A future superstar enjoying a massive 2014 with some major music coming our way
Interview by Dan Prince
Francisco welcome to DMCWORLD, where in the world are you today?
“Hi Dan, I’m in Ibiza where I´ve been living since 2010.”
An incredible summer for you rolls on with some stunning music coming our way, let’s kick off with your ‘Unity EP’…I understand this production took you more than a year to finish?
“2 of the 3 tracks that compose the EP came out of my mind very fluidly around mid 2013. Then for the last one I wanted to do the best track of the EP, but Summer arrived and lots of travelling kept me away from studio for some months – and when I had the time to come back…my computer died! It took me a while to get the new one with all the software and plugins installed the right way. I was then talking with Felipe Venegas at that time to work together on a collaboration and this became ‘Unity’.”
Please talk us through the sounds of the three choice cuts on the EP…
‘Unity’, the main track, is a melodic hypnotic cut for big rooms. I worked on this one together with my friend Felipe Venegas with whom we´ve done some very successful tracks in the past. In fact ‘Llovizna’, my first Cadenza release, was produced with him as well, we wanted to create a similar vibe but updated to 2014. Then on the B side you can find ‘Three Dogs One Bed, another peak time track with a very techy mood. I try to always introduce to my tracks elements or sounds that have defined my style and here you can find Frank Zappa´s voice filtered and panned in some passages. To close the EP you find ‘Forget The Sun’. This was the first tune signed by Be As One for the EP, groovy and dark, I find it very useful as a bridge to go from the warm up to the peak time, also with Zappa elements here but very hard to identify.”
In DMCWORLD’s eyes there are 2 really hot producers out there at the moment, yourself and Nicole Moudaber…which is kind of handy as she has been really pushing your new ‘Black Page’ tune on her radio show. Tell us about the new track swinging our way on Mood Records…
“A pack of tracks were delivered to Nicole, some of my last releases and a few unreleased ones to which she gave very good feedback. I was very happy to see that she really liked ‘The Black Page’, playing it twice on her radio show and then at every gig she has had since. This looked like a good excuse to try to sign it to Mood Records, so I locked myself in the studio to create a new tune for her and when it was ready I delivered it to her and she dropped it at Space…and the crowd went nuts! The next day she confirmed that we had a Mood release. I really hope this is the first of many to come since I am a big fan of the label and am honoured to be part of the team.”
We have been down the front at Richie Hawtin’s Enter night all summer, one of the tracks he has been hammering these last couple of weeks is your ‘Adoption Day’ track. When you bring out a new record and it gets supported by superstar DJs, who are the names you check out to see if they like your music, who do you have the most respect for out there at the moment…
“Loco Dice has been always a big supporter of my work, I am very thankful for this since he is an artist I always felt inspired by. Besides releasing 2 of my records on his label, he´s always playing my stuff and giving me advice about my music career.”
Okay let’s rewind for a moment. You hail from Chile, one of the most exciting country’s in the world. What is your earliest musical memory from your childhood?
“I was born in the north of Chile, a city called Iquique but we moved to Santiago when I was 5 years old. When we moved to Santiago we lived in a little street closed with a gate with 7 houses that were all identical. One of our neighbors was a big big fan of comic books and classical music and he used to give me a lot of comics and cassettes. Because of this I became a music and comic addict.”
Music appeared in your life from an early age, you studied the violin for 8 years and performed with chamber orchestras and folkloric bands. Back then was music just a hobby or was the idea of a life within music already forming in your mind…?
“When you are a kid you do things just because it’s fun, listening to all this music on these cassettes…Vivaldi, Mozart and Bethoveen made me curious about playing an instrument and my family always saw my music instruction as a complement to my education. Years later I dropped the violin, tried the guitar for a while, then the synths and finally the electronic music but always as a hobby…”
At the age of 20 you began mixing records and started putting on your own parties, what was the musical theme at these events?
“I was at university at the time, studying economics and finance and with a classmate we started playing records at parties – but it was far from electronic. It was funk, pop and disco like the typical university parties in Santiago. One day I was riding a bus when I met a friend that played the flute in a band with me some years before who I had lost contact with. So we started talking and she tells me “oh now I´m learning to DJ, my boyfriend and his friends are very good mixing techno you should come one day and hang with us”. I had to play in a party that weekend so I told her to bring them all and to bring their records. They came and played an amazing set of underground techno that made everybody leave the dance floor…but this was the moment when I discovered the music I wanted to make…”
You won the BEST NATIONAL ELECTRONIC MUSICIAN given by Ballantines Pulse twice in those formative years…how big a deal was that for you?
“Oh it was a big deal! Before this I was only playing parties in Santiago and Viña del Mar but because of this I started flying to play all over the country. It was around this time when I realized that music could make me my living.”
What are the big 10 records in your box this weekend…
1 Indeed – Martin Buttrich remix
2 Ion Ludwig – Wolfsburger Road
3 Ida Enberg – Devil´s Dance (Mr. G remix)
4 Hector – The Thrill (Nathan Barato Remix)
5 Light Year – Pumpt
6 Macromism – Mondano
7 Kyle Hall – Our Love
8 Francisco Allendes – Human Design
9 Diogo – PRPL
10 Fernando Costantini & Alexandar Kyosev – Overlap
Have to ask with your Chilean background, man your team were so close in the World Cup…!!!
