The mobilee resident M.E.M.O. is back on the label with a solo track as well as an astonishing collaboration! Pig & Dan and M.E.M.O. have been nurturing their relationship for 15 years now, sharing and creating music together like previous joint work on Yoshitoshi or Bedrock Records.
For this upcoming release the three producers got together again to experience an intermediate sound that defines them all well together and create ‘Mindsense’.
Tile track ‘Cairo’ is another solo work by the Spanish talent, inspired by a trip to Cairo for a Mobilee showcase some time back.
We have had the pleasure of interviewing him and this has been the result.
Can you tell us a little about your experience? Where are you from / how did you get into music? Does your training come from the Internet?
At the age of 6 they gave me my first guitar.
I did piano for a few years at the conservatory and at 13 I had my first band where I played and sang in my hometown of Humilladero, a small town in the interior of Malaga where I grew up. At the age of 14, I entered the Institute and learned about the music that was imported on vinyl from the UK and Germany and basically I went crazy with electronics and especially with the sounds of breaks. I started very young in 96 at 16 years old and was already playing at festivals. My training at that time in the production was quite an adventure because we did not have the internet or any information, everything was trial and error, everything was slow but we had much more concentration and less stimuli for distraction.
Who have been your main inspirations (both musical and in «life»)? And how have they affected your sound?
My inspirations in music are very varied ranging from, Massive Attack, Radiohead, Unkel, Apparat, Bonobo, and any experimental sound or breaks to the roots of Black music such as soul, jazz etc.
I don’t tend to be inspired by the same genre of music I make, it would be too boring.
In life I’m inspired by feeling calm and having peace of mind and letting my creativity flow from there, as well as travelling and meeting people who are very different from me.
How would you define your sound? And how has your sound evolved so far?
My sound is constantly changing as I get bored easily doing the same thing all the time, I need to be experimental. Maybe at the moment I’m closer to the percussive sound a bit afro with a lot of groove than I’ve ever been, but I always like to share it with electronic elements trying to give it a more underground touch and always thinking about the dancefloor.
But I try to have my identity in the melodies and hooks as well as in the bass sound.
What can you tell us about your last job? What inspired you? What do you want to transmit?
The latest release Cairo, is an Ep composed by Cairo that I made after my first trip to Egypt for a mobilee showcase, and maybe it sounds more underground than the previous ones and with a more melodic techno vibe. I really like the fusion of the acid line with the ethnical vocals.
MIndsense is a collaboration with Pig & Dan and I think it’s a perfect fusion of their sound and mine. We really like working together and looking for that kind of in-between sound.
Do you feel that the underground scene will continue to persist?
We will always have a place to browse and research for underground experimentation. We are restless and that’s why we will never conform to the mainstream. The underground is a way of thinking and seeing life, trying to see beyond what is supposedly in front of us. It will always exist even if it can change the way we consume it, it could even cease to be legal… LOl
What projects are you working on right now?
I am currently very focused on finishing my first album which will be released on Mobilee around April this year. It’s a bit unsettling as I can’t see the final result yet and it may have a lot of changes, but it’s very focused on the current sound of my latest singles and remixes, maybe with a more urban touch and black music details.
