Electro-lysis: Deep Mariano, Poncho and more
by sorrel moseley-williams
Herald staff
The reputation of Argentina’s electronic music scene took a nasty tumble last month when the ninth Creamfields Buenos Aires festival was suspended for the worst possible reason: someone forgot to hand in crucial paperwork to City government, paperwork that sought a permit to hold the country’s largest such annual event. Now that was some oversight...
Although the festival attracts copious amounts of international artists — and this year’s original line-up had included the world’s number one DJ, the Dutchman Armin van Buuren as well as David Guetta, 2Many DJs, Orbital and Danny Howells — that’s not to say the local talent was left on the shelf like a discarded four-track. Argentina’s best-known DJ on the global dance floor Hernán Cattáneo was going to fly in from his current home Barcelona, while Martín García, Carlos Alfonsin, Bad Boy Orange, Romina Cohn and Deep Mariano were topping the bill, all DJs who variously play house, drum ‘n bass, techno and deep house.
But all is not lost. The date has now been rescheduled to December 19, and despite the importance of Creamfield’s presence in Argentina (as no one can dispute it being the home of electronic music for one huge, glorious night of organised musical mayhem), some local artists are creating little waves in a different sea: the CD market.
TOOLS OF THE TRADE. They say that more than a handful is a waste, but the situation is this: a smattering of electronic music CDs are released in Argentina on an annual basis, and the past two months have seen a veritable influx with debuts from DJ Paul (Progressive Beats), a 10-track all-star offering from electro-rock band Poncho and a deep house album from Rosario-based Deep Mariano. A reflection of this nascent music scene which is still in nappies, in this case more than a handful would help give the market a welcome boom.
A youngster compared with other DJs who pioneered Argentine electronica such as Zuker and Carlos Alfonsín, after 10 years of DJing and producing at the age of 27 Mariano Marcial Pérez has just released his first album, Toolbox. But it hasn’t been a bed of roses, as the man also known as Deep Mariano explains.
“I started making music when vinyl was still in fashion and at that time it was really hard to get a deal to release an album on vinyl. Despite that, I managed to get one with a Greek label but it never got released because the label went bankrupt. Not long after, digital discs and MP3s became commonplace plus the internet took off, so DJs started to receive more representation thanks to the Beatport website, plus iTunes started selling music digitally.”
Due to these developments, which are more a help as much as a hindrance in terms of getting exposure, Rosario-born Mariano feels that music is now easily discarded. “A lot of music was being edited but with few controls in place, mainly because it’s so simple to make an MP3 and put it online, and I felt that a lot of music out there was good, but also equally bad. I wanted to have something physical and tangible with Toolbox and in the end it was an independent production I undertook myself.”
Mariano recalls everything he did on his own to make his album happen, and even though it’s available for purchase, it won’t be on sale nationally because of the complicated nature of distribution. He also plans to let it loose on the internet for free, because, he says, “real music fans will buy a CD regardless of whether they can get it for free or not — because having a physical copy is important to them.” And although he’s been playing and producing for over a decade and clearly has plenty of material for several albums, just 1,000 copies were made. So which tracks have made it onto his debut album?
Mariano says: “Two are going back a bit in time but they are dear to me. Phobia would have come out on that Greek label in 2004, but I edited it for this album. This track opened a lot of doors for me as it was the first one of mine that Hernán Cattáneo paid any attention to. Despite the fact it’s an older tune, I wanted to edit it regardless, like it was 10 minutes long and these days a track shouldn’t really be over six minutes. I added a few sounds to it and improved the quality of the sound so I could include it.
“Plattenbau is from 2007 but on a digital level it’s done really well for me. John Digweed has used it, as have Sasha and Laurent Garnier. These two are the older tracks from my career that made it on, but the rest of the material is new.”
