A biography for Rostam Batmanglijhasn’t been written yet.
“The first Vampire Weekend record was the first full-length album that I produced.”
“I guess my first instrument was the recorder when I was about five or six.”
“Sometimes the hangover provides inspiration.”
“I've always had a complex relationship towards my identity as an American.”
“It doesn't matter if you record with a microphone on a laptop or at a friend's house. Now it's more of a danger of things sounding too high-fi than sounding too low-fi.”
“Whatever you are making, whether it's a song, an album, a painting, a film, you're connecting with a tradition, and I do feel connected to New York music.”
“There is a sense of tranquility that I think people can get from being in an organized group, where a singular leader handles the responsibilities of individual thinking.”
“You want the personality of each performer - whether it's singing or bass or drums or piano - to be intact. In some ways it's much more challenging to preserve that and to also make music that sounds modern.”
“I don't believe in expertise. I don't believe that a film critic feels a film more deeply than any person who walks into a theater. I don't believe that.”
“I'm interested in making art that is available to everybody.”
“When I moved to New York, I remember thinking, 'I'm never going to live anywhere else.'”
“I don't identify as white. I have a complex relationship with whiteness.”
“The most exciting songs to me are the unlikely hits, when you think, 'I love this, but why is it on the radio?'”
“Whenever I work on a project I put all of myself into it.”
“I like the idea that a song can be about a romantic relationship, but it can also about a relationship to your career, or a relationship to your city.”
“It's hard to make music that's sexy that's not cheesy.”
“It's always my mission to try to do something that hasn't been done before, whether that's musically, lyrically or in terms of mixing.”
“The thing I love about car design is that it's sculpture everybody appreciates, everybody has access to.”
“There's a joy I get from collaborating with other artists, and there's a joy I get from making songs on my own.”
“I'm trying to get to a point where I tell people, if you want to get in touch with me, please don't rely on email. I don't want to be a slave to it.”