Argentina’s Juan Pablo Pfirter is one of the leaders in the newest movement of international underground techno. Getting his start working in studios and on radio in Buenos Aires, Pfirter was in on the ground floor in the South American electronic scene. While Chile especially has become well known for a certain kind of tech house sound led by talents such as Ricardo Villalobos, Luciano, and Pier Bucci, the electronic music of much of the rest of the continent has gone unsung outside of it. With especially close ties to continental Europe, it should really come as no surprise that house and techno music, as well as many other genres, very early found an interested audience in the major cities of Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. Although the various cultural cross-currents that influenced this development are a topic too broad to really be broached here, it may safely be said that South America was much more in tune with the European idea of clubs and nightlife than most of North America was, and this led to the formation of a very active underground focused on house, techno, and progressive sounds.
Paralleling simultaneous trends in Europe, it would follow that the majority of the South American audience found their interest captured by the stadium-size trance that still dominates many festivals in Eastern and Northern Europe. However, there was a smaller and very dedicated audience looking for something more futuristic and abstract, and it was into this cadre that Pfirter went and stayed. With his Argentine associate Jonas Kopp and other still-unheralded heroes, a distinct techno sound was being formed that looked closely to Berlin for influence. With the global techno movement spiraling rapidly out from its traditional centres in Detroit and northwest Europe in the early 2000s, it would come to pass that some focus fell on the undiscovered scenes south of the Equator in the Americas. After the Chilean wave of the mid 2000s, labels such as CLR, Stroboscopic Artefacts, and Sleaze began aggressively courting a more global aesthetic, which resulted in discoveries such as Pfirter and cohort Kopp, Italy’s Chevel, and Singapore’s Xhin. It also showed the coalescence of a new hard, abstract techno sound that delved into industrial and psychedelic areas while usually stopping short of overblown progressive ideas. Paralleling the drift of other labels such as Droid Recordings, Historia y Violencia, Sandwell District, and Ostgut Ton in a similar direction, the stage was set worldwide for a new rebirth. With his performance in New York following spellbinding performances from Raiz and labelmates Donor and Lucy, Pfirter is the latest and certainly not the least of the talents mentioned here, and halcyon was very happy for the chance to speak with him at length for the first time in any English language press.
halcyon: Hello and welcome to New York… your booking here came through at the last minute but was a pleasant surprise. What have you been up to lately that stands out?
Phirter: Ey Thanks! Have been expecting to play and visit New York for a long time, so it’s quite pleasant for me to be there so soon. At the moment i’m in Chicago, ready for the gig tomorrow at Vision Club, and looking forward to my first North American tour. Lately i’ve been working on some new material that will be out quite soon, also slowly working on some stuff that differs from my usual sound that doesn’t have a defined destination yet but looks nice.
h: Of course we all know about your more recent releases, but I’m curious how it all got started. How was it that you were introduced to electronic music and what were the formative experiences that pushed you into it, and maybe also give us some of your favorite figures in dance music history or favorite releases?
P: I’ve started to work related to electronic music in the early ’90s, first as a producer in electronic radio stations in my country. This allowed me to get in touch with plenty of music that wasn’t available those days since the internet was just a fantasy, and with many DJs from the early scene in Argentina too. Soon after that I started buying vinyl and DJing in local clubs and I became a radio host as well, but DJing slowly became my priority and my profession.
It’s not easy to name my favorite figures from those days but just to name a few I must say Jeff Mills, Front 242, KLF (especially their amazing album called Chill Out from 1989), Nitzer Ebb, Plastikman, Depeche Mode, Aphex Twin…
h: While we’re on the subject of history, Jonas Kopp has recently been making waves also, and the two of you evidently go back some time in Argentina and have made appearances on the same labels. It seems logical that the two of you would know each other, Techno scenes being quite small as they are… can you give us some background here?
