Jim James Quotes

I'm proud that with 'Bright Eyes' we've always experimented and tried to make a different record every time out.

I never thought that I would be creating my own 'cross-over' genre. What I did was very real and organic. I have worked in so many different styles so it all just came together.

The only intention I've ever had creatively, as a musician, is to be as different from myself as possible.

When some artistes give a hit song, they keep repeating themselves in the same genre. I always try to create something new.

I get bored of music really easily, so I always try and make music that makes sense, but then it's just a little bit wrong.

I always make a point to make my records different. Let's say I have a record that's influenced by hip-hop in an abstract way; for the next record, I'd try not to do that. They are all connected in a personal way but it's important not to repeat myself, because then I can always learn something about myself through my work.

I am optimistic about the future of music.

I'm always trying to come up with something new and unique. I do a beatbox with a harmonica.

Every record that you do man, is sooo different in every way.

My last two records that I made were both quite pointed in one direction and I think I do my best stuff when it's all over the map, when there's a couple traditional things, a couple pretty rocking things.

I think that all my albums are different enough where I don't feel like I did this the last time.

In terms of music, I can try anything I want, even something that doesn't work at all, because I'm not putting my career in jeopardy.

I don't know if there are artists out there who love their own records. I haven't met any, and I'm kind of extreme in the other direction, but therein lies the impetus to keep working and keep making new songs and new records.

I try not to get trapped in any one musical or visual style at all.

I'm forever learning and that's why I'm always able to create new styles and new dimensions of hip-hop.

I wanted to make good records. But my problem is I've got a low boredom threshold, so I wanted it to look and sound different with each album, which is really tantamount to suicide, cause people lose it, they lose it - they say: 'I like that, and that's not this.'

I just want to keep making music, recording and trying different things. I don't want to do the same thing all the time.

Making records is fun. It's not some big statement. You're allowed to make mistakes.

Never try to make the same record twice, even when people are screaming for the same sound.

It never gets boring for me because there's so many different things to explore in the studio. The studio's become the sanctuary that people have come in and found new things out about themselves, as weird as that sounds. But it's true, I'm no different. I've made some crazy hard records, and I've made a jazz album.

You'll find little schools of musicians experimenting with different ways of making music in Brooklyn, all through Manhattan, in Queens, in Jersey, you know? The city is still bubbling with creativity.

Now U2's not my favorite band, but I do respect them, and in the same way I respect Bowie: They change without fear of change.

It's a very subjective, personal, instinctive approach as musicians of saying, 'We don't want to replace what's around; we just want to widen the possibilities.'

No, it's not dissatisfaction that inspires me to tinker with my songs, it's just restlessness.

Being in several, disparate bands is what I thrive on.