But isn’t it frustrating that it’s taken five years for Phobia to make it onto an album? Mariano disagrees. “To be honest it hasn’t been traumatic although I’d liked to have had that vinyl album come out — that’s any musician’s dream. But I know you need to have patience for all this so I’m fine with it. Plus I’m now thinking about tracks for a second album.”
Hopefully it won’t take another 10 years for Mariano to release number two, but why are so few DJs releasing albums in Argentina?
“It’s a process of change,” he says. “DJs won’t lose their status but I see the rise of the electronic band. Take (electronic pop group) Ladytron in the UK, for example. Previously rock and electronica were always considered to be two separate entities, but Ladytron does a rock show and also a DJ set. I think that concept will start to appear here, or it should, that DJs form electronic bands and have the opportunity to either do a set or play with their band.”
ALL WRAPPED UP. Which leads us nicely into the second session of this electro-analysis. Electro-rock band Poncho has also recently released its debut album, Poncho Total, a 10-track thumping, drum-free work that includes plenty of collaborations — unlike the solo project Toolbox. Closing track Tantra Sky was co-written with Luis Alberto Spinetta, and British DJ Justin Robertson, who recently played with the band at the Pepsi Music festival, not only lent his vocals to Lend Me The Light but also co-produced half the album in London.
Although DJ Zuker is the most well-known name in the trio, guitarist Leandro Lopatin played in the band Turf for over 12 years, while Fabián Picciano has been on the Argentine music scene a while, and has known Zuker since they were teenagers, given that they were both involved in the Buenos Aires nightlife scene. “We spent part of our adolescence together,” says Fabian.
According to Zuker, the Poncho project kicked off initially with Fabián and then took shape once Leandro joined. “We tried things out, and an album started to come together after about two years. It emerged because Lea left Turf: we didn’t know how it would work out but the chemistry was there, and you realise after playing together a few times whether there’s anything there or not,” says Zuker.
Some famous faces have been involved with Poncho Total, and getting Mancunian Justin Robertson involved was no biggie as he and Zuker have been mates for a while, although the latter jokes that “he made no effort to try and make his Manchester accent easier for us to understand!” So how did they even begin to produce an album together? Leandro says: “We just said yes, yes, yes to everything in the beginning... with lots of smiling! Actually he recorded Lend Me The Light in just one take. It didn’t need any editing — it was impeccable.”
He adds: “Justin is one of the pillars of electronic music, and he’s so well known that the ‘English’ touch on the album was excellent.”
Perhaps his collaboration will help the album gain more exposure? He continues: “That has something to do with it,” although Fabián says there was no cynical reason for his involvement, that the band simply thought he was the best person to do the job. The other issue, he adds, is that “there aren’t many producers for this style of music in Argentina,” although Zuker disagrees, saying there aren’t, in fact, any.
THREE’S NOT A CROWD. Although plenty of new artists are making music and coming through the ranks, according to Zuker, the band is incredulous that three electronic albums have been released almost simultaneously. For them the difficulty lies with Argentina’s market, for two reasons. “First, there is no market here,” says Leandro, and second, the trio agree it’s very difficult to approach an Argentine label with an electronic music proposal.
The other issue that is pertinent to Poncho is with regards to their own musical goal: “We want to make electronic music songs. We are making songs you can listen to, not tracks that last eight minutes that you get tired of,” says Zuker.
Argentina’s electro music scene is still in nappies, that much is certain. Not only do DJs need to keep up with the fresh sounds and innovative productions coming out of London and Berlin but they also need to be breaking new ground. Although Cattáneo has put Argentina on the map, he is the only DJ to do so, but while Poncho continues to mix up genres and play regular live shows and Deep Mariano plans his own electro band assault with some musician friends in 2010, the electronic music scene here will continue to grow, and reach adolescence soon.
where &
when
Poncho play Studio, Pje. 5 de Julio 444, on December 16. Visit
PONCHO on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads
Deep Mariano plays Bahrein, Lavalle 345, on December 26. Visit
Deep Mariano on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads
from:
Buenos Aires Herald 
