My interest in electronic music started when I watched films like Bladerunner and A Clockwork Orange back when I was young. I’m an avid film fan, and the sounds on those soundtracks didn’t resemble any other movie or style of music I ever heard before, it was very intriguing trying to figure out how these strange sounds and textures were made. This was before the development of the internet back in the 80s, so these sounds were always surrounded by this mysterious veil to me.
Is there one piece of gear that was a real turning point for you?There’s one piece of hardware gear that was a game changer for me, that was the Korg Triton my mom bought me after finishing Sound School back in Venezuela. It was the early 2000s and I didn’t have a laptop, but this amazing workstation had everything I needed back in the day: A polyphonic synthesizer, a good range of sounds, a sequencer and a sampler. I used to carry around these boxes with zip drives and floppy disks filled with samples and sequences for early electronic gigs. I still have it and will probably keep it forever.
Is there a particular instrument or sound source you find yourself drawn to?I feel drawn to all instruments, I love synthesizers, but I also write a lot of music on the piano or the guitar because I believe that the sound source will carry the musical idea, a melody can sound amazing on a particular instrument but not too inspiring on another, so for me it’s whatever sounds good at that moment, whatever feels exciting, that’s what I’m drawn to.
What does your creative process look like? Are there particular techniques that help your process?My creative process can be quite random, for example, on one of the songs from my EP ‘Up in the Air’, I was driving and listening to the tracks when suddenly this idea for a lyric and a melody just came to my head, I had to stop and record it on the phone as the music was playing in the background. Sometimes I’m outside in the backyard and think of a bass line, or a beat, or a melody, I do jam a lot with different instruments but there’s no particular process. One of the techniques I use all the time is recording everything, everytime I pick up an instrument in my studio I’m recording, just in case, because you never know when you’ll have one of those musical magic moments.
Do you find that other creative pursuits influence your music?I do think so, I love photography, and it’s one of my favourite hobbies. I also used to paint, years ago, but music is basically my whole creative output. I do love mixing other artists' music as well, it feels a bit like taking a photograph, some things in the frame can be blurred if they’re in background, others can be more in focus and closer to the subject, so I guess that maybe photography has helped me in some way to have a better approach to mixing music.
Do you perform live? How do you translate your music into a live performance?I love performing with Ableton, what I usually do is export loops from the finished tracks and then do a sort of big mashup with all of them, so I’d never play the songs the same way. One night a song might start with synth pads and on another night the same song might start with the bass line or the beat, I guess it depends on the mood, I find it more exciting than just pressing play to some stems.
What is the source of inspiration for your latest work?I listen to many different styles of music, but at this moment I’m feeling very drawn to electronic dance music, so much that recently started to record different ideas in this area, trying to incorporate elements from ambient, rock and cinematic music, hopefully I’ll be releasing something out of that in the next coming months.
Do you think the town you live in has an influence on your sound or process?So far I’ve lived in two cities, Caracas where I originally come from and Dunedin since 2015. Both cities have inspired me in different ways, Caracas holds around 8 million people and it used to be a South American creative hub before politics got in the way. Dunedin’s got the musical history from the 80s, and it also feels like an artistic hub. So I do have to say that I have been greatly inspired by both in different ways.
What is the strangest or most surprising instrument you have used?To be honest I can’t think of one at this moment, but I’d probably go back to the synthetiser. I remember in Sound School back in Venezuela going to class and learning how to make sounds like a hihat, a kick or a violin with a vintage Korg MS-20, back in the day learning that this instrument could be so unique but at the same time sound like something else really blew my mind.
Who do you see as your biggest influence?This is a tough question for me since I’ve been influenced by so many things, not only music but books and films as well…...and people. I’d say everything that surrounds me and that I connect with, that’s inspiring to me.
What records caught your attention early on and influenced your direction?I can say that the record that influenced me very early on in my direction was The Cure in Concert 1984. I remember that the son of one of my parents’ friends had this cassette tape with this weird sounding singer and music. The other album is probably Massive Attack’s Mezzanine, there are no words to describe it.
Recommend one artist for people to check out (other than yourself of course)Lately I’ve been listening repeatedly to Ben Böhmer’s music, and found him through a friend that posted a pretty good video on YouTube where he's playing his music on a hot air balloon above Cappadocia in Turkey. His album Breathing is just amazing, from beginning to end.
