Juno Plus Podcast 127: Capablanca

An hour of psychedelia, Berlin-style, from the founder of the Discos Capablanca label.

Whilst techno is the dominating sound of Berlin right now thanks to the enduring appeal of the Ostgut Ton/Berghain axis, there is plenty more to the city should you wish to look deeper. Clubs such as ://about blank, Sameheads, Renate, Griessmuehle and Ohm are examples of venues where you can hear a lot more than the relentless thud of a kick drum. One individual who has been contributing to this is Hugo Capablanca, a self-styled ‘eternal dilettante,’ founder of the infrequently busy Discos Capablanca label and resident of Berlin for some ten years.

Landing in Berlin from northern Spain to pursue his interest in fine arts, Capablanca was inevitably drawn towards the city’s nightlife and landed a residency at famed dive venue Rio. His label Discos Capablanca was later born in 2008 – inaugurated by WT Records founder William Burnett under his Grackle alias – that in part was a reaction the minimal techno boom surrounding Capablanca in Berlin at the time. Since then, the label has adopted a freeform approach that has seen Capablanca join forces with the likes of Ron Morelli and Steve Summers, Traxx and Beau Wanzer’s Mutant Beat Dance project, and Hivern Disc’s secret weapon Marc Piñol.

The latter also worked alongside Capablanca as CPI, with the pair landing one of last year’s most potent 12″s in the shape of the Hivern Disc-released El Tunél. As Capablanca tells us in the below interview, we can expect further CPI material in the future and he also goes into detail about the label’s beginnings, his time as resident at the aforementioned Rio among other things. Name-checking Vladimir Ivkovic and Tolouse Low Trax below seems quite appropriate too, as Capablanca’s hour-long mix veers along similarly psychedelic and unpredictable lines to sets from those Salon Des Amateur residents in memorable fashion.

Hi Hugo, how are things?

All good man. Just finished soundproofing my studio, and working on some tape recordings I did last year while I was laptopless. I intend to turn this into my first solo material to be released sometime in the near future. I think I’ll call it Lap Top Less Dance, although I’m not that sure how danceable it will be at all.

We must thank you for this mix, what were your intentions when putting it together?

I tried to condense what it could be an all-nighter set into an hour, at that kind of place where you can play anything you feel like without restrictions.

Where and how was it recorded?

It was recorded at my home studio in Berlin Wedding, one live take on 2 technics, 2 cdj2000, space echo and my Taula 4 mixer. There are some “mistakes” but that is just fine, I like how it flows.

We hear it got the Optimo seal of approval too?

Well maybe that is a bit exceeding to say as I don’t think Keith has heard it yet, but I played it over at Jonnie’s in Glasgow recently and he did enjoy it.

As we are nearing the end of 2015, what have been the highlights for you?

Vladimir Ivkovic’s absolutely wild set at Sameheads in Neukölln. Bringing Fran Lenaers, the originator of the Valencia sound (resident at Spook during the late ’80s and early ’90s) to the same venue in Berlin and get to play with and get to know such legendary but largely unknown character. An-i’s live set at Atonal. Optimo’s final Espookio at Sub Club. Harvey’s final night at Pikes hotel in Ibiza, and just as good epic dinners with him in Berlin and Barcelona.

Closing the 23h Vappu (May Day) party at Kaiku in Helsinki with San Proper. Spending two weeks in Bali (with Eric Duncan, by chance) doing absolutely nothing. That never-ending set (was it 8-9h?) after Manfredas in Vilnius. Waking up at a road bar in the outskirts of Rome without knowing how I got there in the first place.

Any records or labels that stand out in particular?

Basically anything that Vladimir (Offen Music) or Detlef (Tolouse Low Trax) put their hands on. Moscoman is in pretty darn good shape atm, killing it with every new release.

In terms of music it all started kicking for you with the move from Spain to Berlin – can you tell our readers about those times at Rio, the club you DJed at?

Rio was fun. Rather eclectic mixture of music and characters, it was were big part of the electronic scene met the art scene and the fashionistas clashed with the heads, while a band was getting drunk backstage or what not… Unlike anywhere else in Berlin at the time. It was there where I met Eric D.Clark, David of Los Massieras, Andreas Golder… I had played at some clubs and raves in Spain but it wasn’t until I moved to Berlin when I decided to fully dedicate myself to music, which wasn’t an easy choice as I knew close to nothing on the subject.

