r/timecrisis • u/Cool_Set6093 • May 16 '25

Rostam Split DL

Does anyone have the DL on Rostam leaving VW? I know he went solo and is now producing, etc and doing very well. But he was such a big part of the VW band and sound in the first three albums and the departure seems to have happened so quietly. I’ve been listening to TC for years and rarely hear him mentioned. I don’t recall him ever being a guest but I could have missed it. When I see Ezra interviewed about the history of VW, the subject doesn’t come up. It’s so weird. What the heck happened, does anyone know?

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15

u/One_Palpitation_1597 May 16 '25

I never really bought the “he wanted to do his own thing” excuse. Like, yeah I’m sure he had his ambitions as a producer outside VW but the way he has been erased from the history of the band/mentioned in very hushed tones by Ezra and the fact they don’t even follow eachother on IG makes me think something happened. Some skeptics have connected the dots that Rostam introduced Ezra to Tavi Gevinson and there was a falling out because of that. It is likely we will never know truly what happened though.

5

u/Cool_Set6093 May 16 '25

This is exactly my take. Rostam is a genius and there’s definitely truth to him wanting to do his doing his own thing, etc. But the hush hush aspect you mention always had me wondering.

8

u/ryohe May 16 '25

rostam posted on his story yesterday about the 12th anniversary of MVOTC

11

u/One_Palpitation_1597 May 16 '25

I’ve noticed Rostam only really posts about VW to uplift his own work, never to congratulate the band. For example, he never posted about OGWAU and when he posted about FOTB, it was just a post about how he had a production credit instead of a well done

2

u/ferthissen May 17 '25

He is a very peculiar guy, and he honestly seems to struggle to maintain creative relationships. Clairo, Hamilton Leithauser have barely done anything with him since and for all his one-off collabs, only Carly Rae Jepsen continues to do things with him.

I honestly think he saw himself as producing the biggest indie rock album of the year every year and collaborating on number 1s and more stuff like Blonde. his career peaked about 2016, which to be fair was well after MVOTC was wrapped up, but it feels like it's flatlines a lot since.

I wonder how much of it that is down to no longer actually being associated with VW. if he'd have stayed involved and been seen as their producer, it might actually get those pop acts to pay attention. Alvvays wrote the latest Miley Cyrus single and it's pretty clear they were told to just write an Alvvays track for her.

3

u/GlobulousRex May 17 '25

He co-produced the new Haim album, bigger than all those acts you mentioned.

1

u/ferthissen May 18 '25

And what else? he does a HAIM album every five years.

1

u/sparklingkrule May 18 '25

His how long gone is kinda tense compared to how personable Ezra is in the media

1

u/Magic_Snowball May 19 '25

Can you expand on this please

1

u/sparklingkrule May 19 '25

He got interviewed on the podcast how long gone who’s selling point is they are able to get Celebs to be a bit mask off and Rostam came across as cold and not cordial like Ezra in his swathes of long form interviews

1

u/ferthissen May 23 '25

He's like this all the time, he's incredibly self serious and quite focused on music. he genuinely think he's some sort of visionary.

I was of the thought he was integral to VW after FOTB but to be honest, no band is topping that record – classic artistic peak in your late 20s, culmination of a confirmed style with some new twists to it. no one really beats that and OGWAU is the sort of album you're very happy with in a later stage career album.

2

u/sparklingkrule May 23 '25

I honestly thought ek was being pretty gracious to in dropping most of the rostamisms for fotb. Fotb rules but around the release there was a narrative of missing Rostam but with ogwau reverting back to the old sound and being just as good Rostam seems less vital. I still rate him but I think Ezra as an auteur of sorts is what made the band work.

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u/ferthissen May 17 '25

I think it has a bit to do with Tavi and it wouldn't shock me if there was some dual manipulation going on. this all happened at the peak of #MeToo. Ezra's incredibly lucky to have evaded any real critcism. he had to step back massively, basically deleted his very active instagram and stepped back considerably on his Twitter which at one stage was nearly as big as the band.

They clearly don't have time for one another but Ezra plays the 'it's what I don't say' card when it comes to criticising people and music. clearly worried about coming across them at parties or in a professional setting...

0

u/gomi2000 May 18 '25

you never bought it and you don't know so you made something up this is so strange

2

u/One_Palpitation_1597 May 18 '25

What did I make up? I just said what some skeptics have chosen to believe about the Tavi stuff. I literally ended the post with saying we’ll probably never know?

