Surf is that music which is entirely about evoking something. There's never any vocals, so it's not about the lyrics, it's about the reverb.
Stephin MerrittWell, hardcore is so much about the body, in that you have to play as fast as possible. I'm not sure it can be ironized. You can't play faster, though I suppose that with the help of electronics you could play faster. Yeah, if you sped it up, that could ironize it.
Stephin MerrittThere's already a great deal to do writing the songs. And if I were completely in control of it, nobody would be able to say "this song doesn't work."
Stephin MerrittI write songs by sitting around in bars, so drinking songs are a little obvious. It's surprising that I don't write entirely drinking songs, since I am, in fact, drinking while writing the song. Drinking and love are the two principal sources of pleasure outside of music. There's only so many sources of pleasure, really. That's about it. Well, there are other arts as well. But none of them are as pleasurable as music, on a physical level.
Stephin Merritt