Eric Andre hosts the wildly original late night talk show The Eric Andre Show on Adult Swim. He is a fearless performer and his favorite musicians also hold nothing back, from experimental hip hop group Death Grips to Canadian electronic musician Venetian Snares and jazz great Sonny Rollins. Hosted by Anthony Valadez.
A heads up that our guest this week does not hold back -- which means there are lyrics and conversation that are explicit and might be offensive to some. But if you're adventurous, this is the Guest DJ Project for you.
Tracklist:
1. Death Grips - Full Moon
2. Venetian Snares - Hand Throw
3. Sonny Rollins - Be Quick
4. Gucci Mane - Lemonade
5. Khia - My Neck, My Back
Hey, I’m Anthony Valadez, and I am here with actor and comedian Eric Andre, host of the wildly original late night talk show “The Eric Andre Show” on Adult Swim. He has also had roles in TV series like “Two Broke Girls” and stars on FX’s “Man Seeking Women”. His fearlessness as a performer, is a wonder to behold, and we are excited to have him here today. We will be playing songs he selected that have inspired him over the years as part of KCRW’s Guest DJ Project. Eric, Welcome!
Eric Andre: Thank you for having me!
Anthony: Excited to have you here!
Eric: Yes!
Anthony: So, what did you bring for us today?
Eric: I brought forth Death Grips’ “Full Moon” I love this song, I think it’s great. It helps me think. It’s like how my mind works. I don’t know, I have never heard anything like it. It was one of the first Death Grip songs I heard and I was so blown away. I feel like they’re the new music. They are really creative.
Anthony: So I’m curious, with this song, is there any distinctive memory of this song?
Eric: I lost my anal virginity to this song. I sat on a cigar. No, no I don’t really have any; I wish I had a better more interesting story to make this more exciting, but I just listen to this song and I was like, “This song is cool!”
Anthony: But you know what, I kind of see a parallel. When I listen to this song I think of an introduction of the Eric Andre Show, there is this madness that reminds me of you jumping around.
Eric: Yeah, I listen to these guys when I write. They help me write. They are a big influence on the show. For sure. Big time. It’s like coffee and music. That’s the key to good writing.
Anthony: Let’s hear some Death Grips with Full Moon
*Song: Death Grips -- “Full Moon”
Anthony: That was experimental hip hop group Death Grips. Alright, so what is your next pick?
Eric: All these songs I kind of…like these first three I picked are ones I write to. And then, the last two are the ones I just jam out to.
Anthony: Okay
Eric: So this next one is, Sonny Rollins’ “Be Quick”. I think it’s the fastest Jazz song, bebop song I have ever heard in my life. It’s insane. It sounds like Jazz being fast forwarded. It sounds like two bands playing at the same time.
Anthony: It does.
Eric: It’s like, totally nuts.
Anthony: Is there a connection with Jazz music as a whole, with you?
Eric: Yeah, I was an upright bass player in college. I went to the Berklee College of Music.
Anthony: How was that?
Eric: Um… It was good way to waste $120,000 dollars.
Anthony: Are there any parallels with comedy and Jazz music?
Eric: I think...Yea… I think it’s very improvisational. It’s all about timing. A lot of guys who edit the Eric Andre Show are DJs and I thought that was funny. It’s funny that Doug and Luke are DJs and my director said, “No, that makes total sense because the way you edit, especially comedy, is all about timing and hitting a note, what feels right and good”. So… there is a lot of connections between all temporal arts. Dance. Music. Comedy.
Anthony: Well let’s take a listen; this is Sonny Rollins’ “Be Quick”.
*Song: Sonny Rollins – “Be Quick”
Anthony: That was Jazz great Sonny Rollin’s “Be Quick” the choice of our guest DJ Eric Andre. So, what do you have next?
Eric: Venetian Snares’ “Hand Throw”. This song is like the craziest song I have ever heard. I’ve never heard anything like this in my entire life. This guy, Venetian Snares, is like my idol, and it’s so insane.
Anthony: Do you ever try to recreate what you hear visually?