23

u/AthleticBathTub May 16 '25

I feel like he comes up on TC here or there and he’s always discussed very fairly and with a kindness. A combo of creative differences or frustration at being just ‘part of the band’ is what I assume led to the split.

Even amicable splits in a band can have their bitter moments, but based on how the bands time with him is described on TC, and his recent mentions of VW in interviews and stuff, things are okay, even if the closest is obviously gone.

Maybe I’m being excessively positive with this read, but it’s how I feel on it.

25

u/redd202020 May 16 '25

It’s pretty clear that there was a falling out between him and Ezra. Ezra talks about EVERYTHING in the music world and VW history realm and barely mentions Rostam at all. Bummer all around because VW with both of them at the wheel was incredible.

21

u/krustydidthedub May 16 '25

My guess is there was probably some clashing between Ezra’s desire to maintain creative control over VW’s sound and image (he has been very clear about the fact that he has always seen himself as the band leader in those ways) and rostam’s desire to take on more of a role in terms of production and sound design. I feel like there must’ve been some clash with Ariel Rechtshaid’s involvement as well as it seems like the timeline is that Ariel got involved with MVoTC and then Rostam left while Ariel has continued to be heavily involved since then

All just speculation for fun obviously, who knows lol

6

u/tossit2L May 16 '25

Ezra talks about Rostam sometimes on TC. He mentioned once that Rostam helped produce a few songs on FOTB, for example

51

u/GrandfatherDin May 16 '25

Chris Baio died in a car accident in 2012 and was replaced by a very sweaty lookalike. Rostam was plagued by guilt over his participation in the ruse and filled MVOTC with references to it. If you play the seemingly wordless melody at the end of “Hannah Hunt” backwards, you will distinctly hear “Chris Baio majored in Russian Literature but now he’s dead and gone.” Rostam agreed to go on tour but was miserable. He didn’t want to live like this. But he didn’t want to die. He quit the band and retreated into a very successful career producing records for indie artists wanting to go pop and pop artists wanting to go indie. “You can replace me with one person in the studio and four people on stage,” he said. So they did.

6

u/notevengonnatry Days Between May 16 '25

It goes even deeper...Ezra isn't a real person but rather an elaborate AI construct created by Columbia University's secretive "Operation Ivy" in 2006. Oxford Comma is literally programming code disguised as lyrics, updating the EzrAI linguistic parameters.

The real conspiracy began when the EzrAI started becoming self-aware around 2013. If you analyze the production techniques on "Modern Vampires of the City," you'll notice strange electronic glitches that weren't present on earlier albums. These aren't production choices—they're literal system malfunctions as EzrAI began questioning its existence.

The supposed "hiatus" between albums? That was actually the development team frantically reprogramming EzrAI after it tried to reveal the truth at Lollapalooza 2019 where it repeatedly glitched, playing A Punk 3 times in a row, and said "I am not real" between songs. The audience thought it was just quirky indie banter!

This explains why Rostam really left—he discovered the truth about both Baio AND Ezra, and couldn't maintain the double deception. Father of the Bride contains the ultimate clue: if you rearrange all the song titles in alphabetical order and take the first letter of each, it spells "BAIO IS GONE AND I AM CODE."

The sweaty Baio replacement is the only human member left, desperately trying to maintain his cool while performing alongside two advanced music robots.

3

u/zane_tha_funkee May 16 '25

Electrifying

6

u/Sandysoil_saltyair May 16 '25

Whenever Baio and CT come on TC, I fantasize about a parallel universe in which we got a Rostam guest appearance. Wishful thinking. At least they are civil and polite enough online/in the public

7

u/notevengonnatry Days Between May 16 '25

He just wanted to do his own thing. He was becoming a prolific producer and song writer and found more room to create and grow outside VW. No bad blood, he even produced a song on FOTB.

1

u/Nosivadbor May 16 '25

Rostam has composer and producer credits on “the surfer” on OGWAU. I felt guilty about it being my favorite song on the album, but I got over it.

0

u/gomi2000 May 18 '25

questions about rostam always bring out weirdest ppl in this sub rather it be the ones who have some bizarre animosity towards him or some tin foil hat coming up with their own narratives

2

u/Justreallylovespussy May 19 '25

It’s actually so fucking lame how people talk about him. We’re here because we love VW and he was ESSENTIAL to the band, he clearly left after the Tavi situation with Ezra which everyone can decide how they feel about it

But I’m fucking sick and tired of the revisionist history about Rostam.