WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.620 Imagine a really famous, incredibly intense, 00:00:05.820 --> 00:00:08.779 dramatic actor. Oh, right, yeah. Like the kind 00:00:08.779 --> 00:00:12.099 of actor who routinely wins Academy Awards for 00:00:12.099 --> 00:00:15.099 playing these brooding, complex characters in 00:00:15.099 --> 00:00:17.140 heavy three -hour ethics. You know the exact 00:00:17.140 --> 00:00:18.879 type. Yeah, the ones who probably stay in character 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:21.339 between takes. Exactly. They only speak in raspy 00:00:21.339 --> 00:00:23.239 whispers the whole nine yards. Right, the kind 00:00:23.239 --> 00:00:26.429 of performer where... You, the audience, just 00:00:26.429 --> 00:00:29.309 expense a profound, almost exhausting emotional 00:00:29.309 --> 00:00:31.829 weight every single time they step on screen. 00:00:32.030 --> 00:00:35.229 Yes. So imagine you buy a ticket to see this 00:00:35.229 --> 00:00:37.890 actor's highly anticipated new stage project. 00:00:38.049 --> 00:00:40.810 Okay. The lights go down, the curtain goes up, 00:00:41.189 --> 00:00:43.049 and they are standing in front of a brick wall. 00:00:44.190 --> 00:00:47.170 doing avant -garde, absurdist stand -up comedy 00:00:47.170 --> 00:00:49.229 involving props. Oh, man. You would be looking 00:00:49.229 --> 00:00:50.729 around the theater wondering if you accidentally 00:00:50.729 --> 00:00:53.109 walked into the wrong building. Totally. I mean, 00:00:53.270 --> 00:00:55.109 the whiplash would just be intense. You'd be 00:00:55.109 --> 00:00:57.869 totally lost. Yeah. And that feeling, that exact 00:00:57.869 --> 00:01:00.409 friction between what you expect a beloved artist 00:01:00.409 --> 00:01:03.009 to do and what they actually deliver when they 00:01:03.009 --> 00:01:05.290 decide to just tear up their own rule book, that 00:01:05.290 --> 00:01:07.969 is what we are exploring today. It's a fascinating 00:01:07.969 --> 00:01:10.510 dynamic. It really is. Welcome to the Deep Dive. 00:01:10.629 --> 00:01:12.609 We are thrilled to have you here with us. Today, 00:01:12.689 --> 00:01:14.909 we are pulling all of our insights from a single 00:01:14.909 --> 00:01:18.450 really fascinating source, which is the Wikipedia 00:01:18.450 --> 00:01:21.890 article for Pusfer's 2007 debut studio album, 00:01:22.530 --> 00:01:26.629 V is for Vagina. It is quite a title, I mean, 00:01:26.689 --> 00:01:29.390 right off the bat. And the story behind it is 00:01:29.390 --> 00:01:31.989 an absolute master class in creative disruption. 00:01:32.170 --> 00:01:35.019 For sure. So our mission today is to look at 00:01:35.019 --> 00:01:39.060 the anatomy of a massive creative pivot. We really 00:01:39.060 --> 00:01:41.099 want to understand how an established artist 00:01:41.099 --> 00:01:43.480 completely reinvents their sound. And how they 00:01:43.480 --> 00:01:45.939 manage a totally bizarre rollout for that new 00:01:45.939 --> 00:01:48.650 sound too. Right. and most importantly, how they 00:01:48.650 --> 00:01:52.250 treat their music as a living, evolving project 00:01:52.250 --> 00:01:54.969 rather than just a static product gathering dust 00:01:54.969 --> 00:01:57.250 on a shelf. Okay, let's unpack this. We really 00:01:57.250 --> 00:01:59.150 have to start with the context of The Front Man 00:01:59.150 --> 00:02:01.790 because that is the baseline expectation we are 00:02:01.790 --> 00:02:03.870 subverting here. Yeah, before we can even look 00:02:03.870 --> 00:02:05.810 at how this album was put together, we really 00:02:05.810 --> 00:02:07.629 need to understand exactly what it sounds like 00:02:07.629 --> 00:02:10.090 because the genre shift is the most jarring part 00:02:10.090 --> 00:02:12.009 of the narrative. Oh, absolutely. So the album 00:02:12.009 --> 00:02:15.189 drops on October 30, 2007. It's released under 00:02:15.189 --> 00:02:17.990 Sony, BMG, and and Pussifer Entertainment. And 00:02:17.990 --> 00:02:20.689 it is the debut studio album by Maynard James 00:02:20.689 --> 00:02:23.349 Keenan's side project, Pussifer. Right, and for 