88 Music Blog

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

You will never forget where you were the night of June 25, 2010. The news of MJ’s passing struck a raw nerve and part of you felt suddenly alone. Then you looked down in your pocket to discover a folded up sheet of paper. It was a ticket to the Minus Showcase put on by 88 that night. A coy grin rose on your face, and you realized there is another reason why you danced. As you arrived at MUSE you noticed a floppy, dark haired twenty something headbanging as he geared up the room for Richie’s descent. He played an elegant and thoughtful set though you gave him little thought in light of the minus label founder to follow.

Well we will always remember that night and every performance by the Minus crew.  To note, that floppy haired guy was Argentinian native Barem and we want you to know more about him. We asked him a series of questions he really liked and we are excited to share with you. Before hand we suggest you take a listen to his set from Robert Johnson from summer of last year. Yeah he is going on last and we hope you will agree that he should play for a long time.

the mix

The interview.

88: Tell us a bit about how you mentally stayed with becoming a DJ. Did you know from an early age while still in rock bands or was there a moment at which you said “yes, i was born for this purpose”?

Barem: I didn’t know at an early age. In fact, I don’t think I had any idea of what I wanted to do with my life until I was 18 or so. I was playing guitar back then, and I had a few band projects with friends, but nothing serious. The idea of becoming a DJ started around that time, after I did my first steps in electronic music production. Another friend of mine taught me how to mix and eventually we started playing together in small home parties. Finally he decided to become a film director and I kept Djing and producing by myself.
There was never a moment where I said ”yes, I was born for this”… In fact, I’m still not sure about that hahaha!

88: You could consider yourself a trained musician. Tell us what might separate a trained musician from Argentina from musicians developing in other areas of the world. Are there certain musicians ingrained in you by music professors or fellow artists?

Barem: I don’t consider myself a trained musician. I only studied music for 3 years and that’s not a lot of time. I even forced myself to stop thinking musically as an electronic music producer, ’cause my knowledge was pretty basic and therefore my ideas were rather predictable and boring. Working in a more intuitive way gave me a lot better results than thinking in structures I knew. I might have some kind of sense of harmony from those years though, but that’s it.

The difference I see, is that in South America is very hard to make a living out of being a musician. It’s a bit tricky, ’cause that helps to have more passion, work harder and sometimes even come out with amazing ideas, but it also makes a lot of talented people quit, find a more secure path and keep music only as a hobby.

88: Tell us about your first contact with Richie. In interviews during this time frame he was very excited to travel to that part of the world. Did you have a role in that excitement because of your already well received production work?

Barem: Yeah, he was very excited to play and open new minds in South America. It was also a time where the scene in Argentina was huge but all progressive and trance, which was also an interesting challenge for him. Most techno orientated DJs here owe him a lot, ’cause he opened a lot of doors for everybody after promoters saw that it could work.
When we met the first time, he was already playing my tracks and he didn’t know I was from Buenos Aires. So I guess he was excited not because of me in particular, but because of realizing that he was also inspiring people here and getting something back that he could use to keep doing what he does.

88: What were your thoughts as a local DJ, that Richie would come to that part of the world?

Barem: It was awesome! It was around the time where I was really hoping somebody to start bringing techno / minimal artists. So when they announced he was coming, the little techno scene here got super happy and after he killed it at that festival, everything changed. It’s amazing to think on how many artists from Argentina started releasing music all over the place around a year or two after that.

88: Minus seems to be a label which creates a career for its musicians. Do you agree or not agree?

Barem: It definitely does. In my case I kind of had a career already but minus gave a lot of shape to it. It makes sense too, ’cause people like Hawtin or Villalobos are opinion leaders, and when they point at any newcomer, the general crowd automatically pays attention to them.
Minus also has a very nice structure with people at the office helping artists develop their careers since the beginning, plus a lot of showcases around the world that help all new artists to be part of big things at an early stage, and if you can deal with the pressure, it saves you a lot of time and makes you learn very fast.

88: Do you see DJing as your career or more as a musician who DJs to pay the bills?

Barem: I am a DJ, no question. I enjoy playing music a lot more than making music. I also enjoy making music but it’s not something I can do all the time. I sometimes spend half a year without even making a single loop. Some people think of me as a producer, ’cause when I started touring I was only playing LIVE. But I did it ’cause if promoters were booking me for the music I was releasing, then it was fair to play that music at their parties.
I switched back to only DJing after two years, when promoters started booking me not only for the music I was making, but because they trusted already on me and anything I would do.

