Is AI Going to Take Over Music - #21 with Alec Boyd

Shangrila Podcast #21 with Alec Boyd Alec is a good friend of mine living in Austin, Texas. He is the creator and frontman of Beach Street Music. He has toured and produced for numerous bands around the country. In this episode, I sit down with Alec Boyd, a local Austin musician, for a wide-ranging conversation that touches on comedy, music, and everything in between. We start by exploring the nuances of speaking voice volumes and the realization that your comedian friends are essentially your coworkers. We talk about how important it is to hang out with regular friends who keep you grounded (00:00). Alec shares his journey of being drawn to comedy, and we discuss The Bike Riders movie, imagining what it would be like if the Sex Pistols actually showed up to band practice (02:00). From there, we dive into the concept of selling out and the challenge of setting personal standards as an artist (04:00), leading to a discussion on the world of indie rock and bedroom pop (07:00). We then tackle the topic of homogeneity in music, the grid system that influences modern sounds, and the rise of artists like Steve Lacy (11:00). I share my experience hearing a truly terrible song, which sparks a conversation on AI music and the role of "feel" in creativity (13:00). This transitions into my attempt to become a DJ and how computer-generated music intersects with AI (16:00). We touch on the legendary Austin comedy venue, The Mothership (21:00), and then dive into what it means to be mega-famous, using Taylor Swift as an example (24:00). Alec and I explore the idea of creating music that is perfect but not necessarily popular (27:00), and we take a moment to reflect on the documentary Searching for Sugarman and my own experience of getting robbed (28:30). We talk about the feedback loop that artists can get caught up in when chasing perfection. The conversation then shifts to the stand-up creation process, where we break down the intricacies of crafting a joke and the parallels between music and comedy (32:55). Alec shares a clip from The Replacements, leading to a discussion about the band and their influence on music (35:45). Finally, we wrap up by reminiscing about the pre-internet days of discovering new music and how platforms like Spotify have changed the way we experience and find new sounds (39:00). Throughout the episode, we discuss a wide range of artists, including the Sex Pistols, Tame Impala, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Dom Dolla, Steve Lacy, Pavement, R.E.M., Burial, Elle King, Post Malone, Zach Bryan, Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, Barry Manilow, Roxy Music, Iggy Pop, Rodríguez, The Rolling Stones, The Replacements, and Diarrhea Planet. Filmed at The Creek and The Cave Studios in Austin, Texas.