ATU

Interview with ATU

1) You made a whole album on your own and have composed other songs in rock style ,other in spanish style. Why everything was done by yourself and not from a real group ,or there is a real group behind ATU ?

I spend a lot of time in the studio producing my songs, recording, editing, sampling, filtering, multitracking, etc. I view this work as an essential part of my compositional process. The studio is a very special tool that adds new sonic dimensions to my sound, I like to experiment with it, and I feel comfortable working by myself during this stage of production.
  What I often do is to develop a song to a certain level, leaving space for another artists and guests to later contribute their input into the mix. Using this method, I can control things to a certain degree, as well as to let it all loose through the incorporation of others.

2) Why you didn’t contact multinational labels ?

For now, it feels good to be part of a small independent label that is all about artistic freedom and creative participation. At Plan Z Media, the relationship between music, promotion, business, etc. becomes a creative process with a human face on it. In many ways, my identity is attached to this label.

3) Your Latin songs are different from dance tunes like salsa or samba and your style reminds a Spanish gypsy style , is it true ?

My Latin songs come from a hybrid/transcultural tradition. I grew up in Chile, which -at least at the times- was in closer cultural contact with Europe than with the rest of America, so I became very influenced by Rock, Progressive, Punk… Artistically, it was a challenge to me to make sense of all these foreign influences from a local perspective. It is perhaps, in the fusion of all these styles with my natural Spanish background where we find what you have described as “Spanish gypsy style”. Anyway, I definitely feel closer to Flamenco than to Salsa -­I like music that has “duende”.

4) Do you know anything about the Greek ethnic scene and artists such as Eleftheria Arvanitakh or Savvina Gianatou?
 
I whish I would know more about it. The only thing that I can tell you is that one of my influences is an earlier progressive Greek group called Aphrodite’s Child, I vividly remember one afternoon travelling in the back seat of my cousin’s old Dodge, while the radio played It’s Five O’clock, I was 9 years old then, but I still remember it as a beautiful moment.

5) Do you plan to play the whole album in concerts ?
 
Right now, I’m working on several videos and producing another album. I find the creative capabilities of the studio so appealing and absorbing that is hard for me to concentrate on concerts or live productions at the time being. I find it easier to create new songs than to keep on repeating past ones. I might do a couple of presentations, but it might be something totally new and different from ATU -Transcultural.

6) Your songs have a trippy style , the whole album is rhythmic and not oppressive , is it mainly for people that dance ?
 
I’m glad that you find my whole album not to be oppressive, I really care for the promotion of freedom and for the empowerment of the few independent subjectivities that still inhabit this planet.
 Rhythm is in our nature, I believe that we should be able to dance to anything that we like to, no styles, no limits. If someone like to dance to my songs that’s great, more power to them, but I sure hope that they will be “tripping” at the same time. Perhaps, someone can even make love to the rhythm of my music, I would like that even better . Everything is just an escape towards the future.

ATU

atu@planznow.com
www.planznow.com
Tel/fax (412) 363-9730