#10 - theories

You named your podcast “Wholly Electronic”. Can you explain why and what mood you tried to capture?


I was invited to the instore celebration of the 7 years of Crevette and I didn’t want to play dance floor music but something like a record store listening session kind of thing. Records I found, and captured me for their innovation or uniqueness, but I never get to play so much because of the tempo or the type of mood.

Most of the time I end up playing IDM or ambient, but never something more specialized like this track of Serge Blenner, Phrase I, for example. These kinds of records are important for me because they showed me parts of history in music and opened doors to find even more sounds or artists I didn't know about. Then, I thought Crevette would be a good setting for playing something like this. 

Even though I didn’t prepare the set so much, as I thought I could just go with it, and it came out pretty good since it was a live scenario, but for the recording, I wanted to offer something more pleasant to listen to at home. When I record a mix I would like to just come back to listen to it because at the end is my favorite music that I’m playing there, and I like to enjoy listening to it on a mix you know? 

So I made a new version of my set at Crevette, touching rare corners of different genres and tempos as it evolves into a more energetic mood but keeping these interestingly composed tracks that keep you entertained and curious for what goes next in each of them.

New records I got in Crevette on that trip to Brussels were added to the set, and eventually, the selection evolved at home with my current mood at the moment of the recording. 

It also happened that the day before I recorded the set at home, Sascha, my father in law who turns out to know a lot about music, gave my partner this incredible Cristian Vogel record that has a track with a very similar rhythm and melody as one of the tracks of the set I planned, and I was like, it has to follow next!

The first 4 tracks set the mood for something explorative and narrative, and I wanted to keep it melodic and rhythmic but overall stimulating or playful. Something that most of the tracks have, is unexpected changes of mood, spiced-up elements, or breakpoints in the progression of the composition that make this differential point and kind of mischievous thing that draws me in. Overall, these tracks are even more interesting if you listen carefully to all the elements in their “Wholly Electronic” nature. If you can even call it like that.

Any tracks you want to highlight, a personal favorite?


Besides the Serge Blenner track, from his “La Vogue” album which is so mesmerizing as you say, I think the first track:  “Kaminari Okoshi by Suemori” on Osare Editions, because it was so definitive for the mood of the set, and the album is so amazing! I just keep playing it over and over again. I have played it with some friends but they don't appreciate it as much as me, and that's one of the reasons I think is so special, because not everyone gets it you know? 

Is this Japanese-experimental-avant garde-disruptive record from a futuristic cheeky entity who made a lysergic trip inside of a Japanese TV box or like a long dream on acid? It has this mysterious and macabre vibe but it goes everywhere.

Another track is “Sinister Dexter by The Sons of Silence” I love it because it starts like this yummy downtempo track that gives me a kinda of tropical feeling but when only the drums are left it turns into this sinister breaky trip, which works out so perfect with the next track I mix in. 

Valentin Wedde made some record scans out of my favorites from the mix.

Can you talk a bit about your digging routine when looking for records? Where did you find the records in this mix?


Some of the records I found in record stores, I love to go digging but I like to enjoy it, so I have to have the time for it, normally 3 or 4 hours in a shop at least. To go for an hour or just a moment makes me anxious and uncomfortable, although sometimes I get lucky in just 10 minutes.

I have found the most amazing music in stores, and it is a shame I don't have the time to do this more often but that’s the life of a graphic designer… It sounds kinda sad, but actually, my computer and I are longtime friends… I’m a digital music kinda person, the kind that puts the album covers to all the releases and has the full album even if I just like one track, is a lot of work but it brings me a kind of mental peace. 

Records are a relatively new thing for me. Although sometimes I enjoy playing them more than digital music. I come from Colombia and to have records is a very expensive taste even if you earn in euros, in Colombian pesos is even more. 

So I’m very used to digging online. There are a few ways… Discogs is my point of reference when I dig into a label or artist, and there are a lot of insights in the comments. I like to check interviews and documentaries. But I also like to read about music and look up the references. Computers are cool, but there’s stuff you can only find in books.

What led you to collect and play records? 

Well… I think Drum and Bass DJs in Bogotá. DJ Sebass is this Drum and Bass DJ legend from Bogotá, well actually from Ibagué, that when I started to go to raves, he would play the most incredible sets and occasionally on 3 turntables, that used to send me to the infinite planet of the never-ending dancing time. Once he played this unbelievable jungle set I could not stop dancing and I could have lost my mind on those breaks. Once I didn't go to the toilet for the whole night. Were other times, of course, I was young and would not care. 

There was another DJ I never saw again, Plan D, a punk music freak who knew soooo much about music and showed me weird punk, DnB records. 

