Photo by Jeff Leeds Cohn / Design by JP Consuegra
The comedian, Berklee College of Music graduate, and aspiring conductor talks jazz legends, horrorcore, Death Grips, and the best Lil B song.
July 14, 2026
BY Will Schube
Eric André is an absolute head. The comedian and genius behind the chaotic force that is The Eric André Show knows ball. He’s a Berklee College of Music graduate and releases music via the inimitable Stones Throw Records under the name Blarf.
He can play standup bass like the jazz icons he idolizes and the latest Blarf LP, Film Scores for Films That Don’t Exist, sounds like Stravinsky took a bunch of acid and made an Aphex Twin album.
His love for music is deep and vast, and he’s the rare listener that’s tapped into both what’s happening now and the foundational classics. In short, Eric André is the sort of listener we aspire to be: passionate, thoughtful, engaged, and knowledgeable. He’s also the perfect guest for our Taste in Music series. He’ll share thoughts on Sonny Rollins before describing a particular artist as a “coochie dryer.” He’s still that Eric André, after all.
Here’s a look at comedian and composer Eric André’s taste in music.
Who is an artist that you love that none of your friends listen to?
You can name any jazz musician. Nobody listens to jazz that doesn't play jazz. Eric Dolphy, Sun Ra, Coltrane, Miles Davis, Albert Ayler, Sonny Rollins, Charlie Haden, Ornette Coleman.
And then breakcore. It's very hard to get people into experimental electronic music. I love Shitmat. We call those coochie dryers. Tumbleweed rolls through every vagina in the room when you put on experimental music.
An alien lands on Earth and you have to pick one song to introduce them to music as a concept. What song are you playing?
That Lil B song, “Bass Cerebral.”
Music has to start there, because it's completely authentic.
Who is an artist that shaped your teens?
Wu-Tang and Gravediggaz. Really, that first Gravediggaz album. That’s the one that got worn out. It’s one of a kind. There’s not really anything like it. It was like horrorcore rap, which isn’t really a genre beyond Gravediggaz and Flatlinerz. The first time I ever got paid for a commercial, I went to Fulton Street Mall and got full gold teeth. I wanted gold teeth and those specific grills of the fangs that they’ve all worn.
Also at the time, like ’94, you had some of the best A Tribe Called Quest stuff, Wu-Tang, Das EFX, Boot Camp Clik, Pharcyde, and Hieroglyphics. That kind of shaped my worldview. I was coming of age at that time, so that stuff locked into my brain.
What song or album helped you through a breakup?
There’s this Korean saxophone player, Kim Oki. The song title is in Korean, so I don't know what the name of it is, And I actually don't know if it helped me through the breakup, but it came into my life during the breakup and it's incredibly sad and touching. I think that Floating Points album with Pharoah Sanders is a gut-wrencher, too.
Do you like listening to sad music when you're sad?
Yeah. Well, the sad music kind of just appears when you're about to be sad, and then you're like, ‘Oh shit, here it comes.’ It's like the universe brings it to you. The Pharoah Sanders album came out as my dad was dying. But if I'm trying to get out of a depression, I don't know, I'll listen to Weird Al Yankovic or The Boredoms or something.
Who is an artist you discovered recently that you can't stop listening to?
LustSickPuppy. I think she's brilliant and there's really nobody like her. She's completely unique and I actually don't know why she's not more known. I think she's about to blow up if she hasn't already. Her and Rico Nasty.
What was your most-played song last year?
Spotify tells you what song you listen to the most each year. The last three years was Lil Yachty’s “Cold Sunday,” a Danny Brown and JPEGMAFIA song called “Orange Juice Jones,” and a Knxwledge song “Circuitloop.”
What music makes you feel like you’re living in the future?
Stuff that makes me feel like I'm definitely in the future, and there's nothing else like this in the 21st Century, is XXXTentacion, Death Grips, RXKNephew, and JPEGMAFIA. There's nothing from the previous century that sounds like these guys. This is truly original.
JPEGMAFIA is one of the most brilliant [artists.] I feel like he’s completely, truly 21st century music. JPEGMAFIA and Death Grips, there’s nothing like them in the previous century. They truly feel like they’re looking towards the future.
I also think “The Hillbillies” by Kendrick and Baby Keem is the future. I've never heard music like that. I think I've listened to that song a hundred million times. I was blown away by that, and I wanted them to do more of that and go more in that direction. I had an impromptu dinner with Baby Keem at the Barclays Center because we have a mutual friend. He's very nice and down-to-earth, and I cornered him and asked him a million questions about that song. [Laughs.]
And LustSickPuppy. She's definitely the future.
Gun to your head, you have to recite every lyric to a song. What song are you picking?
It’s either the famous Biggie freestyle that he did with Tupac before they were enemies, or anything off of Paul's Boutique by the Beastie Boys. I could say the whole album cover to cover.
If a movie's being made about your life, what artist do you want to do the soundtrack?
RXKNephew.
I discovered his music through Zack Fox, who would also be a good answer to that question.
What’s a song that makes you feel like a superhero?
There’s a Hudson Mohawke song where he samples Willie Hutch. If I was a boxer, I would come out to that. It’s called “Ryderz.”