By Sean Maldjian, Contributor

Meet Talk Bazaar

A self-portrait by, Talk Bazaar

Would you rather…

be able to smell the future or hear into the past? Please explain why.

smell the future! there are currently more ways (of course imperfect) i am aware of to hear into the past than to smell the future. and i think i am overlooking my sense of smell more than any other sense - maybe if i knew it was of things yet to pass, i’d pay more attention!

Some questions with Talk Bazaar

Hey, nice to meet you. Can you tell us a little about yourself and your musical project?

Sure! hi, I’m Alex. i put my music into the world under the moniker Talk Bazaar - the idea being this is a space for all my various thoughts and expressions to exist and mingle as one body, no matter how disparate they can be. after all, they are all me, so there will inevitably be some through-line!

Do you have a favorite family tradition?

well, it’s august, so fresh on my mind is our annual crab feast. it started as simply a summer tradition, to cover all the tables in newspapers and prepare a staggering amount of crab to eat in various preparations - now we do it every year in august to coincide with my grandma’s birthday. one of my favorite foods and such a delightful activity. 

Are you self taught in musical production?

I’d say so! when i first starting recording myself, i had cubase and a keyboard and stayed up late at night making weird little pop songs. now i do the same thing, i just use ableton, which i taught myself to use in college by essentially making really ridiculous and tediously arranged mash-ups. i’d make drum kits out of individual hits from other songs and learn how to transpose and time stretch and all that. now i use my powers for good lol.

What's your stance on fingerless gloves?

Full support. got a few bikers in my life and they look mad cool in them.

When you start to put together a finished song where does it usually start?

Usuallyyyy some sort of instrumental melodic idea, a few chords that become a section or at least a jumping off point. sometimes i’ll play a really long synth pad and have fun changing parameters really slowly as i’m recording, essentially an ambient track, and then i’ll start to build a song in the space that pad has created. sometimes i delete that first synth entirely after i track a couple ideas on top of it, and then i’m in this wildly new space all of a sudden.

What was the first concert you ever went to?

Simple plan opening for Avril Lavigne. it was for my sister’s birthday and i got to tag along to Philly and stayed the night with my aunt.

Who are some of your favorite vocalists? Do they influence the way you approach singing?

i loooooved freddie mercury growing up - the first concert i went to that i got to pick out was queen + paul rodgers. i had a door poster with all their albums on it. i pretty much learned how to play (and how to love) music on a healthy diet of classic rock. i can still probably fake my way at least through just about every led zeppelin song.

How do you stay creatively fulfilled?

Take a lot of breaks! i can very easily get caught up in a go-go-go/make-make-make attitude and that’s the quickest way to burn out. so i’m at my most fulfilled when i can convince myself to take it slow.

What was the creative drive behind your new single “ethan allen”?

This song was born out of a songwriting prompt my friend Carli sent me. the lyrics in the verses are pulled from a random page in a magazine, mixed and matched to form new thoughts. the choruses are an amalgamation of words from the first and last five texts in my messages with an old friend Steve.

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

Listen to more panther hollow!