inSIGHT music

16/10/07

Gigs
Super Furry Animals
18/10/07
Barrowlands

The irrepressible Welsh space yetis tour the

pyschadelic pop of Hey Venus.

LCD Soundsystem
22/10/07
Barrowlands

LCD Soundsystem no longer spend nights in

with Daft Punk, but are venturing out to the
great outdoors. Well. the east end of Glasgow...

Boredoms
23/10/07
Arches

A space odyssey
Ironically named Japanoise-nicks who, on the
07/07/07, convinced 77 drummers to play, at the
same time, in Central Park. Ace

Cold War Kids

25/10/07
Barrowlands
Mexican electronic artist Fernando Corona, AKA Murcof, talks to Robin Perkins
Cold War Kidz on the block bring their Radiohead

I
loving nonsense to the Barrowlands.
t's something everybody has; we
Dananananykroyd are all fascinated by the stars. We
01/11/07 sometimes forget that we are part
Nice n Sleazy of an infinite universe out there,
it helps to bring some perspective to
Enjoyable tribute act to 80s sensation Rickmoro- our everyday problems. I wanted to
rororanis. Six members. Two drummers, sissy hits share my reaction while contemplat-
and lots of noise. ing 'out there'..."
Fernando Corona is one of Mexi-
co’s most intriguing electronic artists,
There is a tradition of corruption
almost embedded in the culture.
For example, the mayor of Tijuana is
accused of several murders, he traf-
fics endangered species and he has a
chain of casinos all across the country.
His name is Hank.”
Corona grew up in Ensenada, a
small port in North Western Mexico
close to Tijuana. He was brought up
magazines, record shops. We got all
these rejects from the US, including
old analogues synths like a Moog for
£10. We used to cross a lot, I used to
work and live in the States so I had
access to all of that."
The economic situation in
Mexico has led to a huge growth of
illegal downloading, which in turn
has led to a globalising of music.
sitional, a much freer structure and less
of a compromise with the electronics. It
was a natural progression.”
On this tour Murcof arranged to
play a number of special shows in
planetariums, including one at The
Royal Observatory in Greenwich. This
gave him the opportunity to create
his cosmological landscapes in an apt
venue beneath the stars.

Clubs
a one-time member of the influen-
tial Tijuana based Nortec (Norteno
"Tijuana doesn't
Schneider TM
The Art School feel like Mexico
16/10/07
or the US."
The superbly named Dirk Dresselhaus, winner of Techno) Collective, he now works
Wire magazine’s best ever cover for their robotic alone under the Murcof pseudonym,
Smiths-inspired Light 3000. has relocated to Barcelona and
released two albums on the UK based
Subculture with AME Leaf Label, the latest; Cosmos, is a
Sub Club momentously deep, cold, textured
20/10/07 soundscape of sparse electronics and
live recordings inspired by the over-
Kristian Beyer of German production duo AME whelming childlike obsession with
brings his Detroit inspired discs to the Subbie’s the infinity of space.
sound system. Corona is a quietly spoken,
eloquent man in his late thirties; he
Radioactive Man sits opposite me sipping an espresso
Sub Club only becoming animated at the
26/10/07 mention of the Mexican situation.
The Simpson's own superhero plays Kinky Afro's “There is a saying which says
8th birthday bash. One Lone Swordsman Keith 'poor Tijuana so far away from God
Tenniswood, an elecronic legend who's worked and so close to the US'. The north-
with them all. west feels very disconnected from
Mexico, it doesn’t feel like Mexico or
like the US, it is a phenomena itself.
listening to his father’s classical music
collection and today still draws his
greatest inspiration from classical
composers
“My father was a big Bach,
Beethoven fan, as I grew up I inves-
tigated the contemporary scene
and I stumbled into all these incred-
ible music makers; Gorecki, Dusapin,
Scelsi; all the big guys.”
Corona, under the Terrestre name,
became a member of the keystone
group of Mexican electronic artists
known as the Nortec Collective
“I was a member of Nortec
from 99 to 2002. There are a lot of
things that are not known outside of
Mexico. There has been a sprouting
of labels and new artists who are
approaching music making with a
global mentality.”
The Nortec Collective grew out
of Tijuana and it was the proximity to
the US that facilitated Fernando and
his friends’ access to music.
“In the pre-internet era things
were more complicated, so being very
close to the States gave us a window
to the rest of the world, through
"In Mexico, if you want to buy
an import it is going to cost you a
"Being close to
the States gave
us a window to
the world."
lot of money and that is a very ureal
amount of money for the econom-
ical power people have. What other
choice do people have? Download.
People who barely make it through
the month can't afford to import
records"
After leaving Nortec, Corona
released his first album as Murcof;
2002’s Martes. Cosmos saw a change
in direction from Martes’ use of
electronics and samples to original
recordings done by Corona and
friends in Barcelona.
“I needed a departure from
traditional electronic/techno music
structures for what I wanted to
communicate. I had to abandon the
sound of Martes - it is more compo-
“We had to rent the space – it's
expensive. We sold out but still lost
money. We wanted to do it, though,
and it was well worth it, especially this
one in Greenwich. They have state of
the art visuals and the tech guy was
really into the music.”
After the success of Cosmos a
return to the techno inspired Terrestre
pseudonym seems unlikely,
“I’m still so busy with Murcof, maybe
my son will take over, he is more into
abstract concrete music; hitting things.
I ask him 'what you doing?' and he says
'I’m doing music Fernando!' Maybe he
will be an accountant.
"I am working on a commission
from the Contemporary Music Network
in the UK; it’s a piece for acoustic music
and video. I will be doing the elec-
tronics and processing the live instru-
ments. For me it is something very
new and exciting. The next release
will hopefully be with a pianist I've
been playing live with for some time,
called Franceso Tristano. It is going to
be tribute to animals, I think we will
start with insects and try to imitate the
sounds they make."