Adrian Quesada on Amantes del Futuro's Futuristic Cumbia

Interactive Transcript

spk_0 In our headphones is made possible in part by Thorntail Hardagave.

spk_0 StoreFinder at drinkthorntail.com

spk_0 From independent music station KexP, you're listening to In our headphones, a podcast about the

spk_0 songs that we just can't stop listening to.

spk_0 I'm Yvonne Stokes and this week I'm talking with prolific artist and producer Adrian Cassada.

spk_0 Thanks Adrian for taking the time to chat with us today.

spk_0 Tell us a little bit about yourself.

spk_0 Yeah, I'm a guitarist, producer, podcaster now.

spk_0 No guitarist, producer based in Austin, Texas originally from Laredo, Texas, which is south of Austin.

spk_0 If you basically go down on the interstate until you hit Mexico, that's where I'm from.

spk_0 I moved to Austin when I was 18 and never went back.

spk_0 So yeah, half border kid, half Austin, Texas kid.

spk_0 And you've been making music your whole life now?

spk_0 I started playing guitar when I was maybe 13 or 14 at my dad's insistence.

spk_0 I was obsessed with music, but I was actually when I was a kid, a visual artist, and I got a degree in

spk_0 painting even I used to be a painter.

spk_0 But I was sowing to music.

spk_0 My dad would always push me into playing music.

spk_0 And he suggested that I take piano lessons.

spk_0 And at that time I was a skater and like listening to hip hop and too cool for the piano.

spk_0 I was like, uh, panels for nerds.

spk_0 So I was like, I'll play guitar.

spk_0 And now I'm like, why still joking with my dad about that?

spk_0 I'm like, one of my few regrets in life is that I did not start piano when I was 13 because

spk_0 it's like the best instrument for a musical foundation.

spk_0 So I started playing guitar around that age.

spk_0 What are you playing these days?

spk_0 You play guitar and what else do you play?

spk_0 I dabble in keys and drums and bass and everything else to get my ideas across, you know, but

spk_0 guitar is what I'm most proficient at.

spk_0 Guitar and bass.

spk_0 Are you still making any visual art today?

spk_0 Still painting?

spk_0 No.

spk_0 So, uh, the true story here, I got an art degree.

spk_0 I have a degree in painting.

spk_0 I was an oil painter.

spk_0 And I was already when I was in college starting to play in bands and really go towards music.

spk_0 But I didn't want to be in school.

spk_0 I didn't want to change majors and I didn't want to be there forever.

spk_0 So I was like, I'll just finish my degree and get out of here.

spk_0 I was like two years into it.

spk_0 So I finished and I loved painting, but I was an oil painter.

spk_0 The last day of school, somebody broke into my locker and stole all my art supplies.

spk_0 And oil, I don't know if you all know anything about like oil paint supply.

spk_0 They're expensive.

spk_0

spk_0 I probably had a thousand dollars of like art supplies in my locker.

spk_0 I thought one of my teachers grabbed myself.

spk_0 I was like asking everybody in the building and they were like, we can't like open your

spk_0 locker and somebody broke in and stole it.

spk_0 So we couldn't find it and never paint it again.

spk_0 I was like, I just literally have not painted oil again.

spk_0 But no, I want to come back to it one day.

spk_0 But yeah, I just was like, to me, that was a sign from the universe.

spk_0 I was like, that's it.

spk_0 They took my art away.

spk_0 So I'm going to focus on music.

spk_0 All right.

spk_0 Well, you chose a new song that you'd like to share with us today at what you got.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 I picked a song called Vena Bailad by Amantes del Futuro.

spk_0 And Amantes del Futuro is basically the moniker of a producer in Mexico based in

spk_0 the movie.

spk_0 You know, connected all the dots with modern Gumbia and that it's kind of like electro.

spk_0 It has that feeling.

spk_0 It's kind of psychedelic.

spk_0 It's kind of, you know, dark wave.

spk_0 I don't even know all the subgenres of synth, dark, whatever, anymore.

spk_0 But like, it's all these things together with this traditional like Sony that all kind

spk_0 of sound street sound system, sound in Mexico of a couple of years back.

spk_0 I discovered them kind of a little bit later.

spk_0 I was in Colombia in the country and at a record store where I know a guy and he was, I

spk_0 didn't have that much time.

spk_0 And I was just digging, but I had like 20 minutes and I was like, you just pull out a bunch

spk_0 of stuff that you think I should have.

spk_0 And I'll sort of threw it in.

spk_0 He was like the, at the top of the list, he put Amantes del Futuro.

spk_0 He was like, you'll love this.

spk_0 Trust me.

spk_0 And I put it in, I'm sure enough, I just became obsessed.

spk_0 And now, you know, honored to call him an acquaintance and friend.

spk_0 And, yeah, so this is an incredible song that I think for a lot of people.

spk_0 That are following Cumbia music and where it intersects with DJ culture and everything

spk_0 this song has been a really important one.

spk_0 Have you been able to see him DJ live?

spk_0 Yeah, I was a couple of times and also earlier this year, I had a South by Southwest party

spk_0 that kind of came together last minute, but he happened to be in town.

spk_0 So I had him DJ, which is so cool to have him there.

spk_0 I bet it was fun.

spk_0 Do you, so has this sent you down kind of a path of listening to this kind of music

spk_0 more often?

spk_0 Yeah, for sure, for sure.

spk_0 And I actually was in Mexico City last year, last fall.

spk_0 And are you familiar with those boiler room DJ sessions?

spk_0 I am.

spk_0

spk_0 So there was a boiler room in Mexico City that night I got into town of all these Cumbia

spk_0 DJs and he was one of them.

spk_0 So I got to go to that like super last minute and it was, I actually literally was watching

spk_0 it on YouTube yesterday because it was so good.

spk_0 It was such a moment to, it felt like history to be there.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 All right.

spk_0 Well, let's listen to it.

spk_0 Do you want to introduce the song for us?

spk_0 This is a Venavai Lar by Mantez El Futuro.

spk_0 You can listen to all the music featured on in our headphones by following our in our

spk_0 headphones playlists available on both Spotify and YouTube.

spk_0 KexP is an independent nonprofit radio station and arts organization.

spk_0 This podcast along with all of our programming is made possible because of the generous support of our listeners.

spk_0 This podcast along is gospel for a new century by Eve Tumor.

Adrian Quesada on Amantes del Futuro's Futuristic Cumbia

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