FUSE TV - "Portlandia" Moments From St. Vincent Interviewing Tune-Yards

St. Vincent (Annie Clark) and Tune-Yards (Merrill Garbus) are two of the most creative and forward-thinking indie musicians today. They share a knack for intricate songcraft, a willingness to warp pop music into new shapes and a general kick-ass quality. 

Recently, the two indie songstresses met and their interaction was filmed for future hipstorians to study. The result was a fruitfully indie conversation that touched on everything from Igor Stravinsky to Jewel. 

You can watch the video above but in case you aren't up for six minutes of vaguely Portlandia-styled conversation, here are the best quotes from When Merrill Met Annie.

On Making Ugly Music

Tune-Yards: "There's that moment of making music where maybe the first audience of people is like, 'Ugh! I hate this.' But [we're] not afraid to do that, because that means you're still furthering music in general…. There's a lot of ugliness that I put intentionally in my voice that I want to keep there."

St. Vincent: "Ugliness is confrontational and satisfying. Once you get past the sour, 'I don't like the taste of this' feeling, you’re like, 'Shit, I want more!' To invite a little bit of that chaos in is really powerful."

On Being a Woman In Music

St. Vincent: "The only difference between being a woman in music is that you get asked, 'What's it like to be a woman in music?' I just think, like, it's 2012."

On Ass F**king

St. Vincent: "You know what [my drummer] says every time we go onstage? 'Let's leave no ass unf**ked.'"

On Classical composer Stravinsky

St. Vincent: Stravinsky is the jam.

Tune-Yards: There's a reason they rioted over his music.

On Touring

Tune-Yards: "Honestly, [touring] doesn't really suit me anymore. I lived out of a car from 2002 to 2010. There was a Jewel-style moment where I worked on a farm. I was living in the barn of the puppet theater that I worked in, and I was like, 'I can't take it in the barn, man,' so I moved into my Suburu."

Um, what? A quick Google search confirms that yes, Tune-Yards worked in puppetry on a farm. Once again, real indie culture is more Portlandia than Portlandia.