On a brand new episode of Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam, and Justin Richmond, the amalgamation of musical styles that is Bartees Strange talks with Justin about his ascent into the upper echelon of indie rock, performs an acoustic version of his song “Heavy Heart," and more.
LISTEN NOW: Broken Record — Bartees Strange
Raised in Mustang, Oklahoma as one of the few Black kids in an area rife with racial violence, as a teenager Bartees discovered Christian hardcore punk and for the first time he felt at home in a scene that embraced outsiders of all kinds. After graduating college and a stint working in D.C., he then moved to Brooklyn where he found a bunch of musical collaborators. Releasing his debut album, Live Forever, in 2020, this year Bartees dropped his follow-up album, Farm To Table, to critical acclaim.
Bartees wide-reaching sound makes perfect sense given his Midwest upbringing and early influences. Listen to any given song on his newest release and you can hear hints of early aughts emo, auto-tuned Hip Hop vocals, and Country Blues — all housed in an indie rock veneer.
“When I made Live Forever no one wanted to sign me at all, like everyone passed on my album, everyone. I was like, ‘I get it, like it’s weird, it’s whatever, but I think it’s gonna work,’ and it worked.”
He continued, “and then everyone came back, and they knew I had vision. And they knew that I knew what I was doing, and that I could make the record, like I don’t need a lot to make the record, I can do it all by myself.”
So when it came to selecting a label, Strange knew that 4AD was the one. “They understood me the deepest, and they understood that I had vision. They were just gonna trust me, and I felt like they understood that I was in it for the long haul. Like I wasn’t looking for a hit, I wasn’t trying to like make the biggest song of 2022. I was just like ‘I’m gonna build this thing over time, and one day we’re all gonna look down from the mountain and be like ‘look what we did.’”
Aside from discussing his musical climb and coming to the realization that "this is working," Bartees also talked about his producing for other artists and his personal creative process of songwriting and how lyrics always come last. Bartees also performed an acoustic version of his song “Heavy Heart," and he played stems from two songs off his new album, revealing how he is able to expertly build what he calls, “sections on sections.”
To listen to the entire conversation, press play on the episode above.
Discover the newest in Alternative weekly, listen too ALT New Arrivals on the free Audacy app
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
