[Click aquí para leer la versión en español de la entrevista]
ouq is an experimental music project by Felipe Semino, experimental musician which comes from Burzaco, Buenos Aires, Argentina. On his work, he aims to explore the sonic posibilities which appear on the limit between the rhytmic and the arrhythmic, an spectrum which we can found in a variety of day-to-day experiences.. On this interview, he tells us about his process and his experience living on Berlin.
Tell us about your story: How and when did your interest in experimenting with sounds start?
As a teenager I used to listen to some alternative rock bands with a certain experimental aproach such as Radiohead or Sonic Youth, I played the guitar and experimented with effect pedals. Later on, I began to study Electroacoustic Composition at the University of Quilmes, in 2012. I discovered there an experimental world much deeper than the one I knew, it blew my mind, that was the key moment.
What is that exploration on now? How does that manifest in your current job?
For a few years now I´ve been experimenting a lot with randomness, applied to almost all aspects of music: rhythm, timbre and melody. And the aproach generally focuses on finding the balance between the completely random and .the completely fixed, to make it seem the same over and over again, but always different. Also, I've got lately some kind of migrant nostalgia and I want my music to reflect my roots a little more, so I'm trying a few things to get closer to that, but this started very recently, after releasing the EP.
Can you tell us where the inspiration for this EP comes from?
For this EP and for all my music, the inspiration always comes from stuff I hear in nature or the city and from whoever artist I'm listening to at the moment. I come up with some short idea that I later capture in Ableton and work on it. I have always been captivated by the similar but irregular patterns of nature and I think that influences my way of making artistic decisions, but to be honest, these are things I analyze afterwards, while experimenting and making music, it's all intuitive.
You worked with Federico Torres López in the graphic production of the album. How did the collaboration come up, and what is expected for the future?
A. I met Fede through a mutual friend and I knew we share certain aesthetic tastes, when the time came to release the album I simply asked him if he wanted to collaborate with the cover design. We had a chat about trying to do something more audiovisual in the future, but nothing has happened yet.
You come from Burzaco, is there an experimental scene? And now that you're in Berlin, how do you connect with the scene of this European city?
I couldn´t say there is an experimental scene in Burzaco because it is really small, but if we extend the range to the southern zone of Gran Buenos Aires, there is one, very varied and with great artists. Not to mention the city of Buenos Aires, there is a huge scene and incredible artists. My link with the Berlin experimental scene (which is focused on electronics more than anything), for now is as a consumer, although I had some active participations this year, I designed the sound for an installation in February, it was an interesting experience. Little by little I am meeting people with the same interests and I hope to have more active participation in the future. What I can say is that the large budget dedicated to art in general in the city is noticeable, both from private and public sources. A venue of the most independent and incipient, can have the best equipment for its events, that's great.
Do you think there is a Latin American sound identity?
There definitely is a Latin American sound identity, but in experimental music I cannot always identify it from the sound if there are no explicit references, such as typical instrument sounds or rhythms. In my case, for example, I don't think many people, just from listening, can assume that my record was made by a South American. It is an interesting challenge as an artist to be able to reflect the roots in the productions, there are artists who do it very well, I've been in that search a bit lately.
Can you recommend us a musical artist from your region?
I've been listening a lot lately to the artists of Trrueno collective, a collective of electronic experimental artists from Buenos Aires, they´re killing it.
~
