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Rostam Batmanglij

Rostam Batmanglij Books

Songwriter

Rostam Batmanglij, born on November 28, 1983, is an accomplished songwriter of Iranian descent. Renowned for his unique musical style and profound understanding of popular music, Rostam's work blends various musical elements, including folk, electronic, and rock, bringing a new voice to the modern music scene.

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Related Quotes

“We thought there was also something that was humorous but at the same time powerful and deep about naming the album, 'Modern Vampires Of The City'.”

Powerful Cities Modern Humorous Albums Vampire

Author:Rostam Batmanglij

“I feel connected to every song on this record [ 'Modern Vampires Of The City' ], but yeah I think there's something special about 'Young Lion'. It's pretty different from any song that we've had before because the vocals are kind of between two different very simple instrumental piano melodies and it's almost like something that we call a vignette, it's sort of like a miniature.”

Thinking Feels Kind Two Different Young Song Simple Cities Records Modern Special Yeah Connected Vampire Piano Melody Lions Vocal Like Something Something Special Miniatures Vignettes

Author:Rostam Batmanglij

“'Unbelievers' was a song that we felt like we could tackle, so that's one of the reasons we wanted to start playing it live, we really believed in that song and we still believe in that song a lot.”

Believe Stills Reason Wanted Song Felt Unbelievers

Author:Rostam Batmanglij

“We've always said that our band is pretty much an open system and there's no rules governing anything... so who knows what the future will hold?”

Knows Said Band Governing

Author:Rostam Batmanglij

“I like the idea that a song can be something that you can lean on, both for the songwriter and for the person who hears the song.”

Persons Ideas Song Songwriters

Author:Rostam Batmanglij

“I love working with Angel Deradoorian, she's a joy to work with. She's fab at singing and she has a real... she has an understanding that's both intellectual and emotional about singing, that I think that very few people have.”

People Thinking Real Joy Understanding Emotional Intellectual Singing Angel

Author:Rostam Batmanglij

“One of the things that we talked about was this idea of 'Memento Mori' - like the reminder of our own mortality - and so we were sort of trying to express that in our press photos. And it's one of the themes of the album [Modern Vampires of the City] as well.”

Trying Wells Ideas Cities Modern Presses Albums Vampire Theme Mortality Reminders Memento Mori Memento

Author:Rostam Batmanglij

“Now that that album's done [TModern Vampires of the City], I have time to revisit things that I was working on earlier, previous to it. I actually found it very helpful to be working on some music on my own.”

Done Found My Own Cities Albums Vampire Helpful

Author:Rostam Batmanglij

“I think summer, at least as I've experienced it, can be joyous but it can also be tough emotionally. Physically, it can be hot to the point of being unbearable and I think you want to capture that frustration, but also the release.”

Thinking Want Summer Tough Hot Release Frustration Capture Unbearable Joyous

Author:Rostam Batmanglij

“My parents left Iran in 1979 and moved to France and then moved to the U.S. My brother was born in France and I was born in New York. I think my parents left France because they felt their kids would never be accepted by French culture. Here they thought we could feel American - that we could feel safe in that way - which was important to them, given what their experiences were in Iran. They used to joke about how I could be president because I was the only one born in America.”

Thinking Important Kids Culture Parent President Brother Jokes Moved Accepted My Brother

Author:Rostam Batmanglij

“I would say I was a little bit outgoing, a little bit shy. I was definitely much more shy than my brother. I was young - age six. I was really drawn to music because my brother started playing instruments and I wanted to be at his level, even though I was younger.”

Age Brother Music Is My Brother Shy Outgoing

Author:Rostam Batmanglij

“I took one piano lesson and hated it and then didn't take any piano lessons until I was 18.”

Author:Rostam Batmanglij

“I did take guitar lessons as a teenager, though, and I started to teach myself how to play everything I could play on the guitar on piano, so I had a really weird, non-traditional route to proficiency. I think it probably helped me come at things from a new angle.”

Thinking Teach Teenager Really Weird

Author:Rostam Batmanglij

“I was lucky to have a guitar teacher who asked me what I wanted to learn. I brought in "High & Dry" by Radiohead and "Mr. Jones" by Counting Crows and he was like, "Alright, I'm gonna teach you these, but you're also gonna learn some stuff that I want you to learn." He taught me Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, so I was getting the technical stuff and the fun stuff.”

Fun Teach Teacher Lucky I Want You Crow Alright Hendrix Radiohead

Author:Rostam Batmanglij

“At some point I decided I didn't want to learn any more guitar technique. I was at that level where the next mountain there was to climb was Van Halen and I didn't really like Van Halen.”

Mountain Van Halen

Author:Rostam Batmanglij

“It took me some time to join the various streams of making music that was technically good and making music that made me feel good.”

Various Feel Good

Author:Rostam Batmanglij

“Throughout college I was getting better and better at making recordings, producing songs, making different kinds of beats. I was starting to learn the signifiers of production from the '60s, the '80s. We never re-recorded anything. All the record companies that wanted to sign us - except for one - were excited about the recordings that we had done ourselves.”

Kind Different Done Song College Excited Get Better Different Kinds

Author:Rostam Batmanglij

“I wanted to make an album where every song is kind of interacting - where you can't tell what's the string arrangement and what's the song. I guess that came out of going to college, majoring in music, studying classical music, and even as a kid, being really drawn to classical music.”

Kind Kids Song Study College Being Real Classical Music Going To College

Author:Rostam Batmanglij

“As far as the lyrics go, I think I was negotiating a moment in my life where I didn't feel happy. I think I had some existential frustration and I was wrestling with that on a few different levels. I was feeling like I wanted to change a lot of things.”

Thinking Different Moments Feelings Frustration Wrestling Existential

Author:Rostam Batmanglij

“I like the idea that a song can be about a romantic relationship, but it can also about a relationship to your career, or a relationship to your city. It can be about a person, but at the same time it can be about a situation.”

Song Situation Romantic Relationship

Author:Rostam Batmanglij

“I had no problem working for 15 hours straight when I was producing someone else, but I couldn't do it with my own songs. It took that moment of pointing the camera at myself to realize that it was okay to get lost in making my own music. I think before that I was scared of pushing myself to the point of staring into the abyss.”

Thinking Moments Problem Song Realizing Hours Okay Scared Staring Abyss No Problem Pointing

Author:Rostam Batmanglij

“Obviously it always takes longer to finish an album than you think it will. That's always going to be the case. Everything takes longer than you think it will. Occasionally things happen fast.”

Thinking Things Happen

Author:Rostam Batmanglij

“There's a line in the Arthur Russell documentary where his partner talks about how Arthur is really interested in process. He never felt like anything was finished, and he would even work on things after they'd been released. I definitely relate to that.”

Author:Rostam Batmanglij

“I guess I have some kind of a visceral connection with drums. I'm looking to create music that people can react to viscerally, and people will respond to viscerally. I think that you can listen to music, to a song you've never heard before and not really like it, but also feel like you're responding to it physically whether you like it or not. I think that's a powerful aspect about music, and I think that's something that draws me to drums.”

People Thinking Kind Song Powerful Like You Listening To Music You Like It

Author:Rostam Batmanglij

“It's hard to say how time factors into your work, because sometimes things will come to you very quickly, but it will take years for the ideas to be gestating in your mind.”

Author:Rostam Batmanglij

About the Author

Born: November 28, 1983
Known for: Songwriter
Quotes: 25

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