#428: Boy Harsher

📚 Climax Books, 💁‍♀️Valley Girl Outlook, 🔮 Mulholland Drive

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.

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Cool people like cool things, which is why we asked Gus & Jae of Boy Harsher to share a taste of their taste on Perfectly Imperfect.

BOY HARSHER is a Northampton, Massachusetts-based Darkwave electronic duo comprised of vocalist Jae Matthews and producer Gus Muller. The pair met while studying at Savannah College of Art & Design in 2013 and they’ve since released a handful of acclaimed studio albums + EPs such as Lesser Man and Careful. Their most recent project was a short horror film titled The Runner which came with a banging original soundtrack that features the incredible “Autonomy (ft. LUCY aka Cooper B Handy).” You can catch them live in a few weeks at Coachella and on their West Coast tour with LUCY (Cooper B Handy) and Eartheater.  Lucky for us, Boy Harsher is here to tell us what they have been into. 

Without further ado

Gus (instagram)

🍗 Roasting a Chicken

This is so easy and literally the best meal I’ve ever made for myself. You can look up a recipe, but really I don’t think you can fuck it up. Throw some potatoes and carrots in there - you’re a chef now. 

🔮 Mulholland Drive

Yeah ok I like David Lynch, but I got to see this on the big screen the other day and damn it’s a masterpiece. It makes you feel the entire spectrum of emotions. Told through my favorite medium - the neo noir. 

🎵 Omon Breaker - Compromat [BITE029]

I hear a song about once a year that reminds me how punk techno can be and it totally reinvigorates me. This track bangs so hard. 

😴 8 Hours of Sleep

I haven’t had this in months, but I pray for it every night. 

Jae (instagram)

☕ 8 oz or less Americano

We’ve been all over + generally the one ‘food item’ that remains my favorite, needed daily bread is the Americano. Sometimes people call it a long shot, sometimes people call it a short Cafe (lol), Italians call it lungo, but basically what I’m looking for is espresso and water - but not too much water ! That’s the worst. Put it in a small cup my guys. Ppl gonna drag me on the differences here, I don’t care. 

🌀Tim Hecker’s Harmony in Ultraviolet 

The soundscapes are immense, contemplative, and, I find, incredibly profound. You really gotta’ submit to this thing. I’ve been doing high dose ketamine therapy, and day one I had to pick a record to listen to (with zero vocals, or implied vox) + kinda’ willy-nilly picked Ultraviolet. Boy, I feel so happy that I did … I literally raise my arms in k-hole prayer during the moments of exhalation. Been listening to it every time. This album shape-shifts, I love. 10/10

🕊️ Mourning Doves

All time fave bird, the Mourning Dove. Perhaps you’ve heard their forlorn cooing, or seen them roosting in a tree? They are wild romantics, mate for life, lament their losses, and the males often stay behind in inhospitable climates (risking death / frostbite) in order to get the dopest nesting zone. I’ve been conditioned to identify their call as the harbinger of summer, honestly an amazing feeling.

💁‍♀️Valley Girl outlook

I’m currently revisiting The Simple Life + I’m so charmed by Paris and Nicole. They’re real forthright with their emotions / reactions. Maybe it’s bratty, but mostly it’s kinda positive. I really like the “that’s hot” sensibility, like it’s less superficial than expected and mostly praise for an affect or freaky behavior. I can’t wait to say that’s hot to a lover when they send me Die You Fuck or yell that’s hot at a sexy stranger out my car window. I guess the context of sexual harassment is sorta ambiguous here, but also endearing?

👄 Psych out kisses

The name says it all. If you don’t know - practice done by seasoned flirts, where either you “innocuously” lean yr face close to someone yr chatting with, ostensibly for another purpose (ie. brushing lint of their arm), but brings you into the kiss zone, without actual contact. OR an actual psych out kiss, where during the act of making out / sex / whatever - you go to kiss, but like leave yr mouth open. It’s horny. Having to describe this is taking the magic out, but those who know, know. 

💤 Sleepy time magnesium

Guess Gus hasn’t heard about magnesium. The “calm” brand of magnesium puts me down, which is so helpful ‘cause sleep is elusive + I rly am non-functional without it.