MWESLEE .es
Arkestra
This is a Mweslee's interview to Red Bull Music Academy website. Thursday, May 13, 2010.
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As Mweslee's new Eurocarne EP drops on Nod Navigators , we caught up with the Vigo-based DJ/producer and found out where his head's at in 2010. Get a taste of the track Far Loop Era below, check out this review from Resident Advisor and catch some forthcoming tunes on his mixes for Nod Navigators and Hepcat Radio. Meaty!
Where did the idea behind Eurocarne come from?
I always have been really interested in any type of music and I guess that is reflected somehow in my own stuff, simply this time I let it flow more naturally and tried to use a wider palette of sounds, tempos and techniques than on my previous work. Basically everything I've heard, old and new, in the past years is reflected somehow in Eurocarne.
It was quite a long process, cause I really like the songs to stand for a while, then go back to them and approach stuff with a different perspective... I don't release that much stuff, and because of this I like to squeeze as much as possible from every track! For that I need them to stew for a while.
Give us a look into your studio: how did you put your tracks together? Do you have a live set up too?
I tried to avoid as much as possible the use of samplers (it used to be like 50/50 synths and samplers) and focus more on playing with some hardware stuff I've been collecting on the past few years. It was much more fun than being stuck on the computer screen for hours! Also I included a few regional instruments such as bagpipes, tarranholas (a kind of castanet), some drum machines, guitars, and loads of DX7 jamming.
For my live sets I normally carry my old Radio Shack synth and jam over the track, sometimes with more luck than others, but at least they have a feel of "playing" live. Sometimes I do some wack drumming too!
Have you ever been to the Eurocarne meat festival by any chance?
Hahaha, the italian one? Not really, actually I'm a vegetarian for like 15 years, haha! I simply liked how both concepts match together, the rawness of meat (carne) and the typical misconception of refinement from anything European, and thought that really fitted with how I like my music to sound.
It's been a while since your last release. What have you been up to in-between?
Well, although Megaplast is from 2006, i've been DJing every weekend and working on music all the time, put a few remixes for Ka§par, O Boogie and Jungle Drums, plus stuff on Beat Dimensions Vol 1 and the All City 7x7 series. Basically i was developing ideas and sounds, but I didn't want to put anything out until I felt like I'd got something new to say, cause there's a lot of people doing some sick sick stuff. It doesn't makes any sense to bring ideas to the table that are already out there.
Do you collaborate much, or like working with other producers and studio set ups?
Not really, I work with this old ass software tracker on a Pentium III and it's the only one I know how to use, which makes it difficult to share sessions or stuff like that, but I'd really like to do some stuff with people in the near future... basically vocalists.
Tell us about the Arkestra, and what's happening with the music scene in Vigo.
Well, we just became five this month and we're not as involved in promoting events like we used to, we have started to work as a label. We just put out a lovely 10" from our very own BFlecha, with a great success and now working on another 10" for another galician artists called Noaipre. He makes some kind of 8-bit garagey eski beats or something, and we really excited about it.
The scene here used to be better, now clubs close earlier and don't take that many risks music-wise. We hope this changes soon! Anyway, it's good cause there's friends in Barcelona, Zaragoza, Valladolid or Madrid and altogether we try and push the things ahead.
What other projects are you working on?
I'll be playing Sónar with BFlecha this year and I've got a few gigs in Europe so rehearsing on the new live show. I'm doing some mixes and a few remixes for Delorean and Slugabed, plus working on a split with BFlecha for a great Spanish label Lo Fi Funk. I hope to catch some sun this summer too :)
Dejad el ordenador e id a bailar y a comprar vinilos!!! Muchas gracias!
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Links
Mweslee | Myspace
Mweslee | Facebook
Mweslee | Soundcloud
Arkestra | Website
Arkestra | Myspace
