June 10, 2023—
I mean, SURFER Rosa.
I listened to the “Life of the Record” podcast yesterday (an Austin Kleon recommendation) on the making of the Pixies’ Surfer Rosa (album on Spotify). An a-ha moment—when Joey Santiago said he had listened to a lot of surf music, “because I knew it was gonna serve me well, because I don’t sing (laughs). So instrumentals were really the key to me to listen to.”
I finally put their punk up to my ear, and heard the hugeness of surf (EPIC WAVES, tragedies, all the way from long ago). Also, vast admiration for album engineer Steve Albini who had them record in the studio bathroom even (acoustics!) to get all those sounds.
I listened, while I poured my Saturday down the drain of a ridiculous art project, to how hard the Pixies had worked. Making the album was a given. They were there.
Joey Santiago: “We had this rehearsal space and we were really just, we were the only ones practicing diligently. It seemed like everyone was just partying. There were like maybe seven other rooms there? Yeah and then we would open the door and they were listening to us (laughs).”
Photo: Spectral (blurry) older guy with a Robin Hood hat, biking with intention, Rochester, NY. I took a walk, and it was just the most interesting thing I saw today. Lost member of the Pixies.