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

Send us Fan MailGreg 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.You, Me and An Album: The Newsletter is free to all subscribers! https://youmealbum.substack.com/If you are interested in supporting this podcast, please check out the show’s Patreon site, https://www.patreon.com/youmealbum. Your contributions are greatly appreciated and keep this show going.1:06 Greg joins the show1:44 Greg and Al talk about their research on the album’s backstory3:18 Greg recounts how he first learned about the album4:18 Greg explains what the premise of Music of Ancient Greece is6:27 Greg identifies modern Western musical conventions that can be linked to ancient Greece13:55 Greg explains why he wanted to explore music from such a distant time21:46 Why does some of the album sound modern?24:30 Greg outlines several of the ways the musicians chose to interpret an incomplete score31:50 Greg thinks the musicians made a conscious decision to make the music ugly38:00 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 song56:40 Greg argues that today’s music technology codifies elite values1:00:19 Greg finds Music of Ancient Greece’s mix of scholarship and amateurism charming1:05:57 Deerhoof made a point of bringing their upcoming tour to Western Massachusetts1:08:43 Greg talks about Miracle-Level being Deerhoof’s first album with all Japanese lyrics1:12:23 Greg discusses the fragmentary nature of Deerhoof’s songwriting1:17:44 Greg argues that artists don’t know what their art meansSupport the show