00:02:23.349 --> 00:02:25.969 anyone who follows rock music, that name carries 00:02:25.969 --> 00:02:29.370 a massive, massive legacy. Huge. I mean, he is 00:02:29.370 --> 00:02:31.879 the front man for Tool in a Perfect Circle. Bands 00:02:31.879 --> 00:02:34.780 that are globally revered for highly complex, 00:02:34.979 --> 00:02:38.280 progressive, alternative metal. Yes. We are talking 00:02:38.280 --> 00:02:41.580 about music with shifting time signatures, aggressive 00:02:41.580 --> 00:02:44.840 guitars, these deeply layered philosophical lyrics, 00:02:44.900 --> 00:02:48.139 and a very specific menacing intensity. Right. 00:02:48.139 --> 00:02:50.080 And then you look at how the source categorizes 00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:53.259 V is for vagina. The genres listed are alternative 00:02:53.259 --> 00:02:55.960 rock, trip hop, and post -industrial. Wait, actually, 00:02:56.020 --> 00:02:58.159 before we go further, what actually is trip hop? 00:02:58.219 --> 00:03:00.139 Because to me, honestly, that just sounds like 00:03:00.139 --> 00:03:02.060 someone falling over. a drum kit. That's a fair 00:03:02.060 --> 00:03:04.680 point. Think of trip hop as taking a traditional 00:03:04.680 --> 00:03:07.060 hip hop beat, drastically slowing down the tempo, 00:03:07.539 --> 00:03:10.340 removing the wrapper entirely, and layering the 00:03:10.340 --> 00:03:12.939 empty space with moody cinematic synthesizers. 00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:15.439 Oh. Yeah. And maybe some haunting vocal melodies 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:18.319 on top. It emerged in the UK in the 90s. Bands 00:03:18.319 --> 00:03:21.180 like Massive Attack. Oh, I know them. Right. 00:03:21.319 --> 00:03:23.860 It is very atmospheric and deeply rhythmic. Got 00:03:23.860 --> 00:03:26.379 it. Post -industrial, on the other hand, is a 00:03:26.379 --> 00:03:29.590 bit different. It's harsh. It takes the abrasive, 00:03:29.870 --> 00:03:32.490 mechanical, factory -like sounds of industrial 00:03:32.490 --> 00:03:35.430 music, think clanking metal and distorted drum 00:03:35.430 --> 00:03:38.030 machines, and gives it a slightly more structured, 00:03:38.389 --> 00:03:41.389 song -oriented format. Which is obviously a massive 00:03:41.389 --> 00:03:43.689 departure from progressive rock guitars. Huge. 00:03:44.169 --> 00:03:46.409 And here's where I kind of have to push back 00:03:46.409 --> 00:03:48.229 a little on these labels, or at least point out 00:03:48.229 --> 00:03:50.090 a massive contradiction in the source material. 00:03:50.129 --> 00:03:53.629 OK, what is it? We have these heavy, somewhat 00:03:53.629 --> 00:03:56.969 cold labels, like post -industrial, trip hop. 00:03:57.389 --> 00:03:59.669 But then the article includes a direct quote 00:03:59.669 --> 00:04:02.610 from Keenan himself about the sound. Right. He 00:04:02.610 --> 00:04:04.669 compared it to, quote, driving around in your 00:04:04.669 --> 00:04:07.250 car listening to those old Motown hits, James 00:04:07.250 --> 00:04:10.629 Brown and cool R &B stuff. Yeah. How do we reconcile 00:04:10.629 --> 00:04:12.650 that? I mean, how do you take a heavy metallic 00:04:12.650 --> 00:04:15.090 label like Post Industrial and mix it with the 00:04:15.090 --> 00:04:17.370 soulful sweat of James Brown and Motown? Well, 00:04:17.370 --> 00:04:19.750 what's fascinating here is that the friction 00:04:19.750 --> 00:04:21.949 you are sensing is actually the entire point. 00:04:22.189 --> 00:04:24.970 Really? Yeah. If you look closely at James Brown's 00:04:24.970 --> 00:04:28.110 funk and harsh industrial electronic music, they 00:04:28.110 --> 00:04:30.889 actually share one vital piece of musical DNA. 00:04:31.129 --> 00:04:33.089 Which is? They are both entirely built around 00:04:33.089 --> 00:04:36.810 a hypnotic, repetitive, mechanical groove. Oh, 00:04:36.810 --> 00:04:39.089 wow. Yeah, James Brown is famously all about 00:04:39.089 --> 00:04:42.089 being in the pocket. His band operated like a 00:04:42.089 --> 00:04:44.990 well -oiled machine playing tight, endless, rhythmic 00:04:44.990 --> 00:04:48.579 loops. Yes, exactly. So industrial music is a 00:04:48.579 --> 00:04:52.060 cold robotic loop. James Brown is a warm, human, 00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:55.139 sweaty loop. What Keenan is doing here is blending 00:04:55.139 --> 00:04:58.300 these electronic mechanical frameworks with warm, 00:04:58.600 --> 00:05:02.019 rhythmic R &B sensibilities. He is essentially 00:05:02.019 --> 00:05:05.439 building a cyborg. It's a robotic musical skeleton 00:05:05.439 --> 00:05:07.360 with a human heartbeat. That's a great way to 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:10.100 put it. It's moody, it's electronic, but it has 00:05:10.100 --> 00:05:13.740 this undeniable swagger to it. That contrast 00:05:13.740 --> 00:05:16.560 is exactly what makes this side project distinct 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:18.579 from the rock he was previously known for. Right, 00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:20.319 he wasn't just writing tool songs, but with a 00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:24.279 synthesizer. Exactly. He was operating in a completely 00:05:24.279 --> 00:05:26.939 different musical language based on groove rather 00:05:26.939 --> 00:05:29.819 than aggression. Which means, to speak that new 00:05:29.819 --> 00:05:31.819 language, he couldn't just use his normal translation 00:05:31.819 --> 00:05:34.120 dictionary, right? No, not at all. To build a 00:05:34.120 --> 00:05:36.720 cyborg, you don't use a traditional four -piece 00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:40.850 rock band. To execute a sonic shift... this radical, 00:05:41.329 --> 00:05:43.910 he needed a highly eclectic cast of collaborators. 00:05:44.490 --> 00:05:46.990 And the personnel list for this album reflects 00:05:46.990 --> 00:05:49.810 that perfectly. It functions far more like a 00:05:49.810 --> 00:05:51.730 collective than a traditional band. Honestly, 00:05:51.870 --> 00:05:54.069 it looks like a massive cinematic heist crew, 00:05:54.550 --> 00:05:57.129 where everyone has a highly specific niche specialty. 00:05:57.250 --> 00:05:58.850 It really does. Let's look at the key players. 00:05:59.069 --> 00:06:01.689 You have Matt Mitchell, credited with bass, guitar, 00:06:01.810 --> 00:06:04.490 and programming. Tim Herb Alexander, who people 00:06:04.490 --> 00:06:06.529 might know from Primus on drums and drum engineering. 00:06:06.829 --> 00:06:09.810 Right. Brian Lustmore on programming. Joe Berezi 00:06:09.810 --> 00:06:12.430 on guitar. And that is just the core architecture. 00:06:12.569 --> 00:06:14.870 Then you layer on the eclectic instrumentation. 00:06:15.050 --> 00:06:17.649 Yeah, it gets wild. Alessandro Cortini is bringing 00:06:17.649 --> 00:06:21.029 in synthesizer. Alfredo Noguera is playing a 00:06:21.029 --> 00:06:24.089 pedal steel guitar. Josh Eustis is on a relitzer, 00:06:24.490 --> 00:06:26.889 along with guitar and programming. And Johnny 00:06:26.889 --> 00:06:29.829 Polanski is doing piano, sampling, loops, and 00:06:29.829 --> 00:06:32.420 a clarinet. A clarinet? Yeah. Actually, Keenan 00:06:32.420 --> 00:06:35.279 himself is also credited with playing the clarinet, 00:06:35.639 --> 00:06:38.339 along with vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion, 00:06:38.759 --> 00:06:41.660 and drums. It's quite the mix. So I have to ask, 00:06:42.439 --> 00:06:45.399 with 15 plus different performers coming in and 00:06:45.399 --> 00:06:48.000 out, playing everything from analog synths to 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:51.699 a country western pedal steel to a literal clarinet, 00:06:52.139 --> 00:06:54.939 how does an album like this not just collapse 00:06:54.939 --> 00:06:58.779 into absolute sonic mud? The answer lies entirely 00:06:58.779 --> 00:07:01.800 in the production and mixing credits. This wasn't 00:07:01.800 --> 00:07:03.759 a bunch of guys standing in a circle in a garage 00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:05.480 trying to find a groove together in one room. 