Lightning Records

An Interview with El Búho

Can you tell us about your work with Greenpeace? 

I have worked for Greenpeace on and off for the past eight years, starting at the Greenpeace International office but working with Greenpeace Mexico and Greenpeace East Asia on different projects including toxic water pollution in Mexico or convincing Samsung Electronics to commit to 100% renewable energy. I am currently working for Mindworks, Greenpeace’s small cognitive science lab. 


When we got the remix back, we felt like we were sitting in one of our favorite haunts in Mexico City. We know you’ve spent a lot of time there - any cool spots you can recommend? 

I lived there for two years and it holds a lot of special memories for me. I worked for Greenpeace at our office which was down in the back streets of Coyoacan, a very unique part of the city. One of my favourite taco spot was Taqueria Alvaro Obregon the Kioso Morisco in Santa Maria la Ribera is well worth a visit and then just the incredible food from street vendors all over the city. There were a couple of great spots when I was there (Xaman Bar and Foro Normandie) but not sure if they are the ame or even open (I think the Foro just closed) .


Can you tell us about your time in South America studying music. Any specific highlights working with musicians down there? 

I spent a year studying in Buenos Aires on exchange (actually learning Spanish language / culture) as part of my degree in Hispanic Studies. I never actually had a formal education studying music but more of an education in the clubs, on the buses and through friends. Highlight was definitely going to the ZZK Records clubs on a Thursday night in Niceto Club in Buenos Aires with my flatmates, having no idea what the music was but realising it was the new flourishing scene of Latin American folktronic and digital cumbia. Super inspiring. Another highlight was meeting and working with Luzmila Carpio, an absolute legend from Bolivia who I had the chance to get to know when we moved to Paris. 


Can you tell us about your bird projects? How they came about and how you approach the music on them?

The Birdsong Project had a simple goal: challenge a group of musicians from a certain region to make an original piece of music using and inspired by the song of endangered birds. I have always been fascinated by two ideas: music inspired by nature and the power of music to deliver a message and drive change. This project tied to unite these two concepts alongside some truly brilliant music. The project is 100% non-profit and, to date, has raised over $50,000 for conservation organisations in South America and Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. We are now working on volume III: A Guide to the Birdsong of Western Africa!


You’re in Paris now, where are you living? What’s the plan there? What are you working on?

I currently live in Pantin (in the north-east of Paris). My wife is French and we have a young son. We moved back here from Mexico to be closer to family and the plan is to move to a smaller city sometime very soon ;) I’m working a lot on our label Shika Shika, working four days a week at Greenpeace and just released my new album!! 

You have a new album out now. Can you tell us about that and what’s on the horizon musically for El Búho?

A lot! After you release an album there is always a period of exploration, freedom and passion to drive in a totally different direction. I’m working on a few EPs at the moment - one ambient one inspired by trees and another of dance floor heavy organic dem-bow with London based Chilean producer DJ Raff!! 

An Interview with Crush Club

We heard that you have discovered the perfect bpm. We're not asking you to disclose the number if it’s proprietary - but we’d love to know the story behind how you found it and came to the concept, and also what are the qualities that you were looking for? 

Ah yes - The exact number of the bpm is of course locked in a crypto vault, which opens only when BOTH of our thumb prints are scanned at the same moment in the studio. What we legally CAN say, is that something about house tempo music is undeniable worldwide, and might have some emotional correlation to the tempo of a heartbeat. 


You guys really seem to know how to bring the party. You recently moved from NY to CA - can you tell us a little bit about the differences between parties in NY and in CA? 

We love partying. Partying is so much bigger than just "good times". It's a real barrier breaker in terms of connecting people from all backgrounds. You don't have to speak the same language to connect with a room full of people dancing.
LA vs NYC - So hard to compare the 2. They seem completely the opposite at the moment. NYC = late nights, peak time 1 or 2am, tons of booze, pizza, rats, stumbling into random amazing things, super fun hell, wake up feeling bad but doesn't matter. LA = start early, peak time like 10pm, in bed by midnight, less or no drinks cause you're driving home, gas station tacos the best, mostly planned things, wake up feeling great at the beach. 

What's better? We love both. 

Any good surf stories? 

We're new to surfing, but it's amazing. Such a cool way to connect with the power of the planet and meet friends. (Le Chev) I already snapped my first "foamy" in half going out on a big day that I had no business paddling out for. 

A lot of our readers are gearheads - can you talk about your studio that you’ve built throughout the years and any fun changes to your studio over the years. Any particular idiosyncratic studio practices or anything super specific to how you guys approach making music in the studio? 

(Le Chev) I love gear!!! I also HATE gear. All my favorite gear has like 2 buttons. ON, and OFF haha. I love things that do a specific job really well. Great recordings, to me, all have a few happy accidents. It's tough to get those with a software only setup, so I always get a little hardware involved. I started as a musician, and so for me, a lot of the joy comes from physically playing things and twisting some knobs. I'm WAY into ARP synths, so I use the Odyssey or 2600 on everything. Secret Weapons = Syncussion and Roland sh3a

Do you have any philosophies or techniques when approaching a remix?Gotta be able to play it out. There's not much better than DJ'ing something you made and having it work. So we usually comb through what we're into at the moment and try to make something that would fit a perfect moment in our sets. Hopefully it will work for a wedding AND late night club sets.
What’s on the horizon for Crush Club?

So much! We've just come off our biggest releases ever through Nervous, and Defected, so the future is looking very bright.