“We were very close yes, a few inches and we could have sent Brasil out..people are still having nightmares about it!”
Ibiza is your life at the moment, you live here, your dogs are here…Steve Angello, Afrojack and Oaky famously were on Radio 1 this summer stating the island had gone “too VIP” and the white isle had “lost it’s mystique”. What were your thoughts on their comments…?
“Party wise I can agree with them, since I´ve been here I´ve seen that every year prices are rising in everything and with other electronic music tourist destinations emerging, I don´t blame people that don’t want to spend a lot of money for 3 days of partying here and want to go somewhere else where they can spend the same for double the time or double the party. But mystique lost? I don´t think so…you can still find amazing parties with absolutely no VIP and super cool where you can dance on the beach for free with amazing music and a great vibe. tINI has been doing it for some years now, and for me it´s the best party of the season. Also if you go to Underground or Sankeys you will have a great time with people that is there for the music and not the bottles
Well said! You obviously have a deep love for Ibiza, where are some of the beaches and restaurants you love hanging out at?
“Beaches, I love Cala Olivera. It is close to my place and we can take the dogs with no problem. If I´m not bringing the doggies then Aguas Blancas or Cala Conta. For restaurants La Paloma is one of my favorites since they have many vegetarian options. Also Destino in San Jose has amazing tapas.”
You have a night off, which club and DJ do you head to on the white isle?
“A few weeks ago I went to Space on a Tuesday to see Nicole Moudaber play an incredible techno set in the main room, I had a great time and there was a very cool vibe. Normally when I have a free Wednesday night I will go to Sankeys to see Shlomi Aber play, I´ve seen him 4-5 times this summer and he´s doing a great job in the basement.”
What song always reminds you of Ibiza?
“Octave One – ‘Black Water’.”
You have a big week in Ibiza, playing for Luciano on September 4th at Destino and then onto tINI and The Gang at Sands a week later…you are playing both parties B2B with your wife Paola Poletto. How does this work for you two, do you plan your sets or do you know each other that well it all just flows naturally?
“We both have very different musical backgrounds and also play a different style when we DJ on a solo gig, but since the moment we met we have had a good music-communication. We go in the studio together and we play records together but we never plan it, we just follow some rules that we´ve created with time (like please don´t ever play this track when we are b2b) and the rest flows by itself.”
A recent quote from a certain superstar DJ…“I believe true DJing is actually an art, but it’s a dying art, as everyone is pushing the sync button…it’s a real shame when you see a ‘DJ’ plug his laptop in and call this DJing. Music will always evolve but sometimes not in the best way.” What are your thoughts on that?
“The sync button only beatmatches records. I´ve also seen many vinyl DJs beatmatching perfectly but doing horrible boring sets. The sync button can help you DJ but it doesn´t necessarily turn you into a good DJ or a good music selector. So I don´t agree with this superstar DJ.”
Tell us about your studio set up….
“I run Cubase and Ableton from my iMac, have a motu sound card and some external gear I´ve been collecting since many years: Roland sh-101, Arp Axxe, Moog Voyager, Prophet 12, Schipmann Ebe ind Flut, Technosaurus Microcoon II. Recently I bought Maschine and UAD plugins that are really amazing.”
What is coming out next from you studio wise?
“The EP for Mood Records but I don’t know when it will be out. Also I´m finishing a collaboration with H-Foundation that will be out on their Surface label end of this year.”
Who are the producers from a round the world you are giving high fives to right now?
“Nathan Barato, I’ve been a fan of him for a while, met him last year on the island and he´s a super cool guy. Hope to work together some day with him. Gianni Callipari, also met him on the island, playing very good music and just released on Cadenza, a superb release. Alli Borem, know this guy for a while since he is on Desolat too. Saw him in Rome a few weeks ago and he showed me his upcoming productions, incredible!”
A big night for you on Friday with you presenting the world with a superb 60 minute mix on John Digweed’s radio show…you looking forward to the reaction from around the globe?
“For sure. This is one of the biggest radio shows of electronic music in the world and the opportunity to show my sound really excites me. For me, it’s always been a source for fresh sounds and ideas so being part of it makes me very happy.”
What is the record that…
…reminds you of your childhood?
“Yes – ‘Close to the Edge’.”
…always get you dancing?
“Michael Jackson – ‘Off The Wall’ – there is a bootleg by DJ Simi that really rocks.”
…reminds you of being broken hearted?
“Pink Floyd – ‘Fat Old Sun’.”
…you wish you would have made?
“Pink Floyd – ‘Shine on you Crazy Diamond’.”
And finally, as 2014 enters it’s second phase, you can look back on a job well done certainly. But what are the ambitions for 2015, what does Francisco Allendes want to achieve next year?
“First of all, next year I will become a father. In January Paola and I will have a baby so my priority is to be a good father. With music, I think it´s time to start pushing my label Aurora Indigo and create its crew, There are also some very interesting projects coming that I can´t reveal right now, will tell you as soon as they are confirmed, promise!”
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Further information :
http://www.twitter.com/fallendes
https://www.facebook.com/djfranciscoallendes
http://soundcloud.com/francisco-allendes
