Bullseye with Jesse Thorn: Electronic Musician and Producer, Tobacco

Episode notes

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Photo: Goaliedudegreg / Wikimedia CommonsElectronic musician and producer, Tobacco on the early days of Black Moth Super Rainbow, and the latest album Panic BloomsWe’re thrilled to bring you our conversation with electronic musician and producer, Tobacco!

Earlier this year, Tobacco collaborated with Aesop Rock. Together they go by the name Malibu Ken. If you’ve seen HBO’s Silicon Valley then you’ve heard some of his stuff – his track Stretch Your Face is featured as the shows theme song.

Tobacco is probably best known as the enigmatic figure behind the musical group Black Moth Super Rainbow. Their music is often categorized as psychedelic rock. But, if you ask Tobacco his music is much more than a genre.

The music is kind of dirty and unsettling. It’s made with a ton of old synths, tape distortion. Plus, a lot of weird, processed vocals. It’s dark, beautiful and even when you can’t quite understand the obscure lyrics there’s a lot of feelings there.

Tobacco opens up about the early days of Black Moth Super Rainbow. He’ll tell us about some of his first synthesizers, and love of Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada. It’s often been noted that members of the band enjoy their privacy, and perform in masks – Tobacco explains the secrecy behind many of the members. Plus, why the latest Black Moth Super Rainbow album Panic Blooms allowed him to open up about depression.

Click here to listen to Tobacco’s interview on YouTube.

In this episode...

Jesse Thorn

Host

Kevin Ferguson

Senior Producer

Jesus Ambrosio

Producer

Richard Robey

Maximum Fun Producer

Daniel Huecias

Maximum Fun Production Fellow

Guests

Tobacco

About the show

Bullseye is a celebration of the best of arts and culture in public radio form. Host Jesse Thorn sifts the wheat from the chaff to bring you in-depth interviews with the most revered and revolutionary minds in our culture.

Bullseye has been featured in Time, The New York Times, GQ and McSweeney’s, which called it “the kind of show people listen to in a more perfect world.” Since April 2013, the show has been distributed by NPR.

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