Yes, I Am the Soft Asian Enemy is Filipino electronic music. It’s a little house music, a little techno, some breakbeats, attempts at drum & bass, and oodles of layered drum loops. It rocks, it squelches, it squeaks at a manic, breakneck pace.
ABOUT THE ALBUM
My first full-length album is an eclectic mix: there are amateurish collages and there are meticulously spliced together compositions. The one thing that drives this album however is the use of samples.
Utilizing the software called Acid Pro, I dumped in a whole lot of samples from all over the place– many of them my own — and cut them up into little songs just for fun. After a few months, I soon had enough tracks to make an album.
The second thing that fuels the album and my sound is really nothing more than rhythms. Having once been a drummer and percussionist, the pursuit of the groove is one thing I never gave up, no matter the genre of music.
BEHIND THE PROCESS
After years of playing in live cover bands and pushing the envelope of what can and can’t be performed by musicians in a live environment, I came to a ground-halting decision: to stop playing at gigs. I’d just gotten married, and wanted to forego late nights in smoky bars lugging tons of gear and coping with head-scratching, dumbfounded audiences and instead focus on being there for my wife.
Music-wise, I opted to focus on the other spectrum of electronic music: the production rather than the performance. This decision led to (finally) learning audio software, production techniques, and new paradigms in the creation of music.
This also led to the creation of my first solo album, away from any band.
THE TITLE
“Yes, I am the” because I’m affirming what you already think.
“Soft” because I’m overweight.
“Asian” because I’m Filipino.
“Enemy” because I’m an alien in a world that’s not familiar. And usually, the alien, the stranger, the unknown is looked at as the enemy.
Download the album for free from Bandcamp.
CREDITS
All music, sequencing, and photography: Lionel Valdellon (Acid42)
Guest sample manipulator: One Lone Clone (Karlo Samson)
Guest musician: Nefertiti (Agnes V.)