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:08.600 It was meticulously assembled. Look at the heavy 00:07:08.600 --> 00:07:11.310 emphasis on programming. Mitchell, Lustmore, 00:07:11.410 --> 00:07:14.149 and Eustace are all credited with it. That programming 00:07:14.149 --> 00:07:16.610 is the digital grid. It's the graph paper everything 00:07:16.610 --> 00:07:18.709 else is drawn on. I get it. So if a traditional 00:07:18.709 --> 00:07:20.990 rock band is a live painting where everyone is 00:07:20.990 --> 00:07:22.990 splashing color on the canvas at the same time, 00:07:23.389 --> 00:07:26.410 this album is a digital collage. Yes, that is 00:07:26.410 --> 00:07:29.790 a perfect analogy. You cut out a pristine audio 00:07:29.790 --> 00:07:32.189 snippet of a clarinet. You cut out a recording 00:07:32.189 --> 00:07:34.850 of a pedal steel. And you use the programming 00:07:34.850 --> 00:07:37.769 grid to snap them precisely into place. Exactly. 00:07:38.129 --> 00:07:40.930 And then, crucially, you have the mixing. The 00:07:40.930 --> 00:07:43.889 source specifically calls out Alan Molder and 00:07:43.889 --> 00:07:46.750 Andy Savers on mixing and Bob Ludwig on mastering. 00:07:46.930 --> 00:07:50.250 Right. Big names. In a producer -driven electronic 00:07:50.250 --> 00:07:52.689 project like this, the mix is just as important 00:07:52.689 --> 00:07:55.029 as the instruments being played. So walk us through 00:07:55.029 --> 00:07:57.089 how that actually works mechanically. Yeah. Because 00:07:57.089 --> 00:08:00.029 mixing sounds like a generic studio term. Well, 00:08:00.209 --> 00:08:03.569 a clarinet. and a heavy synthetic bassline both 00:08:03.569 --> 00:08:05.730 take up sonic space. If you just play them at 00:08:05.730 --> 00:08:07.730 the same volume, they clash and turn into the 00:08:07.730 --> 00:08:09.769 mud you mentioned earlier. Right. A world -class 00:08:09.769 --> 00:08:13.490 mixer like Alan Molder uses EQ. equalization 00:08:13.490 --> 00:08:16.009 to literally slice up the audio frequencies. 00:08:16.089 --> 00:08:18.370 Oh, interesting. He might apply a filter to the 00:08:18.370 --> 00:08:20.810 bass line so it only occupies the lowest rumbling 00:08:20.810 --> 00:08:23.350 frequencies and then carve out space in the high 00:08:23.350 --> 00:08:25.389 -mid frequencies strictly for the clarinet to 00:08:25.389 --> 00:08:28.389 live. They are glued to the same digital timeline, 00:08:28.790 --> 00:08:31.389 but they are living in completely different frequency 00:08:31.389 --> 00:08:33.769 neighborhoods. They never step on each other's 00:08:33.769 --> 00:08:36.230 toes. That's fascinating. They are forced to 00:08:36.230 --> 00:08:39.019 cooperate by the engineer. Basically, yeah. And 00:08:39.019 --> 00:08:41.539 because the album was assembled in this highly 00:08:41.539 --> 00:08:44.899 unconventional piecemeal way, I suppose it makes 00:08:44.899 --> 00:08:46.799 total sense that the marketing and the release 00:08:46.799 --> 00:08:50.960 strategy in the fall of 2007 was equally bizarre 00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:53.759 and fragmented. Oh, the rollout was anything 00:08:53.759 --> 00:08:56.139 but traditional. It was chaotic by design. Let's 00:08:56.139 --> 00:08:58.340 walk through this timeline because looking at 00:08:58.340 --> 00:09:01.480 it from today's perspective, it is wild. It really 00:09:01.480 --> 00:09:04.360 is. The album officially drops on October 30th, 00:09:04.360 --> 00:09:07.279 but the rollout starts a month earlier on October 00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:10.539 2nd. with a single called Country Boner. But 00:09:10.539 --> 00:09:12.700 here's the catch. It is a non -album single, 00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:15.340 and it is retail only. Meaning you had to actually 00:09:15.340 --> 00:09:17.299 leave your house, drive to a physical record 00:09:17.299 --> 00:09:20.279 store, and buy a CD single of a song that wouldn't 00:09:20.279 --> 00:09:22.519 even be included on the full album you were planning 00:09:22.519 --> 00:09:25.700 to buy a month later. Which is just crazy. Then, 00:09:25.980 --> 00:09:29.220 exactly a week later on October 9th, an EP drops 00:09:29.220 --> 00:09:31.679 called Don't Shoot the Messenger. But this one 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:34.259 is an iTunes exclusive. Right. And it features 00:09:34.259 --> 00:09:36.480 four tracks that had previously only been released 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:38.759 on movie soundtracks. So you have a physical 00:09:38.759 --> 00:09:41.759 retail exclusive, immediately followed by an 00:09:41.759 --> 00:09:44.000 Apple digital exclusive. Then finally, we get 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:46.799 to the actual music from the debut album. The 00:09:46.799 --> 00:09:49.700 first radio single, Queen Bee, is posted into 00:09:49.700 --> 00:09:51.879 a flash audio player on the official Pussifer 00:09:51.879 --> 00:09:54.759 website. Remember flash players. Oh, barely. 00:09:55.519 --> 00:09:57.559 And the music video for Queen Bee is uploaded 00:09:57.559 --> 00:10:00.059 to YouTube. The source notes that this video 00:10:00.059 --> 00:10:03.320 features, and I am reading this verbatim, several 00:10:03.320 --> 00:10:07.539 fully CGI manners as pawns in a chess game between 00:10:07.539 --> 00:10:10.679 two women. It is just an incredible amount of 00:10:10.679 --> 00:10:12.580 disjointed media to throw at an audience all 00:10:12.580 --> 00:10:14.759 at once. I really have to push back on this strategy, 00:10:14.940 --> 00:10:17.639 though. Okay, why? As a fan, or just as a consumer 00:10:17.639 --> 00:10:20.120 trying to discover a new band, this timeline 00:10:20.120 --> 00:10:23.480 seems completely baffling. Why release a retail 00:10:23.480 --> 00:10:25.820 -only single that isn't even on the record just 00:10:25.820 --> 00:10:28.159 weeks before the debut? It seems weird, sure. 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:31.600 Right. Why scatter your music across physical 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:35.799 stores, iTunes, Flash players, and YouTube with 00:10:35.799 --> 00:10:38.899 CGI chess pawns? Isn't that totally counterintuitive 00:10:38.899 --> 00:10:41.679 to actually selling the album? I mean, why make 00:10:41.679 --> 00:10:44.100 the listener work so incredibly hard just to 00:10:44.100 --> 00:10:46.559 hear the songs? Well, if we connect this to the 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:48.539 bigger picture of what was happening in 2007, 00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:50.779 it starts to make a lot more sense. OK, set the 00:10:50.779 --> 00:10:53.659 scene. Imagine you are standing in a record store 00:10:53.659 --> 00:10:57.320 in the fall of 2007. You might be holding the 00:10:57.320 --> 00:10:59.960 original first -generation iPhone in one hand, 00:11:00.019 --> 00:11:02.279 which had literally just launched that summer. 00:11:02.440 --> 00:11:05.000 Wow, yeah, that long ago. You are trying to figure 00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:07.379 out if you should buy a physical CD jewel case 00:11:07.379 --> 00:11:10.840 or go home and download a 99 -cent track on iTunes. 00:11:11.159 --> 00:11:14.639 YouTube exists, but it is mostly for low -resolution 00:11:14.639 --> 00:11:17.379 cat videos, not official, high -budget music 00:11:17.379 --> 00:11:19.899 premieres. The entire industry was terrified, 00:11:20.019 --> 00:11:22.179 honestly. They were. Napster and Limewire had 00:11:22.179 --> 00:11:24.639 already blown up the traditional CD model, but 00:11:24.639 --> 00:11:27.220 Spotify streaming didn't exist yet. People were 00:11:27.220 --> 00:11:30.039 caught in this weird digital purgatory. Exactly. 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:32.460 The major labels were panicking about piracy 00:11:32.460 --> 00:11:34.600 while desperately trying to monetize digital 00:11:34.600 --> 00:11:37.740 delivery. Right. By utilizing iTunes exclusives, 00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:40.779 retail -only physical tracks, website flash players, 00:11:40.919 --> 00:11:44.320 and surreal YouTube video drops, Pussifer wasn't 00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:46.860 just being weird for the sake of being weird. 