actually I have a complete genre called Boogie. Yeah, I feel like it has a couple different it's like it's I don't really know any examples. And uh I guess you could maybe put like RB in there, like funk stuff. Picture like what would be on the on uh in the DJ, you know, in the clubs in like 1980 something. Here in Buffalo? Probably. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_07

What made you want to go that route with that kind of music?

SPEAKER_04

Um I think it's interesting that a lot of that stuff is like immaculately produced, and I know that I don't have the budget or the wherewithal to replicate it on that scale. So I I thought that it would I kind of want to lean into the um not really low fi, maybe mid-fi.

SPEAKER_07

Like your imperfections would add like zest to it.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, like it doesn't have to be like or like seeing how how close I could get it to that kind of sound, like how clean I can get it, would but all but also not pressuring myself to like uh you know get to that level because they were working with you know multi-thousand dollar like recording setups and teams of people and a lot of cocaine for sure.

SPEAKER_07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Uh I don't have the access to all is that like a prerequisite you gotta have a lot of cocaine in order to go and do a killer album.

SPEAKER_07

I well I mean if it's eighties it's kind of yeah, of the time.

SPEAKER_04

Like I feel like now that's the benefit of looking back is you can make 80s music without the cocaine. It might not be as good. The quality might be it might not be as good. You know, if I think a key part of the 80s sound was the cocaine and the faders. Yeah. Getting it all, you know. It did something to those circuits.

SPEAKER_07

Well, just grab a spoon and just pretend like you just replicate the experience in a safe way.

SPEAKER_02

Exactly. How long did it take to make this album?

SPEAKER_04

Um, I'm gonna say like maybe two years. That that's like thinking about like writing. Um, but I think I recorded it all within the last like maybe like half a year, like six months.

SPEAKER_02

Anything that inspired making it or anything like that? Or was it just like I need to make a solo album?

SPEAKER_04

I'm just gonna do it just for fun. I wanna do like um uh I I love uh I'm very inspired by John Twohill, who lives around here. I love John Twohill. Yeah, John Twohill. Yeah, no for real. Um I just love the idea of, and I'm he's not the first one to do this, but it's cool having someone locally who does this. Um having a bunch of different projects of and different genres and different names, but it's all like one person in different ways. Um I love that kind of stuff, like especially like faking. With this, it's like uh a part of it is almost like faking lost media or something. Like I do I I do want it a little bit to feel like of the time, you know, like it's not like a new product, like it might have come out.

SPEAKER_07

You want that, like, oh what's this? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, right, exactly. And I love that like coming up with like a fake band name. Or not I guess it's not fake if it's being used, but you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um is this the first time you ever really like branch out on your own, like in this kind of album? Because I know you're you you you know you're on the rom com victims, obviously, and that's a pretty famous band round here. Yeah. Rather than on this podcast. Well, they're on this podcast.

SPEAKER_07

Well, I mean, they're like pop, you know, rock royalty album.

SPEAKER_04

I don't know how much competition there is, but thank you. Um I just there's none.

SPEAKER_07

You guys are already on this. Yeah, there's not a lot.

SPEAKER_04

There is, but everyone gets jangle power pop or whatever. Yeah, I never get enough of that. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02

It's at Dopamine Center.

SPEAKER_04

Yes, that's the goal always. Yeah, I just wanted to do it. I love um Oh, you asked if it was the first. This is my first uh I think I released like one or two singles like years ago on Bandcamp, and they're they're I don't think they're even up anymore. Yeah, I didn't see them. Yeah. I didn't see research. Yeah, one was like uh um it was very like Nick Drake, it was like acoustic folk. Oh it was probably it was like years ago, it was like maybe like five or six years.

SPEAKER_07

Were you like really shared?

SPEAKER_04

No, it was trying it was it was very hopeful sounding. I'll share it with you.

SPEAKER_02

What kind of music are you usually into? Like just like just talking music just in general, those have to be local or anything like that. Uh I like what's your influences? I like everything.

SPEAKER_04

I like um weird poppy stuff a lot. Like um I like of Montreal a lot. Um oh man, I listen to the Mountain Goats. I've I've never gotten into mountain goats. I've heard of people whose music t tastes that I trust like the mountain goats, so I probably should. Um I like Ty Siegel a lot. He's very like acoustic. Uh, but also very he can get he's really good at doing like the acoustic sound and also like the super fuzzy like psych rock sound. I haven't really explored that world in terms of like making things yet, but I like everything. And it not even I hate I know that's the lame answer. I I'm but I'm not gonna hit you with the I like everything but rap and contract. Because I don't think I I think there is good music in ever in everywhere. Yeah, you know. Yeah. And there's also bad music everywhere. You can pick any genre and you can find the best and worst.

