#409: MJ Lenderman

📖 Phil Jackson- Sacred Hoops, 🩴 Shoes W No Laces, 🥚 archive.org, and more.

Perfectly Imperfect is a newsletter offering “A Taste of Someone’s Taste” from guests like Charli XCX, John Cale, Julian Casablancas, Lena Dunham, Mac Demarco, Dasha Nekrasova, Tim Heidecker, Ayo Edebiri, Michael Imperioli, Rayne Fisher-Quann, Mel Ottenberg, Chloe Cherry, Matty Matheson, Anna Delvey, The Dare, Caroline Calloway, Snail Mail, and more. Check out our full archive here.

Cool people like cool things, which is why we asked MJ Lenderman to share a taste of his taste on Perfectly Imperfect.

Jake Lenderman is an Asheville, North Carolina-based singer-songwriter known for the pedal steel-laced distorted rock sound of his solo work as MJ Lenderman and for playing guitar in the equally acclaimed indie rock band Wednesday. There’s no denying there’s something really special, funny, and charming about his music, and seeing him perform it all in a cramped & sweaty Market Hotel last year really sealed the deal for me. MJ has a brand new live record out, And The Win (Live and Lose’), that perfectly captures that magic and his 2023 single Knockin’ might just be my favorite thing he’s done yet (I wrote about it for our best of 2023 round-up). The guy is on a hot streak and I can’t wait to see where he goes from here. Lucky for us, Jake is here to tell us what he’s been into.

Without further ado

MJ Lenderman (instagram, twitter)

📖 Phil Jackson- Sacred Hoops

Phil Jackson is a legendary basketball coach who won NBA championships with the Bulls in the 90s and then some more with the Lakers in the 2000s. In this book he details his journey after retiring as a player to becoming a coach. He also explains Zen Buddhism and how he used it to wrangle in all the egos and personalities on his teams. I was inspired to do breathing exercises with the band before shows after reading this. I think it helps. 

🖼️ Matthew Reed (tvbeaches)

Matt is a good friend of mine and a great artist. His paintings and comics have been a huge inspiration for me. His stuff is full of the humor and darkness that you might find in a bar outside of Clayton, NY or any grocery store in The United States. You can see it for yourself online @tvbeaches

🩴 Shoes w no laces

I’m talkin Birkenstocks, Danskos, Crocs, whatever. I spend a lot of time touring and I always have some easy-wearing shoes for the van. No need to be wearing real shoes before showtime. Keep the piggies fresh. 

🐐 The music of Ryan Davis/State Champion

In my opinion RD is one of, if not the best rock lyricist out there right now and way underappreciated. Check out his work with State Champion or his fantastic new solo debut.

🥚 archive.org

Somehow I just learned about this. There’s all kinds of things at this website. I’ve only used it for movies. I watched Mister Lonely and there’s a part where a bunch of painted chicken eggs sing an Iris Dement song called ‘My Life.’ I highly recommend that song too but it might make you cry. 

Bonus recommendation for paid subs from MJ below! 🏀 ???