Rostam Batmanglij Quotes

I love hip-hop; I love Sleigh Bells. I also love classical music and musical theater.

I do like alternative rock and rap, but as far as inspirational, then I go full-on orchestra. It fills up your entire being.

Growing up, there was only classical music on BBC Radio. We had to listen to the American Forces Network in Germany, which played pop songs, or the pirate radio boats off the coast.

I like to listen the blues and some classical.

I love all types of music. Jazz, classical, blues, rock, hip-hop. I often write scripts to instrumentals like a hip-hop artist. Music inspires me to write. It's either music playing or completely silent. Sometimes distant sound fuels you. In New York there's always a buzzing beneath you.

I'd say that my musical influences are anywhere from pop-rock electronica, new age and classical. But I think that specifically, bands - I love Jem, I love Sigur Ross, I love David Gray, I love Elliot Smith... a lot of different people. But I don't find lyrical inspiration from anybody.

I love most melodic music - classical, reggae, big band, jazz, blues, country, pop, swing, folk.

I have a varied collection of music on my phone. I like a lot of the popular music that has a really energetic beat to it, as well as some classical things.

The guitar player that I'm doing my solo tour with, Angel Vivaldi, he's been releasing incredible guitar albums and people just don't really know about them because instrumental guitar isn't really at the forefront of music these days.

We listen to a lot of classical and a lot of jazz, and so you get some funky notes here and there. And we get a little experimental in some of the deeper tracks.

I was able to learn a new language - a new musical language is learning a new language, because it's so extremely different from Western classical music. African music is completely different.

I started playing guitar because of instrumental guitar music.

George Benson conquered many different genres, from pop ballads to R&B to jazz.

In the West, film music is completely different and independent from their popular music. The two industries are separate and don't interfere much.

I've put out records over the years, whether it's with Blackfield or No-Man or Bass Communion or Porcupine Tree, that are pop records, ambient records, metal records, singer-songwriter records.

'Auto Music' isn't a pop record by any stretch.

Music in Africa is perceived so differently than Western classical music - it's language and storytelling.

I go to metal concerts as well as classical concerts, and I love both of them.

My kids will come to me and ask me to listen to a 'new sound' they think they've discovered. One time it was the Beatles' 'Yesterday,' and the new sound was four strings. All of a sudden the new generation discovers the string quartet!

Both of my mom's parents were music teachers, so I got a lot of knowledge about everything from classical music to jazz to musicals.

I grew up around religious and elevator music. I didn't know any better, so I just thought music was kind of bland. So I didn't listen to much as kid.

So from Jazz, Blues, R&B, Soul, Classical and Country music, Hip Hop has introduced us to a little bit of everything.

When I was working on the music for this I didn't want to just use pop songs as the score - most movies do it and I've done it before.

I listen to everything. As I told you, sometimes I just want to shut off from music and be silent. Then I play a song and it's refreshing. It's almost like initializing yourself. Recently I was in South Africa doing a press day for my tour. I listened to this band called "Freshly Ground." They were doing a live gig there so that's the last thing I've heard.

I could definitely rock out to Kraftwerk's "Tour De France," Tubeway Army, or Gary Numan. All of that stuff has an infectious beat, but with "Oh Yeah," I can't even identify what's going on. It sounds like typewriter keys, a couple of synth notes and then this really deep "Oh yeah," which I always picture as Andre The Giant on vocals.