On first approach Carlos aka Zen is a guy who isn’t afraid to say what he thinks. In this industry that’s quite a refreshing approach, one that may see him get his detractors but in an ever growing world of unrest in the electronic music industry it also gains him true fans and most of all, Respect. He’s not interested in the easy route or the dubious avenues some take, he’s definitely all about the art of music.
Tell us some background about yourself. Age, where you live, how you began producing?
I am 18 years old, I reside in South Texas. (about 30 minutes away from the border of Mexico) I was about 11 when I stumbled upon FL Studio and I started messing around with it, making hip hop beats, nothing special; one day I saw a video on YouTube of Bobby Burns and Afrojack in the studio recording a preview of “Ghetto Blaster” and I really wanted to hear the complete version of the song, so I remade it and after that I started remaking a lot of songs eventually leading to making my first original project.
What producers influenced you at the start and who does now?
When I started I used to look up to Afrojack and Deadmau5 a lot, Now a days I’ve grown a lot musically and I’m influenced a lot by psychedelic music, I’m sure you can hear it in my songs. Bands like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Hendrix, and other electronic musicians like Pretty Lights and STS9 have inspired me to write ‘out of the ordinary’ music. Regardless of the love I have for psychedelic music, I’ve always loved the works of Quincy Jones, Dr. Dre, Timbaland, Pharrell and other pop producers, at the end of the day good music is good music.
Any major help from any of the artists in the genres that have given you feedback and advice?
The best advice anyone has gave me was to always keep my sound in the most raw, unique way, to always make sure the sound is what you’re feeling, not to put any masks over it, that way you always have real fans that will stick around even if the music you’re making is not what’s popular at the moment, this goes for everything you do, not only referring to music, just a tip for a more pure way of living.
How hard do you think it is to break into the industry these days and what’s the best way you could advise others to help achieve that?
I believe we are in a time that social networking is essential in the everyday life, you literally have the world in your hands and if you know how to use it the right way it could be very easy to make an impact in the industry. I advise others to learn how to walk before trying to run, meaning to master your craft at a 150% before trying to promote yourself as an artist and try to get gigs and do all of this stuff without knowing how to make music.
Where do you want to see yourself eventually in the music industry?
I see my fan base hopefully growing, setting trends, changing the route of where dance music is currently going to, and my long term goals are to one day stop making dance music and become a band and make psychedelic electronic music of course with my style in it.
Any pitfalls out there for producers that really annoy you?
There’s a lot of producers that irritate me because of all the things they do for marketing their image, they try to stay relevant doing anything but getting better at their craft, you can even notice it in the music they make and their fan base that they’re not staying true to themselves, which really doesn’t affect my life because those are the artists whose careers don’t last longer than 2 or 3 years.
How could the scene be better portrayed among the fans?
If there weren’t so many producers imitating the same sound, or just making a certain genre of music just because its currently popular there wouldn’t be so many fake fans, if you want to attract real fans to your shows, it’s easy, make real music that comes straight from your soul.
Your new release (Black Label), any specific influence on it’s development or style or is it something that is completely your concept?
We basically made this song over Skype in 2 days, I called Type3 and Uknew happened to be there, they started an idea of what they wanted the track to sound like, we started exchanging files and I had an idea of fusing hip hop with house music, I tried a couple of acapellas from different rap songs and hit the jackpot. I’m really excited for this release, I had lots of fun making this song, also want to give out a special shout out to Type3 and Uknew for making this collaboration come to light, these guys’ talent is crazy I really hope to make more music with them in the future.
Zen has a style that harks back to the good House we all listened to but with a completely original spin that is a thrill to listen to. Check out the new release preview below to whet your appetite. Label release is Feb 1st and it’s guaranteed it won’t be the last you hear of this guy.