005 - El Búho
One of the catalysts for this whole project has been the work of El Búho. I was already familiar with his production and remix work (for the uninitiated check out his mesmerising remix of Chancha Via Circuito - Sueno en Paraguay) when I stumbled across his ‘’Roots & Rhythms’’ podcasts. I was blown away. He was compiling, on such a regular basis, a vast range of beautiful music and sharing it with the world. I hoped that I could too help share the music that I love and support these amazing artists.
Unsurprisingly El Búho was one of the first people I contacted about contributing to the series, so it is with great pleasure that I am now able to present to you his Métron Musik Mixtape. It’s as smooth and peaceful a journey as it is a beautiful and triumphant rural adventure across many sonic worlds, finding it’s final peak at the very last moments with an outstanding unreleased track of his own. Inspired by the mystical notion of musical nirvana, it’s a vivid depiction of a small part of the sonic universe, but one that feels very much at one with his impressive output to date.
Be sure to check out his soundcloud page for more productions and the awesome ‘Rhythm & Roots’ podcasts. Keep your eyes peeled for a new EP out in November via Wonderwheel.
One of the great things about curating this project is that my aim is to give the producers complete freedom to decide what approach to take. El Búho needed no guidance and no prompting. Usually we do a little interview with each contributor but in this instance the mix was delivered to me with a message. I believe it says all that needs to be said.
The inspiration:
Making music is like the art of imperfectionism. As a producer, a musician, a DJ, you are never satisfied, it is never good enough or quite what you have in mind. There is something mysterious about this mythical musical nirvana of the sound, the melody and the music that is just perfect. Of course it doesn't exist but I believe there is something that I guess you could call "your sound" that producers strive for. That collection of culture, experiences, inspirations and personality that makes us love our favourite musicians - it is their take on the world and something that is constantly evolving.
This mix is a slice in time, indulged in discovery, inspiration and sounds that resonate with me as a producer or a music lover. These are tracks from all over the world for which genre doesn't matter. What matters is that, to me, they sound fresh, they sound different, and that they offer something special and something I strive for in my own sound. I wouldn't say it is quite my musical nirvana but a step on the journey...
The process:
I threw out the question on Facebook, "who knows some great new music?" and got some amazing responses, I spent a week following links, binging on downloads, mining through soundcloud, surfing through blogs - revisiting my constant inspirations and discovering new ones. The next step was to listen, to patch together, to experiment and find the flow from one rhythm to the next, guided by the sounds that made sense for me. An organic process of what works not like "this tune has to go here". I guess this mix veers towards what you could basically call "slow-house" (it's like house...but slow - in that it has a steady kick, a snare and some hats...), hovering between 80 and 100BPM. I personally think it has nothing to do with house and prefer words like natural, rusty, crunchy, roots, flow, 808 toms, bass, birdsong. Organic electronica maybe?
The original artwork below was created exclusively for the mixtape by Jack Hardwicke.
