64. Glen Phillips Discusses Dirty Projectors, Lamp Lit Prose

Send us a text

Glen Phillips from Toad the Wet Sprocket pays Al a visit to talk about Dirty Projectors’ ninth and most recent album, Lamp Lit Prose. Glen explains why he loves this album, what lessons he takes from it for his own work and what’s in store for him in the studio and on the road. He also talks about other artists he admires, other albums he thought about discussing here and a past project of his that Al just discovered.

Al’s notes:

As I mentioned on this episode, Glen was Brian Koppelman’s guest on his podcast, The Moment, several years ago. It’s a great conversation, and they get deeper into Glen’s career than he and I did on this podcast. Check it out here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/glen-phillips-9-6-16/id814550071?i=1000519286763

Glen made reference to “the Bob Schneider songwriting game.” I admit I had to look this up after recording the episode. Glen described it well here, but if you want to know more about it, this article is a good place to start. https://www.npr.org/2013/11/24/246755925/for-a-few-musicians-beating-songwriters-block-is-all-in-the-game

Websites:
http://www.glenphillips.com/
https://toadthewetsprocket.com/.
https://toadthewetsprocket.bandcamp.com/

Though Glen said he doesn’t use social media much, you can still give him a follow on Twitter at @glenphillips. You can access his weekly livestream concerts there or on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/c/glenphillipsofficial.

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.

Al has recently launched You, Me and An Album: The Newsletter. You can subscribe for free to get Al’s monthly posts, but paid subscriptions give you access to weekly posts and much more. Please consider trying a paid subscription as it also helps to support this podcast! https://youmealbum.substack.com/

1:03 Glen joins the show

1:32 Glen talks about how he has been influenced by Talk Talk and Peter Gabriel

3:03 Glen discusses his EP, Secrets of the New Explorers

5:21 Glen has known Brian Koppelman since his late teens

6:16 Glen and Al talk about how much they love Talk Talk

9:52 Glen lists other albums he thought about picking for this episode

12:11 Glen talks about how he got into Dirty Projectors

14:51 Al shares his reaction to Lamp Lit Prose

Reactions to selected tracks:

15:43 That’s a Lifestyle

20:53 I Feel Energy

23:54 I Found It In U

24:46 Zombie Conqueror (and a discussion of drummers who play out of the pocket)

31:01 Right Now

38:03 Al talks about exploring other Dirty Projectors albums

40:56 Right Now (cont., and a discussion of hocketing)

44:23 Break-Thru

48:13 Glen talks about how different his songwriting approach is compared to David Longstreth’s

51:24 Glen considers whether Dirty Projectors has influenced his music

56:59 Glen also admires the work of Bjork and tUnE-yArDs

58:45 One of Glen’s favorite musicians almost never performs

1:01:14 Glen enjoys leading a community choir

1:05:18 Al explains why he dug further into this album than others discussed on this podcast

1:06:33 Glen talks about the solo project he’s been working on and the upcoming Toad the Wet Sprocket tour

Outro musi

Support the show