We are greeting our new mysterious Quixotical family member – Stylic. He introduces himself with a mix he prepared for Quixotical Mix series. Amazing teasing, vibing, and very emotional mix straight from Stylic hands. Very interesting and open interview is ready for you too. Find out about Stylic early days as a DJ, his debut EP on Quixotical Records, and much more.
Thank you, for accepting the invitation to record a mix and answer some questions for our Quixotical Mix series!
1. How different your first record is compared to your latest? Maybe the sound changed, your
taste in music evolved into something you didn’t expect and perhaps that had a direct influence on how you approach the track? Over the years things can change radically, how many did and how many didn’t?
-> My first album is somewhat different in terms of production, but I think it takes my style and you can find similarities between the first and the last. When you produce or collaborate with another artist, for me it means making a good fusion between the two artists.
Without a doubt, I think that we are changing as we go out into the world, knowing new paths and influences and this leads you to be joining and developing your own style. I think the taste is in the variety, I never liked to lock myself in a single style. When you start very young as a DJ, you usually start playing the music of your generation until over the years you are researching where all the influences of current styles come from and you open your musical spectrum.
2. Being an artist basically means speaking to your audience through your work, communicating a message that doesn’t necessarily need to be serious, but nonetheless
needs to be heard. Do you like to lead your audiences to a certain conclusion concerning your songs or do you rather prefer them to come to their own interpretations?
-> For me, art is a creation and is a matter of interpretation of the viewer/listener, this can come to its own conclusions or you can also guide him by putting it in context. The same song can give contrary feelings to different people, according to their culture and mental openness.
Music to me is words to the soul, there are tracks that excite you and keep you in a certain state of mind, the power of frequency well-chosen, balanced, and ordered, that is an art and one’s mark is always there.
3. When creating a new track, what is your favourit thing about it? You know, which part is the most fun to do?
-> For me, the base rhythm is very important but the melody is what completes that atmosphere or imaginary that you want to represent. Depending on the moment and the idea I have, I usually start with rhythms and sequences of synths, which leads me to enter a small trance by
repetition and only with thinking about an idea, concept, or dogma culturally implanted, I begin to develop the melody or environment.
4. Here at the Quixotical Records we all agree that Stylic is a great pseudonym, it’s unique and almost monumental. Fits you and your music very well. But to my surprise, you also have a second stage name, which is Nano Górriz. Is there a story behind this?
Are two even in the same space and time?
-> Yes, I’ve been a DJ for 25 years with that name but since I was very young I decided to keep a low profile because I didn’t like what the DJ world was becoming. I started with House, Hard House, Progressive, and I finished with Hard Style until 2004 when I left the vinyls and put on CD and Mp3, many more songs in a suitcase, and many more possibilities to create eclectic sessions. I have received a strong influence on fashion and music in my family, especially Soul R&B Funky Pop Rock from the 60s to the 90s and this led me to discover New Wave, Techno Pop, and Underground Electronic. Over the years I appreciated what these musical styles hide.
You can’t always puncture what you like best, I had to adapt to survive; However my strongest side needed to express itself, so Stylic appeared in 2012 as producer (the name is a kind of
conjugation of “Style” and “Electric”). With this ‘entity’ I can do what I have always wanted, create what I really wanted to hear, without conditions. I keep the two characters separated
musically, they are day and night and let’s say that Nano Górriz ‘ DJ NAN’ is more accepted, musically speaking.
5. Your debut at Quixotical Records with “NOOSPHERE” EP is like thunder without rain.
Amazing work, very strong tracks. At first sight, it looks like a concept release.
Is there some meaning behind this EP? Can you tell us more about how this release has been born?
How long it took to compose it? And which is your favorite track in “NOOSPHERE” EP?
-> I like what is out of the ordinary, the counterculture and as a producer I wanted to express it. I think there is a great diversity of styles, but only a few reach the great mass. If you research other music platforms and record labels, you will discover many more worlds, as DJ and selector, I like to discover and spread new or forgotten artists.
This EP is the result of little ideas that I had but not developed until I put on moments of inspiration and finished it in about 4 months. Regarding my favorite, they are all for me because everyone has some favorite item; the first was the track ‘Noosphere’ for its stridence, but over time ‘Ether’ represents more my present moment for its melody and ‘Robots Among Us’ and ‘Frontera Industrial’ I find brutal for their forcefulness in their rhythms.
About the meaning of EP, in general, I have always been attracted to the world that we cannot see, the forces, the energy, the dreams, the soul… the culturally inexplicable.
That music elevates you and keeps you in a state, a thought, an idea, an imaginary… for me is
the best drug to escape.
I usually use the concepts and ideas of my own world, the world in which I live, and my
reflections to create the melodies, environments, and names of my tracks. Noosphere is supposed to be a kind of thought WiFi where we are all connected and participate without knowing or believing it. Ether is the medium for free and infinite energy. Industrial Frontier and Robots Among Us, are representations of the fears and social limitations that we can have today. The cover design shows a face with the mouth sealed by censorship and if you censor you can only express and develop yourself by activating the power of your pineal gland.
I am very grateful to Quixotical for its musical perspective, for betting on the unconventional and especially for its exceptional treatment with the artist.
Interview by Vidas Stanynas