Anton Kordi? aka El Niño Andrés

“There is actually no audience for my music or electronic music community here at all. The scene is very small, and none of the clubs actually play house/techno or anything else similar. Dubstep is like 10 years away.”

Though both his artist name El Niño Andrés and record label Hija de Colombia are in Spanish, tech house producer Anton Kordi?, 26, actually hails from Mostar, in the heart of Bosnia Herzegovina.

“Most of the clubs in Mostar play folk music from ex Yugoslavia area, and most of the people here like that kind of music,” he admits. “There are lovers of commercial dance music like Guetta and company, but there are no electronic music clubs. A few guest nights here and there, but really there is no scene.”

But why the Spanish theme? (he’s also opted for a Spanish title- Mas Dinero Mas Problemas which translates as More Money, More Problems’ for his upcoming debut artist album).

“Well I’ve always been a fan of the Spanish language, like many of my close friends, and I always thought that everything sounds good in Spanish,” he explains.

“As for the Colombia reference, it was motivated by a documentary I watched about Colombia and the Latin American style of life, and I thought it’s a lot similar to the one here, in terms of passion and faith.”

What he’s particularly passionate about personally is music, specifically the Berlin style techno and house which is represented (and reinterpreted) so superbly on his new album.

“Yes my music does have a certain German vibe to it,” he happily concedes, “because I grew up listening to that kind of stuff.”

“Half of the stuff I listen to nowadays is from German labels, and it’s just music I’ve always loved. I’m particularly inspired by the early 2000s, I’m taking bits and pieces of inspiration from German sounds and combining them with cinematic soundtrack elements I also love.”

“I think a lot of music today sounds totally generic, and lacks substance,” he continues. “It’s tasteless, so a track’s life is often just for a few weeks: Until someone else releases version two of the same track: Then someone else again. Some of those tracks are up to version 50 by now,” he laughs.

Ironically one of the standout tracks on Mas Dinero Mas Problemas is Cegado por las luces, which first came out two years ago and is now available itself in a new much shorter (otherwise broadly similar) 7 minute version.

The rest of the album is also anything but generic, containing instead a fantastic selection of understated though engagingly melodic tech-house club cuts.

Writing about his approach on the album’s accompanying biography he says “Kordic’s inspiration for the album is the idea of re-connecting to what is important in life, in a world obsessed with money and the pursuit and wealth and power”, begging the obvious question, so what is important in life? And how does that translate to your music?

“Well to be honest, I didn’t mean to go that deep for the meaning of the album or connecting it to my music as such,” he replies.

“Music came naturally, just by me sitting with Monome and Ni Maschine playing around and recording a lot of stuff. After I finished quite a lot of drafts for tracks, I decided which ones would make the best selection for album. After finishing it, I was thinking about naming it with something that will say something about me.

One of my favorite quotes is “don’t chase money, chase dreams” (by Murs on Dreamchasers), and making the album despite the current state of music – financially speaking, there is not lot of money in it for underground – was just that, dream chasing.

Also the financial crisis has showed just how much the money system, as a religious symbol to so many people these days is vulnerable to breaking and falling apart.”

Skrufff (Jonty Skrufff): On your press release you talk of  ’a world obsessed with money and the pursuit and wealth and power: how much is the digital revolution changing the situation for you personally and your plans for Hija de Colombia?

El Niño Andrés: “Digital has changed the industry, no doubt, there are some positives and negatives here. For example, there is no vinyl shop in Bosnia-Herzegovina or Croatia. Not one! While I was growing up, you couldn’t get vinyl anywhere – even on the internet our credit cards were not accepted for Paypal at first. So the only way people could get to music was as mp3s.

On the other hand, as a label owner now, digital labels are making a mess of the market, in my humble opinion. Even the major labels like Warner Bros that covered 15 genres of music didn’t have that many releases a year like digital labels now that are being run by one or two people.

There is no quality threshold, as people that don’t release vinyl have almost no expenses in releasing tracks. When you have to invest two or three thousand euros for a vinyl pressing, mastering and artwork you sign a lot less, and you find a lot less tracks worth releasing. I know people will find a few tracks that are awesome, but did not get a vinyl release but I believe they are just the exceptions that prove the rule. That’s why I mostly don’t even listen at all to promos of only digital releases.”

As for Hija De Colombia, we already have our next three releases lined up. Next one will be a 12” from Stumbleine, a great guy from UK doing some wonderful glo-fi shoegaze dubstep fusion, then we have some kind of nostalgic 90s trip on a 7” from Liam King, a release which I just adore. We plan those two out in next 3 months, while Matthew Adams’ release will follow in autumn. I don’t want the lable to focus on any particular genre – we plan a lot of different stuff, but it has to be with substance, have its own personality, not something that’s just a plain copy/paste of whatever is trendy these days.”

Skrufff: Mostar was one of the worst cities affected by the Balkans war of the 90s; how much do tensions remain today?

El Niño Andrés: “Well tensions are much smaller then before of course, but they can be visible for a few days a year, especially around football matches or stuff like that. Segregation is physical, as the city parts where Croats and Bosniaks live are divided by the river, but people are free to go anywhere without problem. It is safe here generally, though there are individual incidents every few months, just as there are incidents in every town in the world from time to time.”

Skrufff: How fearful are you that war could break out- in Mostar/ or Bosnia again?

El Niño Andrés: “I am not fearful because I believe that there will be no war here again, although it’s hard to say that Bosnia – Herzegovina is in a great condition, of particularly good relations between the three nationalities. The political situation is always very tense. But I believe that future differences will be solved diplomatically.”

El Niño Andrés: Mas Dinero Mas Problemas is released on April 9 on Hija De Colombia (and is available as a double vinyl LP).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pl5kl9athA

http://www.residentadvisor.net/dj/elninoandres

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff