Sounding Out: Federico Aubele

I first heard Federico Aubele’s music in 2009 when he released Amatoria. This was a wonderful album and it made me go and explore his earlier works. What I love about his music is the way he so successfully fuses musical styles and elements. Argentinian tango, bolero, reggae-dub bass lines, hip-hop beats, and electronic elements are all woven throughout his music.

On his new album, Berlin 13, Federico expands and pushes the bounds and use of the electronic and dub elements as he explores a very difficult period in his life. I found this to be very intriguing. Federico’s music has always originated from a very emotional place. And I think about the construction of songs using these types of elements as being very technical and academic and not emotional. But on Berlin 13, Federico has successfully incorporated these elements to create a collection of songs that are dark, moody, atmospheric, and emotional.

When I talked with Federico about his music and the album, I learned that in many ways, Berlin 13 is an album that has been a long time in the making.

Federico was born and raised in Buenos Aires. When he was 12 he started playing the guitar. By age 17 he was really looking to challenge himself and expand his knowledge base, so he turned to classical music.

“Most of it I found to be utterly boring. It is a language that is so old, I found it really hard to connect with most of it, but I was trying to somehow find something that I would like. I started listening to all these pieces by the Viennese composers of the early twentieth century, a period that ran through the start of WWII when they all had to leave their homes. They were creating this whole new language. It was amazing! After the war, composers in countries like occupied Germany, France, and Italy started experimenting more with their music and moving away from traditional harmonies, which had a lot of rules. In the 1950’s they started working with very early electronics stuff like radio waves and very, very early prototype synthesizers.”

Federico said that today, this may not seem so impressive, but back then no one was doing this. He became fascinated with composers like Schoenberg, Stockhausen, and Ligeti and their exploration of atonalism, electro-acoustic music, and tone clusters. “A lot of the stuff that we listen to today, even in popular music…certain details…we take for granted, especially with electronic music.“

Federico really connect with these composers and their pieces. “They became part of my musical universe. And I definitely felt that my previous records did not reflect this in a clear way…this piece was missing, so I have tried to incorporate this on this new album in a clear way.” He said that it ended up creating a darker mood for the whole album.

The mood and tone of Berlin 13 is definitely darker and more ambient than Federico’s previous work for sure. This darker feel reflects Federico's state of mind and the period of time when he lived in Berlin.

Bohemian Rhapsody In Blue   

Federico first went to Berlin in 2001 to explore the city’s rich electronica music scene. While there, he experienced some type of life crisis. While Federico did not want to talk about what took place, he said that it completely altered him. “I was pretty shocked when I left Berlin for Barcelona. It’s like the bomb exploded and then I left. I really picked up the pieces and began to process it all when I was in Barcelona.”

Federico said that experiencing this crisis and responding to it was fundamental to his growth and helped him evolve on a psychological level. “It takes time, and it is a painful process, but once you go through it you come out stronger. And you learn a lot about yourself.”

I had read Federico describe what he experienced in Berlin as being transformative and a kind of rebirth. I asked if this was in a musical sense or something more fundamental?

“It is hard to separate one from the other. What affects your personal life affects your music. And what affects your music affects your life. As a musician, music happens all the time. Whether you’re moving or picking up the pieces in the middle of a crisis, being happy or being sad. Every moment of your life has a particular mood and that of course translates into your music.”

Federico left Berlin in 2004. After leaving, he went on to record other albums that did not directly have to do with his time in Berlin, musically or emotionally. I asked him why Berlin 13 is here now after so many years?

“It took me a long time to process everything that happened. In a way, it doesn’t happen on a conscious level, it is just there. At some point it pops up. What makes it come to the surface is a mystery. I am not really sure why. It’s just an internal reordering. All of this stuff seemed to come up again and that’s how I got in touch with it again.”

I asked Federico when he makes an album like this, which is a departure in certain respects from his previous work, if he is concerned about alienating those who have followed and enjoyed his music over the years. He said that as an artist, his main responsibility is to be true to where the music is taking him and to follow that path.