But I somehow ended up becoming a resident at Rio. I can’t remember much of it, the toilets were always flooded, there were bands playing live at the main stage in the middle of the night, naked people, excess, crappy sound more often than not. It was a brilliant mess.

Do you still keep up your visual arts?

Not as much as I’d like to. I still do flyers, posters, collages and record sleeves for fun. But I miss working on a more conceptual, physical level. I’d like to go back to installation work eventually.

Will Berlin always be your home?

Possibly, somehow? Hard to say. It does feel like home now, but I’m kinda done with half of the year being greyness and winter at the same time, been here for quite a long time, and I will stay here for another while, but probably end up spending the first months of the following years elsewhere. Mexico could do.

With Discos Capablanca you’ve released some pretty interesting records from artists like Willie Burns (as Grackle) Mutant Beat Dance, and the Morelli & Summers collaboration Two Dogs In A House. How did you forge those links?

Will (Burnett) was my first buddy in New York. I got to know him through Chase who came to Rio to co-host a night with DJ Spun playing, which happened to be the first night I co-curated there too. She invited me over to visit her in NY and I was there within a month or two. It was through Will that I met Doug Lee, Ron Morelli, Veronica Vasicka… I was so sick and tired of minimal techno which was all you could hear in Berlin at the time, and their scene seemed so fresh to me… sleazy disco nights at Mangiami and Passerby, speakeasy Minimal Waves gatherings at basements in Chinese restaurants, those loft parties with Rub n Tug… it was all very diverse, wild and exciting.

So Will eventually played me that “Jungle” track and I had been waiting to come across something good to start a label. Melvin saw me playing some time after that in Berlin, he went nuts, and we started talking after the gig. He hooked me up with Clone who did my distro for the first releases after I played him the 12” that I had at home already pressed waiting to find someone to move it around, and asked me if I had a new release ready. I didn’t, so he offered me “In a Daze” by Mutant Beat Dance, which I liked, but felt it could use some vocals, so I asked Eric D. Clark to record some (they both met for the very first time performing live at Cookies on my label night, which is where the intro for the vocal version of “In A Daze” was recorded).

During one of my next visits to NY Ron played me what would be the first Two Dogs EP to kickstart L.I.E.S, but when it finally came out I noticed my favourite track hadn’t made the cut (“Dog’s Anthem”), so I asked him if they’d like to release it on Discos, and maybe send me some more obscure material which wasn’t so obviously danceable, as I knew he was into TG and that kind of stuff, which ended up being “The Only Weapon”. And so on… Sharif played me” Turn It Up” at an after party in Warsaw, CVLT I met thru my buddies from Public Possession… So it all happened very effortlessly in a way.

The visual side of the label seems quite integral to Discos Capablanca, could you tell us about who you have worked with on some of those sleeves?

I take care of the art direction. Most of the sleeve art has been done by my friend and painter Andreas Golder. Original logo was by Nomad of Africaine 808 fame, later reworked by CVLT. I did a couple sleeves too (Food Pyramid 10” and the silk-screened edition of Knossos, while Andreas hand painted each of the sleeves for the limited edition of the later).

What do you have planned for the label next year?

New Sharif Laffrey bangers, new CVLT psyched out jams, a rather special Rouge Mecanique 12” and a series of leftfield, weirdo 10”s so far.

Can we expect any further CPI material from you and Marc?

Indeed. Back to Barcelona end of the month to play at Nitsa with Marc and nail down the new EP at his studio, jams be almost ready. Planning an LP for 2016 too.

How did that project actually happen?

I showed up at his place in Barcelona upon an invitation he extended to me after mailing each other for quite some time, we hadn’t met before. Stayed there for over a week, but I think “El Túnel” was recorded mostly live in the first one or two days, and “Proceso” shortly after. Was mixing and tweaking some details what took longer, but the core tracks were channelled pretty instantly.

Did you feel like you had made something special when those tracks were submitted to Hivern?

Somehow, yes. I remember laying down by the sea a week after in Andalucia, with “El Túnel” on repeat on my headphones. What the fuck did we just do?! It was so out there, I couldn’t give credit. I was grinning. Talabot loved the tracks instantly too.

To end on a cheeky note, do you get mistaken for James Franco much?

Yes, mainly by drunk people at bars/clubs. I also get called Bastard! and John Snow! a number of times, which is always so much fun. Must be the furcoat.

No tracklisting was provided.

Header image courtesy of Tanja Siren