Ten years after the transcendent syncopated debut ‘Progress Chance’, Ricardo Donoso returns with a pulsing retrospect of rhythmic determination and wide-eyed wonder with ‘Progress Trap’, his new album for Denovali. As is customary with Donoso, the moods on these electronic miniatures vary from piece to piece; some somber, brooding, and laden with mystery, others starry-eyed, tinged with sci-fi, and hungry for adventure.
Progress Trap is as harmonious as its predecessor allowing dissonance to subtly seep in, providing mere hints at the undercurrent of threat hidden beneath the music’s smooth surface. If ‘Progress Chance’ was naive and innocent, ‘Progress Trap’ is mature and calculated. Perhaps some of the optimism has extinguished, but there is a stalking exhilaration which threads through the entire album, taking on merely di_erent shades between sides.
FACTS
1. There is a geocache on the International Space Station placed in 2008. It has since been visited four times by other astronauts.
2. In every scene of Fight Club, there is a Starbucks coffee cup.
3. Pope Francis used to be a nightclub bouncer.
QUESTIONS
1. What is the biggest inspiration for your music?
Reconciliation of internal & external worlds.
2. How and when did you get into making music?
As a youngster i practiced a few different instruments and grew to like playing in ensembles, composing music came as a natural extension to being an instrumentalist around age 17.
3. What are 5 of your favourite albums of all time?
Elis & Tom – by Elis Regina and AntÙnio Carlos Jobim
Pet Sounds – The Beach Boys
Disco Volante – Mr.Bungle
Shostakovich:Symphony No.10 – Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan
Seal II – Seal
4. What do you associate with Berlin?
Hedonism, creativity and squalor.
5. What’s your favourite place in your town?
Monster Ronson’s Ichiban Karaoke
6. If there was no music in the world, what would you do instead?
Visual art most likely.
7. What was the last record/music you bought?
The Little Mermaid: Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack
8. Who would you most like to collaborate with?
Alarm Will Sound.
9. What was your best gig (as performer or spectator)?
Performer: Sonar Barceloa 2012 / Spectator: Bohren and der Club of Gore @ Opera – St. Petersburg (rus)
10. How important is technology to your creative process?
Too imporant, trying to make it less so.
11. Do you have siblings and how do they feel about your career/art?
Confused.
Photo © NatUrazmetova