Eric: Yeah, I think I try to recreate this. I listen to this before I destroy the set of my show. I’ll listen to songs like this to kinda get like hyped up and I’ll listen to this while I write too. It combines what I like about metal and what I like about electronic music. Not a single measure of the music repeats. You have to go in and put each note in millisecond by millisecond, that’s why this guy makes masterpieces he’s really like a composer. He’s from Winnipeg, which is a frozen shithole in the center of Canada, and it’s the murder capital of Canada so…ah…it’s a weird place to be from.
Anthony: It’s all relevant, huh?
Eric: Yeah.
Anthony: Well, let’s take a listen, this is Venetian Snares with “Hand Throw”.
*Song: Venetian Snares – "Hand Throw"
Anthony: That was Venetian Snares with “Hand Throw”, selected by Eric Andre as part of KCRWs Guest DJ Project. Alright, so what else is on our record bag?
Eric: Gucci Mane’s “Lemonade”. I love the Gucci Mane, future school of rappers that are kinda like mush mouth mumble mouth. It’s like, relaxing to listen to.
Anthony: Why do you like that?
Eric: Cause they’re just like (imitates them with indistinct mumbling) it’s like, uh one of those massage chairs up at Brookstone or Shaper Image.
Anthony: (laughs) Kinda is.
Eric: “Lemonade” sounds exactly like this Flo & Eddie song “Keep It Warm”. And Flo & Eddie were in Frank Zappa’s band, and they were like the predecessor to Ween. They were like really good musicians, but they were also really funny and they combined comedy and progressive music and still made it like poppy and didn’t make it feel like pretentious or bogged down. So if you play “Keep It Warm” by Flo & Eddie and Gucci Mane’s “Lemonade” back to back, you’re in for a treat. But I don’t even think “Lemonade” samples from Flo & Eddie it just sounds very similar.
Both: yeah
Anthony: What do you think would happen if you played those two songs together at the same time?
Eric: Uh…you would hear Satan telling you to murder your family and be like “666 murder your parents, bury your sister (indistinct mumbling), humanity is the devil.”
Anthony: Well, let’s take a listen. This is Gucci Mane with “Lemonade.”
*Song: Gucci Mane – "Lemonade"
Anthony: That was Gucci Mane with “Lemonade” selected by Eric Andre. Alright, what else do you have for use?
Eric: This is one of my favorite songs -- keya, kya, khia? I don’t even know how to say her name “My Neck, My Back, My Netflix, and My Snacks”
Anthony: Alright, so I understand that you’re a big fan of—of-- - chiropractics of the back…
Eric: (laughs)
Anthony: …and health
Eric: I like this song because men always get to be crude in music, but women are rarely crude, so it’s like nice for the “sistas” to finally put some crude ass shit out there with my neck, my back, my pussy, and my crack…she gets right to the chase.
Anthony: It’s kind of like your show, like the first five seconds is you breaking stuff.
Eric: Yeah.
Anthony: …and the first five seconds of this song is ‘my neck, my back, my pussy, and my crack.’
Eric: Yeah.
Anthony: A lot of parallels here.
Eric: Yeah. A lot of parallels. I, get my pussy and my crack licked every…umm…episode.
Anthony: Mmmm.
Eric: …before I go on…
Anthony: (laughs)
Eric: …before I go on stage.
Anthony: Now is this something you might play when you’re cleaning the house when hanging out with the moms—
Eric: -- Yeaaaaaaaah-- --
Anthony: …or with the girls
Eric: …hanging out with the mom, hanging out with grandma…it’s very, very, incestuous and inappropriate…
Anthony: (overlapping) mmmmmhmmm.
Eric: …at my house.
Anthony: And what are the reactions when you play this?
Eric: People get titillated, I’d say…
Anthony: mm-hmm.
Eric: …goosebumps.
Anthony: What’s your reaction?
Eric: My nipples get rock-hard.
Anthony: Well let’s, let’s get your nipples hard and let’s take a listen…this is Khia with “My Neck, My Back”.
Eric: If I had a dollar for every time somebody said that to me.
Anthony: (laughs)
*Song: Khia –“My Neck, My Back”
Anthony: Eric, well thanks so much for joining us at KCRW.com
Eric: Thank YOU—appreciate it. (whispers) Watch Eric Andre show on “Adult Swim” Friday nights.
Anthony: For a complete Track Listing and to find these songs go online to kcrw dot com slash Guest DJ Project and subscribe to the podcast through iTunes.