One to watch! The brilliant producer from Peru speaks exclusively to DMCWORLD
Interview : Ian Fleming
Peruvian DJ/producer Luis Leon is a man whose many musical titbits refreshingly match the hype. Early last year he released tracks on his Soundcloud and a matter of months later the tracks passed the 1 million mark thanks to a leg-up from Dutch site, Deep House Amsterdam. By all accounts, that’s not bad going for a producer who only taught himself production on a computer a matter of years back. But don’t let such facts get in the way of Leon’s vast talents. Yes, he may be from a country which is only fully beginning to embrace the merits of electronic music, but his is a talent which can roll with the best of them – a fact that very much comes to the fore on his latest for Subjekt Recordings, where he leaned on none other than Eric Volta in the remix stakes. With so much going on – and so much more to come for Leon – these are heady times indeed. One can’t escape the feeling, however, that there’s much, much more on the agenda. We caught up with the production prodigy recently, as he talked us through his plans for the next while…
What are the best and worst things about being Luis Leon right now?
“The best things are that I finally I’m doing what I love, going to places I never thought I could go, meet nice people and doing something that most of the people here in Peru think is not possible as a Peruvian DJ. The worst things are that we don’t have proper support from the government here to make music a serious career and the barriers to perform in countries out from Peru. I had and still have some problems with this. Now it is looking better but it took a while for this get solved. It was a rough road for me to become what I am today, but believing in my dream of being an artist kept me going and still does.”
What was the last record you bought? And why? Does Peru still have record shops that trade in vinyl?
“ I buy music from the internet. The last track I bought was from the Sonar Kollektiv record label Paskal & Urban Absolutes ‘Take The Fall’ feat. Pete Josef (Sevensol & Bender Remix). Sadly we don’t have specialized vinyl stores here so it’s not easy to find the right stuff.”
Are you settled in Peru right now? Any plans to leave?
“Yes, I’m living in Lima actually and I don’t have plans to leave so far, I can’t imagine myself living anywhere else, but who knows what the future brings.”
Are you a proud Peruvian, then? What are the best and worst things about being from Peru?
“I love my country and I’m proud of be a Peruvian, it is a privilege to live here. It is a beautiful country and the people are very friendly. The worst things come from politics and a negative government history.”
The scene in South America has been on the up for some time now. What do you personally attribute it all to?
“I only do what I love…music. If at some point people see me as a contributor of the scene it would be an honor, but I think we have big names already to name as real contributors of the South American scene; Gui Boratto, Hernan Cattaneo, DJ Marky and Renato Ratier – the owner of D.Edge and Warung…to name just a few.”
Are the likes of techno and dubstep popular too? Or is it mainly just house?
“Well, we have a bit of everything but the scene here is mainly focused on house music and of course techno is a part of it too.”
And what sort of stuff do you listen to in your spare time? Do you play any other instruments?
“I listen to many types of music but I have a special feeling for the 30’s, 60’s and 70’s music. I still discover amazing stuff that inspires me in different ways, most of the time it makes me feel better. I think it reminds in some way of my childhood with my mom, who passed away when I was little. I used to play drums in high school but I was not a talented drummer to be honest. I always had the rhythm in me and was thinking in rhythms all the time; hitting on everything with my hands. When I was a child I was learning to play the keyboard but I can’t read notes or anything. All of the melodies in my productions are made by intuition.”
Can you tell us a bit about your label, Blankhaus. What’s the thinking there?
“Blankhaus Music was created with a friend of mine, Luis Miguel Rodriguez as a platform to release my music, but we discovered that is not cool to work alone in the industry so we decided to find talents here and around the globe that we find interesting. After 3 years, from the moment the project started, our philosophy is still the same; quality over quantity. Something funny here is that my partner is not a DJ or an electronic music lover, so we always have discussions about our ideas for the label but we always agree after long hours of discussing. We both love music and are not afraid to be diverse rather than focusing on one style. We will release a new fresh identity for the brand soon, with some amazing artwork and new artists. I’m very excited about that!”
Is there an ethos that courses through all the releases on the label?
“We have been working on this more seriously through the years and we don’t pretend to release music that is only for DJs. We want to achieve something else, we call this a timeless sound. It is about music that you could dance to but mainly that you can listen to, anywhere, anytime. I’m really happy with the new direction of the label for this year, we want to show a wide variety of our musical taste.”
What do you think makes a successful label these days? How important is marketing and online presence to what you guys do, for example?
“I think that good music is the most important thing and to innovate. Marketing is a tool, which is something really important nowadays to spread the music to the people on a worldwide level, but sometimes there seems to be more marketing involved than quality music. There is enough out there but marketing from big labels is overruling some great music, which is a shame.”
You recently appeared on Boiler Room at the BPM Festival. How was that?
“It was an honor for me to get invited and play among such great artists. I didn’t know the rest of the line up until a couple days before and not even that I was going to be part of it. It was very special and a great experience, also to do a b2b with my good friend Memo Insua.”
And what was it like to play alongside Art Department? Are they real heroes of yours?
“Yes, it was really nice to meet them in Tulum. I admire what they achieved through the time, and the music they released at the beginning was very inspirational for me…fresh and different.”
Your debut release on Subjekt is just out. How did you produce it? What equipment did you lean on?
“At first it was only a 20 seconds draft. My manager sent it out to the manager of Subjekt and he wanted to hear more. I continued working on the track and after they signed it and promised me a cool remixer, which turned out to by Eric Volta – a great producer and artist in general. For most of my productions I work with basic equipment, like my laptop running Ableton Live 9, an m-audio oxygen 49 keyboard, old 80’s Sony speakers (I love them), and my Sennheiser HD 25-II headphones.”
How did you discover the vocalist. Kimono? What do you reckon she brings to the track?
“Well actually the label offered me at least 4 singers to work with on the project. But for me it was difficult trying to match these vocals and lyrics for the track. I was getting confused but then we got something sent over from Kimono and that really fitted well. I explained her my concept of the track and requested her some technical stuff and she was very flexible with that, also with the lyrics. She was the best unexpected option.”
What 5 tracks are you digging at the moment?
Artenvielfalt – Thinkin’ Bout You
Dürerstuben – Sonnenblut am Platz der Perlen
Paskal & Urban Absolutes ‘Take The Fall’ feat. Pete Josef (Sevensol & Bender Remix)
Chopstick & Johnjon – Pining Moon (Death On The Balcony Remix)
Robert Babicz – Cogito Ergo Sum
And where do you hope to be in 5 years time?
“ I hope to learn a lot more and to be able to try out more things with music in general so I have something different to offer. Also I want to release an album and maybe perform with a band for live acts. That is something I would really like to do. But we will see!”
https://www.facebook.com/LuisLeonMusica
https://soundcloud.com/luisleon
