Every so often, an album and/or an artist comes along that just grabs me by the ear and demands me to play over and over again. When that artist comes out of nowhere and the only reason I chose to download that artist's album in the first place was because it had a cool album cover. When it turns out to be one of your favorite albums of the year, that's when I love rolling the dice on unheard of artists, that's when I love doing what I do, this little hobby of mine in the blog. This weeks "New" (since he is new to the scene) Artist Spotlight features a producer out of San Antonio, Texas by the name of Diego Bernal. I can't even recall how I found the album, I think it was probably on HHB. I took a chance, gave it a listen at work one morning and the Latin flavored instrumental hip hop album had me hitting the digital "rewind" button on my ipod every other track.
From that moment this past spring to even tonight, I play "For Corners" on an almost daily basis. Other people in my life have loved the album as well, ones that aren't usually hip hop heads. My own Mom became a fan of Diego and his "For Corners" album, and promptly gangked the extra CD Diego sent me. A female friend and I went to the movies, I was playing the CD in my car and she asked me to burn her a copy (I had to help her with the free digital download found on Exponential Records site). Another friend and his wife were taken back by fury of horns, strings and banging drums found in his music. Yes, I'm championing his music, it's played an important part of my life these past six months or so, and that too me is the sign of good music.
Diego has a very interesting story. His samples aren't the typical funk, soul and R&B samples of yesteryear. His day job isn't your typical struggling producer day job neither. He isn't from a hip hop hotbed, but damn, this dude can make some music. We sat down with the very intelligent and opinionated producer in one of the more enjoyable spotlights I've done in awhile on one of my favorite instrumental albums of the year, if not the favorite......
My challenge to any MC out there is to make a song or even a mixtape out of this project.
W: Any chance we'll be hearing you making beats for MCs in the near future? Who would you like to produce for?
DB: I want people to use the beats now. Feel free. Take them, do something creative with them. Make an entire mixtape, Just don’t dishonor my effort by talking about bullshit. That’s my only rule.
Let's hear something, I know MC's read this page....give it a shot, let me hear something.
DIEGO BERNAL - FOR CORNERS
Artist: Diego Bernal
Album: For Corners (Digital)
Label: Exponential
Catalog: EXP-15
Release Date: February 24th, 2009
About:
For Corners is the first full length album from Diego Bernal, a civil rights attorney and beatsmith, located in San Antonio, TX. For Corners is Diego Bernal's love letter to the music, cultures, era and people that nurtured him.
The music is dusty and layered with Latin soul, from the triumphant blasts of horns to the laid back groove of lowrider melodies. It is a call to return to the simplicity and integrity of hip-hop's best moment and an invitation to enjoy a slightly different kind of southern comfort. Not so much dirty south as directly south. The full album is a completely free download. Enjoy!
Tracklist:
01. Diego's Donut (RIP J. DIlla)
02. Armor All'd Out
03. Bring It On Home
04. Damn You
05. Dusty Sanchez
06. Father's Son
07. Fat Sal
08. Go Diego Go
09. I Have a Long... Resume (Interlude)
10. May Day
11. Momma's Boy
12. Money Cash Woes (Interlude)
13. MC Rakim Cool Kane and the DJ Furious Boyz Crew (1986)
14. On4
15. My Friend Wants to Know (Interlude)
16. The Pause Tape Trainer
17. Velcro Flow
18. Summer's Over (Interlude)
19. The Way It Was
WYDU: What's good man? Can we get a little introduction and maybe a little something that everyone should know about you?
Diego Bernal: Thanks, man. My name really is Diego Bernal. A lot of people ask if my name is a combination of two Mexican actors’ names- Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal- but it’s not. Also, I’m not cool at all, not in the way people who make beats are supposed to be.
WYDU: Can you give some background on your up bringing? You also seem to have a deep respect for golden age hip hop. What were some of the reasons you wanted to get into making music and beats?
DB: I was born in McAllen, TX and raised in San Antonio. I claim both but SA is undoubtedly my hometown. My grandparents on my mother’s side lived in the Bay Area, so my summers were divided between there, home and the Rio Grande Valley. It was a pretty diverse experience and very rich, musically.
As far as the golden age is concerned, I’m 32 years old. I grew up and came of age when all of that great, creative music came out. I heard A Tribe Called Quest’s “People’s Instinctive Travels…” and it changed my life. It was thoughtful in equal parts lyrically and production-wise. The music communicated with me just as clearly as Tip and Phife did. I wanted to learn how to speak that second language.
W: As you mentioned, you hail from San Antonio but have those roots in the bay area as well. How did each location influence you as far as the music you make traditionally?
DB: My mother is a Bay Area transplant living in South Texas, so the house was full of every kind of music. She’s incredibly open minded, so every style got spins. Plus, culturally, Latin music- all genres- is part of the SA fabric. It was inescapable.
On the other hand, the Bay is where I really heard hip-hop on the radio and in the streets. I heard Run-DMC, Heavy D, Public Enemy, Big Daddy Kane and Rakim in the Bay. It was great, and when I came home not only did I have lots of new music to share, but I knew what to look for.
