Juan Soto-Brown was heckled by his Chilean family after a nightmarish haircut. The name Pelao originates from the Spanish slang for “bald” and the teasing solidified into a permanent nickname — even after his hair grew back.
But he now has so much more to define himself by. Soto-Bown, aka Pelao, an up-and-coming artist and producer from Laurel, Maryland started creating what he likes to call experimental “sound sculptures” back in 2011.
“You find this little nugget of an idea and you whittle away at it,” Soto-Bown explains. “I try to find the best place for it in what I call the harmonic universe. The direction of each idea is unlimited….it can go up, down, left or right. The finished product, this ‘sound sculpture,’ truly moves in time through vibration.”
It’s a challenge to label Pelao’s music. His degree in music technology and production showed him new ways to enhance the music he had been writing already. Each track is formally composed and written out over time. He mixes enormous thumping rhythms, odd time signatures, spacy samples, punchy synth lines and a unique assortment of live instruments to create his own style. Pelao’s sound could fit in somewhere between downtempo, trip-hop or even jazz.
With three EPs under his belt in three short years, Pelao has grown immensely with each release. Being proficient in bass guitar, piano and saxophone, each track is an opportunity for him to mold a brand new “sound sculpture.”
Pelao has collaborated with slap-bass wizards in Nashville, dreamy female vocalists and synth-solo wiz kids who have all added unique flavors to his music. He is currently working on putting together a group of live artists to perform a handful of songs after transposing the tracks to sheet music.
Following his routine of breaking the mold, 2014’s “Time From Nothing” found him blending sounds in new ways while replacing common sounds with uncommon ones. For example, the poppy snare drum heard on one song is actually a Red Bull can being crushed in his palm. With last year’s release, he also explored a technique called “smearing”, where sounds are flattened to create a Wall of Sound, also used by Phil Spector and The Beach Boys.
This year’s “Fields of Color” is his most organic to date and ventures into a more spacy, jazzier atmosphere. His ultimate goal with this latest EP release was to focus on “seamless transitioning.”
“Anyone can make loops: it’s all about how you connect them,” describes Soto-Bown.
Check out “Lost Fixation” — a funky, spacey track with a chunky bassline that should appeal to fans of Daft Punk and features a soaring synth solo by close friend Ian Nash (who unbelievably was not aware he was being recorded at the time). All of Pelao’s EPs, including 2013’s impressive “Dreamscapes” can be downloaded (name your own price) at Moontan Record’s homepage. Based in Anchorage, Alaska, the small label is operated by longtime friend and supporter Kurt Simonsen.
Recently, both jazz and fusion have been huge influences for Soto-Bown. Continuing to experiment with the unexpected, on a few tracks, the melodies that sound like they’re coming from a guitar actually came from a tenor bass tuned higher than normal. While his music can be defined as electronic music, it could not be in any more of a raw, living, breathing form — separating it from the wave of the overdone and derivative competition.
Post by Corey Nethen