twitterview: m83

This past week, Anthony Gonzalez of M83 sat down at his Twitter feed and answered a bunch of questions asked by you, his fans, about his epic new Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, his favorite movies and bands, and more. You can read the entire interview after the jump!

Fan @EGraber411 wants to know: What has been your biggest musical influence for this new album?


Well, the landscapes and atmosphere of California were a really big influence than music on this record. Musically though, a lot of classical: Gorecki Symphony No. 3, I was obsessed with that!


Rogelio Salvatierra asks: Do you tell a story throughout your whole album, or is each track a vignette and a story within itself?


This is what I like about albums: Everyone is free to imagine the story in their own way however they want. Of course I have a story in my head when I created the album so it’s more like soundtrack — it’s telling one long story.


Andy Tabelz Tabeling asks: Are there really specific feelings you attach with each record? What are they?


I feel the most proud of Before the Dawn Heals Us and Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. For Saturdays=Youth I was feeling kind of depressed, I was craving for a new adventure which is why I came to America.


Timothy Haiko wants to know what song, if any, would you like to cover and who would you most like to work with?


I’ve never been interested in doing covers, this is something I never thought of, I don’t know why. I feel like when a song is good, it’s impossible to go after that and change it. Tons I would like to work with. Sonic youth, of course Brian Eno and I would love to do something Emeralds.


Jason Beatty asks: Where is the most comfortable place for you to write?


For every album it’s different – I always composed all my albums in the South of France until this one. This one for the first time I was in LA. I spent some time in the desert and I felt great there. It was a different atmosphere and different feeling and I loved it.


Aaron Beyt wants to know who Claudia Lewis is.


I was surfing the web & found this website with space poems – Claudia Lewis had 3-4 space poems on this site. They were pretty bad space poems but I found it super moving, there was something very innocent about it. She’s probably super young like 12 or 14 but I don’t know her or how she looks or anything about her. I just know that she writes cheesy space poems.


Cam James wants to know what your top 5 movies and top 5 records at the moment (or of all-time) are.


Movies: Days of heaven by Terrance Malik; THX 1138, the first George Lucas movie; Nowhere by Gregg Araki; Safe by Todd Haynes, Aguirre, The wrath of of god by Werner Herzog.
Albums: Goo by Sonic Youth; Discreet music by Brian eno; Harvest by Neil Young; Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness by the Smashing Pumpkins; e2e4 by Manuel Gottsching.

Fan @themikemahon asks: The sound on Hurry Up is very big, expansive. Do you feel like a lot of record production (in indie music) is lacking?

No, I don’t think so. Every artist thinks differently. I like my album to be kind of big sounding and epic; I like to spend time producing my albums but it doesn’t mean that I want to listen to this kind of music all the time. I don’t need other bands to sound like this. Most of the music I’m listening to is super quiet, ambient or folk music, very simple and very minimal.

George Manzanilla asks: What other bands do you listen to?


All decades: Ashra Tempel, Popol Vuh, Tears for Fears, Cocteau Twins, Slowdive, Sonic Youth, Fleet Foxes, Washed out.


Jesus Rodriguez Jr. asks: What films were you watching when you worked on ‘Saturdays=Youth’?


Ah, Saturdays. The Goonies, Pretty in Pink, Say Anything, Breakfast Club, Doom Generation.