Smelly Feet Records Is A Music Platform Which Showcases Both Established And Up & Coming Artists.
No Specific Genre, Just Real Underground Music.
Smelly Feet Records Is A Music Platform Which Showcases Both Established And Up & Coming Artists.
No Specific Genre, Just Real Underground Music.
Exclusive Live Mix
October 15th, 2017
Cooptrol
City: Montevideo
Country: Ururguay
Genre: Dub Techno
Label: Tono
Cooptrol, introduce yourself and what you do. Is there anything special you would like our audience to know?
I am an electronic music producer from Montevideo, Uruguay. I started playing drums in 1992 and producing electronic music in 1995. I have quite a few releases and have travelled a bit doing gigs. I also do sound design and score compositions for advertising and other stuff, as well as teach electronic music production at a local university.
Tell us about your Live setup. Why do you choose to create sounds with hardware, opposed to mixing tracks?
I never had the DJ thing in me. I consider myself a musician, so I naturally focus on electronic music instruments and software. I’ve been using hardware since the 90s, and have played live with only hardware for the most part of my career. I have also built a bit of software for playing live in some occasions.
"I consider myself a musician, so I naturally focus on electronic music instruments and software."
You’ve produced and released records for a number of years now. Are there any releases that specifically stand out as milestones in your career?
My first “official” Cooptrol release (I use the aka since 2000), is the “Detractor” LP (2004). That record opened opportunities to play in Argentina and Colombia, and led to my first European tour. “Avatar” (2007) took me to my second Euro tour. It’s conspiracy-themed and has a very premonitory artwork since the movie came out much later. “Hemispheres” (2009) is my only vinyl release, put out in 2011. A Dubstep/Hip-Hop collaboration with MC Nongenetic from Shadowhuntaz. “Hexaedrum” (2012) is my favorite experimental release, made with only 80’s Yamaha FM synths. It is also the first release of my label Tiredbeat. “Untension” (2014) is my favorite dub-techno release, and “Kenjataimu” (2016) is pretty much where I’m at now sound-wise.
Let’s get into the audio / visual part of your artistic life. Since when were you involved in A/V productions and how has it made an impact in your DJing career.
I started making visuals for my live shows in 2005, using Max/MSP/Jitter and regular video editing software. I was in a quest for synchronicity which was really lacking in the stuff I saw at that time. I stopped using visuals in my gigs in 2014, because I felt technology became too complex to be able to develop a convincing visual show while taking proper care of my music at the same time. I kept on doing some collaborations with visual artists, although visuals haven’t been necessary for a while since I have been playing mostly at dance floors since 2013. I may be coming back to them soon.
"I also do sound design and score compositions for advertising and other stuff, as well as teach electronic music production at a local university."
Can you tell us more about your audio production company, Tono? What is your long term goal and how do you plan on achieving it?
Tono has kept me fed and dressed since 2006 - mostly working on music and sound design for commercials. I don’t have a long-term goal for the company, but I’d love to do some film scoring. I am also getting into game music scoring and sound design. There is an upcoming Oculus game called “Gnosis” with some of my music, which will soon be released on Tiredbeat as an OST.
Any productions for theatre, contemporary dance, and film?
I never scored for theater or full featured film, only a couple of short-films. It’s still a world I have to discover. I did some contemporary dance work though, playing live music onstage. Right now I am working on generative music and background music projects.
Cooptrol, in a few sentences. Tell us about this mix you made for us. Where did you get your inspiration. Is there anything special you want the audience to know?
The mix is really a live set where I play some of my tracks improvising with their elements and inter-mixing some sounds from them. I usually like to sway between my more classical Dub Techno tracks and some more exploratory deep house, displaying different intensities and moods. Hope this has been achieved in this set.