Following a 2013 EP on NAAFI, rising producer Siete Catorce is back with a new EP for Lisbon label Enchufada. With Paisajes, the Mexico City scene institution explores his penchant for syncopated textures and dark, moody ambiance while taking us on a sonic tour of his country's breath-taking topography, the album's five tracks—"Ciudad," "Jungla," "Sabana," "Desierto," and "Playa"—transporting listeners into the city, jungle, sheet (or savana), desert, and beach, respectively. Give a listen to the EP below, and check out what Siete Catorce had to say about the music. Paisajes is out on September 18th, and you can buy it via iTunes now.
Siete Catorce: I named all of the songs way after they were finished actually. "Desierto" was the only one that had a name at first—It's a sad track because it made be think about being back home in Mexicali, which is in the middle of the desert. The rest of the names correspond in order to the "paisajes" you find in Mexico, traveling from Mexico City to the northwestern coast.I found that each name I gave to the tracks ended up making a lot of sense. "Playa" has field recordings of me walking around on the beach and waves and stuff, "Jungle" starts off with these intense junglesque drums, "Sabana" has an African tribal feel to it." I was really happy about how everything just fit together and made sense. I guess I subconsciously themed each track and figured it out afterwards.
I love using traditional sounds, from cumbia to prehispanic music—I think it really characterizes what Latin America is about, it's the roots of what we are now. We all grew up listening to some of the traditional music, and I find that in Latin America most of the rhythms used are influenced a lot by African music, which makes it all the more interesting and fun to use when making electronic music. I use elements from all over the continent and get this weird mixture that sounds like nothing and everything at the same time.Production wise, how exactly did you make this EP?
I use Ableton Live on my computer to produce, but also lots of field recordings that I make with my cellphone—random stuff like birds, sounds of the city, from places I travel whatever sounds interesting and might be useful.
I like to think I invented the rhythm I used here. I named it "5mpas" (Cincompas), which in spanish is a play on words that means both "no friends" and "no bar/measure" (in the musical notation sense). It's a completely syncopated rhythm—even the first beat lands unnaturally on the offbeat. It gives the songs a really glitchy broken feel with unnatural paused, but I feel that with repetition it begins to slightly feel normal and becomes danceable. I love experimenting with rhythms because they change the way people perceive dance music and how they dance to it. Whenever I play one of these songs in my sets I can can see how people get confused at first, but eventually learn how to follow the rhythm. I think it's necessary nowadays to deviate from the standard 4/4 beats everyone knows and expects—it makes music and dancing more fun, interesting, less repetitive and predictable.What do you like about Enchufada, how does the label inspire you?
Enchufada has a great variety of global music and I like how every song they release is pretty crazy and trippy, but still maintains its dancefloor appeal. Each song they have released has inspired me to make better music and has opened my mind to a lot of different ideas about music from around the world. I'm really happy to be releasing with them especially since their released have changed a lot in my productions and the ways I perceive dance music. I hope to do the same for whoever listens to this EP.Siete Catorce is on Facebook // SoundCloud // TwitterDavid Garber is on Twitter
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THUMP: Why did you choose to present each track thematically?
Siete Catorce: I named all of the songs way after they were finished actually. "Desierto" was the only one that had a name at first—It's a sad track because it made be think about being back home in Mexicali, which is in the middle of the desert. The rest of the names correspond in order to the "paisajes" you find in Mexico, traveling from Mexico City to the northwestern coast.I found that each name I gave to the tracks ended up making a lot of sense. "Playa" has field recordings of me walking around on the beach and waves and stuff, "Jungle" starts off with these intense junglesque drums, "Sabana" has an African tribal feel to it." I was really happy about how everything just fit together and made sense. I guess I subconsciously themed each track and figured it out afterwards.
Explain your choice to work with traditional Latin American sounds in your productions?
I love using traditional sounds, from cumbia to prehispanic music—I think it really characterizes what Latin America is about, it's the roots of what we are now. We all grew up listening to some of the traditional music, and I find that in Latin America most of the rhythms used are influenced a lot by African music, which makes it all the more interesting and fun to use when making electronic music. I use elements from all over the continent and get this weird mixture that sounds like nothing and everything at the same time.
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I use Ableton Live on my computer to produce, but also lots of field recordings that I make with my cellphone—random stuff like birds, sounds of the city, from places I travel whatever sounds interesting and might be useful.
There's alot of broken beat and irregular rhythms on the release, why is that something you like to do?
I like to think I invented the rhythm I used here. I named it "5mpas" (Cincompas), which in spanish is a play on words that means both "no friends" and "no bar/measure" (in the musical notation sense). It's a completely syncopated rhythm—even the first beat lands unnaturally on the offbeat. It gives the songs a really glitchy broken feel with unnatural paused, but I feel that with repetition it begins to slightly feel normal and becomes danceable. I love experimenting with rhythms because they change the way people perceive dance music and how they dance to it. Whenever I play one of these songs in my sets I can can see how people get confused at first, but eventually learn how to follow the rhythm. I think it's necessary nowadays to deviate from the standard 4/4 beats everyone knows and expects—it makes music and dancing more fun, interesting, less repetitive and predictable.What do you like about Enchufada, how does the label inspire you?
Enchufada has a great variety of global music and I like how every song they release is pretty crazy and trippy, but still maintains its dancefloor appeal. Each song they have released has inspired me to make better music and has opened my mind to a lot of different ideas about music from around the world. I'm really happy to be releasing with them especially since their released have changed a lot in my productions and the ways I perceive dance music. I hope to do the same for whoever listens to this EP.Siete Catorce is on Facebook // SoundCloud // TwitterDavid Garber is on Twitter