00:11:46.960 --> 00:11:49.899 They weren't. No. They were testing multiple 00:11:49.899 --> 00:11:52.200 different distribution models at once. It was 00:11:52.200 --> 00:11:55.220 a controlled experiment in digital -era audience 00:11:55.220 --> 00:11:58.080 engagement. Oh. They essentially gamified the 00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:01.399 release. Yes, they forced the audience to hunt 00:12:01.399 --> 00:12:04.519 for the art across different mediums. It perfectly 00:12:04.519 --> 00:12:07.190 mirrored the chaotic piecemeal way the album 00:12:07.190 --> 00:12:09.929 itself was recorded, snapping digital pieces 00:12:09.929 --> 00:12:12.769 together, the medium was part of the message. 00:12:13.429 --> 00:12:15.529 So they essentially forced their audience to 00:12:15.529 --> 00:12:18.309 go on a digital scavenger hunt across iTunes, 00:12:18.750 --> 00:12:21.070 physical stores, and flash websites. Pretty much. 00:12:21.269 --> 00:12:23.269 But did that experiment actually pay off? I mean, 00:12:23.789 --> 00:12:25.429 did forcing the consumer to work for the music 00:12:25.429 --> 00:12:28.210 result in actual impact? We have this strange 00:12:28.210 --> 00:12:30.990 rollout. We have an entirely new cyborg sound 00:12:30.990 --> 00:12:33.990 blending post -industrial and James Brown. And 00:12:33.990 --> 00:12:35.990 we have a high screw of musicians playing clarinets 00:12:35.990 --> 00:12:37.850 and synthesizers. Right. Well, an experiment 00:12:37.850 --> 00:12:39.750 doesn't end when you publish the results. You 00:12:39.750 --> 00:12:42.110 have to measure how the world receives it. Let's 00:12:42.110 --> 00:12:44.070 look at the commercial performance then. In its 00:12:44.070 --> 00:12:46.970 first week, it debuted at number 25 on the US 00:12:46.970 --> 00:12:50.809 Billboard 200 chart, selling about 27 ,000 copies. 00:12:51.049 --> 00:12:54.950 Not bad. Eventually. It hit total sales of 112 00:12:54.950 --> 00:12:58.669 ,000 copies and it had global reach too. It charted 00:12:58.669 --> 00:13:01.370 in Australia, France, and New Zealand. Those 00:13:01.370 --> 00:13:05.470 are undeniably solid numbers for an experimental 00:13:05.470 --> 00:13:08.809 genre shifting side project. They are, but the 00:13:08.809 --> 00:13:11.789 critical reception was decidedly mixed. The source 00:13:11.789 --> 00:13:13.929 notes that while places like All Music and Rolling 00:13:13.929 --> 00:13:16.429 Stone reviewed it, Billboard actually gave it 00:13:16.429 --> 00:13:18.549 an unfavorable review. Which goes right back 00:13:18.549 --> 00:13:20.750 to the dramatic actor doing stand -up comedy 00:13:20.750 --> 00:13:23.269 analogy we started with. Yeah, exactly. If music 00:13:23.269 --> 00:13:25.330 critics were impatiently waiting for the next 00:13:25.330 --> 00:13:27.309 heavy rock masterpiece from the front men of 00:13:27.309 --> 00:13:29.710 Tool, and instead they got an electronic trip 00:13:29.710 --> 00:13:31.769 hop album featuring a song called Vagina Mine, 00:13:32.299 --> 00:13:35.059 There was bound to be some severe critical whiplash. 00:13:35.159 --> 00:13:37.860 For sure. The context of expectation overshadowed 00:13:37.860 --> 00:13:39.919 the music itself for some reviewers. Whiplash 00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:42.700 is the perfect word. But here is the most fascinating 00:13:42.700 --> 00:13:44.360 part of the source material to me. Let them know. 00:13:44.500 --> 00:13:46.919 This album did not just live and die in 2007. 00:13:47.419 --> 00:13:50.399 It refused to be a static release. It birthed 00:13:50.399 --> 00:13:53.340 this relentless constant cycle of reinvention. 00:13:53.460 --> 00:13:56.700 Oh, the remixes. Yes. By April of 2008, just 00:13:56.700 --> 00:13:59.159 months after the release, they dropped a remix 00:13:59.159 --> 00:14:03.059 album called V is for Viagra. the remixes. Right. 