“I feel very comfortable in the darker moods in general. I find it really hard to make happier sounding music. I can’t get away with making happy songs and still be making good songs.” Federico laughed. “When I try making happy songs they end up sounding very dull.”

He did say that while the album is darker and more electronic than previous ones, he thinks that listeners can still recognize certain elements that are a significant part of his musical language.

Still present is Federico’s familiar Spanish Guitar playing. However, Federico said that with the dub base lines and the electronic elements, which have also always been part of his sound, he has pushed them more towards their limits. “As a creator that is what you need to do and do it in the most honest way. But there is always a risk.”

Berlin   

I really appreciate the risks that Federico has taken with Berlin 13. I asked him if he sees himself creating more conceptual albums like this one in the future. He said that he did not know what was going to happen next. “I just start writing some songs. I never like to start writing with any rules.” In this respect, Federico said that he sees himself as more of a painter than a musician.

“A painter starts with paints and what ever technique he uses to create his art. It is not like there are 5 different painters painting the same painting. There is a guy who sits there and creates the whole thing. It can take him a month, a year, or whatever it takes to finish it. Then it is done and that is his work.” 

Federico has certainly painted and conveyed  a man struggling with his own demons and emotions on Berlin 13. Fortunately for him and for us, he has been able to work his way through them, through his great music.  

Federico is on tour now in support of Berlin 13. If you have never seen him live you should.  

4/25 Washington DC – Rock n Roll Hotel

4/26 Cambridge, MA – Regattabar @ Charles Hotel

4/28 Montreal, QC – L'Astral at Montreal Jazz Fest

4/30 Toronto, ON – El Mocambo

5/1 Chicago, IL – Martyrs'

5/2 Minneapolis, MN – Cedar Cultural Center

5/4 Denver, CO – The Walnut Room

5/5 Aspen, CO – Belly Up Aspen

5/8 Portland, OR – Peter's Room

5/9 Seattle, WA – Triple Door

5/11 San Francisco, CA – The Independent

5/14 and 5/15 Las Vegas, NV – Cosmopolitan

5/16 Los Angeles, CA – Troubadour

5/18 San Diego, CA – Anthology

5/21 Austin, TX – The Parish

ON ROTATION

Brett Dennen,  Lover Boy
My whole family and I are big Brett Dennen Fans. My kids still talk about seeing him performance at a Tully's coffee shop a few years back for a KMTT Mountain Music Loung segment here in Seattle. Barefoot, full of charm, energy, enthusiasm, and optimism, Dennen and his music are infectious. Dennen's sound has continued to grow with each new album as his backing band has grown in numbers, but musically he never strays too far from what he has done so well for so long and this is just fine by me. I do like the cool '70's vibe that he has brought to many of the songs on this collection and I just love the album overall....and so will you!
Sydney (I'll Come Running)   

The Kills,  Blood Pressures
I don't get to as many live shows as I would like, but nothing was going to stop me from seeing The Kills when they arrive in Seattle next month. Alison Mosshard and Jamie Hince are touring in support of their new album Blood Pressures. This album is another winner from the duo that blew me away with their last album Midnight Boom. While it is not really fair to compare The Kills to the White Stripes I will. Like Jack and Meg White, Mosshard and Hince find a way to do more with less in fantastic ways...and that is not a bad thing. 
Satelite   

I'm From Barcelona, Forever Today

I'm From Barcelona is the biggest band in Sweden. Literally. And at 29 members, this band from Jönköping, Sweden, is also making some of the poppiest and happiest songs at home and abroad. One might think that musically, a band with so many members would be all over the place. This is not he case. The ten songs on Forever Today are so well conceived and they go together like a basket and a blanket on a summer's day picnic.

Get In Line   

Sounding Out: Diego Garcia

“There was this old beat up classical guitar that was in the pantry, next to the front door of the house where I grew up. Getting my shoes or my jacket, or whatever it was in that closet that I needed, I would always see this old, beaten up, dusty guitar and I felt attracted to it…I had a connection to it.“

Diego Garcia is a musician and artist who lives and thrives on connections. Connections to childhood memories, emotions, relationships, family heritage, and music seem to always be present with him. This past week I had a chance to talk with Diego about his beautiful new album Laura, which has just been released. What struck me about him was just how influential all of these connections have been for him, not only as an artist, but as a person.

