DJs can be grouped into three broad brackets: Those who follow trends, those who set them, and those who set out to defy them. Boombox Cartel’s production and DJing methodology transcends between all three categories. How? Americo Garcia and Jorge Medina understand music on a more emotional level. Their releases are influenced by the sentimental feedback of their fans as well as their own interpretation. This simple but significant technique is the distinguishing element of why the Minneapolis-based duo are on the brink of exploding into the mainstream.
They’ll soon be setting trends instead of omitting them. WRR recently had the opportunity to interview Boombox Cartel; focusing on their style, influence of college, the importance of live shows and more.
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There is really no genre Boombox Cartel excludes. How do you use your openness to genres to your advantage?
Well, we don’t know if it’s an advantage but, how we see it is that all “genres” are “moods”, (temporary states of mind) measured in beats per minute. Each record should make you feel a certain way. Our goal is to take people through a roller coaster of emotions and make them never want to get off.
A lot of folks describe your sound as a “genre hybrid.” Would you agree or is that more of a general description of your sound?
We are constantly making new music, not just Trap or House. As professionally and classically trained musicians, it’s actually very hard to limit ourselves to those tiny classifications. As human beings, we tend to express what we like. We think it’s important that we both like all types of electronically produced music and that helps in our creative thinking process of what we want to do with a track.
What the most important aspect of doing a live show?
The most important thing is to give a LIVE performance that is customized in real time. So many factors go into what we do during a set. The best sets can be tarnished if not everyone is firing on all cylinders. That includes anyone from the Artist to the Sound Engineer to the Light Director. Our goal is to provide the best experience possible for the fans and we’re extremely critical whenever we perform.
How does being active in music classes influence your sound? Do you come home from classes thinking: “Why didn’t I think of this earlier?!”
I think it helps more so along the lines of music theory and writing progression and melodies. We’ve both had that “Oh!” moment either during or after classes that has allowed us to evolve on one thing or another when we’re in. As far as the influence goes though, I don’t think being in music school really pushes that end of the spectrum. It’s great for the technical side of production and understanding how music is made and why things are a certain way – but being free-thinkers and creating something unique is always something we’ve believed in.
When developing a new remix or original, what is the creative process like between the two of you?
Once we get the main idea composed it all flows pretty well. We start off looking back at a bunch of unpublished work we’ve put aside from past remixes or originals and will see if anything gives us some creative direction. After that, it’s almost like organized chaos and we just feed off each other. Jorge does a lot of the writing and drafting and what kind of style we’re going for (progressions and melody) and I (Americo) do a lot of the sound design and all of the mixing and mastering.
What’s your favorite thing fans do for you?
Our favorite is probably when a fan tells us how much they enjoy our music and how it makes them feel. Whether it’s on social media or at shows, seeing fans interact with us or our music is inspiring. It reassures us on a daily basis that we’re doing something important.
How do you follow dance music? What brands do you follow to keep up with dance culture?
Blogs! Blogs are such an important part of EDM growth! As long as they don’t distort or alter facts it’s all good, but, we’re not a fan of the ones that don’t support new music from new artists. We’ve got to know a few really good companies recently like EDM.com and ThisSongSlaps.com who have been really instrumental in helping get our music to a wider audience. Its blogs and companies like them that will help not only well established artists continue their success, but also give up-and-comers the opportunity to engage a bigger audience.
2013 was big for Boombox Cartel, how would you sum it all up? What did you take away from it?
2013 was an awesome year for us! Most people don’t know that 2013 was our first year as Boombox Cartel! Not in a million years did we expect to see the amount of support we have received from amazing new friends like Adventure Club, Bro Safari, 3LAU, and Brillz. It’s a true testament to who all of those guys are, not just as Artists, but as people. They’ve given us so much love and we only hope one day we can repay them for it. To sum 2013 up, it was our “get our feet wet” year and we will always remember the amazing people who helped us get through it all.
What new stuff can fans expect for you guys on 2014?
We have been working on our debut EP for the past 3 months. We’re not exactly sure when we will release it but I don’t think anyone should expect to see any glimpse of it for quite some time.
Right now it’s just us and our Manager Josh, so we will be doing our best to start building a bigger team as we move forward. Aside from that, we’ve got a lot of merchandise we will be putting out within the next couple months as well as launching our website. We are going to start working on a weekly video series that will show a lot of the behind-the-scenes of what we do which will include our friends and family. Of course, we will be working on getting 2-3 collaborations in the books as well as additional music on a consistent basis and hopefully we can get some more shows as 2014 rolls on!
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