Blake Mills interviewed by Pablo Held
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- čas přidán 13. 03. 2021
- My dear friend Jonas Burgwinkel was the one who told me about Blake Mills first, hipping me to his album “Heigh Ho”. I liked it right away. But it was Blake’s “Mutable Set” that completely turned me around. It really hit me and I somehow became addicted to it, listening to it all the time. It’s probably the record I listened to the most during 2020. I love to get lost in music like that.
Blake actually changed the way I listen to music, making me more aware of the impact of great production on a record. And there’s a patience and honesty in his music that really moves me: Being a killer guitarist while having total restraint, never showing off - that’s rare. To me, Blake is of this singular breed of artists that are totally unpredictable, where you never know what they’ll do next. I mean, I couldn’t have predicted “Look” after “Heigh Ho” or “Notes with Attachments” after “Mutable Set”. Can’t wait to hear what he’ll come up with next. But I already know that I’ll be listening closely.
A few notes about the story behind this interview:
Chris Weisman helped me get in touch with Blake. Our interview went great, we talked a lot about “Mutable Set” and I was super excited to share it as soon as possible. However, when the first single of the Blake Mills/Pino Palladino record was released soon after, I knew I needed to talk to him once more. There would have been no point in releasing the interview without addressing this new music. I’m so grateful that Blake agreed on another talk with me. In our second conversation we went through every song on the new album and Blake offered incredible insights into the process behind it.
a few pointers 👉
support the "Pablo Held Investigates" Podcast on Patreon: / pabloheld
check out my music here: pabloheld.bandcamp.com/
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get the "Investigation Notes" notebook here: pabloheld.bandcamp.com/merch/...
my website: pabloheld.com - Hudba
It’s funny listening to this now, knowing that Blake and Chris would go on to create the beautiful Jelly Road. Thanks for documenting this beautiful journey Pablo!
Pablo, it was Chris Weisman's interview that grabbed me of your series. I've been listening to that fellow since undergrad. Read whatever I could of him. Plagiarize whatever I could of him lol. (You can even see me way in the front of one of his Brooklyn shows in 2018, studying intensely at his fretboard). If I could issue a request, I would LOVE for you to talk to Van Dyke Parks, producer, string arranger, all around pop and polyphonic wizard. He was interviewed once on CZcams before like 3 years ago but not much since. Would really love for you to listen to his work like Song Cycle, Jump!, or what he did with Brain Wilson's SMiLE. Looking at Park's social media (in particular his twitter) he seems like an easy fellow to get in touch with. Regardless. this Mills interview and everything else before it have been pure gold. Keep it up!
wow Zack. thanks for this note. I'll definitely check out Van Dyke Parks music, sounds very interesting. I'm glad your digging the interviews! If you'd like to help me to continue doing this please consider supporting me on patreon.com/pabloheld thank you so much!
Voll interessant. Danke!
Thank you for all of your incredible interviews man
Thank you Joseph! If you feel like supporting this work please head over to patreon.com/pabloheld
Every kind of support helps me to continue this.
this is just great stuff. thank you
Thank you Cole
this is great, Pablo. Thank you
Thanks for checking out the interview, João!
this rocks
Brilliant Pablo! Thank you
thanks for checking out this interview Ronan!!
Wow. Another great interview. Yet another artist I’m just discovering from this amazing series. The content is so rich and engaging. It makes me do my homework and I’m just so thrilled to be turning over new musical stones and expanding musical horizons. I think it’s great, Pablo, that your investigations are not necessarily focused on strictly jazz or classical styles. Genuine curiosity seems to be the driving force. As I dig deeper into Blake’s material I can’t help but think of Jim O’Rourke’s work. Maybe it has to do with the similarities in the the timbre of their voices, but more than anything, I just hear another shining example of the good things that can happen when someone loves to tinker with sound, instrumentation, layering and production techniques. My hats off to you for another deep dive into a beautiful musical mind and a timely promotion of a killer new record that I’m enjoying very much!
Thanks for your nice replay Stephen!! I really appreciate it.
this is so great, im so grateful to you for doing this and for asking such thoughtful and insightful questions
Thanks Harry!!
I admit I´m addicted . Congrats for another great one
Thank you. A great place for all addicts is patreon.com/pabloheld - we can help each other ;-)
Super spannend. Ich habe vor ein paar Wochen Blake und Pino interviewt. Auch mich hat interessiert, wie z.B. 'Ekouté' entstanden ist, und auch ich habe nach der Eins gesucht und sie dann wohl auch gefunden. LOL! Ich habe ein paar Sachen transkribiert, die dann in der nächsten Ausgabe von Gitarre & Bass mit dem Interview veröffentlicht werden. Interessant auch, dass Sheet Music bei dieser Produktion und generell wohl bei Blake und Pino keine Rolle spielt. So macht es auch Michael League bei Snarky Puppy. Er macht Audio-Demos, die dann an die Sections gehen. Transkriptionen, Stimmen und Arrangements werden erst geschrieben, wenn die Songs längst aufgenommen sind. Ich habe auch Robin Mullarkey, den Bassisten von Jacob Collier, interviewt. Er hat bei einem einzigen Stück noch ein Leadsheet bekommen, ansonsten notiert Jacob gar nichts. Er castet Musiker, von denen er weiß, dass sie alles über Gehör und Gedächtnis erfassen und abspeichern. Für das Tiny Desk Konzert mit Robin und Becca Stevens hatte die Band einen Tag Zeit, um das komplette Set zu lernen. Alle Songs waren brandneu.
You are doing amazing things Pablo.. thank you so much for your dedication and your work! Much love from South Korea
Thanks for the kind words!!
@@PabloHeldmusic another thing I would like to add is that I love the fact that you did your research and that you genuinely love the musician (I mean how can you not..?) and his music. Man I love the hunger and the thirst that you have and all of your questions are in the likes of what I would ask him as well and I deeply appreciate that you are giving us this gift. Thank you.
@@junhosong4285 Hey Junho - thank you, that means a lot. If you feel like supporting my efforts to bring you these interviews head over to patreon.com/pabloheld ... any contribution helps me to continue this.
Danke Pablo - Blake Mills ist großartig!
Find ich auch!
Gems:
Get rid of expectations.
Throw out all your records.
Always play to the ideal listener.
Thanks for catching those, Michael!
@@PabloHeldmusic thanks for the interviews!!!
So interesting!
🤌
Would love to see you talk with Blake and Chris about Jelly Road. Big fan from San Francisco 🤘
It’s gonna happen!!! Early July ;-))
woohoo!
Yeah!
Pablo, excellent interview as always. What's the title of the Claudio Arrau book you mention around 2 hours 13 minutes? I see a few different ones when I'm searching his name.
Thank you Max!! The Book is called "Arrau On Music And Performance" - it's excellent!
Uh ohhhhhh
Sure!