I was looking at them playing and I was like wow! Respect! They were connoisseurs of their vinyls and they were doing it great! As I say, getting records in Colombia was not a cheap treat, and these guys were not rich but you could see they were so passionate about it, and would work their asses off to put us all to dance. There was a collective massive respect for DJs who were playing on vinyl at the time, and I was no exception, I was so inspired, so I bought 2 turntables and an Audio 8 from my ex and learned to play with the most affordable option I had 11 years ago, Traktor. But I would not play DnB, I was more into house music here. Then it was a matter of time to start ordering records overseas. Is a very fun and beautiful contact with music as a DJ. Then, my friends from Lay Down the Groove and Adi shared the same format taste, so this encouraged me to keep collecting. 

Jhon, my partner’s uncle is another music lover. He loves electro and DnB like me, and borrowed us all these DnB records he got in the 90’s! Maybe soon I will make a set with them.

Your love for breaky, weirdo, and edgy electronic (dance) music shines out in the mix you recorded for us. We find it great to see artists who walk on their path and create their own universe. How do you decide your path?

Music could be a psychological representation of personality for those who see music as an inherent part of their lives, it could be a way to say something, a personal view of the world. And that makes sense to me. I've always been a weird person or a “weirdo”, it wasn’t a choice tho, life decided that for me, and my path shaped me. But I embrace it.

My parents were young when they had me. They showed me 80s and 90s rock but the whole 90s decade together with Skate, Hip Hop, and video games, influenced in me a sense of non-conformity and rebellion. I used to hang out with my mom’s crew of friends as a kid, and my dad’s friends, and they were all in their 20s, so I guess this makes you grow up with a more free way of being. 

I don’t define myself as the sub-product of all this, but this kind of stuff grows in you if you have already an affinity for it as yourself.

I was a bad apple at school if you wanna call it like that (my teachers did), but I always embraced it. Now as an adult, it creates a kind of conflict, especially with social media that pretends we all look the same.

In the end for more outsiders we are, we want to belong to something and be accepted in a way you know… But that's why especially in these times, being yourself is kind of a rebellious act. I think someone else said something like that, I don't know who, but it is true.

What parameters of the records/music you collect has to be aligned before it makes it into your selection?

It depends on the purpose of the set. Whether it is a listening set, for a special radio or a label with a specific sound, or for the dance floor, I just try to bring my view of how I perceive that context or situation and try to keep it interesting, funky, and weird. Like in Machines, Dreams, and Rhythm, it is all about synths, Sci-fi, and technology. 

I try to build up a narrative as well, depending on where I would like to get, or with this mix for example, I just selected the first track, and that one led to the rest. And then it is like a movie with a plot twist.

You are a skilled and very creative graphic designer. Do you see parallel connections between the process of a graphic design project and a dj set? 

Thank you! :D One might say that music can influence graphics, but not the other way around, and this is not entirely true because sometimes the decisive factor in picking up a record could be the sleeve or the label on it. 

The stand-out difference for me is that when I record a set, I already have listened to the different parts that form the final result, I sort of know what music I will select and I have a mental idea in my mind about it.

With graphic design I also have an idea in my mind, but is very abstract, even if I create a concept, I don't know how will end up because I need to start from scratch, and I don’t know how to draw to make a sketch, so only after experimenting in the canvas is that I start to see the final shape of it. Although live sets could also be like that… You have a set of records but no matter how you start and even if you have a concept in mind, you don’t know how it will evolve and how it’s gonna end.

Sometimes it could even be frightening, but in both cases it is about how much you think about it. The more you think, the more you break the flow of it, you are supposed to connect with the pleasure of doing it, which is the main reason you have that pen or that record in your hand. In a way you want your work to be appreciated and valued, and when passions give a more professional turnaround, pressure could be a struggle. But we just need to remember that we do it because most importantly, it makes us happy. And I think that applies to all art forms.

You are working on a multidisciplinary project titled "Side Defects. What can we expect from this?

Side Defects is a platform I’ve been incubating for 3 years. I had this idea back in Bogotá and then I moved to Berlin which has been quite a process, so I had never time to materialize it. And I had no name for it but it is here.

The idea is to use it as an output for the interests I have and ideas I share with other people. Graphics, photography, writing, music, and different ideas that might land in our minds. 

Is a work in progress and an exercise to embrace more of what I was talking about in the above question. The acceptance of experimentation as a way of finding the unexpected. A take on error, mistake, and failure. 

The first third of the year comes with a vinyl release by a talented friend and artist with a musical knowledge, taste, and vision I respect and feel inspired by. But you’ll hear more details about this soon. 

Another Side is Futuro Imperfecto. The project of my friend Non Punire. An exploration into the void, to find the less heard corners of sound.

A project in progress is a Forecast Newsletter. It consists of an anonymous contact form where you can ask any question. We’ll use the infinite wisdom of books and secret sources to give you a hint that will lead you to the answer or leave you with more questions.

You can ask your question here: https://sidedefects.xyz/

Thanks for your writing and mixing Theories.