SPEAKER_07

Thank you for saving us from the default answer that everyone gives.

SPEAKER_04

I know. I mean, I know it was it was kind of the default answer, but I danced around it a little bit.

SPEAKER_07

Yeah, that's okay. Well, we did a good jig, so it was alright.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. That's what I aspire to, dude.

SPEAKER_02

To do a good jig always in any way. Uh when when did your musical journey start?

SPEAKER_04

Like, do you come from like musical family or like oh yes, my dad uh plays music. He uh his current band is called the Falcone Ears. And he's always written uh and like performed his own music. So it's been very cool. Um did he encourage that with you? Yeah, yeah, for sure. Um but but also which I'm grateful for, not to the extent where like I think if he pushed it too hard, I probably would have hated it.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. You know? Like I just clear.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I was never pressured to like, you know. I think they got me like a little guitar when I was a kid, but uh uh it was never like you have to sit down and play this. You know, you have to sit down for like hours a day and play this. Even though like I do see how that that works very well for a lot of for a lot of kids, especially if you like do it young or whatever, but um I feel like I don't know how I would have reacted as a kid, but knowing myself now I'd probably that would probably just make me not want to do it.

SPEAKER_07

You're kind of like a virtuoso, like I've noticed like every few weeks I find out that you play like another instrument. No, yeah, you're like, oh, I do bass, and then it's like oh I can sing too now. Oh, I play the piano on the side, too. And it's just like okay.

SPEAKER_04

I'm a firm believer that anyone can can just do anything. Like a lot of those well, not a lot of us, but there's a lot of things that are just like not good at it all. But if you go into it thinking already that you can't do it, then you never will be. Yeah, but I feel like a way about like drawing too. I feel like especially like the world needs more imperfect art. Oh, there we go. You know, if you're someone who like doesn't know how to play an instrument, playing it bad is better than like you know, typing it into generative AI and getting it to do it for you. Fuck AI.

SPEAKER_02

Fuck AI. Uh true. Well, what came first? The artist or the musicianship.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, artist for sure. I just like doodling. Always. Um I don't remember a time in my life where I didn't like uh didn't like drawing. But I guess music is always I don't know. It's a tough question because I feel like everyone, the moment you're in this world, you're exposed to both, right? Even if you're not if you don't latch onto it. No, I lived in a square room, gray walls, soundproof.

SPEAKER_02

For how long? Oh, we didn't keep track of time.

SPEAKER_04

You just got it like last week. Could could have been could be. More colours as well. Yeah, is this is this room bothering you? This is This is actually a pretty cool room. I like how they had one color on one wall. Yeah, this color from another color.

SPEAKER_02

I just thought you maybe you'd be set off by the squareness of it all. Uh no, um no, I I enjoyed my square room. It was perfect. Mid you know, the exact amount of spaces, paces. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Everything's probably so exciting to you now, or maybe you're overwhelmed.

SPEAKER_02

Uh I I deal with it very well. We're all overwhelmed. That's so good to hear. Totally over it. Totally over it, yeah. First out, it's feeling of like being like overstimulated now. How does it be a big deal?

SPEAKER_07

How do you feel like going from your band which you play bass on, to like being by yourself, where you just like I can do this right away, or were you kind of like Yeah, being a band is, you know, you can always rely on the other people there.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, yeah, it's so much easier. It's very I have a uh really hard time like self-motivating. But when with Ramgun Victims, it's like we all motivate each other.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Um but it's definitely not like a shift, it's not like I'm not, you know, I'm still I'm still at Ramgun Victims, and I feel like I'm we're all like way into it and we're gonna be in it for a long time. Um But it is it is a it's a lot uh to to have on your plate, like, you know, doing uh the band stuff and the solo stuff, but it's really fun. And I like uh by the same token, like I it's even though it's hard to self-motivate, I like um I like having that, you know, that self-motivated schedule. Um because I could take like a br I could take a break from it for a week and then you know, go back to it fresher. And sometimes with the band, it's like even though it always ends up working out, if you but you know, sometimes there's nights where I, you know, oh I don't want to do band practice, even though I love them dearly.

SPEAKER_07

Uh yeah, no, for real.

