Tag Archives: sxsw

Entrevista: Fernando Santullo

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(You can read this post in English here)

Luego de marcar una profunda huella con El Peyote Asesino y en paralelo a sus colaboraciones con Bajofondo, Fernando Santullo se adentra en su carrera solista con “El Mar Sin Miedo”. El disco será presentado en La Trastienda este año, y el músico integra también la comitiva que representa a Uruguay en el Festival SXSW.

Comparto la entrevista que Santullo tuvo la gentileza de concederme previo a todas estas actividades.

Fernando Santullo (Ph: Federico Meneses)

Fernando Santullo (Ph: Federico Meneses)

 

Un riesgo que enfrenta todo músico asociado a una banda con renombre es que su atractivo central pase a ser periférico al operar en solitario, y que su público no sea más que un grupo de personas que lo escucha por inercia.

Tu primer disco de estudio explicitaba tu vínculo más fuerte en aquel entonces ya desde el título: “Bajofondo Presenta Santullo”. Luego hubo una presentación muy contundente en vivo, y el nombre del espectáculo tenía una interesante referencia temporal: “Canciones Del Futuro Reciente”. Y ahora llega este nuevo disco, y por primera vez el título me transmite algo distinto. Y eso es libertad, entendida como la independencia de aquello que suele ser lo más oneroso para las personas: nuestro propio pasado.

¿Qué reflexión te merece esta lectura?

Bueno, yo creo que libertad tuve en cada disco que hice. Claro, cuando sos parte de una banda tenés una negociación mucho más amplia con tus compañeros. Pero también negocias cuando trabajas en solitario: con tu productor, con el sello, etc. La clave para mí es no entender negociación como pelea o “transar”. Esa es una mirada que se usa bastante cuando se habla de música y, según mi experiencia personal, no es muy realista. Siempre está en uno hasta donde se llega en esa negociación y si no querés negociar con nadie, pues haces tu disco solo y lo distribuís solo, etc. No es mi estilo de laburo ese. Quizá recientemente en la composición trabajo más solo, pero después eso está bueno que se amplíe, que recibas otras miradas. Todo es más rico cuando se vuelve colectivo. Continue reading →

Interview: Fernando Santullo

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(Pueden leer este artículo en español aquí)

After leaving an everlasting mark with El Peyote Asesino and in parallel with his collaborations with Bajofondo, Fernando Santullo delves on his solo career with “El Mar Sin Miedo” [The Fearless Sea]. The album will be officially presented in Uruguay in two months’ time, and the musician is also part of the line-up that will represent the country in this year’s SXSW Festival.

This is the interview that Santullo was kind enough to give me, prior to such activities.

Fernando Santullo (Ph: Federico Meneses)

Fernando Santullo (Ph: Federico Meneses)

 

Any musician who’s been part of a renowned band faces a serious risk when going solo: that of his central appeal becoming peripheral to what he’s doing, and that his audience will be but a group of people listening by inertia.

Your first studio album made the link you had with your current band explicit from its name (“Bajofondo Presenta Santullo”). Then, there was a live show that carried a very interesting temporal reference in its name: “Canciones Del Futuro Reciente” [Songs From The Recent Future]. And now, there comes this new album, and –for the first time– the title conveys something I felt there was missing before: freedom. And freedom as in the act of becoming detached from your own past, the one thing that can truly weigh a person down.

Is such an interpretation accurate?

Well, I think I was free when I made every single album I’ve ever released. Of course, when you’re part of a band you also have to deal with your mates. There’s a lot to settle and agree upon. But you also go through that when you’re a solo artist. There’s deals to be made with your producer, with your record company and so on. What must be understood is that just because you’re making a deal, that doesn’t mean you’re compromising anything. And making a deal is NOT like holding a battle with someone. That’s the way many musicians tend to see it, and (based on my personal experiences) such a viewpoint is not very realistic. It’s always up to you how much you want to concede, and if you don’t want to, then you can self-publish your album and handle its distribution yourself. That’s not the way I work. Maybe I have started to work more on my own when it comes to composing songs, but there comes a point when I always turn to other people for a different insight. Everything is richer when it becomes collective. Continue reading →

Billy Corgan To Anounce The Smashing Pumpkins’ “New Album Experience” At SXSW

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Billy Corgan Is Using This Year's SXSW Conference To Announce The Smashing Pumpkins' Most Ambitious Work To Date

The concept of music albums is changing for good. Offering fans a multimedia experience makes the job of pirates a lot harder, and that’s obviously appealing from a commercial point of view. Yet, there’s no denying that artists are naturally inclined to try new technologies out, and see in which ways new software and hardware can give fans a more vivid representation of these emotions and ideas that lie at the heart of the most transcendental artistic works. The Smashing Pumpkins’ latest album might as well do.

Named “Oceania”, it’s already been defined as a “full online experience” by Billy Corgan, the band’s charismatic leader. He’s not giving away a lot of details at this time, but he will break the silence soon enough – he’s going to make a big announcement at this year’s South By Southwest conference. From what he’s already said, it can be gathered that the album will take social interactions and fan engagement to the limit, and that it’s tracks might not be sold separately on iTunes. Corgan’s publicist has hinted at that when she said that “The key is that when we release the record, we’re not going to release a single viral video. You’re going to take the record and have a full online experience with it.”

Corgan is no stranger to experimentation. In 2009, he embarked on a project called “Teagarden by Kaledoiscope”, a 44-track album that was going to be made freely available on the Internet for everybody to download.

The Smashing Pumpkins’ latest project brings to mind Bjork’s “Biophilia”, which has gone down in history as the first “app album” ever. We’ll see how Corgan’s brainchild compares to that when he speaks at SXSW. His session is scheduled for the 12th of March.