ZZK Records Buenos Aires 2009 Who is Tremor?

ZZK Records
Buenos Aires 2009
Who is Tremor?
Tremor combines rhythms and sound across genre borders, fitting component
parts of varying tradition together in eloquent symmetry. The artist breaks sound
barriers across South America and presents his digital folklore tracks to a new,
global audience.
Tremor researches folklore traditions by region and bridges generations,
geography and genre to produce his signature style. His sound is equal parts
electronic music and native drum and owes as much to anthropology as it does
to popular music.
Working for Argentina’s national Ministry of Culture for over four years, Leo
Martinelli has visited pueblos of the north and south where older musicians keep
traditional sounds alive. Concerts by folklore elders are intertwined in the
spiritual, health, and daily life of the community, drawing an entire town out to
take sort of communion while being entertained.
Working with musicians from Salta and Jujuy has informed Tremor's own
compositions. Carnabalito music, coplas, and ritmo de saya are the musical
components of local religion, where music becomes a nourishing element.
Tremor’s music incorporates that practice into his own art, for a soundtrack for
life.
Where ceremony meets revelry, Tremor’s live show is a trio of instrumentalists
that honor traditional music of Argentina and South America while upping the
stakes. Guitar, charango, bombo leguero, flutes, and a laptop make a thick,
mountainous sound that stays true to the old while bringing tradition up to date in
an exciting way. Layers of synthetic sound keep up with the digital imagery
projected behind the players beating a bombo leguero and strumming a
charango.
On stage the music moves past the present in a futuristic blur of artistic invention.
Massive visuals propel the avant-garde Latin sound to new heights, inspiring the
audience toward shaman visions and into tribal dance.
Leo wasn’t always a purveyor of folklore. The artist began studying classical
music at a conservatory and played jazz, rock, and experimental music live in
Buenos Aires. He became interested in “concrete” music, an avant-garde genre
of the 1950s that uses daily objects for compositions, and applied it to indigenous
regional rhythms, using industrial sounds alongside tones drawn out of wood and
animal hides. Tremor merges his academic and experimental training with
popular rock and electronic music and with folk traditions. For “Landing” he
started exploring Northern Argentina’s Andes region, mining old sounds and
giving them an innovative texture. Quechuan vidalas and Andean chacareras
transform when played with layers of technology alongside digital imagery.
The other two members in Tremor are just as equally sage in their interpretation
of local musicology. Camillo Carbajal comes from a family of esteemed Argentine
folklore musicians. His role is to keep the legacy alive and he is doing it in
modern fashion, by peeling away the layers of time and bringing the bombo
leguero to the 21st century with Tremor. In an age of presets and virtual sounds,
Gerardo is a master of the analog craft of synth music. As a musician in
demand, he often plays with 5 different bands in a typical month in Buenos Aires.
On his last record, “Viajante,” Tremor executes folklore melody through a digital
context. Layers of rhythm are fortified with modern synth loops and paired with
timeless Andean flute, strings and drum samples for evocative hybrids. Glitch,
IDM, and electronica reinvent classic rhythms for today’s listener. For a follow-up
LP vinyl on ZZK Records/Crosstalk International Tremor tracks get remixed by
Chancha Via Circuito, King Coya, El Remolon and Nortec Collective retro-fitting
Tremor’s ideas with each artist’s signature style for even fresher sounds.
For Martinelli, “creativity is a combination of two improbable parts.” He sees
musical style as a puzzle or riddle, looking for the best way to put two opposing
techniques together in one soundscape.
VIDEOS //
Tremor Live 1 - http://vimeo.com/5805812
Tremor Live 2 - http://vimeo.com/5806772
Tremor Live Composition - http://vimeo.com/5808932
Tremor Music Video - http://vimeo.com/6614525
“It was one (show) that makes you tremble with excitement because nobody else
knows about this discovery: Tremor combines Leonardo Martinelli’s extravagant
instrumentals with Gerardo Farez’s work on the synthesizers. It was magical.”
-Review of Tremor’s SXSW Performance by Michael Barnes, Entertainment
Editor Austin360.com
ALBUMS //
Tremor – Caracol Remixes (2009) // Download Caracol Remixes
http://www.whatsupbuenosaires.com/ZZK_Records/Tremor-Caracol-EP(ZZKRecords2009).zip
Tremor – Viajante (2008) // Download Viajante
http://www.whatsupbuenosaires.com/ZZK_Records/Tremor-Viajante(2008).zip
Tremor – ZZK Mixtapes Vol. 5 (2008) // Download ZZK Mixtape Vol. 5
http://www.zzkrecords.com/mixtapes/ZZK_Mixtape_Vol_5_-_Tremor
Tremor – Landing (2004) // Download Landing
http://www.whatsupbuenosaires.com/ZZK_Records/Tremor-Landing.zip
www.zzkrecords.com