SPEAKER_04

But but then I end up going and I end up having a great time. Oh gosh. Yeah, that was me. I hate going to band. I don't know. I love RomCom Victims and I love being in that band, and uh I love being in both things. And but um I'm honestly really excited to to have the album out because I want to do like the next thing.

SPEAKER_07

Oh, do you already have plans for like another album?

SPEAKER_04

Oh I have ideas. I don't have like concrete plans. I have some songs I did um on a like a four-track tape recorder that are very like I used like old kind of you know um I don't want to say crappy. Not great like 80s keyboards, like tattoo keyboards and stuff. Yeah. Um like not high-end, I guess.

SPEAKER_07

You say crappy-esque.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, crappy but in like the best way. Like I love the way those sound. Um sorry recorded some like almost like joke songs on Fortrack, and I would love to like do a collection of those, but I only have a couple written and I can always write some more. But I feel like that'd be a cool. I definitely want to release something that it's recorded all on tape. Um me and my brother it's almost done. We only we need to only need like one or two more songs, I think. Uh we have a whole album of songs about monkeys. So that might be the next thing.

SPEAKER_02

Any particular kind of monkey?

SPEAKER_04

There it ranges. There's a song about a gorilla. Like what if a gorilla was your father? There's one. There's a song about you ever see that picture of the kid who's dressed up in a monkey costume at the Apple store? The gay little monkey. You never see the gay little monkey in the apple store? There's a song about the gay little monkey in the apple store.

SPEAKER_07

You gotta hit up a super monkey ball as soon as you can.

SPEAKER_04

That could be a good one. Um oh, we were saying we should probably write a song about Punch the Monkey. Although Punch the Monkey is kind of like out of the public conscience now. That was very short-lived. Do you even know what I'm talking about? No, I have no idea. I have no idea. You've never seen Punch the Monkey?

SPEAKER_07

No, no, no, no, but it's like I support your creative endeavor though.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. That guy was like um gripped the public conscience for like a solid month. It was just it was like a monkey at a zoo in Japan who uh didn't have a mother and had like a IKEA stuffed animal as a mother. I just remember this.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yes. I didn't know his name was Punch.

SPEAKER_07

My last my last like monkey memory that I have is that uh gorilla person that died because like he was like there was like a kid that was in the combat. Yeah, that was the that was the last one. I don't know. I just shut off my monkey feed and I was like Wow, you've been without monkey for so long.

SPEAKER_04

This is just too sad. Okay, so now we need to release the album so you can reconnect.

SPEAKER_07

I don't know.

SPEAKER_04

Uh I'd uh I'm blanking on like all the there's like a song, there's like maybe like seven or eight songs we have. Um and it's all it's all on four-track tape. So that'll be fun.

SPEAKER_07

That needs to be released eventually.

SPEAKER_04

It'll happen soon. We need I think we need like one more song recorded, and then it's pretty much and that'll be fun because it's like there's only so much you can do to make it sound good. Yeah. It's kind of just like it is what it is. There's not much you could do to add to it. Or I guess you could, but I wouldn't want to.

SPEAKER_07

I feel like it would ruin the make one about the great ape. You know how like Goku and Dragon Ball he turns into that giant gorilla? It's got the tail. No?

SPEAKER_04

I gotta consult you about that, I guess.

SPEAKER_07

Okay.

SPEAKER_04

I think I I know what you're talking about, though.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

I've seen that guy.

SPEAKER_02

How do you uh feel about playing live? I mean, is is there a real thrill to it? Like getting hit by a car to do a bunch of rocks?

SPEAKER_04

Um, yeah, I've def I'm growing to like it more. I uh like a year ago I did uh like the only time I played on my own was at an open mic, and I was like, or no, it wasn't open mic, I was I was like on the bill, but it was like a really short, like 20 minute set, and like no one was there. It was at um Rust Belt Books. Um it was like during the day, it was at like 1 p.m. And like the only people there was like the other, there was like a touring band. It was like just them watching me, and then like maybe one or two of my friends, and I was like terribly nervous the whole time. Like I was like shaking and uh peeing my pants like a chihuahua. I guess they don't wear pants though. Picture picture a nervous chihuahua. Um with pants with pants with pants to be peed in though.

SPEAKER_02

Make them real human pants, so it looks like a very like a very long pants. Yeah, yeah, they're not fit for Chihuahua.

