ATM : BODEGA AT THIS MOMENT

A deep dive behind the music and philosophy of the NYC art rock band BODEGA. BODEGA BEN breaks down each track from their new album 'Our Brand Could be Yr Life', exploring the theme of the record: the current state of underground rock music. Together with guests and friends including Bodega Bay members and current collaborators, they dissect the story behind the music.

A deep dive behind the music and philosophy of the NYC art rock band BODEGA. BODEGA BEN breaks down each track from their new album 'Our Brand Could be Yr Life', exploring the theme of the record: the current state of underground rock music. Together with guests and friends including Bodega Bay members and current collaborators, they dissect the story behind the music.In this episode Ben chats with Nikki Belfiglio, the other lead vocalist of BODEGA, about joining Bodega Bay and writing her first ever song, ‘G.N.D. Deity.’ Ben also learns about Nikki’s early journey as an artist including discovering photography, dropping out of art school, and moving to NYC. Ben and Nikki also talk about growing up near Woodstock, DIY filmmaking, of Montreal, sampling, Bikini Kill, Milk Dick, sex work, sex in art, dragging femme, PVT CHAT, the first BODEGA recording, and ‘scenius’ vs. ‘genius’.

A deep dive behind the music and philosophy of the NYC art rock band BODEGA. BODEGA BEN breaks down each track from their new album 'Our Brand Could be Yr Life', exploring the theme of the record: the current state of underground rock music. Together with guests and friends including Bodega Bay members and current collaborators, they dissect the story behind the music.For the third episode, Ben chats with filmmaker and Bodega Bay member Joe Wakeman about Bodega Bay’s Brechtian approach to composition and performance. Ben and Joe also talk about Jean Luc Godard, of Montreal, AC/DC, Modest Mouse, performance as confrontation, Andy Warhol, irony in music, the SXSW boycott, ‘selling out’, Joe’s 2015 film ‘They Read by Night’, Toyzanne, The Beatles, and the first Bodega Bay song ‘Your Brand Could be Our Life (Rock and Roll Corporation).’ 

A deep dive behind the music and philosophy of the NYC art rock band BODEGA. BODEGA BEN breaks down each track from their new album 'Our Brand Could be Yr Life', exploring the theme of the record: the current state of underground rock music. Together with guests and friends including Bodega Bay members and current collaborators, they dissect the story behind the music.For the fourth episode, Ben interviews BODEGA lead guitar player Dan Ryan who shares his process behind his solo in the single ‘Tarkovski.’ Dan treats Ben to guitar playing throughout the episode as the pair chat about Dan’s musical roots, his earliest bands, modern jazz, music school, prog rock, the forest of music theory, the guitar solos on 'Broken Equipment', 2000’s emo-core, Stravinsky, Bach, Super City, Prince, The Temptations, St. Vincent, DIY recording, Kevin Shields, live improvisation, and filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky.

A deep dive behind the music and philosophy of the NYC art rock band BODEGA. BODEGA BEN breaks down each track from their new album 'Our Brand Could be Yr Life', exploring the theme of the record: the current state of underground rock music. Together with guests and friends including Bodega Bay members and current collaborators, they dissect the story behind the music.In this special episode, Ben does a deep dive with Bodega Bay bass player Josh Fu about the book that inspired the new LP’s title, Michael Azerrad’s legendary ‘Our Band Could be Your Life.’ The pair wax about the roots of ‘indie’ and ‘alternative’, Black Flag’s move towards metal, ‘grunge’, Jane’s Addiction, RHCP, the philosophy of hardcore, Dead Kennedys, ‘Get in the Van’, the Protestant work ethic of DIY America, punk existentialism, BBC 6, 1999 David Bowie, classic rock in US alt, the mythology of the Mats, 90’s bar band pop rock, Josh’s teenage encounter w/ Calvin Johnson, Minor Threat’s punk perfection, the sexuality of twee and straight edge, Television Personalities as the ‘indie’ archetype, ‘record collector rock’, defense for Pavement and Liz Phair, Dan Ozzi’s ‘Sell Out’, Jawbreaker’s major label fiasco, RATM, Turnstile and Taco Bell, and the legacy or lack thereof of anti-corporate rock.The episode also includes Josh’s recollections as an LA ska teenager, the countrified rock of Ben and Josh’s old BK band Perfect Teeth, Ben’s 2011 bedroom project Big Fir, an exploration of Bodega Bay’s first ballad ‘16x9’, and the story behind the track ‘Major Amberson.’

A deep dive behind the music and philosophy of the NYC art rock band BODEGA. BODEGA BEN breaks down each track from their new album 'Our Brand Could be Yr Life', exploring the theme of the record: the current state of underground rock music. Together with guests and friends including Bodega Bay members and current collaborators, they dissect the story behind the music.For this unique episode, Ben goes all the way back to the BODEGA source and interviews the woman he started Bodega Bay with back in 2013: film producer, activist, and drummer Aiko Masubuchi. The pair discuss the formation of the band, early influences, the original lineup(s), the concept of the band, the importance of politics for Bay, Taiko drumming, ‘Set the Controls for the Heart of the Drum’, Eminem in Tokyo, Bodega Bay’s zine, Kathleen Hanna, poetics vs. analytics, no-fi, gain vs. compression, stand-up drums, The Beets, Ikue Mori and DNA, the pros and cons of poptimism, My Bloody Valentine, Captured Tracks, the quantification of culture, and the urgency of protest for Palestine.The episode also features an in-depth discussion of the track ‘Stain Gaze,’ which is a simultaneous critique and celebration of shoegaze.

A deep dive behind the music and philosophy of the NYC art rock band BODEGA. BODEGA BEN breaks down each track from their new album 'Our Brand Could be Yr Life', exploring the theme of the record: the current state of underground rock music. Together with guests and friends including Bodega Bay members and current collaborators, they dissect the story behind the music.For the seventh episode, Ben interviews current BODEGA drummer Adam Shumski about his drum philosophy and details how a post-show fight was transformed into the song ‘Webster Hall’. Ben and Adam discuss the enduring influence of jazz, hearing Talking Heads in middle school, Squarepusher, Fugazi, The Flaming Lips, Modest Mouse, American Idiot, jazz school, Vita and the wolf, The Lunar Year, meeting Dan Ryan, idiosyncratic stage plotting as a trope of indie rock, the ergonomics of stand-up drumming, Dehd, mallets vs. drum sticks, hard hitting jazz drummers, Elvin Jones, drum fills as timekeeping, The Beatles' ‘Come Together’, origins of music publishing, Bodega Bay’s band field trip seeing of Montreal at Webster Hall, and Adam’s mental evolution from craftsperson to artist.

A deep dive behind the music and philosophy of the NYC art rock band BODEGA. BODEGA BEN breaks down each track from their new album 'Our Brand Could be Yr Life', exploring the theme of the record: the current state of underground rock music. Together with guests and friends including Bodega Bay members and current collaborators, they dissect the story behind the music.In the ninth episode, Ben interviews Bodega Bay bass player Tom Miller about his musical life and his contribution to the track ‘Set the Controls for the Heart of the Drum.’ Topics discussed include Tom’s classical childhood, Animal Collective, hair metal and indie hedonism, Steve Hanley and The Fall, repetition as an aesthetic strategy, authenticity, Pink Flag and Pink Floyd, ‘Ode to Drum’, DIY yuppies, swing and iambic pentameter, and the utopia of having a dedicated creative friend circle.