00:14:03.399 --> 00:14:05.159 And even the E. Deluxe edition of the original 00:14:05.159 --> 00:14:07.919 album was packed with bonus tracks like the Spanish 00:14:07.919 --> 00:14:10.700 Fly mix of The Undertaker and two Blestination 00:14:10.700 --> 00:14:13.080 mixes. And they kept iterating on the physical 00:14:13.080 --> 00:14:16.080 media too. They released a limited edition double 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:19.279 vinyl in 2008 and then re -released the vinyl 00:14:19.279 --> 00:14:22.799 edition again in August 2016. And amazingly the 00:14:22.799 --> 00:14:25.480 source notes that in 2022 they release yet another 00:14:25.480 --> 00:14:28.080 remix album based on this original material titled 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:31.549 V is for versatile. Yeah. 15 years later. It's 00:14:31.549 --> 00:14:33.789 like releasing a piece of software in 2007 and 00:14:33.789 --> 00:14:36.009 then constantly dropping patches, updates, and 00:14:36.009 --> 00:14:38.470 mods for it over a decade and a half. This brings 00:14:38.470 --> 00:14:41.590 up the concept of audio stems, which is fundamental 00:14:41.590 --> 00:14:43.830 to understanding electronic music culture. OK, 00:14:43.889 --> 00:14:46.690 give us the ELI -5 on stems. I hear that word 00:14:46.690 --> 00:14:48.830 thrown around by DJs all the time. Remember how 00:14:48.830 --> 00:14:50.909 we talked about slicing up the frequencies in 00:14:50.909 --> 00:14:53.950 the mix earlier? Yeah, with the EQ. Right. Stems 00:14:53.950 --> 00:14:56.750 are the isolated individual audio files for a 00:14:56.750 --> 00:14:59.389 track. You have a stem just for the drums, a 00:14:59.389 --> 00:15:01.250 stem just for the pedal steel, a stem just for 00:15:01.250 --> 00:15:04.509 the lead vocal. When a rock band records to tape, 00:15:04.590 --> 00:15:07.789 it is often baked together. But in a digital 00:15:07.789 --> 00:15:10.610 programmed project, those stems remain perfectly 00:15:10.610 --> 00:15:13.289 separated. Ah, I see where this is going. Pusifer 00:15:13.289 --> 00:15:16.269 could take the isolated vocal stem from 2007 00:15:16.269 --> 00:15:19.809 and hand it to an entirely new producer in 2022 00:15:19.809 --> 00:15:22.269 to build a completely different musical world 00:15:22.269 --> 00:15:25.850 underneath it. So my question is why? Why return 00:15:25.850 --> 00:15:28.309 to the exact same vocal takes and synthesizer 00:15:28.309 --> 00:15:32.409 loops in 2008 and 2016 and 2022 instead of just 00:15:32.409 --> 00:15:35.210 letting the 2007 debut album stand as a time 00:15:35.210 --> 00:15:37.750 capsule? Why not just write new songs? Well this 00:15:37.750 --> 00:15:39.789 raises an important question about how we view 00:15:39.789 --> 00:15:42.529 recorded music. For this project, the songs are 00:15:42.529 --> 00:15:45.029 treated as living organisms rather than finished 00:15:45.029 --> 00:15:46.990 products. Interesting. That is the fundamental 00:15:46.990 --> 00:15:49.129 difference between a traditional rock album and 00:15:49.129 --> 00:15:51.850 an electronic producer -driven project. In a 00:15:51.850 --> 00:15:53.809 rock band, you write the song, you record the 00:15:53.809 --> 00:15:55.889 definitive version, and then you try to recreate 00:15:55.889 --> 00:15:58.309 that definitive version live on tour. But for 00:15:58.309 --> 00:16:01.509 Pussifer, the 2007 album was just the raw data. 00:16:01.730 --> 00:16:03.830 It was the foundation. Starting line, not a finish 00:16:03.830 --> 00:16:07.549 line. Exactly. The fact that Billboard gave it 00:16:07.549 --> 00:16:09.990 an unfavorable review didn't matter because the 00:16:09.990 --> 00:16:12.210 2007 release was never meant to be the final 00:16:12.210 --> 00:16:15.090 word anyway. Wow. The remixes prove that the 00:16:15.090 --> 00:16:17.870 core value of Pussifer was endless experimentation. 