Margeaux Labat

💭 Dream Recollection, 😻 Cats of Instagram, 🥁 ‘90s/early ‘00s twee pop bands, and more.

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Cool people like cool things, which is why we asked Margeaux Labat to share a taste of her taste on Perfectly Imperfect.

Margeaux Labat is a Brooklyn-based music enthusiast / content creator / curator that’s known for sharing her deep-cut music recommendations on TikTok and Instagram as @marg.mp3. Aside from her social media presence, she has a monthly residency on NTS Radio, works as the Associate Manager of Creative Development on the video team at Pitchfork, and has been featured in Byline, SLEEK Magazine, and on the New York Times Popcast. Her vast knowledge has cultivated a dedicated following of real heads like Caroline Polachek who has called her “the future of music journalism”. Recently, she’s been doing short-form artist interviews with musicians like A.G Cook (#444), Kim Gordon, Charli XCX (#233), Clairo, and Black Country, New Road; you can find these on her socials (and she tells us she’s got lots more on the docket as well.) Lucky for us, Margeaux’s here to tell us what she’s been into. 

Without further ado

Margeaux Labat (instagram, tiktok)

💭 Dream Recollection

Anyone close to me knows that I’m really into recording my dreams and that I love talking about it, specifically how it has done wonders for my memory. I’ve been obsessed with dream phenomena since I was a kid since I’ve always had insanely vivid dreams and can honestly separate my life into chapters based on the recurring dream I was having at the time. I was really into dream journaling when I was a teenager, and then I switched over to recording my dreams in my voice memos app during 2020, but I’ve kinda fallen off in more recent years. But every morning, I try to at least recall my dream to myself, even if just an inkling of what I thought I might’ve just dreamt. And more often than not, when I go back to bed later on that night, get in my usual sleeping position and close my eyes, I can usually remember at least the general essence of the dream I had the previous night. I think that recording my dreams has really improved my memory overall. I also just think it’s really fun and interesting, even though about 70% of my dreams are stress-inducing or consist of my deepest subconscious thoughts, insecurities and fears being thrown in my face :)

😻 Cats of Instagram (specifically @guangdang005, @francisandmaggie and @georgetheultimatecat)

My Instagram explore page, for the most part, consists of cute Korean cartoons and cats being cute and/or crazy. My three favorite internet cats lately have been Guangdang, Francis and George. Guangdang is a cat that has a resting sad face (I can relate) and kind of “eeps” rather than meows. Francis is a 14 year-old cat with dwarfism. George is a really chatty Orange cat that’s a rescue, and he lives with this really wholesome lady in a beautiful garden and cottage in Wales. As we all know, the internet can be such an apocalyptic hole of discouraging stupidity, so these cats really bring me so much joy amidst all of the pure shit. I feel like I could die for them sometimes. I love them with all of my heart.

🐊 Embracing being from New Orleans and my Southerness in general

The longer I live in NYC, the more I realize that I am a Southern girl at my core. I’m from New Orleans, and I probably go back there at least three times a year for at least 10 days at a time – partly because my partner and immediate family still live there, partly because I just love and miss the pure unadulterated heat. I fucking love the heat, and you know what? I really love the humidity. I can face 100% humidity with no problem – it’s actually pretty nostalgic for me. I love hot summer nights where the air is completely still and you can hear cicadas. I fucking love grits and a fresh buttery biscuit. I love Spanish moss hanging off of huge oak trees with giant branches that dip down and touch the ground. Lately I’ve been really into classic country music (shoutout Ken Burns’ Country Music PBS docu-series), old American folk, Appalachian murder ballads, and Les Blank’s documentaries set in Louisiana in the early ‘70s. Spend It All is one of my favorite documentaries and I recently watched Dry Wood – I feel deeply connected to both!

🥁 ‘90s/early ‘00s twee pop bands

Something about when it starts getting really hot makes me wanna listen to very specific types of music: MPB, Jùjú, Highlife, Yacht Rock… but my go-to late Spring/early-Summer music vibe has been ‘90s/early ‘00s twee pop, specifically Tiger Trap, Gaze, Cub and Brittle Stars. None of these bands are new to me, but I’ve been revisiting their music a lot lately. There’s a rudimentary innocence to all of their music that really inspires and comforts me. Plus some of it just feels really punk to me – namely Tiger Trap. I love Tiger Trap’s one-and-only album from 1993, Gaze’s Shake the Pounce, Cub’s Betti Cola, and literally anything by Brittle Stars.

👗 Sissy Spacek’s style in Badlands (1973)

I first watched Badlands a couple years ago, and I remember thinking that Martin Sheen’s character was such a psychopath. I rewatched it with my boyfriend recently since he had never seen it, and yeah, I still think he’s a psychopath! But undoubtedly a very charming one! With great style! But Sissy Spacek, for me, is the true style icon of this movie. I really love all of her looks in it. They’re the embodiment of classic, girlish, polished, quirked-up Southern timelessness. I’m forever trying to replicate her navy blue shirt, tiny white shorts, white socks and penny loafers outfit!