Castlebeat - Fidelity and maturity

AÑO: 5 | NÚMERO 47

THE 13th UN A R E V IS TA IM A GINA RIA

CASTLEBEAT FIDELITY AND MATURITY ...

El Camino Desnudo

By rubĂŠn Torres

In the first delivery of notes that we will develop in this space we present Josh Hwang, the man behind CASTLEBEAT, and the Spirit Goth Records label that finally released the second album "VHS" in March of this 2018...

The new material that expands the lo-fi project that began in 2015, now brings us in the sounds the feeling of nostalgia with respect to the era of the 80s and 90s of old TVs and cassette tapes that provide a retro vibe ... The opening song "Research" comments on Josh's proposal to produce synth effects, electronic drums and some guitar layers in stereo mode mixing smoothly into a noisy sound. ("Wasting Time", "Zephyr", "These Days" and "Heart Still Beats") and ("Tennis" and "Here"). The difference of the previous record is that Josh chose to play in a fast tempo as "Downstairs" "and" Poolside "to do something shoegazing that recalls their main hits" Dreamgaze "and" Change Your Mind ".

VHS presents without a doubt it is a growth in the production of composition and quality without losing the essence of a true lo-fi register that Josh has been doing during all this time ... The duration of 31 minutes passes quickly what leaves us with the desire to continue listening to songs and the sound at times transports us to the universe of guitars of "What A Pleasure" of Beach Fossils. The truth is that Josh Hwang has been doing a conscientious and honest job, besides directing his musical projects he gives opportunities to many bands so that they know their music that from their cellars or rooms they throw outwards ... so that they listen to them world.

We talk to Josh Hwang; CASTLEBEAT

[ Entrevista a Josh Hwang de Castlebeat por Rubén Torres. ]

CASTLEBEAT: FIDELITY AND MATURITY ...

5 Where does Josh Hwang come from as well as having been born in Los Angeles, California? ... How is your family and those things composed, to know how you formed ...

I grew up in Irvine, CA with a Spanish mother, Korean dad and a little brother. When I was a child, my favorite game was football and my dream was to play at Real Madrid. However, during high school I got more into music and started learning guitar. That's when I started doing lo-fi garage rock songs like Jaded Juice Riders. I finally got tired of garage rock music and started listening to post punk and the new wave of 1980.

I recorded my first album CASTLEBEAT 'CASTLEBEAT' in 2016, summer, while going to college in Los Angeles.

About Casltebeat. All work was recorded at home, without engineers, without time or studio producers. And the truth, the final result is extraordinary. In his music stands out the idea of ​​low fidelity, the shoegaze and Dreampop styles of the 1980s?

I've always liked the lo-fi music style, because it shows that the music is completely made by the artist. That means there are no producers, audio engineers, mixers or those who change the sound of the music. Sometimes, the sound is not the best, but at least it is known that it is directly made by the artist.

Do the musical influences go back to the 60/70, but also to the bands of his generation like DIIV or nothing wild but Beach House, and talented soloists, like you or dream Split?

I think my biggest influences for CASTLEBEAT are bands like The Cure, Joy Division, The Chameleons, Beach Fossils, Elliott Smith When talking about your albums, first the excellent CASTLEBEAT ... let's talk about your last album; VHS ... How was recorded, wrote and what are the repercussions of the criticism on the album ... and their feeling about all that?

My last VHS album is basically a continuation of my self-titled debut album. I would describe it as 'goth pop', since it is basically pop music with a lo-fi / sad atmosphere. I really did VHS because I wanted to make another album based on the guitar before I started experimenting with other sounds. I think I could get more in sounds with the synthesizers over time ...

You're the creator of a record label called; Spirit Goth? If so, tell us a little about that ... and on the other hand through that seal we discovered Seventeen Year, Holy Vision and Vansire. Big projects?

Spirit Goth is a record label with which I started to be able to edit cassette music in the early days.

I used to do each tape one by one, it was very hard work. The first release was for my major garage rock project, Jaded Juice Riders, and the fourth release was the namesake 'CASTLEBEAT'. Since then I've also been releasing some music from my friends like Vansire, Seventeen Years, High Sunn, Foliage etc…

Any Latin or South American bands that have caught your attention?

I really like the band The Blenders, which are a rock band from Mexico.

What music are you listening to at that moment or artist that you are following lately?

Now I'm listening to Tyler the Creator.

How do you imagine the castlebeat project in a few years?

I'm not sure, but I intend to start playing this summer a lot in New York and then the recording of new music will come, so I guess we'll see what happens with CASTLEBEAT. From the innermost room of Irvin California, different sounds are composed and recorded that will later be the ones that feed the generation of independent and self-managing ARTERS ...

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The13th U NA R EVISTA IMA GINA RIA