88: Since 2005 and becoming a minus artist you have taken on a furious schedule. Tell us about how this hectic schedule affects your production.

Barem: It’s pretty tough to sit down and make music with this kind of schedule, even more for people like me, who like to make music, but is not an addiction. I sometimes force myself to do it, but the more I think about it, the more I believe it happens when it happens, and that if I’m playing a lot now and not making a lot of music, is also for a reason.

88: There are many analog sounds in your production. Do you have a preference for your sound?

Barem: Thanks for the compliment, but I actually never ever owned a piece of hardware. I’m 100% digital producer. I do use samples taken from analog instruments and machines, but that’s it. Since over a year I started using more and more analog sounds, but it also has to do with my own sound, that changed into a more organic direction.

88: Your style is very languid, percussive and rich in nuances. Do you see this sound as a result of years on the road or something you have desired all along?

Barem: I always try not to think about it, and just do what I feel at a certain moment. I have a lot more experience now and of course it helps, but I just try to keep that knowledge somewhere at the back of my brain and hope it to come out naturally without calculating or analyzing too much.

88: Do you ever see yourself taking your music in an entirely new direction?

Barem: It might happen. But as I said before, I’m trying not to think about it and let things happen when I feel they should happen. For example, in my last minus ep (Kolimar) I included a deep house track. It was my first deep house track ever and I just made it ’cause I felt like making a deep house track, not thinking on minus or anything else. It was interesting to see how in the end minus supported me on that change and to see that the general crowd also liked it, specially DJs who were not playing any minus tracks and were sort of against the label.

88: Tell us about your favorite track you’ve created and why? Do others share this sentiment or is the track personal?

Barem: I think Suki is my favorite. It’s super simple. I made it with a very slow desktop PC and a bad home stereo, it only has around 8 or 9 sounds, and it’s just a loop. It’s hard to believe today how something that simple started the great career I have today. I was nobody back then and it became a hit. Tons of Djs were playing it, it was my first track Richie played, and the most important, it was named after a person who helped me and supported me a lot in my personal and professional life. Today I’m not surprised at all that it was her track the one who made everything else happen. Musically I would maybe pick another one, but for me, Suki will always be the most important.

88: Finally, you played a wonderful set for us in July 2009. Anything new as you headline Forward Festival?

Barem: I’ve been on holidays for a few months now, so I’m full of energy and excited to go back on tour! Musically there are no big changes, techno, tech house, minimal, house. I always go around those styles. But I’m very happy to be back in DC. I got amazing feedback last time and I hope to Dj a lot better this time. I think I will, ’cause last time the set was short and I was very tired from flying all the way from Berlin that same day, plus 2hs at queues at the airport after I landed and almost 2hs stuck in traffic. You guys gotta do something about customs and traffic… Both of them are very annoying! hahaha!

But don’t worry. I come by train from NYC to avoid those things this time, so I’ll be in a great mood!

Related posts:

1. TRUS’ ME WILL LIGHT IT UP SATURDAY MARCH 20,2010 ALONGSIDE THE HIGH PRIEST OF DETROIT HOUSE THEO [EXPLETIVE] PARRISH David Wolstencraft aka Trus’ Me is one of 88′s favorite...
2. MIX FROM MR. CHRIS WHALEY PLAYING SUNDAY MARCH 21, 2010 FOR FORWARD FESTIVAL FINAL PARTY Mr. Chris Whaley is a dear friend of 88. Last...
3. NOAH PRED MIX AND INTERVIEW (HE PERFORMS LIVE AS SHEN, HIMSELF AND TEACHES US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ABLETON ALONG THE WAY) Noah Pred is the consummate professional behind many exciting projects...
4. ALIGNING MINDS INTRO AND MIX (THE DUO PLAY FRIDAY MARCH 19 @ THE NEW U STREET MUSIC HALL) You meet Dan and Mike (the duo of Aligning Minds)...
5. KILOWATTS INTRODUCTION AND MIX (HE PERFORMS WEDNESDAY MARCH 17 or DAY ONE OF FORWARD FEST 3) Settle in there friends.  Two weeks of near seamless promotion...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Trackback This Post | Subscribe to the comments through RSS Feed