“My mom was a guitarist until she had kids. When I was growing up, I would see these pictures of her as a teenager….This cool, hippy, beautiful Argentine girl playing the guitar back in the late ‘60’s and early ‘70’s.“ Diego said that she filled the house with music.

I asked Diego how old he was when he felt inspired enough to start playing the guitar himself.

“Around thirteen, my best friend started taking guitar lessons to learn every Led Zeppelin song. I went to my mom and said that I wanted to do that too!” Because his friend was so good at soloing, Diego needed to start off playing in the complete opposite way. “I started writing real songs on the spot…I kind of by-passed all the scales.” I Laughed and told him that my 10 year old son is trying to pull a ‘Diego’ right now with not wanting to learn his scales and chords…..he just wants to get in there and play. Diego Laughed.

“Well, it’s funny. I was so frustrated. Those first lessons…..your fingers hurt! I lasted maybe two or three lessons. I remember then asking my mom ‘when do you know to change chords?’ She looked at me….and I have never seen her get mad…and she just said ‘listen.’ And so I went on and taught myself music by listening to other people, learning their songs, and digesting them. Eventually I started writing my own stuff.“

Diego, the son of Argentinian parents, was born in Detroit and grew up in Tampa, Florida. When it came time for college he headed north to Brown University where he majored in Economics. After graduation he found his way to New York City to pursue music. In New York, he helped found the band Elefant, an indie rock band that was together until 2010.

On Laura, Diego makes a complete departure from the kind of music that he wrote and played with Elefant. Hearkening back to the years when his mom played guitar in Argentina, Diego’s songs are heavily influenced by the South American Romance albums of the time. I was curious to know if this significant musical directional shift was intentional on his part or whether this was something that had been unfolding in a more organic way over time. He said that it was both. “There are two different phases to me. The inspirational part, the writing of the album, and then there is the actual arranging and recording.”

“When I started writing these songs, they were just reflections of where I was in my life at the time. It is a romance record to the fullest degree, written to get my girl back. So I had these moments of light when I was alone and heartbroken and in a dark place….and that is where the songs were born.” In this respect, Diego said that there was a very organic, let’s see where this goes approach.

But there was also a real goal to make music that sounded like him and told his story in the most unique, original way possible. “I wanted to address the love story; the girl I lost, the color of her hair. I wanted it to sound timeless. And I wanted it to address my roots. My parents are from Argentina. I was born in Detroit. I grew up in Florida. I wanted all of that to come out of these recordings.”

Separate Lives   

Separate from his writing, Diego had been talking with his friend, artist and producer Jorge Elbicht, for a number of years about doing a project together. When they met in 2005 there was an immediate connection between them. “It was clear that I wanted to make my album with him. What wasn’t clear was what the hell this album was going to sound like.“

Unlike band projects that Diego had done for many years, tackling a solo project was an entirely different process. “A band is defined by its own limitations in a way. The bass has its own personality, the guitar has its own personality…..It’s all personality based and it can be great and powerful. When it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. But when it works, you get the Ramones, and it is the most amazing thing ever.”

“When you go solo and it is a studio project, it becomes more of a conceptual approach. It is even trickier in that you get 40 years of music and you are wondering, what is this record? What is the sound going to be? What is the arrangement going to be like? All of these questions were still up in the air when we started working.”

While working to figure out a direction for the album, Diego kept connecting back to the South American romance records from the 60’s and early 70’s that he had heard as a child. He decided to spend time studying as many of these records as he could find. “I think they are some of the most brilliant records ever made. They are these gems.”

Because it was so important for Diego to get this record right, he did not rush or force a time line for figuring out how make this album. He just kept playing with different versions of his songs and waited for his next connection. That connection came when he met a cellist by the name of Daniel Bensi.

