Mar 13 2025 80 mins 18
This week's episode of the Talkhouse Podcast came together by way of my colleague and friend Keenan Kush, who jokingly referred to the music of today’s guests as "Keenan-core." We’ve got a conversation between the duos Kit Sebastian and Pearl & The Oysters.
Kit Sebastian came together in London, but their musical (and even geographical) pedigrees are spread much wider. Kit Martin and Merve Erdem, now based in Turkey and France, play music that reflects their locations. Tropicalia and psychedelic pop flirt with an array of other influences to create something that sounds almost out of time. Their latest album New Internationale came out last year on Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder label, and it adds Azerbaijani and some funk to the mix. Check out the track “Faust” right here.
Pearl & The Oysters is also a duo with international roots, having moved from France over a decade ago to Florida, but ending up in Los Angeles. Jazz and Tropicalia also inform their indie pop, and they also ended up on a hip label run by another musician: In this case, Peanut Butter Wolf's Stones Throw. Juliette Pearl Davis and Joachim Polack—sometimes known as Juju and Jojo—put out a great album last year called Planet Pearl. Check out “Side Quest” from that album right here.
In this wide-ranging conversation, these two duos talk about their geographic moves and sounds, analog vs. digital recording, favorite filmmakers, and how one cold email kickstarted Kit Sebastian. Enjoy.
Chapters:
0:00 – Intro
4:34 – Start of the chat
6:43 – On Influences
13:02 – On Creative Processes
19:27 – On Recording styles
29:09 – Why did Pearl & The Oysters leave France?
31:56 – The DIY scene in Gainsville, FL
36:51 – On Musical Communities
44:22 – The London scene
51:38 – How one cold email kickstarted Kit Sebastian
54:32 – On musical educators
59:21 – Finding your voice
1:03:34 – On cinema and their favorite filmmakers
1:12:28 – How to interact with your audience
Thanks for listening to the Talkhouse Podcast, and thanks to Pearl & The Oysters and Kit Sebastian for chatting. If you like what you heard, check out all the great stuff at Talkhouse.com. This episode was produced by Myron Kaplan and arranged by Keenan Kush, and the Talkhouse theme is composed and performed by the Range. See you next time!
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