Exclusive interview with Tensal

A talk about its evolution, influences and the future of the genre

1. Your music seems designed to offer a unique and personal listening experience. What elements do you consider key to generating that intimate connection with the listener? Is there a specific kind of emotion or mood that you seek to provoke with your music?

Definitely yes, of course there are elements that I add or stop adding in my productions to try generate favorable states of consciousness, things like hypnosis, repetition, or in some cases some kind of climax.

These elements can be sounds directly, or various forms of development that I can choose to generate the emotions that I consider appropriate at any given moment.

2. In an era where algorithms dominate music consumption, how do you maintain the purist and underground essence of your music without letting it be diluted by trends? How do you see the impact of streaming platforms on the perception of techno and more experimental electronic music?

It's easy for me not to get too carried away by trends because, in reality, if we talk about musical influences, what influences my music the most is the sound of the 80s and 90s, which I grew up with. It's the music that made me fall in love with all this. Still, I think trends are constantly feeding off of what's already been done. It's true that the internet and its platforms have completely changed habits and ways of consumption in recent years.

In the past, we had to go out and find information, both audio and visual, and we did this by getting cassette tapes of live DJ performances to exchange for others, reading magazines and listening to the radio. You could also get information by buying a record, but that was a resource that required a lot of effort to obtain and was not within everyone's reach.

3. What role do analog machines play in your creative process? Do you think digital technology has stolen some of the soul from the techno sound? Is there any machine or tool that you consider essential to capture that essence of techno that you seek?

Definitely the classic hardware It's a tool that I rely on in all my productions in one way or another. Indeed, as you point out, I think things like Ableton and other tools have contributed to the unification of the sound. I think there are too many people creating exactly the same sound.

In my case, I have never used Ableton to produce, basically for this reason. Almost everything that comes out there sounds the same to me, although I have to say that I play and admire a lot of music made this way, but it's not what I want for myself. I need to stay true to my origins and my methods if I don't want to lose my essence. For me, maintaining a personal approach also involves the way I do things.

You could say that a analog or analog-digital synthesizer It is essential in all my work.

4. Although minimalism is often associated with simplicity, in your case it seems to reflect more a search for balance and depth in the essential elements. Is this minimalist aesthetic a conscious decision, a technical necessity or something that emerges naturally in your music? How do you define the concept of “balance” and “depth” in your music?

For me, space generates power. That emptiness between beats that drove the first minimalist techno, so reminiscent of classic jamaican dub and that encouraged people like Maurizio, was a small revolution in my mind in the mid-90s. Perhaps that is why I have a certain weakness for trying to remove as many elements as possible in my productions, because too often we tend to incorporate filler elements that do not serve any subsequent function or do not stand out in any way in the development.

But maintaining balance is also important to me, so sometimes I add an element at the beginning and then mute it later, when the song is more advanced. Perhaps all this does not define the concept of depth and balance in my music, but it explains it, at least for me.

5. Your latest release was published on December 6th. What concepts or ideas are behind this work? Is there anything you wanted to explore or express that you hadn't done before? Do you feel that this release marks an evolution in your sound, or is it an extension of what you've been working on so far?

My latest release is a collaboration with Vince Watson under his techno aka Amorphic What is called “Distant Landscapes” and that just came out in Blueprint Records.

The story is very simple and the concept too. Vince wrote to me earlier this year to say that he was thinking of starting a series of collaborations to boost his new project a bit. I'm a big fan of his since his early Detroit techno work in Planet E Communications, R&S Records and other big labels, so I didn't hesitate to accept.

He simply recorded and sent me some sounds to start working with, and I did the same. After a few months of work, 8 tracks came out and he proposed to send some to James Ruskin for your Blueprint stamp, and he really liked them, which I thought was great because Blueprint is one of my favorite labels since its first reference and I have dozens in my collection. The rest of the tracks we sent to Bas Mooy, who also accepted them and they will be released in Mord in the middle of next year. I guess we are all very happy with the result.

Conceptually, it is nothing more than the result of sonic transmissions made by two like-minded artists, but from different generations, who do not know each other personally, but who admire and respect each other. Therein lies the essence of these two works.

6. What machines, tools or techniques have been key in this new project? How have they influenced the character of the songs? Do you see any connection between the technology you use and the emotions you seek to convey with your music?

For this project, I basically used some sequences I made with the Waldorf Iridium, he Arturia PolyBrute, he Roland SH-01 and a Access Virus B, plus some plugins and some loops from old Akai libraries I found around the house. I always like to maintain a certain degree of retro spirituality in my music, and sometimes I like to rummage through drawers or closets looking for some old junk or samples to mix with current plugins. For me, the plugins They are the best and greatest technological contribution of the century in terms of production.

As for Vince, you should ask him. I know he likes to combine elements like I do, but I don't have the details.

