Entrevista de Pedro Vélez a Balún, en la página de Aguzate
by Pedro VélezExclusive for Agúzate Balún is one of Puerto Rico’s foremost experimental acts. The electro-acoustic band makes use of a wide array of instruments and sources including: glockenspiel, melodica, guitar, Puerto Rican tiple, shruti box, a toy piano, laptop, Celtic harp, violin, accordion, voice and found sounds. All are used economically to produce melodies that resemble supernatural soundtracks for Atari video games.
The band members are: Angélica Negrón, José A. Olivares, Noraliz Ruiz, and Leonardo Velázquez. Formed in May of 2002, by José and Angélica, Balún self-released their first EP “EP1” in 2003, followed by their second EP “Nada Que Hacer Hoy” in January of 2004. October of 2004 saw the release of their third EP “While Sleeping” for the Vienna-based netlabel Observatory. Following this release, Balún contributed in 2005, a remix for Arturo en el Barco (Carte Postale Records) and a track for the compilation “Porch, Kitchen, Bed, and Basement: Songs from the Blue House” (The Blue House). Brilliante Records from Chicago released their debut album titled “Something Comes Our Way” on June 27, 2006. Balún toured the United States during the summer of 2006 and the band’s first album received positive reviews from various sources such as Cyclic Defrost, Textura, XLR8R Magazine, Crackers United, The Big Take Over, Flavorpill, CMJ, among others. During 2007 the band released new songs on compilations for the German netlabel Aerotone and the French netlabel Petite & Jolie. In the summer of the same year Expansion Team Records re-released worldwide their “EP Collection.” In October of 2007 the band performed in the Pop Montreal Fest. In 2008 they released music in three compilations (MonsterK7, At At Records, and Si No Puedo Bailar…), a remix for Genji Siraisi (Expansion Team) and another remix for Czech band Miou Miou (Minty Fresh). Balún has an upcoming MP3-EP with 8bitpeoples for 2009. Members of Balún are now living in the United States pursuing graduate degrees at NYU and Kent State.
PV: Any time bands announce a new sound is on the works fans get anxious. Should Balún fans worry?
Balún: Well, they should be more worried about finding a job, and in this economy that's the new sound we're looking for.
PV: What is the difference, if any, between Balún's early "Dream Pop" concept and the new production?
Balún: When we worked on our first album "Something Comes Our Way" we had a different way of writing songs. At that moment we all lived in the same region and the collaboration was more immediate. Ever since we moved to the States, the collaborative process became a bit more fragmented, but in a way it enabled everyone to work by themselves and refine what they wanted to do for each song. With the addition of Leo to the band, we have been recently going back to that process of “in person” collaboration. Now the songs emerge from a more acoustic basis that gives room to more creative approaches when we're working on the electronic arrangements and providing more emphasis on harmony and vocal melodies.
PV: Has grad school altered the way in which Balún makes music or thinks aesthetically about sound? (Angélica Negrón holds a Master’s in music composition from NYU and José A. Olivares recently completed a Master’s at Tisch School of the Arts, where he specialized in interactive design, motion graphics and interactive sound).
Balún: It definitely has influenced the way we think about sound because we are now more critically aware of past and current explorations in our fields of study, More than getting an academic degree we have expanded our perspective in music, and our aesthetic vision by listening, performing, sharing and meeting other artists that fall outside of what we usually do.
PV: Do you feel comfortable when uptight journalists like me try to compare Balún to Tangerine Dream or Brian Eno?
Balún: We don't mind. Mostly it's a comparison based on aesthetic similarities, which is completely understandable. Much of our musical influences owe to the work of both artists directly or indirectly. It's all rooted in the musical work developed by those artists and their contemporaries.
PV: What I feel makes Balún so distinctive is the non - threatening way in which your sound creates a sort of pleasing, almost lightweight atmosphere. You don't need to use pyrotechnics, special effects, smoke machines or elaborate stage designs to achieve it. As if your music was a metaphor for optimism in itself. How do you accomplish such complexity?
Balún: There is no intended purpose in our music to come out that way, it's a product of our process. Most songs begin as an experiment or the development of an idea that we shape to what we think it should sound like. It is in this process that we create our palette of sounds. This can create an "ethereal" or "atmospheric" feeling. There is no direct relationship between lyrics and music, but there is a setting that enables them to be put together cohesively. After all, we are more interested in textures and to what extent we can develop new ideas around that frame of sound. Maybe it is this idea of working with textures that unites all of our work.
PV: Do you think being labeled a "Latino" band could affect the global appeal of your music?
Balún: We've never thought about that as a burden or advantage probably because we don't work inside any marketing that capitalizes on such terms. There is definitely a language barrier that non-Spanish speaking listeners may find in our music. Hopefully our music transcends those "obstacles", and so far this is the response we've been getting and we are very happy with that.
PV: Who is Camila?
Balún: Camila is an imaginary friend that lights up when she opens her eyes and looks at you.
This interview was conducted through e-mail on August 26, 2009. A day before Balún plays at FMEL: Latin Electronic Music Festival at the Cultural Center in Chicago. The second part of this feature includes a review and documentation of their show.
While Sleeping
www.archive.org/details/os040
2004 - BALUN