SPEAKER_04

Chihuahua is swimming in those pants. Um chihuahua is just like dragging. Yeah, you can't really even tell it's a chihuahua, it just looks like pants. Um yeah, and then I I never had felt nervous playing with a band live uh until like a a year or two ago. For some reason, for like a couple months, I had like horrible stage for it. But I think it's unrelated. I think I was just having some like anxiety issues or something. But now uh yeah, it's very fun. I feel like every solo show I've played, even if it's like a little rock, even if I think it's a little rocky, like other people have responded well to it. And then I feel like every one of I've only played like maybe three or four uh under this project, and every time I feel like it gets a little better.

SPEAKER_07

I saw the one you did at Amy's Place, you did really good. Thank you. A lot of stage command.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, that's and that's something I have no idea how to do because every time I've been.

SPEAKER_07

That means you're good.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. I get well it's something I I want to get better at it. Like I I love um uh aside from you know, like everybody clapped to this song. I love like a interactive stage stuff.

SPEAKER_07

I was just like, damn, she's earned this leisure suit that she's wearing.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I didn't know. I paid for it for Salvation Army.

SPEAKER_02

Um what was I saying about um is there like I guess I we should get to um a bit about how we promote artists on this um here podcast. Is there any great um musical song that you that perhaps you've made or one that you know of that you'd like to go and give a shout out to?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I want to plug um the band Welk's mice. Ooh, yeah. I just saw them recently. I've seen them many times, or a couple times, let's say a couple times.

SPEAKER_02

I think I've only seen them once, but I was very impressed by their instruments.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, the first time I I saw them they had a cello player, which was really cool. Wow. And then I just saw them play at Revolver. Uh and I think they're still tour, they're on a little mini tour right now. With the vibe revolver. I mean I'm seriously. I mean better than you revolver on Elmwood? It's pretty big. Is there a new one? There's a new one. Well they yeah, they uh moved across the street into a passed it a bunch of times. Well you gotta check it out. It's there's there's room for sure. It's a nice stage. Yeah, yeah. I love their song, Generous. It's stuck in my head all the time.

SPEAKER_07

That's where they do the session show every month.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, a revolver.

SPEAKER_07

Yeah, wouldn't have. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And Max, who's in that band, who's other Max. Three Maxes were mentioned in this. I have to be specific. Max Weiss, who is one half of that band, is gonna DJ at the release show.

SPEAKER_07

Oh, okay. Alright, nice.

SPEAKER_04

Uh and he has great taste in like dance music. Like 80s, uh, maybe 90s, 2000s uh club dance music. We've been hanging out before and he puts on some like some bangers, so I just I I I didn't even know. I asked him, like, do you happen to do you have you ever DJed? and he was like, Yes. So that's gonna happen. Nice. Um, yeah, I love Welk's mice a lot. I think they are the coolest, coolest band. Not only just in Buffalo, but maybe the Tri-State area. Oh jeez. Whoa, boy. Maybe even the quad state area.

SPEAKER_07

Jeez, those are some big booths.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, let's give a listen to that.

SPEAKER_07

After a long day, it's hard to turn off. That's why I go to Mammoth Cannabis on 212 Ohio Street. Their stuff will have you laid out flatter than a mammoth foot. From flour to pre-roll, vaporizers to concentrate. You can rest assured that something big is waiting for you at Mammoth Dispensary. Just keep in mind, if you smoke cereal from the General Mills factory nearby, they can't help you. You have to go home and get a bowl yourself. It's a dispensary, not an eatery after all.

SPEAKER_00

I'll give you the keys to all of my daughters. So I'll never be alone anymore. I'll be generous with my love, and you won't have to earn it. Generous with my love, cause I know you deserve it. I can't help but feel like I've been here before. When I was naive, when I was small, I was generous with my love, and nobody had to earn it. And we are back.

SPEAKER_02

Now uh Lex, I was just saying, um, like I'd love to understand like how you came to um like how you're able to go and blend all your your musical um knowledge and lack of a better word, you know, your wisdom, and like you know, taking traditional, you know, bass, piano, guitar, things like that, and then working in the sense in the different like very low-fi electronic instruments that you're able to go and procure. I mean sounds like a whole an interesting journey, really, like you know what I mean. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Well, what's great if you know keyboard, then you know any instrument because if you're doing it all in the box, you could just there's a lot of like virtual instruments on this album. Um I think the only re there's like a lot of the songs use like a real bass. Uh, and that's just like the I but that's maybe the only thing. Everything else is like uh all synthesizers and you know keyboard sounds and I think yeah, there's one song that has guitar.

