AI Illustrated Self Portrait by A. L Bahta
Last Call is an interview series where I, Brittany Marino, ask talented folk all about their lasts: last time they did something, last time they felt something, etc. This week I interviewed multidisciplinary artist A. L. Bahta. He orders a negroni and I, an espresso martini.
You may know him by his pseudonym Quiet Luke. Or perhaps as one of the founders of the ever growing Club Chess. Maybe you’ll catch him DJing the go-to party of the week, creating visuals for fashion shows, or even scoring a new indie film. Regardless, A. L. Bahta is leaving his mark with exciting projects happening all the time. In 2024, Bahta is looking to market himself just as so. Not quite leaving behind Quiet Luke, but instead showing you the name behind the handle. You may not know what to expect next since he’s a man of many hats; so you’ll just have to tune in like the rest of us to keep up.
Brittany: Who was the last person you texted?
A: The last person I texted…
Brittany: You’re welcome to check your phone but if you have it off the top of your head that’s cool, too.
A: I think the last person I texted was you!
Brittany: (laughs) Okay so let’s skip, who was the last person before me that you texted?
A: So, we’re getting a saxophonist for this pop-up show that I’m doing. I traded phone numbers with the saxophonist.
Brittany: Cool, where’d you meet them?
A: Instagram. His name’s Max. My friend Dese just connected us.
Brittany: What’s the last movie you watched?
A: The last movie I watched was “Poor Things”.
Brittany: Did you like it?
A: I loved it.
Brittany: A lot of people liked it!
A: Some people were split, but I absolutely loved it.
Brittany: I think I’ve mostly heard good things. I’ve heard that it’s maybe not people’s favorite movie of the year, per se, but I’ve mostly heard really good things about it.
A: I think it might’ve been my favorite movie of the year.
Brittany: Last song you recorded?
A: I made a remix of a Cody Chesnutt song a few days ago. The last song I recorded is called “Embers.” I don’t know what project it’s gonna be on, or if it’s going to see the light of day, but it’s an acoustic-guitar-thing.
Brittany: Does it sound like anything you’ve done before, or..?
A: It’s kind of a Kurt Cobain-acoustic-unplugged moment. It’s a very grungy, acoustic song with some distorted ethereal stuff.
Brittany: When was the last time you cried?
A: I can’t remember, but it had to be, like, a few days ago.
Brittany: Do you cry a lot? Are you an emotional person?
A: (laughs) I’m very emotional.
Brittany: What is something that might make you cry? Cause I’ve asked this question before, and a lot of the answers will be like, “Oh, I cried watching this movie,” or something.
A: Just going through normal trials of life sometimes I’m just brought to tears.
Brittany: What’s the last thing you splurged on?
A: Let me think… Like, for myself, a gift for someone else, a meal…?
Brittany: Anything!
A: I had a nice Balthazar dinner. It was very indulgent.
Brittany: Why did you decide to do that?
A: Just cause I deserved it. Oh actually, no! The very last thing that I splurged on– this was, like, splurge both financially and it was just indulgent– I was having a really bad day, and I got a massage and facial. That was the last thing I splurged on.
Brittany: That’s definitely a splurge, cause massages are not cheap. I guess you can get a cheap one, they have, like, the dollar a minute ones, but-
A: I have a really good spot, if you’re trying to blow 200-something bucks.
Brittany: I need to get that recommendation, I messed up my neck the other day sleeping.
Brittany: What’s the last note written in your notes app?
A: Let’s see. So, I’m doing AI visuals for the upcoming Collina Strada runway show with a friend of mine, Kevin Neal, who I frequently collaborate with, and it’s sort of notes from something I was working on.
Brittany: Cool. Do you use your notes app a lot?
A: Yeah.
Brittany: Is it mostly lists, or thoughts? Do you like, write song lyrics in there…?
A: All the above. Kind of like, work, diary… sometimes I’ll find notes and I’ll have no idea what they mean.
Brittany: Same. I do drunk thoughts, too, like some of my friends will say something funny and I just want to remember it forever, so I’ll write it in my notes, and then a couple days later, I’m like, “What the hell does this mean?”
A: Yeah, notes app is definitely one of my favorite apps.
Brittany: How screwed are you if all of your notes got deleted and couldn’t be recovered?
A: Somewhat screwed.
Brittany: Yeah, I’m pretty screwed.
