Zach Cowie (aka Turquoise Wisdom) is bringing a deep crate-digger sensibility to popular TV and films.
Zach Cowie (aka Turquoise Wisdom) is bringing a deep crate-digger sensibility to popular TV and films. Abby Ross

Zach Cowie admits that while working in online sales in the early '00s at Sub Pop, he was “terrible” at it. Despite that disappointment, though, Cowie has gone on to have a pretty sweet career in the music biz. He's tour managed acts such as Joanna Newsom, Vashti Bunyan, and Devendra Banhart, and has DJed (under the name Turquoise Wisdom) before shows by Animal Collective and Fleet Foxes. Also, Cowie and actor Elijah Wood (The Hobbit, TRON) DJ club dates and other events in tandem under the handle Wooden Wisdom. In addition, Cowie’s curated two essential Country Funk compilations put out by Seattle’s Light in the Attic Records and consulted on the soundtrack for the 2012 film Celeste & Jesse Forever. However, his most high-profile job to date is serving as music supervisor for Aziz Ansari’s new Netflix comedy sensation, Master of None, for which he’s earned widespread praise for his tasteful and daring selections (Aphex Twin’s “Come to Daddy” in episode 1 blew minds). Below, Cowie answers some questions about Wooden Wisdom, his record-industry projects, and the challenges of high-stakes music supervising.

How did you end up DJing with Elijah Wood? Is it chill or do people at gigs try to swarm him because he's a famous actor?
We met through mutual friends/heroes Kateand& Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte about five years ago (I work with them on their runway music and I DJ all their parties). Elijah and I bonded pretty quickly over some fairly obscure records and shortly after, through total coincidence, I was asked to open for him at a Bushmills product launch party. We decided it would be more fun to play together rather than do separate sets and it WAS, so we’ve been doing that with some regularity ever since.

The whole thing is kind of a Trojan horse—some people do swarm based on the celebrity stuff, thinking it’ll be some kind of spectacle, but he usually surprises those types with excellent selections from his crazy record collection and they often end up leaving with “Oh, he actually knows what he’s doing” as a general consensus.

What's the funniest/weirdest thing anyone's said to you guys at a Wooden Wisdom event?
You name it, I’ve heard it. but I try my hardest to not to pay attention to anything but the jams...

How does one become a music supervisor for a TV show or a film? (A million record geeks want to know!) Besides your obviously vast musical knowledge and great taste, is it mostly a matter of connections and being in the right place at the right time? Nobody really goes to college to graduate with a degree in musical supervision, right?
Oh man, I can only speak for myself here but so far my experiences have all been 100 percent right place/right time. I’d like to think that I don’t push too hard on anyone, I barely touch social media and the whole idea of self-promotion/hustling makes me want to barf… All my efforts go towards putting as much good music into the world via whatever outlets I have access to. Sometimes people hear the music and they find me and ask me to work on things… and sometimes those things generate more things. My mantra is to let the music do the talking. All the TV/movie/consultation stuff I’ve ever done went down this way. [Co-creators] Alan Yang and Aziz hit me up for Master of None after hearing me DJ around LA a bunch and from liking some of the stuff I put in Celeste & Jesse Forever. Not even totally sure how they got my number!

Have you ever recommended a song for a scene in the show and have it get rejected for aesthetic reasons rather than licensing obstacles? Have you and Aziz ever had any serious conflicts regarding these decisions?
Aziz was VERY involved in the master of none music and he has excellent taste; we essentially go song for song thru the whole series. Any supervision job requires a fair amount of compromise, but Aziz and I were pretty locked in as far as defining this show’s musical "world," so the compromises were pretty low pressure. We did butt heads a bit on a few cues, but ultimately we’re both here to support the story and to do that you have to take yourself out of the equation and go with the choice that best serves the scene.

What’s the most challenging aspect of being a music supervisor?
The whole compromise and "taking yourself out of the equation" thing I mention above takes a bit of practice. Just because it’s your favorite thing at the moment doesn’t mean it’s going to have a place in the project you’re working on. Perfect example—I’m listening to the Robert Ashley LP Automatic Writing as I type these answers and even though I absolutely LOVE this piece of music, I highly doubt I’d ever come across a scene it would make any sense in (although I welcome the opportunity!). Oh, and all the paperwork! On Master of None I had an incredible co-supervisor Kerri Drootin from NBC/Universal (they produced the show for Netflix) and she did most of the heavy lifting as far as clearances go, for this I am forever indebted!

Now that you've received a significant amount of media exposure in major outlets for your work with Master of None, how has your life changed?
Ha! I’m fairly oblivious to all the press stuff 'cuz i don’t use the internet much for anything outside of record and hi-fi research/buying, so life is the same... But if you ever want to hear from every person you’ve ever known within the span of one week, you should definitely work on a Netflix show.

Have you scored any other music supervisor jobs since Master of None has blown up?
People are talking about things, but I loved the Master of None experience so much and I’m totally cool with taking my time until something that’s equally special shows up.

Do you have any other projects in the works for Light in the Attic or any other labels?
Yup. I compiled a children’s record with illustrations by my bff Jess Rotter that’s called This Record Belongs To: . It came out 11/6 on Light in the Attic; it’s currently sold out but there are more on the way so please back order through their website if you’re interested. There’s also a reissue of a record I reallllllly love, which i worked on with them for a 2016 release but we haven't announced it yet. Oh, I recently started my next compilation project for them with a couple friends of mine but that one’s just now entering the licensing stage so we gotta keep quiet… It’s gonna be a banger though!!

About how much money per week do you spend on records?
As much as I’ve got!

What's your favorite album of all time, and why?
Impossible question but I’d have to go with Another Green World from Brian Eno. I think there are two major music phases in a person’s life. The first is the music that’s been given to you by other people (often family) as you're growing up…ya know, the music that’s just AROUND. Phase 2 is when you actively begin seeking out the music that will be YOUR FAVORITE. Eno was huge for me in that department, and his records unlocked so many doors that led to other music and it just keeps going. It’s lame to quote yourself but I’m going to! — in the Dust & Grooves book I call record collecting “an infinite journey backwards.” This is true and this is the record that really kickstarted mine...

What's your favorite song of all time, and why?
Jeez, dude! Another impossible question! I have no idea! If it’s sung it’s probably by John Martyn, Robert Wyatt, the Velvet Underground, or the Cocteau Twins. If it’s an instrumental it’s probably by John or Alice Coltrane, Brian Eno, or John Fahey. If it’s a beat it’s Dilla, and if it’s just silence it’s probably John Cage. Is that close enough?

Here's a new mix by Turquoise Wisdom titled The Use of Ashes, via Aquarium Drunkard.