SPEAKER_02

Do you have like a loop of anything like that? You use loops at all?

SPEAKER_04

There is, I actually just there's a song that I almost thought about just cutting, um, because it just sounded too empty. Um and I just uh I put under it a record like a loop of like Bossa Nova drums and tried to make it sound like an old like uh like exotica record or something.

SPEAKER_07

Did you play that one in the show?

SPEAKER_04

I did, but it was it did not sound like it says now.

SPEAKER_07

Oh, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_04

It was like the I think it you said you liked it.

SPEAKER_07

Yeah, because that Bossa Nova one was my favorite song.

SPEAKER_04

I know, I like, and I think it's like a decent song, but I like uh I did I I I guess like listening to it, I just thought it sounded like too empty. But that was my favorite song you did. I guess we left you'll pro I think I hope you like the new I think it enhances it a lot, like fills it out a little bit. You know.

SPEAKER_02

That's so cool because it's really an awesome to go and come upon upon an artist at this stage in their development where then they haven't really gotten into all the music music that they they're going to get into to the point where it's like, oh well, I just did this, this, this, and I'm just like, I have no idea. You're still very grounded, like you haven't floated into the ethers of uh electronico.

SPEAKER_04

I would love to get there. I mean I love people and bands who who do a lot of sampling, like I just think like I it's hard for me to want to like stare at a screen that long. You know, it's a lot of like you spend a lot of time chopping stuff up, I'm sure, and making it sound interesting. And you gotta get permission from somebody. Right. Yeah, I shouldn't have to worry about that because it's like I just accept that no one's gonna lie.

SPEAKER_07

Well, I don't know, you never know. That's why you gotta kinda cover yourself a little bit because you gotta take really obscure still, you know, because anything could blow up. True.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, and that that's what I'm making out of.

SPEAKER_07

Yeah, and then the lawyer comes in and takes all your money.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Yeah, but I I I don't know. It seems like a lot I guess it's just like um if you're doing like animation or something, it's like a lot of work and then it's like you know, test.

SPEAKER_07

Which you also do.

SPEAKER_04

I love to do that. I'd like to do more of it, but I'm I'm locked in on this right now.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I was looking at the little guys on your Instagram, and I was just like, that's cool. Like, where do those guys come from? Like they just are living in your head and need to go on.

SPEAKER_07

She's just super creative.

SPEAKER_04

I love there's this one that I'm working on. I I could have had it done forever ago, but I had Nate, who plays guitar in Ramcon Victor. Shout out to Nate. Shout out to Nate Weiss and uh his friend, or I guess our friend, uh Tim Lake, who used to live here and great. Like um like uh I don't even know what the genre would be. He does like soundclad rap, but like not bad. I feel like there's a connotation.

SPEAKER_03

Shots fire. There's a lot of good SoundCloud rap.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, well no, that's how a lot of like rappers, you know, I don't know, I don't know anything about being a lot of people. And a lot of other people from different genres in SoundCloud. Um and that's he's definitely not exclusively on SoundCloud, but he does really good music and then he does uh really he he gets people to do great videos and stuff for it, very visually oriented. But I had them an idea for a sketch and I didn't want to just do it, you know, two two different voices and do it all myself. So I had them uh do it. But Tin lives in uh Philadelphia, so we did it over Zoom.

SPEAKER_03

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_04

It was like over Zoom, but then we uh they both had like logic open with like they both had the same microphone. They had like, you know, and it wasn't it wasn't just like a um you know, a cheap like, you know, or like the camera microphone or whatever, they had like a nice recording microphone and happened to have the same model, so we they recorded into logic while like I was like giving them notes and like we were like uh trying to improv it out and uh and then I edited all the audio together and I just have to finish the damn animation, but yeah, damn animation. I wonder if there's a way I can preview the plot for you without spoiling it. Oh yeah, because you won't know where it goes. Okay, do you want to hear it? True. Two guys um they're in an interrogation room, they're like at a prison. Uh, so there's a cop and then like the quote unquote guilty guy.

SPEAKER_07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Um, and the cop says, you know, he's being uh he's interrogating this guy and he says, um, uh, okay, we're gonna try a new experiment. This is like a social psych psychological experiment. I'm gonna show you some like Rorschach test images.

