Yasi Salek is the Los Angeles-based podcaster and writer behind the Spotify original podcast, Bandsplain. On the show she invites guests to come nerd out over bands such as Third Eye Blind (Chris Black), The Smiths (Naomi Fry), or Depeche Mode (Patrik Sandberg). If you enjoy Perfectly Imperfect I think thereās a good chance that youāll also enjoy her recommendation packed musical deep dives. Just a few days ago she dropped the 100th episode (!) of the pod and to celebrate she invited some special guests & music critic Rob Harvilla. She also recently started a new segment on the pod, 24 Question Party People, where she asks the same 23 questions + 1 wild card to bonafide rock legends like Paul Banks, Liz Phair, and Ben Gibbard. Lucky for us, Yasi is here to tell us what sheās been into.
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At this point 70% of my personality is raw milk - procuring it, drinking it, taking photos of it with pithy little captions like ānight cap!ā,Ā talking about it to other people against their will, like on dates or to like trapped baristas at Starbucks. As someone of formerly lactose intolerant experience, I am not exaggerating when I say raw milk has VITALLY improved my existence. Besides the fact that it has something like 70% more available vitamins in it than pasteurized milk (I keep an infographic of this on my phone because Iām a girl and canāt be expected to remember numbers and science) it has all its natural enzymes for digestion which means not only can I party on as much raw milk and cheese as I want, the enzymes in those also digest regular bootleg ass milk, cheese, ice cream etc. I love you so much raw milk!!!
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I got into weight lifting for the same reason I get into most things, which is pure unbridled vanity. I read or heard somewhere in my many biohacker information channels that weight lifting is the most anti-aging form of exercise, especially for women, and so I was like on my way! I wasnāt about to pay some community college bro $100 an hour at my LA Fitness to train me though so I just googled āweight lifting classes near meā and because I live a charmed and bless life I found the fucking coolest independent gym like a mile from my house and have been going there for almost a year. Vanity aside, it just makes you feel so good all the time. I love watching myself get stronger and I love the feeling after you lift something really heavy you thought you could never have lifted and I love all the neighborhood friends Iāve made there, including former PI subject and possibly coolest girl alive Petra Cortright. (Honestly a large part of my social life takes place there?) Anyway everyone over 30 should lift weights, preserve your waning muscle mass and build up your self-esteem babe.
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These are two of my favorite newish bands.Crushed is Shaun Durkan from Weeknd and Bre Morell from Temple of Angels and they put out their first EP Extra Life in February of this year. The main thing for me about their music is that it feels SPIRITUAL in a way that is so fucking cool. Bono was onto something tbh - if you really think about it all love songs are really songs about god, because falling love is the projection of the divine onto another. Thatās why itās so life altering because you are catching a glimpse of the divine within yourself as mirrored by another. Listening to their music, thatās what I hear and it moves me deeply.Ā Militarie Gun is a hardcore band except they also sound like Guided By Voice/Archers of Loaf which is a combination I like to call Yasi-core (waiting for this to catch on). Real dudes rock hours and also spiritual, in its own way.
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I had an astrologer tell me that I have some placement in my chart that indicates the āeternal teenagerā and thatās probably why I have a job where I read about bands and listen to music all day and also why I dress the way I do. I think see-thru pants, like my favorite lace petal pushers from Rosette, are sexy but in a more subtle and cool way befitting of a 41 year old teenage woman. Especially if you prefer wearing t-shirts most of the time, adding some see-thru pants to the mix just elevates the whole situation.
Marisa Baldassaro is my favorite twitter mutual and dareIsay, friend (I really want to be her friend so bad). Half of her tweets are like the most perfect little short stories and the other half are the funniest fucking things you will ever read in your life. I am obsessed with her.
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Cynicism is over babe. Itās washed. Itās dusty. And itās lazy. Weāre done with that shit. Weāre not being men who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing anymore (s/o my man Oscar Wilde). If part of what you get to choose in this life is how you experience it, why would you ever choose to experience it cynically? Iām not totally sure what the opposite of cynicism is, but to me itās faith. Whatever that means to you - Iām not talking religion or god per se, but that too if youāre into that - thereās so many different, personal versions of it, but faith just makes life so much more meaningful and beautiful. Itās like how when you can feel the sun on your face itās so nice, and sometimes you canāt feel it or even see it because itās overcast or rainy or whatever, but you still know itās there. Because itās always there.
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If you can do this, every day is filled with moments that fill you with joy and wonder. This already happened to me like eight times today, starting with my perfect smoothie (other moments included seeing a squirrel, walking past these cool flowers that look like fried eggs, and smelling the new perfume samples I ordered). Itās pretty easy, just go stand outside and look at something beautiful. There are gorgeous things everywhere. If youāre having trouble connecting with this, which I do sometimes because Iām not a lobotomized freak and also because life can truly beat you down, just take like 1-2 grams of mushrooms like two hours before sunset and then go on a super long walk with great music in your headphones and I promise youāll remember how fucking cool it is just to get to be alive.
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Even though I myself am an elite podcaster I donāt really listen to many other podcasts but I do listen to Huberman Lab. Thereās just something so soothing about his voice and all those rock solid facts about brain chemistry and peak endurance or whatever. I put it on when I feel anxious and largely do not retain or even understand most of the content but still I think itās bettering me in some way. Andrew Huberman do you like guitar rock music?
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My favorite kind of movie is a kind they really went hard on in the 90s, where itās largely just interesting characters talking to each other about ideas the whole time and the dialogue almost sounds like a play. Walk and talk movies, if you will. Hal Hartleyās are like that but dropped into these sort of fantastical, dramatic plotlines. I love them so much. Surviving Desire or Trust are perfect ones to start with.
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