7. Exium has been a fundamental part of your career. How would you say that the evolution of Tensal as a solo project has influenced Exium's sonic or creative approach?

In the development of Exium It influences everything that goes through both my mind and that of others. Valentine. It is clear that some elements of our solo projects occasionally seep into our joint productions, just as it happens the other way around. In the end, we are people, and as much as we try to dissociate it, it is the same minds behind it. Still, we try to keep the spirit of Exium as independent as possible, and the concepts when approaching the songs are usually different for the most part, although some, inevitably, coincide. If you look at our discography, Exium encompasses a much wider sound world.

8. In a context where commercial music often seeks to influence emotions or moods, your approach seems more authentic and connected to frequencies that impact on an internal level. How do you perceive the relationship between sound frequencies and the emotional experience of the listener, and what place does this have in your creative process?

My intention in expressing myself is more focused on altering certain instincts that, I believe, inhabit every human being, than on modifying specific sound frequencies. It is something more visceral and less scientific. Honestly, I think that electronic music, and the techno in particular, stirs our most primal instinctsThere is something about repetition, hypnosis and sound trance that awakens certain degrees of full consciousness, beyond our own understanding. That is why, since ancient times, human beings tend to gather from time to time in ceremonial rituals of connection and healing. Before I used to do it for hours, surrounded by repetitive and percussive sounds around a fire; now we go to the clubs.

9. What led you to enter the world of techno and what were the artists, movements or moments that marked the beginning of your journey in electronic music? How has your perception of techno evolved over the years?

Personally, I entered this world at a very young age, and it all started because a cassette tape fell into my hands. acid house in 1988. Although I already had some knowledge and influence of 80s techno pop and the first echoes of the Valencian route - because this type of music was heard in some radios —at first, when I listened to that tape, I didn't understand anything: everything seemed the same. But there was something about it that kept me listening to it again and again, until I started to notice the details. After a few weeks, I could already make out all the tracks and mixes. A new world opened up before me. However, as I was listening to the tape, I was able to understand it again and again. I was only 11 or 12 years old, I had to wait a couple more years until I could get into a club.

The truth is that I am lucky, because I have not known any other nightlife culture other than this one. The first time I was able to go out at night, around the year 91, I've already been to a techno club, and by then I'd been buying records for some time. When I entered there, I didn't want to know anything else. At first, It was cultural reasons that caught me, but then the social ones took hold.They were places without clichés or stereotypes, where the mere fact of Being there already made you an accomplice to the restWe were all accepted, regardless of each person's condition.

The first DJs we followed were locals Asturias and they played a bit of everything: EBM, post-punk, German techno, trance, acid house, electro, gothic rock, Detroit techno, Chicago house…At first, it was a bit of a mix of everything.

The evolution has been curious, because I believe that Nothing really original has been created since the 90s. Concepts are only repeated, and almost always in an erroneous manner. I remember, for example, that in 1995 we started the year still hearing a lot acid trance. Then, for a few months, it sounded a lot Goa and hard trance, and towards the middle of the year the sound was increasingly moving towards techno, mostly British, and increasingly minimalist. We went through artists like Dave Clarke, Underworld, Slam and the first releases of Soma, Laurent Garnier and F Communications, The Advent, Christian Vogel either Neil LandstrummWe finished the year with the first old American records from the early 90s that began to arrive from Submerge, with labels such as UR, Red Planet and Axis. Although those records were already two or three years old, they had never been played here. All this happened in a single year.

Now, however, I feel like I've been listening to the same song for 10 years. Before, everything happened very quickly: it was much more intense and better. Today we are too busy seeing or looking at certain things, and sometimes we do not listen to what is really necessary..

10. Komatssu seems like a space where you explore more atmospheric and experimental sounds. What drives you to work under this alias and how does it enrich your overall vision as a producer? How do you fuse the more experimental elements of Komatssu with the more structured and purist approach of Tensal?

Komatssu It is, for me, a way of escape. It is my most personal project, a refuge where I can give free rein to my most musical side. At the same time, It is the space where I can experiment with total freedom, since its character is markedly timeless: it is not governed by any pre-established pattern, neither technical nor aesthetic. I suppose that all the elements that make up my sound imagination end up forming part, in one way or another, of everything I do. It couldn't be any other way.

11. What would you like people to remember about Tensal, Exium and Komatssu when they hear your music in 20 years? Is there a specific aspect of your legacy that you consider most important, such as your innovation, impact on the scene, or faithfulness to your principles?

What I would like is that, within 20 years, The same thing happens now when people hear what we did 20 years ago or more.: that continues to sound innovative, fresh and honest, that does not dilute in the fashions and remain faithful to the stimuli that are part of my sound universe. May it continue to excite, that my songs can be heard at any time and context, and that they continue to sound powerful and futuristicI would like everything to remain the same.