W: Let's just say your day job isn't exactly the most common day job aspiring hip hop producers hold down while they are waiting for their careers to take off. Nor are there many lawyers out there moonlighting as a talented hip hop producer. Describe how the two may or may not relate to each other for you and if it's helped or hurt either thing you do....
DB: I never aspired for a career in music. It’s just something I really like, love, to do. “For Corners” as a record and proper release is almost an accident, really. On the other hand, I’ve always wanted to help people. The nature and scope of that help might change, but I always want to feel useful. Being a civil rights or legal aid attorney is a natural fit. I don’t aspire to be a star in either venue, just to make my contribution and make sure I give my best effort.
I’m lucky to do two things I care about. In both regards I’m humbled by the opportunity.
W: So would you ever quit practicing law to be a full-time producer?
DB: I don’t think so. The guilt would eat me alive.
W: Always got to ask about the tools of the trade, what is your weapon(s) of choice?
DB: I used Reason to make “For Corners” and have switched to Ableton, which I feel is better for working with audio. I got a great sound out of Reason, but the process was so laborious. Ableton really allows for more spontaneity, and I’ve also found that it has relaxed me a little- let the beat play, we don’t always need a change-up every 20 seconds. (That might only make sense to me.)
W: I always ask this when I talk to any producer, what is your take on the whole software vs. hardware debate?
DB: I don’t think software has made the music better. It has, however, allowed more people to do it. I’ve used both, and I really believe what every other producer I admire has said: the hardware or software isn’t responsible for the music. No one could argue that music made on an SP1200 is inherently inferior to music made with FL Studio or Acid Pro. Plus, it’s all electronic, not matter how you slice it (pun intended), so it’s a weird debate to me; some people feel really strongly about it. Musicians used to get angry and say producers weren’t playing music, just hitting buttons and twisting knobs. Now some people are angry that others aren’t hitting buttons and twisting knobs, but typing on keyboards and clicking a mouse. Really? Wow. It’s silly to me. .
That said, quantize is probably the best and worst thing to happen to popular music.
W: Just judging by the samples used on your free instrumental album, "For Corners", I'm guessing you do quite a bit of digging. Explain your typical day hitting up the record stores...what do you look for, how do you go about looking for new things? Is there an art to it?
DB: I only look for Latin records. Everyone has mined soul and funk records to the point where samples are being flipped three, four times over. It’s annoying, no matter how well it’s done. For example, Raekwon’s new record has a sample that O.C. used in 1997. Both are great beats, but there’s enough out there to use something different.
I really like to go after records from small regional record labels. Those are people’s dreams, not some cooperate machine spitting out genre filler. I like the effort in those records. Maybe the bass is too high, maybe the vocals are a bit off, or the album cover looks like a crayola-ed tracing paper project, but damn there’s a lot of heart there, and it comes through.
Is there an art to digging? I think it depends on what you do with it. You can make crap with something esoteric or something brilliant with a break and one guitar strum. It depends. I think the art comes in getting your own voice to shine through the layers of sounds you are using. Take a chance.
W: Any good stories about digging? Ever find anything extremely valuable on the cheap?
DB: It’s not Latin, but I found an original 45 of “Amen Brother” for 25 cents. (Do a YouTube search, there’s a great little 20 min. documentary on the drum break from that record.)
W: Let's discuss the album itself, "For Corners", how would you describe it, music wise? Is it hip hop, funk, Latin, or a bit of all of those mixed together?
DB: It’s always been a hip-hop record to me. Have someone rhyme over the beats, it’ll make sense. I make all my beats with MC’s in mind. It may not sound like it, but have someone rhyme over any track and you’ll see that it works. That’s sort of where the title comes from: the four elements of hip-hop, the romantic idea of the MC battle on the streets, the corner. It’s the backdrop for that, for corners.
Also, it sounds like me. At the same time, it does contain all of those elements, but that’s what hip-hop is, right? A repository for everything else, just with harder drums.
W: There is a heavy Latin flavor to it, is that something you set out to do from the start or something that just kind of happened? How important to you was to include the flavor on the album?
I believe it’s important to be who you are in your art. If you’re making a movie about intergalactic pet adoption, be true to whatever your vision of that is. I love hip-hop. I’m Latino. I don’t want to follow too many trends and do things that have already been done over and over. By no means is my music original, but it’s also not a rehash in the hip-hop sense. I love all the styles, but this is something unique to me and my city. I won’t claim to own the sound, but I am a… curator.
W: The album came out on Exponential Music, what is your relationship with them? You also chose to release it as a free download, what was thinking behind that decision?
DB: Exponential is the label I’m on. Ernest Gonzalez, his wife Devyn, Diego Chavez (Aether), Mnolo- these are all people that really opened up to me, encouraged me and showed an incredible amount of faith in the music. It’s Ernest’s label, and I owe him a great deal for having enough faith in the record to release it; he really brought everything together. I’m very happy and honored to be on Exponential. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Why a free download? Why not? I have a job, I get by. Plus, no one knows who I am. Who’s going to blow money on someone they’ve never heard of? The free download allows more people to hear the music, which is more important than any paltry sum I’d make trying to sell the record. My only fear is that by being free it hurts the legitimacy of the record. That’s a small concern, however.