”When we put the cello on my songs, suddenly it just made a lot of sense. Here was this instrument that is super emotional, it’s romantic, it’s classic, it's old, and it's European…..and my melodies were kind of saying the same things.”

With Daniel and his cello, Diego finally felt that he had a nucleus to work off of in the studio. ”We had a cello, an acoustic (guitar) and vocals, and we built off of that. And then the nylon guitar came into play and finally the bass and rhythm section came in which was inspired by those romance records.“

You Were Never There   

I asked Diego if he had considered not singing in English for any of the songs. “I want to do it so badly and I will, but it hasn’t felt natural yet. I did not want it to be a forced thing. I think in English, I write in English, I sing in English. Writing and singing in Spanish would be a whole new ballgame and I would be starting at square one."

With the album now released and receiving a lot of critical attention, I asked Diego how he is feeling about the album being embraced by so many and what comes next for him?

“I am trying to put my feelings into words. I worked on this album for so long and to let it go…it’s a beautiful thing." But, Diego said that he is trying not to get caught up in what people think because it is not in his control anymore. The next chapter for Diego and Laura is the live show. 

“There was a lot of work and focus to make this album. Hopefully we made something that is rooted in the past, but original and modern. I hope to do live what I did in the studio and that is going to take a lot of work…and that is very motivating. There is nothing more exciting to me now than the live show.” I'm sure that with his live performances he will make new connections with his music and his audience.

Diego is also looking beyond Laura. He says that as an artist and musician he is dead if he is not living in the present and working on new material. "As an artist, as a songwriter, writing songs is my oxygen....and it gives me the ultimate satisfaction." In this respect, he added that he is only as good as his next song and record. "I have to be thinking about the next record or else I am going to be unhappy." I really appreciated his last comment. Frankly, I'm going to be unhappy if there is not more beautiful music to explore beyond Laura by this great artist.

tUnE-yArDs, w h o k i l l

There are some albums that I find to be really approachable and easy to understand and get into. Then there are those albums that need time to digest in order to be understood. And honestly I wish that some of these albums came with directions or a road map. On rare occasions there are albums that come along and somehow manage to straddle these two very different musical experiences and create a body of work that can boggle and satisfy the mind and heart at the same time. tUnE-yArDs' new album, w h o k i l l is one of these rare albums for me.

w h o k i l l, which is the second album by Merrill Garbus, who records under the name of tUnE-yArDs with the support of various musicians, is an absolutely fearless endeavor. Garbus has a strong affinity for African and Jamaican beats and rhythms. On w h o k i l l Garbus explores ideas of sound, rhythm, and even song structure using these influences as a foundation for her songs.

Garbus is cool multi-instrumentalist, musician, and singer who is very innovative with how she creates and builds her songs. Starting off as a 'bedroom recorder,' Garbus developed her musical style around the use of a drum, a ukulele, and her voice, which she put through a processor in order to loop, layer, and manipulate their sounds. 

On w h o k i l l, Garbus continues to uses these recording technics, but she has expanded and refined them. Layering and looping her voice for example, she creates rhythms, melody lines, and musical accents that are so spot on, you forget that you are listening to a voice. The Ukulele is also present along with lots of drums, and an array of new instruments that all bring new textures and nuances to her music. 

Bizness   

What really struck me when listening to w h o k i l l is how Garbus has grown and evolved as a songwriter. Musically, her songs are so well conceived and developed. They can be at once catchy, inviting and challenging, playing with musical styles and influences. Lyrically, Garbus takes on notions about social justice at home, in our own communities, and in war-torn areas like the middle east, and uses her voice to accentuate her story telling in many different ways. As a singer, Garbus has an amazing range and packs an emotional punch. She can take her voice from a soft, beautiful, and ethereal place to a loud, aggressive, and nasty-growly place without any warning to drive home a thought or idea. And it is this unexpected element that makes her music that much more interesting. 

While Garbus' song Bizness is one of my favorite songs of the year so far, every one of the ten song on w h o k i l l is something special and deserves and demands attention. Put all ten together, and you have one of the best albums of the year so far...by a large margin.

tUnE-yArDs, w h o k i l l will be released on April 19th.