If we combine the classical/folk education of his childhood, the hip hop and techno influence of his adolescence and his youth where dubstep and breakcore opened his mind to new ideas, we get the eclectic mix of sounds that we can always expect from Pau Encinas Laffitte aka Cauto. As much a producer in his live sets, as in his DJ sessions, Cauto always looks for a balance between experimentation, dance music and emotions. Also part of the band C156, Pau is working away on new material and multiple collaborations which will soon see him reaping the fruits of his labours.
This September, as Cauto, Pau has released his debut album – the self-titled Cauto. Ste Knight sat down recently with the gifted young Spaniard to find out more.
Mix of the Week - Stanton Warriors
Mix of the Week - Super FluHi Pau, thanks for taking the time out of your schedule to chat with us. We understand you have a new album out on Disboot Records. What were your inspirations in producing the album?
There’s a lot of different inspirations on that record, during the process I had a lot of personal stuff going on: a move from Berlin back to my hometown in Spain; from a city of 4 million people to a village of just 40! It was the first time I made an album and I really wanted to tell a story, for me, it is like a journey. I tried to make a mix of all styles I like without being too chaotic, if you listen the album from the beginning to the end it makes more sense. You can find ambient, folk, hip hop, jungle, footwork, techno, dub inspirations in there but I never think too much about labelling the music I do.
Can you give us some insight into your production studio? Do you have a favourite piece of equipment?
Yes, I would say that the only piece of equipment I would keep forever is an MPC, it is very important to my workflow. Being able to record without latency, it makes the creation part much quicker than with a computer, now I am working mostly with hardware using synths (Monolancet, Novation Nova, Prenn FM, Erebus), the MPC 2500 and some FX racks with an old mixer from my father. Of course, I do some editing with the computer but I always try to use it just for a few things, working too much with the mouse it is not my thing. If I am inspired and the recording is good without editing it, I am a really happy man.
We understand you recently played alongside analogue producer Headbirds in Moog Club, Barcelona. How was that?
It was really cool. We are long time friends and we played a lot of times together but recently we started to play without any prepared sequences, just improvising with the machines. This makes you feel like you are really playing a instrument and it makes the show unique, what happens there never happens again! This time was even cooler because it was the first time we improvised a whole set and a friend (Hosca) joined us from Australia. We haven’t played with him for 2 years and it was very nice to be together again and see that we didn’t need to talk to much during the show.
What’s next for Cauto? Do you have any live dates planned?
For now, I don’t have any more dates planned, it was a good summer playing a lot and we are now focused on producing new music, and starting a new platform called Ochomel.
