Blackstar

was the what kind of vibes are you making

It's sort of like my voice sounds a bit like his on Blackstar.

Cool.

A little bit mixed with that and Dave Gone, like somewhere in that realm.

And then musically, like the mood of what I'm doing is very similar to the Blackstar album.

Cool.

But I use much more electronic stuff.

Fine line, which actually I think is a banger of a song as well.

And David Bowie in there as well for Blackstar.

I'm not sure about that one.

Are you?

And the music, dude, the music that they make I was reading on Reddit...

Well, okay, so let's just go back because I want to talk about like this album.

Which album did you pick? I'm like a fan of all of them.

The Money Store.

The Money Store.

And the thing about it is, like, what are they, like, 2010, 12, something like that, where it's, like, the birth of the internet, kind of, in the social space.

And this was, like, they attracted a crowd... that I can say confidently is like paranoid schizophrenia.

And that's like, their crowd was as much of a piece of their artistry as they were to the point where they named songs and albums off of shit that people would tweet.

David Bowie,

Blackstar, maybe.

David Bowie.

Oh, that's good.

Yeah.

And then the next album was Blackstar and it was very clear at that point that he was very sick.

Very sick.

And then I think he passed away very shortly after that or around that time.

So as such, when Night Thoughts was released, It was never going to be in the hunt for a number one album.

Blackstar spent its third week at the top in the week Night Thoughts came out.

In fact, my own personal Blackstar story while we're here, I ordered the album on Amazon on the Thursday, the day before it was released.

This is Amazon Prime as well, I think.

And it didn't turn up on the Friday, nor the Saturday, nor the Monday.

The Monday being the day we heard that David Bowie had passed away.

And my copy of Blackstar arrived the next day.

My first listen to Blackstar was the day after his passing, which, yeah, that's definitely one for another episode, I think.

He just wants to like be anonymous.

And so I But his album Black Star had just come out, which was two days earlier.

Yeah.

And I just when I heard that album, it was just so melancholy and sad and otherworldly.

It really was.

That video, the Black Star video was just phenomenal.

He's got Major Tom, which he used in a whole bunch of songs.

as a motif.

However, he never fully abandoned the occult.

His final album, Blackstar, released two days before his death in 2016, is laden with esoteric symbols, including the Villa of Ormen and references to solitary candles and ancient rituals.

Conspiracists argue that Blackstar was Bowie's final ritual.

a prepared exit from the physical realm.

The Black Star itself is a term used in certain occult circles to describe the midnight sun or the internal light of the soul that persists after death.

Or artists who go on forever, and you can see where they...

Maybe this is a bit harsh, but sometimes you can see where the pursuit of... that higher thing maybe it changes it becomes more of a i enjoy doing this i'm kind of happy cranking these albums out whatever it is but i equally find that fascinating because then the really cool thing is you get some artists who they have the creative zenith they have that dip of kind of mediocrity for maybe 20 years and then they make something that's just like astounding like i remember when David Bowie made Blackstar and everyone was like wow because even though now especially with his passing he is regarded as genius like he made stuff that people thought was not good you know there's stuff in the 80s and in the 90s that people did not particularly like you know and it's like that thing it's because in a sad sort of way he's passed so the story now looks there's a there's a i can't remember who said it but it's a saying that's like life as it happens is total chaos life and reflection is a perfect storybook you know

we'll be back to finish up this conversation with michael mara after we hear another track from the travelers album this is thunder and lightning

I dream I'm gazing at a storm from afar You can put all the hopes on us now I rail against it with all my might Though I fear that I know not how These small standing stones stand for you So when you're all alone, I'm with you Gold horizon, I see you Gold horizon, I see you