SPEAKER_07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

And you're you're gonna have to tell me uh, you know, what you see in them, and that'll determine whether or not you're innocent or guilty. So he starts showing them these like you know, abstract like ink blots, uh, and the guy's like, oh, you know, that's a butterfly, or that's uh, you know, my parents fighting or whatever. And then like, and then uh the cop holds another one up and it's just like a picture of a gun. Or like or like a picture of someone like stabbing someone.

SPEAKER_07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

And then the guy's like, oh, well, that's a gun, and the guy's like, oh really? And then it goes, it goes, that's not spoiling the entire thing. That's only like one part of the bit.

SPEAKER_07

But I'm looking forward to seeing it. I'm looking forward to seeing it. With my own eyes, not just my mind.

SPEAKER_04

I a while ago I I told myself I was gonna do one animation a week, and I did that for maybe two weeks. Pretty bad. Because it's so easy to get burnt out.

SPEAKER_07

Do you have any shows and stuff coming up for the project?

SPEAKER_04

Um, it's June. Oh my gosh. Oh, well, I guess first I have the release show. Oh, good. On May 15th. It's just going to be Where's it gonna be at? It's gonna be a house show. It's gonna be in my basement. Okay. So if you want to come, just I'm not gonna give you the address. Please don't. You can ask me. There you go. You can just ask me. Um my Instagram is LexSquare, S-Q-U-I-E-R. Um. It'll be really fun. I'll be playing I've I'm gonna say most of the album, because we can't spoil the whole thing, you know. Gotcha. I might omit a song or two. Uh and then we're gonna have DJs all night. Uh we're gonna have Chris Barron, who owns Soulstop Records.

SPEAKER_07

Okay.

SPEAKER_04

And then Max Weiss, who's in Welk's Mice. Shaman. Um, Roman, whose last name I don't know who Holliday? Is it? No, but Roman Holiday. The movie? No. No, no, no. He's very good at he's D DJs at like no fun and stuff like that. Oh, okay. Legit. He's legit. And then we might do open, well, we will I'm gonna say we will do open open bars. Open bars? Oh. Oh. Maybe. Gotcha. BYO, whatever you want. It'll be fun. Gotcha. But okay, so he wants to. I live in a house that used to already be a house venue. Um, so there is like a, you know, kind of dilapidated stage in the basement already. So we're just gonna clean it up. I just got some turntables. I got a pair of DJ turntables on Facebook Marketplace. It'll be very awesome. And then after that, I'm playing at the bike uh garage. Okay. Cool. With it's like June. Let's see. I'm gonna say sixth. Let's see if I'm correct. Let's see. Hold on, hold on. June. I know it's with Claire Georgie. Oh well, I didn't repost it. My life is over. Hold on, hold on, wait.

SPEAKER_02

Sounds like a very cool show.

SPEAKER_04

Oh of course it can't be found.

SPEAKER_07

Well, the Biko shows are always pretty interesting at the very least. So I'm sure you're gonna do good and you've you've already performed there with the rom com victims, I believe, right?

SPEAKER_05

Uh I don't think we have actually. I don't know I recorded or I I did play there.

SPEAKER_07

Oh, you did, sorry.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, with um it was a part of the uh the uh contemporary communications telephon.

SPEAKER_07

Okay.

SPEAKER_04

Which is like a 12-hour thing that my my good friend and roommate Silas Rubeck did.

SPEAKER_07

Nice.

SPEAKER_04

I was totally wrong. Claire Georgie's not playing, but Georgie is playing, just Georgie, and the touring artist is uh Eliza Niemi.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. And when is that?

SPEAKER_03

Uh June 10th. June 10th. At the Bike Garage. It'll be very fun. Nice throwing your galleries, folks. Yes, yes, yes, yes. That's about it. Well, that's about that's good because it's about the Atlas overall.

SPEAKER_07

Thank you for letting us explore your cacophony of creativity.

SPEAKER_02

I aim to be cacophonous. Listeners, if you care to uh DM Lexquire, perhaps they will give you the uh address of where they live, or perhaps not. We'll see what happens. But if you can make it take a chance. If we have a a trustworthy demeanor about you.

SPEAKER_07

Exactly. May the songs be with you guys. The bringer of life, the bringer of unimaginable joy, the cause of catastrophic destruction. Knowing that you have something so powerful, wouldn't you want the best to take care of it? Pardon me for saying this. I am just a humble announcer. But if I had a coochie, I'd probably get it waxed at Cheyenne's waxing studio on 830 Elmwood Ave. You have power in between your legs. So why not have it taken care of by the best? If you want to put it in a discipline, we'll we'll even get we all got an EM is a way of helping each other.