00:16:18.750 --> 00:16:21.450 If you have these pristine digital stems, these 00:16:21.450 --> 00:16:23.809 amazing vocal loops and pedal steel recordings, 00:16:24.289 --> 00:16:26.210 why lock them in amber? Yeah, why not play with 00:16:26.210 --> 00:16:28.289 them? Right. Why not give them to different club 00:16:28.289 --> 00:16:31.429 DJs? Why not reimagine them as orchestral pieces 00:16:31.429 --> 00:16:34.470 15 years later? The album was an open invitation 00:16:34.470 --> 00:16:36.940 to play. not a museum exhibit you aren't allowed 00:16:36.940 --> 00:16:39.279 to touch. It really redefines what an album even 00:16:39.279 --> 00:16:41.899 is. It's a living ecosystem. And when you look 00:16:41.899 --> 00:16:44.120 at the whole picture, it is quite a journey. 00:16:44.360 --> 00:16:47.159 It really is. You start with an artist famous 00:16:47.159 --> 00:16:50.299 for one very specific, intense style of progressive 00:16:50.299 --> 00:16:53.120 rock. They decide to take a massive creative 00:16:53.120 --> 00:16:56.019 left turn into electronic trip hop, inspired 00:16:56.019 --> 00:16:58.629 by the groove of James Brown. They assemble a 00:16:58.629 --> 00:17:01.029 high screw of 15 musicians to play everything 00:17:01.029 --> 00:17:04.109 under the sun, chop it all up, and glue it together 00:17:04.109 --> 00:17:06.549 on a digital grid with frequency slicing. Then 00:17:06.549 --> 00:17:08.930 they release it through a fragmented maze of 00:17:08.930 --> 00:17:11.650 iTunes exclusives and flash players, testing 00:17:11.650 --> 00:17:15.329 the absolute limits of 2007 digital media. Complete 00:17:15.329 --> 00:17:17.890 with CGI chess pawns. Naturally. And instead 00:17:17.890 --> 00:17:19.750 of just letting it sit there and taking the mixed 00:17:19.750 --> 00:17:22.089 reviews to heart, they just keep remixing it, 00:17:22.170 --> 00:17:23.869 ripping the stems apart, and re -releasing it 00:17:23.869 --> 00:17:26.230 for the next 15 years. It takes an incredible 00:17:26.230 --> 00:17:29.609 amount of creative to abandon a successful formula 00:17:29.609 --> 00:17:32.269 and confidently say, we are doing this now. It 00:17:32.269 --> 00:17:34.730 is the ultimate rejection of playing it safe. 00:17:35.009 --> 00:17:37.910 It requires a total willingness to alienate people 00:17:37.910 --> 00:17:40.650 in the short term to build something enduring 00:17:40.650 --> 00:17:42.690 in the long term. So what does this all mean 00:17:42.690 --> 00:17:45.230 for you? When you are looking at the artists 00:17:45.230 --> 00:17:47.990 you love, or even looking at your own creative 00:17:47.990 --> 00:17:51.650 output in your career or hobbies, there's a profound 00:17:51.650 --> 00:17:54.210 lesson here about the value of the pivot. But 00:17:54.210 --> 00:17:56.450 it leaves us with an interesting tension to think 00:17:56.450 --> 00:17:59.380 about. We started this deep dive by talking about 00:17:59.380 --> 00:18:02.240 that serious dramatic actor suddenly trying to 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:04.579 do absurd stand -up comedy. The whiplash. Right, 00:18:04.779 --> 00:18:07.380 the whiplash. When an artist is globally beloved 00:18:07.380 --> 00:18:10.759 for one very specific, highly successful style, 00:18:11.220 --> 00:18:13.440 do fans actually want them to experiment and 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:17.200 grow? Or... Are side projects like this ultimately 00:18:17.200 --> 00:18:19.819 just a playground? A way to keep the artist sane 00:18:19.819 --> 00:18:23.079 and creatively fulfilled while the audience quietly 00:18:23.079 --> 00:18:25.819 and patiently waits for the real music to return? 00:18:25.980 --> 00:18:28.619 That's the million dollar question. It is. It 00:18:28.619 --> 00:18:30.539 is a question of who the artist is actually for, 00:18:31.019 --> 00:18:33.339 the creator needing to evolve, or the consumer 00:18:33.339 --> 00:18:35.759 wanting what they already know. Something to 00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:37.440 ponder the next time one of your favorite creators 00:18:37.440 --> 00:18:40.710 takes a hard left turn. Thank you so much for 00:18:40.710 --> 00:18:42.950 joining us on this exploration. Keep questioning 00:18:42.950 --> 00:18:44.950 the media around you, keep digging into your 00:18:44.950 --> 00:18:46.710 own sources, and we'll catch you on the next 00:18:46.710 --> 00:18:47.230 deep dive.