P: Yes, I know Jonas for a long time, he lives close to where I live and we even had a project together as Plan Tec, with releases on MindTrip Music and also on 20:20 Vision, Spectral Sound… that was many years ago but still in those days we had a common view on several aspects of music and art. After that we decided to work on our single projects and I’m super happy to see him grow as a stablished producer with a distinct and personal sound. He is for sure one of the people I feel closest to in terms of styles and music in my country, sadly there’s not many producers working into Techno in Buenos Aires nowadays.
h: We’ve heard something about the current Argentine scene in recent interviews with Jonas Kopp. What’s your take on it and where do you fit in?
P: At the moment I feel I don’t fit in Argentina’s scene to be honest. I play regularly in Cocoliche, a great small dirty and underground club in downtown Buenos Aires that is the main place for Techno in Argentina. Besides that, promoters and club owners are nowadays more interested in more commercial sounds so I’m DJing way more in other countries in America and Europe.
Anyway, the scene used to be much better in the past and I’m sure it will get better in the future as well, but the main goal would be that promoters care more about the music and less about the hype. There’s no scene if music is not the most important thing in the night.
h: New York got a pretty shocking introduction to Stroboscopic Artefacts when Lucy played here a few months ago – it was blinding. They’ve definitely got one of the good things going in the scene right now, and we can’t get enough. Can you tell us how your relationship with the label started?
P: Lucy contacted me about a year ago offering to create some new stuff for SSA. At that point, his label was brand new and only had like 3 releases, but they were so refreshing and interesting that I got really into the proposal. We met in Berlin a couple of weeks later and agreed to work on the Monad Series with my own EP of 4 tracks.
I’ve got to say that so far it was one of the most challenging and exciting projects I’ve worked on. Lucy is a brilliant guy who always expect music to go forward. He is not the classic A&R looking for the next big bomb, I can see his commitment to art and music and that’s for me the most important factor that made Stroboscopic Artefacts such a great platform.
h: Stroboscopic Artefacts is a label that has become known for incorporating esoteric elements into the Techno sphere – certainly dub and industrial, but some other ideas that barely relate to music. You also seem to have a strong idea behind your tracks, so what ideas other than dance music have deeply influenced your productions?
P: For me, the main idea or concept of my music, as in life, is to explore, to go further, to avoid duality, to be present and forget about time and preconceptions and ideas that are not my own.
h: Besides SSA, what other labels, tracks or artists have you been enjoying the most or playing the most lately?
P: Im really into labels working with a classic Techno sound but pushing boundaries regarding sound quality and ideas, like CLR, Stockholm LTD, Deeply Rooted House, Prologue, Mote Evolver, Ostgut Ton, Blueprint, Perc Trax…
h: Certainly with CLR, Sleaze, Perc Trax, SSA, Sandwell District, et al the Techno scene has found something of a strong aesthetic right now. What do you think lies in store in the future in the next year or so for the music?
P: From my perspective, I feel like Techno music is returning to its roots but with much more attention on sound experimentation and quality, and at the moment there are quite a lot of producers and labels interested in music with personality, identity and diversity. I can see this kind of music growing more and more and its already influencing me and many other people.
h: While we’re on the subject of the future, would you care to tease us about upcoming projects, releases, performances or anything else coming up from you that’s particularly exciting?
P: At the moment i’m super excited about this first North American tour starting tonight in Chicago, and following later in New York, Montreal and Washington. After that, I’ll be touring Europe again for almost 3 months, with confirmed gigs at Berghain and Suicide Circus in Berlin, and i’ll also be touring Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Italy and some other countries.
Musically speaking, I have a couple of remixes coming out soon for Samuel L Session, Flug and Brian Sanhaji. Also, my Audiometria EP is finally coming out in March on Stockholm LTD, including an awesome remix by Lucy that will shock some heads for sure.
h: We’re really happy to have you here playing in New York, so I’ll leave the closing remarks to you – anything to say to get the crowd excited, or maybe you have something special planned for this weekend, or…
P: I’m not usually planning that much, just expect a great night on Sunday at Bar 13, been expecting to play in New York for a long time and its one of those cities that I always wanted to visit as a tourist as well. It’s really exciting to be finally there because of my music and I have nothing but gratitude for this. So see u all on Sunday there and let’s Techno!
RSVP here