Brittany: Last game of chess you played?
A: Probably something online, on Chess.com.
Brittany: Do you play online regularly?
A: I go through phases, I was playing a lot over the holidays. There was a stretch last Fall where I was doing the party a lot where I didn’t play online for like months which was kind of great.
Brittany: I brought that up because of Club Chess, obviously.
A: I think I’m doing it less, at least in my free time.
A. L. Bahta at Treasure Club – Photo by Lulú Rodriguez
Brittany: What is the last thing you obsessed over?
A: I cannot wait to see “Dune: Part 2″. I rewatched the first one recently. Best.
Brittany: Are movie scores something you’re interested in in general?
A: Yeah! So I actually am… There’s a film that I scored, “Walk of Shame,” directed by Dane Ray that had its New York premiere at IFC.
Brittany: That sounds so cool.
A: I scored a few films over Covid, and some of them are coming out, and I have more stuff in the works.
Brittany: That’s really cool. Do you have any movies that you would think of having the best movie scores that come to mind?
A: I really love “Phantom Thread”, Jonny Greenwood scores. Then I love, like, John Williams scores, Trent Reznor scores.
Brittany: When was the last time you created something you’re proud of?
A: I don’t think it’s music… Honestly, some of the images I’ve been making for this fashion show. I’m making some cool video-based AI stuff right now.
Brittany: You’ve really got your hands on a lot of stuff, you do music, you have chess, event promoting, and now you also do– you’re creating these images with AI, are you in graphic design? What is your world there?
A: It’s sort of like fucked up creative direction– working with AI is really interesting because it does a lot of the manual heavy-lifting for you, but you still have to do a lot of the creative heavy-lifting. It’s a way to make something that looks and feels more expensive than it actually is. I’m actually working on music and sculptures partially made with AI. I’m not really a darling for any one thing, which is frustrating but maybe for the best. I went through this whole process of wanting to be seen as more than a musician, and now it’s like, “Please note that I am a musician.”
Brittany: That’s awesome. Do you find that sometimes you really want to be doing more of that work, and other times you’re really more into recording music, and producing? How do you feel about juggling all these different things that you do?
A: I got really jaded about music over the pandemic for some reason. Maybe just because stuff got a little fucky, but I’m really excited about music now. I’m putting out the song I made for the film I mentioned soon with a video directed by the director, which feels full circle.
Brittany: Do you think you took enough time away from it, maybe?
A: Yeah, I definitely did.
Brittany: Last album you listened to? It can be new, but just in full.
A: Have you heard of this Japanese band Les Rallizes Dénudés? It’s this band from the late ‘60s in Japan, and they’re sort of, I don’t know what the word is, shadowbanned, or canceled? A lot of their music is removed from Spotify and stuff because their bassist hijacked an airplane.
Brittany: Woah! Yeah, that’s a pretty high offense. Cause there’s a lot of music still out there from canceled people.
A: Yeah, I don’t know if it’s because they disbanded after that, then no one thought to put it on Spotify, but now a lot of their music is getting an archival re-releases,
Brittany: Oh, nice.
A: It’s really cool, it’s like, Japan, post-psychedelic, folky, with Velvet Underground influence. Like weirdo rock stuff.
Brittany: How did you find them?
A: My friend David Yi showed me it–I think.
Brittany: How did David find them, do you know?
A: He knows about a lot of weird stuff. I can’t remember, maybe I came across it on YouTube actually, and we connected over it, so I associate the band with him. It’s something I found a while ago, but now that it’s getting all these archival releases I’m back into it.
Brittany: That’s really, really sick. That’s very much up my alley so I’d love to check it out.
Brittany: Last question is, what’s the last risk you took?
A: The last risk I took– Oh god, I take too many.
Brittany: That’s a good thing, that’s a better answer than, “I never take risks, I play on the safe side all the time.”
A: (laughs) I think going into this new year just trusting that projects will financially sustain me was a huge risk.
Brittany: That’s a scary thing, for sure. Especially in a city like New York, where you’ve got to hustle to survive here, and it’s not a cheap city by any means. It’s the beginning of the year, but do you feel like that’s a risk that’s going to work out for you?.
Brittany: Are you excited about the things you have lined up?
A: Yeah, totally. I’m just waiting for everything to sort of spiral upwards into making sense, you know? That’s kind of where I’m at right now. I’m feeling optimistic.
